Mac Baren Symphony

A Burley and Virginia combination that has a casing that simply puts the contents in a class by itself.

Symphony is a broken flake that loads easily and burns evenly. It is a cool blend if smoked on the slow side. A revved up puffing cadence will attract the heat. I also detected a smidgen of added flavoring in the natural, Mac Baren's sort of way.

This is not a bad smoke at all!

I’ve been smoking MB Symphony for 40+ yrs & highly applaud it.. the tin presentation is lovely; aroma is nutty, sweet & spicy with overtones of molasses. It packs well in a medium fashion, smokes nearly an entire pipe w/o relighting & room note is sumptuous & enjoyed by others —- even non-smokers. It burns to a nice clean white ash. This is to be savored like anything of quality—-so drawing excessively will B I T E ....it has been well received by friends & easily becomes a go-to tobac. I rate it a 3.5.

Mac Baren - Symphony.

When I opened this I was of the mind it was an aromatic ribbon, never mind, it's a good blend, I'm happy I messed up, lol!

It's quite a coarse broken flake, which has a good moisture amount when fresh, is medium brown in colour, with a tin-note not too suggestive of an added flavouring; in this case chocolate. Due to the size of the broken flakes I give a pinch a final rub before smoking any.

I enjoy the flavour of Symphony a great deal: it's mainly the tobaccos, with a tiny proportion of added flavouring. The Burley, to me, seems heavier in weight compared to the others. The chocolate is light; it seems more like a slight sweetness, rather than a definite chocolate addition. I don't get any tongue bite and it burns even and steady, but I have a problem with the heat; it's not the hottest I've had, but it does require a bit of a gentle technique.

I find the nicotine medium, and the room-note pleasant.

Although this isn't totally perfect, I'll happily highly recommend it!

Four stars.

I have been totally surprised by this remarkable Burley blend! When I opened the tin, instead of getting acquainted with the typical MB Burley aroma, I was struck by an aroma that reminded me of another tobacco; it took me a while to figure it out: Dark Twist Roll Cake. I would suppose the addition of MB's Cavendish and some VA made the difference for the tin aroma. The cut is typical of most of MB's non coin mixtures: a partially rubbed - out flake, on the long side of cut. Despite being a bit dry, Symphony burns slowly and beautifully. It delivers a nice chocolate and nut taste; I find it is much tastier than what London Burley or Golden Extra bring; the occasionnal nice sweetness provided by the VA and CA make Symphony my favorite Burley blend with Wessex Burley Slices. Puffed at a decent cadence, it brings a very pleasant smoke and has enough nicotine to make me happy. I prefer Symphony to Golden Extra because of the addition of the CA. I have another 3 tins and I will be buying more. Edit: I bought another 5 tins. This is a Mac baren tobacco to try, it's simply great.

I like this tobacco. I like it so much I bought a pound and put it down to rest.

The mixed reviews seen here do not surprise me at all. As with all Mac Baren pipe tobacco this stuff can really sizzle your taster. A gentle approach of this blend fully rubbed out and smoked in the right pipe can be a real pleasure.

There is a flavor there but I do not get chocolate, I would call it just sweet. I like this blend because it does not taste like vanilla or cherry or honeydew like other aromatics, it just has a sweet tobacco taste. Kind of like the old school american OTC blends in a tuxedo. I really do like it.

If you smoke it fast you are wasting your time, and I am beginning to think that there is a way Mac Baren cures their tobaccos that does not agree with some people. Some cannot smoke any Mac Baren blends, others never have a problem.

Give it a shot, you never know. This one fits me quite nicely. Highly recommended.

Summary: a medium-strength Burley blend with a mild chocolate flavoring

With "Symphony," Mac Baren makes a blend that smokes like an OTC but tastes more like a European smoking mixture. Upon opening the tin, the scent of milk chocolate wafts upward. The first light squirts out a bit of this flavor, but it quickly melds with the naturally somewhat chocolatey Burley flavor, aided by the Mac Baren natural Cavendish in becoming a thick but soft smoke that is gentle on the mouth. Virginias hide in back, and are the weakest part of this blend, being sizzly with acid like PopRocks or Lemonheads, but they are a minor player and caramelize rather quickly, letting the Burley mixture take the lead. The malted flavor of white Burley and the richer, earthy dark Burley play together in this mix, producing a taste like roasted almond paste with a light chocolate-vanilla flavoring. Like the blends that may have inspired it -- "Prince Albert," "Sir Walter Raleigh," and "Edgeworth Ready-Rubbed" -- this blend lights easily and stays lit, delivers a medium level of nicotine, has a mild but distinctive flavor, and burns down almost completely to ash. You could smoke this all day and not only enjoy it, but probably never get bored, because within this simple chocolate flavor a tapestry of interlocking influences from Virginias and Burleys plays out like a rainstorm, with never quite the same pattern of drops but similar intensity from top to bottom of the bowl.

It's been twenty years since I smoked MB Symphony and after severals bowls it reminded me how much I enjoyed this blend in years past. I know taste is a very personal thing, but I am somewhat surprised Symphony doesn't get higher marks here. I find it delightful. It has an excellent harmony, or if you will "symphony" between the Burley, Cavendish and Virginia leaf in this blend. To me it has a nice nutty sweet taste. Contrary to many of the reviews here, it did not bite and was not one dimensional. Nor did it heat up on me, although it important not to puff too hard. I smoked it in large bowl pipes. It was easy to light, and burned nicely to a grey white ash. In the tin it had a perfect moisture content. The broken flake was easy to pack. Symphony is back in my rotation and I highly recommend it for those who enjoy a Burley/Cavendish/Virginia. The price is right too.

March 2015 update I can't believe it's been 5 years since I reviewed this blend. I fired-up a bowl this past week, first time in awhile. Right out of the tin it does have a tendency to heat-up and have found it cooler if left to sit and dry a day before lighting. I would not change my review. This is a nice blend of Burley and Virginia leaf. Some are saying this blend has Black Cavendish in it. Not that I can see. It's a non-blackened Cavendish for sure.

This tobacco marriage is a best !!! What a perfect, gorgeous, delightful, stimulating, refreshing, and delicious blend. The texture, color, and appearance of these tobaccos is astonishing: love at first sight. I feel as if I am gazing at a delectable forest in the midst of autumn with all the pleasant red and orange tobacco staring at me. The smell is sweet, handsome, invigorating, and very warmly inviting. "I really want to get to smoking!" is what this tobacco does to me. This is o.c.d. tobacco, it may just get you all enveloped with it all. It is so good that you will rub the rest while smoking while continually sniffing and inhaling in ecstasy from the gorgeous tin. The taste is very pleasing, and interesting, or even intriguing. It builds up and gets better in an infinite number of ways, that is how supreme and complex this blend is! I am a single man safe to say that this tin makes a good wife 😉 LOL! Lighting is easy, yet halfway down the bowl, as with most MacBaren blends, the tobacco suddenly whimpers down into mere smoke...(giggles), usually a symptom of fresh out of the can I guess; I will just easily solve this little pesk by setting the tin out for a bit so it may dry out in the room for the moisture to adjust itself, no biggie. I just remembered too that with most MacBaren blends, I get a significantly better smoke and a fuller better light with literally just dumping the tobacco in the bowl whether I rub it more or not and just pressing down just enough so there are not too big of a gap between the slices/flakes, because this premium tobacco likes space and mega airflow. Now that my tongue reminds me (way after the fact, showing you how great and delicious this stuff was for me to remember!) there was a general distinctive taste and smell of some kind of delicious sweet pancakes with maple/brown sugar, fruit and nut chocolate (think Raisin and Almond Cadbury's) and the slightest most pleasing sweetness of mild apricot preserves type flavor. Something like that! There is also a lot more more going on though too, too many great flavors to describe !?! This is a must try blend. Enjoy the Symphony !!!

****UPDATE BELOW AT BOTTOM*****

Upon opening the humidor I was greeted by a earthy, grassy, slightly spicy and woody aroma. The tobacco seemed a bit dry and was a rubbed long ribbon which I rubbed out more and let sit for a half hour on a paper towel.

With the rubbed tobacco in long ribbons rubbed out into smaller pieces this was a pleasure to fill my bowl easily. This burned consistently at a medium rate to a nice dark gray ash and the smoke was medium and full with a wonderful roasted chocolate nut aroma.

Upon lighting the mild flavor of nuts, earth, wood, grassy, toasty flavor with a spiciness tickled my senses. It was obvious that this has a potential to bite and after the initial tongue tingle from lighting I sipped slowly and wondered where the chocolate flavor was. About 5 or 6 sips in the a mild chocolate arrived with a slight molasses background coming onboard and moving to the forefront as the other flavors danced closely in the background. The spices dances in the background also and from time to time cinnamon danced out for a solo to only rejoin the other spices after a couple of sips. From time to time Honey would make an appearance only to disappear again. The flavors left a slightly sweet slightly tangy aftertaste as the smoke progressed and it was enjoyable. At just before half way down the bowl the chocolate flavor changed into milk chocolate and it was very, very good. Then at a quarter of the bowl left it turned to cocoa for the rest of the way. There was no bitter flavor appearance or a decline of the flavors that sometimes happens in blends towards the end of the bowl.

The aftertaste of sweet and tangy stayed for around a half hour after finishing up this blend. This was a very, very pleasant smoke and I enjoyed it immensely. While pleasurable the tendency to want to bite would make this hard pressed to be an all day smoke. But, it sure could be a everyday smoke. The tobacco flavor was never overpowered by the different flavors although at times it came close. Will I buy more of this. Yes I will. It will be another of my special occasion blends. I would give this a 3.8 out of 4 stars with only its tendency to want to bite if one puffed a bit hard holding it off from a 4 star out of 4 star review.

***UPDATE*** I jarred this for 6 weeks and smoked it in my Shalom Author and that bit of time brought on a rich mild chocolate flavor that really shone. That change alone made this a perfect smoke This is now in my regular rotation and gets a 4 out of 4 stars.