Mac Baren HH Acadian Perique

I was excited to try this and received a couple of bowls to sample at a recent Seattle Pipe Club meeting.

I did like the flavor, but bright Virginias tend to bite me, and I did get a bit of bite from this.

The cavendish gives this a bit of a sweeter note than a straight VAPer. There are others in this style (Hearth & Home AJs VAPer immediately comes to mind) that I like better.

That said, there's certainly nothing wrong with this blend, and those who are exhaustively searching for the perfect VAPer should certainly consider giving this a whirl, especially if they want something slightly sweeter than a straight VAPer.

This tobacco had a lot of promise for me. I wanted to try a highly rated Perique tobacco. This is not what I had in mind... It's extremely flat, I'd be hard pressed to say there's any other flavor detection than that of Perique, which is mild at best.

The only upside to this tobacco is that it's nearly impossible to get tongue bite from it. Other than that, save your money.

The tin note is plums and raisins and a bit of molasses; delightful. The ribbon cut is mainly dark with a few lighter strands. The moisture level is perfect. I'm glad I waited 7 years to open this tin. I recommend you lightly pack this tobacco. It is going to burn fast, so slow down your puffing cadence. The taste is plums, raisins, figs, campfire smoke, sweet and sour with a little bit of dry spice mixed in. Smokes to the bottom of the bowl with a tad of moisture left. If this is a problem for you, let it dry for 20 minutes before packing and lighting. Definitely an all-day smoke for a VaPer lover.

Maybe I'm too soft, but this is stronger than I can smoke. I have smoked through and rated 16 tobaccos to date, 17 now, and have some others I'm waiting to review, so my comparisons are a little diverse.

The flavor of this tobacco is perique (fruity and musky) with burley. I like the flavor, although it's stronger than I normally prefer. The hardest part for me is the nicotine strength. I get a headache and nauseous when I smoke through bowl of Acadian Perique.

Unfortunately, this means I throw away lot from the bowl. I've moved it to a jar. Hopefully some age will mellow it out, and after maybe a second year of smoking I'll be able to handle the "nic-hit."

Smoking now:

Smells like fermented bread and raisins. Very good .

Packed and lit well enough. I get a Virginia forward grassy hay sour flavor. The perique is there and imparts a dried fruit flavor that is evident especially on the retro hale. I wouldn’t say this thus a heavy perique blend. Slight spice to this too. It does have a mild sweetness that’s natural and does not take away from natural tobacco flavors. Does leave an after taste and this is a bit stronger than I normally smoke. Does have a mouth tingle but no bite. Flavorful and rich in natural tobacco.

Not something I would normally smoke but it’s pretty good. I enjoyed it. Not an all day or all the time smoke for me but for a seasoned VAPAR smoker it might be. It is something that I would continue to enjoy.

This is a straight up Virginia Perique. I'm finding it's not my favorite type of blend to smoke, as they several I have tried yield thin, hot and often two-dimensional aroma. This particular blend however gets my respect, and anyone that does enjoy a high quality VaPer is due to give this a go. I was impressed with the natural flavor and high quality of tobacco. I'd say it's balanced in Perique, even on the light side. In spite of the name, this is not a Perique heavy blend at all, like Nightcap or Bayou Night. The resulting smoke is very pleasant and light, although thin for my liking. The Perique is only slightly spicy, and does not have a heavily fermented aroma in the tin or in the smoke, leading me to believe there's not much in the blend but it's clearly present in the smoke. The backdrop is a slightly bitter mix of burley and virginia. I also seem to detect a whiff of that amazing dark fired Mac Baren uses in their HH line. Update: By the end of the tin I grew to really like this blend. I found that it really needed to be puffed very gently to reap the rewards, which are in the form of smooth complexity. Most of the issues I had with this blend I now realize come from burning it too hot. Very good blend!

I buy pipe tobacco collections for a retirement hobby and, inevitably, wind up with three or four tins of this each year. I have not opened any of them so far. So, when a stuffed and well preserved pint jar came to me I knew this was the moment. Other reviewers have touched on this observation - This is the least MacBaren-looking MacBaren tobacco I've ever opened. Fairly dry to the touch but well seasoned and quite smokeable, it presented in a nice range of light and medium browns that gave off a pleasant blend aroma with perique added. Other reviewers have touched on this also - Labeling it as HH Acadian Perique without a following term like "blend" or "mixture" doesn't give a clear image of what smoking this blend is like. I found it to be a more than pleasant and well-handled blend of Virginia, Perique and Burley; especially in the upper third of the smoke. That portion of the smoke is four star material. Unfortunately, in the middle third the blend became increasingly weaker until it finally approached the flavor and texture of a Euro-cigarette. I let it go out. Later, I picked the pipe up and lit it again and, this time, a second transformation took place. To my mild amazement, it began to smoke stronger; stronger than in the top third but just as enjoyable. In subsequent smokes it showed that same middle dip in performance as before. When I used HHAP in blending, that dip disappeared; filled in by some other added tobacco. If we allowed half-star scoring, I would give this blend three and a half stars. For now its three.

We are in a golden age of pipe tobacco right now folks, and the easy availability of L.A. Poche Perique Tobacco company's Acadian Perique is one of the reasons why.

Leave it to Henrik Halberg to make a blend that shows off Perique so well. Like everything else in the HH line, it is worth having a tin or two of this around.

The name might deceive you. Not saying it has no perique, but not as abundant as it suggested. The spiciness and mild fruity flavor goes along until bowl's bottom. Well blended, but rather one-dimentioned. I can hardly taste the oriental. To me, it is one of the Vaper/bur family, but less tasty or fulfilled than the Rattray's offerings.