Mac Baren Golden Extra

My everyday Burley

Perfect for people new to pipe smoking and Burley lovers alike. This underrated and often overlooked blend epitomizes the Burley experience. Steeped in tradition, you won´t find any faults with this one.

Golden Extra comes as a broken flake that can be easily rubbed out or packed directly into the pipe. The leaf is a consistently mixed near straight Burley highlighted by sparse gold flecks of Virginia evenly distributed throughout. The tin aroma is toasty with a subtle touch of honey sweetness.

Once lit, smoking requires little attention if any and stays consistent bowl after bowl. The topping, though evident, serves only to enhance the natural tobacco flavor. An uncomplicated yet satisfying smoke, it offers the same good taste from start to finish and manages to call you back for more time and time again. It made a Burley lover out of me from the first bowl and has since become my “go to” Burley blend.

Widely available and reasonably priced, a tin or two of this offering by MacBaren should always be kept on hand. Up-date: 2021-03-13 Ages extremely well. Still loving this comfort smoke after all these years. Still recommended!

Nice, smooth and soft burley-forward blend.

Not as sweet as I was expecting. There is a touch of casing here, but most of what I got was a mellow and soft smoke.

Dried it for a while, really nice and rich tin note.

Got a bit richer as it went down the bowl, will give this a few more goes and maybe keep it as a nice change of pace.

Very good.

A good friend shared some of his that has been aged a NUMBER of years, and it is an extremely mild, and enjoyable, smoke. I took it nice and slow to avoid Mac-bite, and it paid off. A nice touch of the nuttiness that others have commented on, but I found no chocolate. Extremely nice in a 30 year old kaywoodie straight billiard I inherited from my pipe mentor from the mid-80s.

Review is of a tin that is most likely 30 years old; I have not had a more recent version to compare it to. Burley changes less than Virginia in a decades-long timespan, and though I really don't know without a new sample how much this has changed, change or not, I like it. Others have compared it to a lighter Burley London, another tobacco I have had only in a well-aged version, and I could agree with that. It is a fine, slightly sweet and pleasant smoke.

I have recently had the chance to try several Mac Barens from the 80s, and though the aged roll cakes are my favorites, this is great for a long, slow smoke on its own, and I sometimes mix it with my classic roll cakes to conserve them. It is burley, but light burley, and at least at this age is never harsh or biting. There is certainly some topping here, evident in the tin, but 30 years tones this down to the point where all one gets is a touch of sweetness in the lit pipe itself.

Very good burner, with very little problems as to overheating, uneven burning, or waste. With three tins in reserve, I should have plenty more time to continue to evaluate it, that is if I can get to it along with everything else I have to smoke!

Well, I was surprised when I opened the tin, because I was not aware that this baccy came in such long 'flakes'. After that I was quite taken with the smell- very sweet and rich, like dark chocolate. Seemed the perfect moisture content out of the tin, but gurgled heavily about halfway through. After learning how to load this in my bowl, I found it smoked quite cool and mellow, and tastes like your normal everyday tobacco, with a sweet tone that gets sweeter if you take your time and keep it cool. Not bad at all.

Nice easy smoke that is very good value for money (i paid $9 for 100gram tin from 4noggins). I get no bite at all from this and while it has a burley taste, its a fairly mild smoke. Very easy all day smoke. Probably the only negative is i find it has a slightly earthy/anty (think those little black ants on picnics) taste to it. But this is only very mild and doesnt really interfere with enjoyment.

I'm not a huge burly smoker but I have acess to plenty of different MB blends, Golden Extra being one of them. To me, out of the pouch, this stuff does smell quite a bit like Hersheys cocoa powder. Taste like a mild burly. Been sitting on a couple of ounces for a year or so but am not sure how well burlys age. Worth a try if you come across some.

McB Golden Extra … Let me start off by saying I'm not a McBaren fan, for reasons I don't chose to go into here. But burley is one of my weaknesses, and Golden Extra is a burley, so I could not resist trying at least one tin. Add to that the ever increasing cost of OTC burley blends, this stuff is even more inviting.

My sample was a 100g tin, (not plastic) filled with attractive broken flakes. What's worth the mention because most of my favorite burleys are not flakes. I prefer flakes, as they provide (IMO) a longer/cooler smoke, especially outdoors,which is important to me. As for taste, GE has its own worthwhile character, nothing fancy, but gives me what I expect from a fine burley, with zero tongue bite and clouds cool mild smoke. At the very least, I can see this weed being my “stuff & puff” go too tobacco, for many of my daily routines. So if you enjoy OTC type tobaccos, and have not tried GE, for whatever reason, rest easy, this is a good one.

Brazil nut and honey comes through clearly in this tobacco.