Mac Baren HH Acadian Perique

I admit to not being a fan of the HH series, while loving other Mac Baren blends. Syrian Latakia has too little Latakia, Matured Virginia has a wierd bitterish vinegary and smoked taste, and Highland Mixture is too thin for me.

This is probably the best in the series, although still not exactly my cup of tea.

Slightly moist in the tin, it needs some drying out. The Perique is well noticeable, and quite dominant during the smoke with its sour and spicy note. However, this tobacco stays quite monochromatic throughout, and with a dirty underlying note probably due to too much Cavendish and Burley. It's good, very tasty... but it fails to excite me or to be particularly refined. I still prefer straight virginias with perique, maybe with a touch of orientals, and preferably in flake format. For me, Ashton/Mc Connell's Old London still is the landmark to beat.

However, if you like stout tasting blends which are not too overpowering in nicotine, and you like Perique, you surely should give this one a try.

While there’s enough Perique and VA to make up a VA/Per here, there are also enough of Burley, Cavendish, and Orientals, as well, to make it hard to choose a genre for HH Acadian Perique; not that I really care if a blend well fits or defies its label, as long as I like it. Here, packed, soft, moist ribbons range from dishwater blonde to dark brown, reflecting the constituent tobaccos. Tin note is aged silage with fermenting Kiwi fruit. HHAP handles, loads, lights, and smokes down just fine, right from the tin, but IMO it benefits from in-tin aging, also from rest after it’s opened. Basic tastes include a woody, sourer version of the tin note, along with savory spices from the Perique and the Orientals, including pepper, coriander, paprika, and cardamom, and some slightly musty, earthy nuts from the Burley, and these tastes ramp up as HHAP burns down. Though the Perique is present top to bottom it is not a stand-out. Scents run parallel to the tastes. Along with sweetened Cavendish, condimental sugar has been added to the natural VA sugars that come mostly from air cured brown, and there are also brighter lemon and rather stolid red VAs. As I continue smoking, the VAs get a little earthy, and then they seem to sidle up to the Burley, and the lot tends to go a little flat and muddled on me. Strength builds slowly to medium. Tastes are just over medium. Room note is pretty good for a blend containing Perique and Orientals. Aftertaste is quite nice, a lingering, trailing off of the best of the smoke.

I see that HH Acadian Perique is well liked by some experienced reviewers, but I am just not taken with it. Although it’s not bad, and I don’t hate it, 3 months smoking it have not made me want to smoke any more of it. Therefore, it’s a 2 in my book.

Tin note: Sweet. Figs. Raisins. No peppery tingle in the nose.

There doesn't seem to be any relationship between tin note and flavor: all I taste is pepper. The subtleties of the other tobaccos are lost. I believe this blend has at least three times the perique of Elizabethan Mixture, which I smoke every day.

The pipe ghosting here is enormous. Much more so than with other perique blends, such as Dunhill Deluxe Navy Rolls or Escudo.

Leaves behind a tarry perique residue that coats the nasal passages like superglue, flavoring anything that comes after it.

My theoretical ideal blend would be the one described here: "Virginia, Burley, original Cavendish, dark fired Kentucky, Oriental and of course a fair amount of Perique," but for some reason this one by MB just doesn't do much for me. It's kind of boring, and the tobaccos whether individually or corporately don't make a statement. More of one tobacco would mean less of the other, that's where the blender's discernment is scrutinized. Should MB have used more than 5% Perique and less Kentucky ? Is the quality of the Virginia there? Would a sweet Cavendish balance the profile? We are only privy to the end result and don't know what transpired back in Svendborg, what sort of consensus was reached when the accountant(s), marketer(s) and blender(s) decided on an end product. Fortunately the MB tins are dated, this one "JUN 2013" printed on the back. Soon after opening this tin, sealed the tin back up in a "FoodSaver" vacuum sealer and will see if time gives this more character. Incidentally this blend pairs well with Port, but maybe that's just me trying to substitute for the sugar missing from the Cavendish.

This new offering (well, from last year or late '09) is a stronger and tastier take from MacBaren.

A bit of a puzzler at first, because of the numerous types of tobaccos into it, one can still make out the plum taste of the perique.

After a couple weeks that it is opened, it will develop into something that is ok, but not more for my own liking.

I have 2 more tins. I will smoke as much as I can from both, but I will not buy again.

You could call this a burley blend since the burley, perique, and kentucky are the main players. The virginia, oriental, and cavendish are way in the background and not very noticeable. When I first opened the tin I smelled a lot of the standard Mac Baren casing, but that fades with time in the jar and doesn't come through in the smoke at all.

This is an acrid, earthy, burley forward smoke with basically no sweetness. The second half of the bowl is much better than the first as everything mellows out a little and the virginias come through a little bit more. It is spicy on the tongue and in the retro hale, but not overbearing. I have a hard time picking up on the oriental or cavendish. Medium nicotine.

I enjoy this one for what it is but I can think of a dozen other blends I would smoke before I reach for this one. It' a great middle of the road smoke and I enjoy it when I'm mowing the lawn or doing other outside chores around the house. It definitely ain't a thinker so you can just light up and go about your business and for that it is great. Once my tin runs out I doubt I will restock it. If you are looking for something that isn't too complex than this might be right for you. Just a basic ribbon cut VaPer.

The tin has a fermented, pungent smell and that to me is very inviting. But... this mixture for lack of a better description is coarse, dry and rough tasting. The Dark Kentucky and Perique, both condiment tobaccos, are mismatched. You get some Cavendish and even Oriental once in a while, as for Burley and Virginia, they are buried in this avalanche of flavors. On the plus side, it burns to a white ash, no bite and has a pleasant aftertaste. This kind of tobacco probably needs a niche of smokers to survive on the market, I consider it an acquired taste not a mixture that a regular pipe smoker would indulge in with reckless abandon. Update 22/01/12 Smoked it outside in winter conditions. I guess that all that drying and the colder weather helps a lot with this kind of tobacco. A good winter smoke especially for those that don't smoke Latakia.

Virginia lover

Have been a pipe smoker on and off for about 40 years, and recently started again after several years lay-off. I decided to buy a few cob pipes and try out some American themed tobaccos. Perique was previously only known to me in the Escudo version, and I'm into stuff from Louisiana, so decided to give this a go due to its"Acadian" nametag. I certainly get the perique taste in this mixture, but find the oriental addition to be a bit overwhelming. I've never been a follower of cavendish tobaccos, and couldn't determine it in this mixture. I am getting an aftertaste akin to Balkan Sobranie from this offering, which is literally thousands of miles away from what I expected. I was once an avid smoker of Balkan Sobranie with the Yenidje leaf additive, but changed to Peterson Irish Flake as a staple, due to complaints of the lingering room note of the Sobranie. I personally find this mixture to smoke a bit on the dry side. It smells very oriental in the tin, lights up easily and smokes to fine ash, and I love the fact that there are no sugary additives. However, I won't be buying another tin as it doesn't tick many of the boxes I am looking for.

Edited:- Rather than throw the stuff away I decided to try smoking this in a newish Stanwell brushed briar, and the difference was quite significant. The tobacco had more taste and everything seemed better about it. I don't know why MacBaren chose to add Latakia to this mixture, but I suppose they know what they are doing. I have changed my rating to "Somewhat recommended" as it is nice in this day of sugary sweet "smoked a bowl in 10 minutes" stuff to get the chance to enjoy tobacco in a more natural form.