Mac Baren 7 Seas Regular Blend

I get a chocolate-vanilla flavor mixed with a woodsy, natural tobacco taste when smoking it. Yes, it actually tastes like it smells. It's a bit sweet, but not overwhelmingly so. Halfway through the bowl, the sweet chocolate/vanilla flavour starts to fade and is replaced by a wonderfully-smooth toasted butter taste, and that woodsy natural tobacco flavour starts to come through even more prominently. Very nice room note, too. You will also get a nice little nicotine hit at the bottom of the bowl.

** Minus two stars because this blend really isn't an all-day smoke. Even after proper drying, it still starts to burn my tongue after 3 or 4 bowls. It would be better if they put less propylene glycol on it like Amphora Red and Rich Aroma blends. Hey MacBaren, lay off the PG!**

Proper dryness and air flow is the secret to getting the most out of this tobacco (and most aromatics). Here's a step-by-step guide on how I recommend smoking it:

1. Properly dry it out. Upon first opening a new pouch, the tobacco will be quite moist. It should be dried some before smoking. I dump the full pouch out on a large plate and spread it thin. I then microwave it on high setting for ~30 seconds. After that, I remove the plate from the microwave and let it air cool for about 45 minutes (more humid conditions will require a longer drying time). Then back into the pouch it goes. This drying out process only needs to be done once for each newly-opened pouch.

2. Gravity fill your pipe just below the top of the bowl. (I recommend unfiltered half-bent pipes for a cooler and more flavourful smoke). When I say gravity fill, I mean dumping the tobacco into the pipe. No packing or pushing. None. Zero. Now after the first gravity fill, lightly tamp the tobacco using only the weight of the tamper. Now gravity fill again a second time to just below the top of the bowl. By filling the pipe this way, you will get maximum air flow. The tobacco will burn better, and the smoke will be cooler and more flavorful.

3. Light the bowl. It will require two or three charring lights. After the second or third charring light, lightly tamp the tobacco down only using the weight of the tamper. Don't push it. Now light it again and it should stay lit for quite a while. I find that matches work best for the charring lights.

4. Dump ash as needed, but don't push down hard with the tamper. Only use tamper weight.

5. Stir it. Near the bottom of the bowl, you may need to stir the tobacco up a bit to burn the last of it.

Reminds me off Borkum Riff Bourbon Whiskey, when it still had burley.

In this case that is not a bad thing, before I got a serious passion for pipe smoking I would smoke Borkum Riff whiskey and Hamiltons. I enjoyed it before they switched the Burley for cavendish (although I very much doubt it would live up to my current standards)

It lacks the serious flaws Borkum Riff has/had, such as it's absurdly wet smoke, extreme tongue-bite, extreme fast burning etc. In fact I find this tobacco less bitey than most Mac Baren offerings.

But it has the same flavour profile, just... better. It's nice to have it. It's close enough to Borkum to give me pipe-newbie feelings off nostalgia.

A sweet, slightly nutty taste off mild burley and vanilla sits firmly at the center. I perceive it as artificial but not bad. Like eating candy.

Less cardboard taste than from most burleys this mild & cheap. The very low price should be taken into consideration when one judges the quality off the leaf.

Chocolate notes, fruit notes and the VA will pop up from time to time. But only occassionally and fleetingly, and will require you to pay attention to find it.

The taste develops throughout the bowl but not dramatically. It gets less pleasant towards the end, when the toppings have steamed off the tobacco alone isn't enough to carry the blend. Is it low quality leaf or just poorly balanced without the toppings? I'm not sure, but the lack of cardboard taste and other overt unpleasantness tilts me towards beleiving the latter. But this might still be a blend that you prefer to stop smoking before it's all ash. This problem (which really isn't that bad, after all you never actually finish an entire cigar for example) may be mitigated by adopting a very slow smoking pace and not relighting a bunch off times.

This REALLY is an aromatic and won't come close to swaying anyone who dislikes the genre. If you're looking for Borkum Riff that doesn't suck or just a solid, non-biting aromatic with great value, it's a good option.

This wraps up my adventure across the 7 seas.

A rather wide chunky cut. Tin note is fantastic. I smell vanilla/caramel and a hint of some fruity smell, possibly a cherry note? I have learned over the years that for most tobaccos, especially aromatics, it is better to have a tobacco too dry than to wet. I set this out overnight to dry, and I believe it helped greatly with the functionality of the blend. Compared to most tobaccos in this class, it smoked dry well.

Packed pretty easily, but even with all that air time it took a bit to get it going. Taste is a pretty average aromatic taste. These 7 seas blends do have a base note of tobacco that is a little more apparent than their American naval rank based competitors.

As I have said for the other blends in this series. If heavily cased aromatics are your jam, you will love these blends. If like me, you know aromatics are not your thing but damnit, you just have to try every thing you see, you will neither be surprised or disappointed.

I always keep some of these blends around for others. The room note always gets that reminiscent of grandpa reaction. Lets be honest, as much as I only smoke for me, what pipe smoker does not love it when somebody says "that pipe smells so good"?

This blend (like the other Mac Baren 7 seas) is a decent aromatic but nothing all that special. To me, they are the perfect summertime camping blend. Aromatic enough to make those around you notice and enjoy. But just a one note, hit you hard aromatic. No subtlety, nothing really interesting, just sweet baccy. No bite and you really won’t miss much by puffing fast. So jam some in a beat up old pipe and get drunk by the fire. 2.5 stars

This has a chemical taste to it. I prefer 1Q, and Peretti's 432 (I think that is what they call their vanilla aromatic). Burns OK and has a good room note.

7 Seas Regular picked a good time to sail over for a tasting. My buds have burned out lately with too many aromatics and heavy English blends, so I was happy to smoke something a bit more basic. I opened the pouch to something musty, dusty, and somehow sour, and I was not overly excited by the aroma.

The lack of excitement however, worked to its favor, because I didn't pay much attention to what I was smoking and by the end of the bowl I was surprised by how much time elapsed. The burn was not unnaturally slow, to the contrary, the unassuming nature of the blend caused my puffing pace to slow down (and I tend to huff hotly). It was a warm pleasant smoke you could find yourself reading a book to (or in my case sit on the computer playing games).

If I had to pin a flavor to this one is tricky, it isn't too sweet, but something softer akin to a graham cracker. It is hard to say if my experience was positive due to the timing of when I had it, or if it was a well crafted blend, but in either case I was happy to set sail.

im reviewing this in comparison to other otc (same category blends) smoked in briar. bought it for 5.33 usd. it smells good sweet buttery creamy, this blend is soaked with pg i dried it for a couple of days before smoking it ,i like my tobacco dry . when packed light to medium and dried this tobacco shines it taste just like it smells with a little citrus from the virginias.

its recommended for ppl who like aromatics for a cheap, grab a go smoke just don't expect much.

when dried, it will not bite and doesn't need much relights and ppl around you will like the room note. 1 point doesn't bite. 1 point for price. 0 points for quality its an otc. 0 point for taste (subjective)

On opening the tin you get exactly what you have paid for , a chocolate and vanilla tobacco at a reasonable price point. It's a recognisable scent but with a some what artificial edge. Moisture is not a problem in the pack I have received and the tobacco loads easily into the bowl. Lighting is in no way an issue nore is keeping the bowl lit. The first taste delivers exactly what the tin nose promised, chocolate, vanilla and maybe a little caramel but the same as the the tin nose there is something slightly artificial about the taste. It's hard to explain, it's a bit like comparing hershey's chocolate to fine Belgian couverture chocolate. For me the flavour remains constant through out the bowl and while it can build up a little heat it never becomes a problem. I would talk about the tobacco flavours but I found them quite hard to find and what I did find was neither offensive or remarkable.

This tobacco has it's place and is not a disaster by any means but will also never threaten higher end aromatics like 4th generation. It is an easy going, puffable, all day long blend that will not offend nor set the world on fire.

The cocoa tin note (more appropriately: pouch note! ) transfers quite nicely to the smoke of this good USA-style aromatic. It has a nice taste and aroma, especially when you let the smoke "retro-whirl" to the back of the nose.This blend is light and pleasantly sweet, nice all day long with a mug of coffee or a cappuccino. The irregularly cut ribbon tobacco burns very easily and produces nice, rich clouds of smoke. The burley (which I personally dislike) does not become prevalent during the first half of the smoke. After 2/3rds of the bowl though, a light chemical aroma comes forward, disturbing the conclusion of an otherwise enjoyable smoke. A defect: the wall of the empty bowl remains rather gooey, and extra care is needed to remove such sticky material. due to this defect, a dedicated pipe is needed. No tongue bite whatsoever throughout the smoke. I prefer this mixture to the 7 seas Royal.