Mac Baren HH Acadian Perique

This is a brilliant stuff. Well, let me explain why. Imagine that you have decided to enjoy your favourite colour, for example orange. The best thing you can do is look at orange against white, black, green, purple background to get as much as you can. This is exactly what this tobacco mixture offers: it shows you perique against various other types of tobacco, in contrast. Perique is there all the time, other components come and go. Brilliant. You must like the taste of perique to be able to enjoy this blend - it's all about Per. If you like perique you must have (at least) one tin of this.

I choose this mixture when I want to enjoy the complex taste of perique and relax with it or when I can’t decide what to smoke...cavendish, burley, Virginia, fired Kentucky, oriental, everything (well, nearly everything) is here. I have dedicated a pipe to this; the smell of perique can be felt even if the pipe rests for a week; I'm not going to smoke pure Virginia with that. My wife doesn’t like this mix, but neither do the neighbours! Unique pipe tobacco, highly recommended.

Acadian Perique is absolute top-shelf stuff.

The moisture is just about perfect straight out of the tin for me, though i suspect some might find to to be a little more dry than they prefer. But as it is, it lights very easily and needs very few relights, if any.

While smoking, this blend produces an astonishing amount of variety. The flavours range from dark, earthy notes of Burley over spicy, peppery Kentucky and Perique all the way to the occasional hint of sweet Cavendish. Some dry, woody notes of oriental are also present, rounding things off nicely.

It all comes together to provide a deeply satisfying, moderately strong smoke that rewards your attention. This is a complex blend that wants to be savoured, rather than idly smoked while preoccupied.

Beyond that, Acadian Perique is a very well behaved blend. It burn as cleanly as they come, right down to a fine grey ash. It would probably bite if you got it burning too hot, but i actually found it to be rather forgiving in regards to pace, so i cannot attest to that.

I absolutely love this stuff. A proper blend for proper tobacco enthusiasts!

Nothing artificial about this mixture. Acadian Perique is no different than the St. James Stuff... just grown in a different region but processed the same way to supplement the supply of diminishing St. James from small tobacco fields. A delight to smoke. Perique doesn't dominate and allows the other players a chance to join the party. One of the better Perique blends on the market. HH stuff has always pleased.

This would also make a good mixer and I will experiment with it as I've done with many blends. A truly fine offering at a reasonable price. All the tobaccos in the blend are top shelf & will provide you with a good smoke. I'm not going to waste time explaining the sweet Cavendish infusion, VA grass, hay, prunes, figs, oatmeal, grandma's biscuits, buttery Orientals, earth, wind & fire, etc., effect. Can't imagine anyone not liking this blend. Nothing wrong with Acadian Perique & some have referred to it as Faux Perique... there is no such thing. It's just grown & processed in a different region using the same method to supplement the diminishing supply of St. James Perique. Problem is there are so many pipers who don't know what Acadian Perique is... this is a superb, quality blend. Russ Ouellette has created a blend using VA instead of Burley to create a different type of Perique & from what I've read, it is a superb tasting blend. Rather expensive & I've not taken the opportunity to sample it as yet.

If not for Acadian Perique, there'd probably at times, be no Perique at all. St. James, for the last forty years has been unable to meet the requirements to sustain the necessary demands of all the blenders using the specially processed leaf. St. James in the past years has slowly grown but their small farms in the Mississippi Delta region are maxed out each and every year and there are times when total crops are destroyed by weather conditions, etc. That's why pure St. James Perique commands a premium. Give them a break! Try at least one tin and determine for yourself so you won't be disappointed for missing out.

A real manly smoke. This is like Chuck Norris in a denim shirt working on his Bronco kind of smoke.

A very strong tasting blend to me. When I say strong, I mean that you will know you've got tobacco in your pipe. Earthy, spicy, mildly sweet (if sweet at all), and often woody.

The tin note is almost off-putting to me. Robust tobacco with an almost fermented undertone. It has that strange green tomato smell that I also picked up in Royal Yacht. In fact, I felt these blends are close in more than one way. Think of this as Royal Yacht with a bit less nicotine, no apparent topping, and a more varied and spicy palate.

Be warned. You will get a frog in throat if you smoke this too rapidly as it does have a robust 'Nic-Hit' Nicotine aside, there was absolutely no tongue bite.

Shortly after smoking my first bowl of this blend, I smoked my second. A great find and sure to be on my shelf in the future.

This could be an all day smoke for the hardier pipe smoker, but I think I will take it in moderation. Maybe something I would smoke through a night of drinking.

I've had a tin of this stuff sitting around for a couple of years; but I could never muster enough nerve to crack it open, that is until after visiting New Orleans late last year. A fella named "Joe" gave me a half an ounce to try out before the wife and I left on our Caribbeano cruise (on my return, I gave him some of my Capstan yellow—aren't pipe smokers friendly?). The half ounce of HH Acadian Perique disappeared in short order; we hadn't even arrived in Jamaica yet before that entire sample went up in smoke. In other words, this is great stuff!

Though I do notice the Perique right off, I also quickly notice the other tobaccos weaving in and out of the bowl. What a treat! Often times when blends have four or more types of tobacco I get worried— few blenders excel when it comes to multiple baccy's; clearly HH knows what he's doing. This blend is akin to a dance, a dance of smoke—it starts off with a cha-cha, then an interlude of peppermint twist, which rolls into a lengthy sophisticated waltz before trailing off with a samba (HH should have charged extra for the dance lessons)!

When it comes to Perique I usually only need a small amount, and though the weed is noticeable right up front and throughout, it does not at any time overwhelm the experience. Speaking for myself, I find Escudo more Perique forward than this blend. The tobacco lit well, stayed lit and smoked to a fine light ash—it was an enjoyable experience throughout. The nic hit was Medium to Strong, so, tolerable for me. All in all, an excellent blend from another blender who knows his craft.

Highly recommended!

Complex. All the tobaccos can be picked out, but the taste of hardwoods from the Kentuckys is the most noticeable. The Perique is faint, but does seem to linger as an after note. No tongue bite. Has quite a bit of nicotine, though. The room note contains the smell hardwoods in the fireplace, and is one of only two blends to set off my smoke detector so far. The other: Planta's Full English.

This blend smells and looks great in the tin, but the smoke is contradictory and over the top. Nothing subtle or apparent. Its full on and quite harsh rendering a burning at the back of the throat. I cannot discern any components of the blend as it seems very unbalanced. The kick is medium to somewhat strong.
It does not seem to get any better with repeated smokings.
No doubt some will like it. I am taking note that VaPers simply may not be to my liking after some further sampling.
The packaging is good being a real tin without a plastic top.
MacBaren markets and labels their product in a no nonsense way that I appreciate.

I have been on a perique lately and this is a fine blend containing perique and with it being the dominant flavor. In the tin this does have a fig/raison like aroma and the tobacco runs the gamit color wise from light to dark. it is rough cut and mine was fairly dry so needed no rubbing out. It loaded in the pipe quite easily and took only the first light to fire up. Upon firing up I immediately was rewarded with the rich deep taste of the perique with the VA sweetness in the background. The burley, oriental and Latakia never really entered the picture except to give it body. In fact I can't say I ever tasted the Latakia and question it being there. But it gave me a sweet, creamy, dry smoke that I enjoyed a lot and it burned very cool and well. It burned all the way down to the bottom of my pipe leaving nothing but a fine ash and no moisture or dottle. This is a great MacBaron blend and had no bite at all but does have the spicy tang of a good perique. I quite like this blend and will order more. I highly recommend this blend to perique lovers.

Mac baren pulled off something very interesting here.. so many components! And they all can be noticed during the smoke.. but it isn't a mess at all.. the perique, which is the namesake, isn't terribly strong.. yet somehow it lingers.. as if it is sitting on a pedestal behind the other components.. very smooth and spicy blend.. with that smoky Kentucky and touch of Turkish florals also demanding your attention.. a kind of dry and quick burning fine cut makes it an easy every day kinda smoke.. yet.. it is more flavorful than most flakes on the market.. it's distinct character also can put it in the 'mood smoke' category.. aging potential most definitely.. and another interesting smoke in the HH line..