Mac Baren 7 Seas Royal Blend

Just receieved my 100 grams tin today. Opened the tin and wow - what a wonderful aroma. Caramel and brown sugar for sure. Unlike what other fellow pipe friends are saying I did not find this blend the same as Captain Black royal. It is certainly a Mac Baren aromatic, similar IMHO to vanilla cream loose cut. Does not have the loose cut plugs though. Moisture contents for me was alright. The blend is beautiful to see... Golden and black leaves meld together. Packs nicely on one of my adorable Vauen's. Lights easily. Room note is pretty decent. Nicotine contents is medium, not light like others perceived. Taste is good, sweet, did not burn very hot for me, blue velvety smoke, by mid to end of bowl some smokiness perceived, of course I am not talking latakia here...but a decent tobacco flavour. Liked it very much. A decent aromatic for sure.

As I slowly approach the end of my journey across the 7 seas (I am smoking and reviewing all in the line), I have to remind myself to keep the purpose of these tobaccos in mind.

This series is an attempt to upscale the traditional American style aromatic, and in that mission, Mac Baren has knocked it out of the park. These blends for me, are a refinement and sophistication on the Captain Black blends. That being said, at the end of the the day, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it is till a duck. It may be a prettier or more sophisticated duck, but it is what it is. These are very heavily cased aromatic blends, and they behave exactly as you would expect them to.

As always, the tin note is just heavenly, and the room note matches. This is a very wet blend. I let it sit out for about 1.5 hours before fire hit leaf and that amount of time barely made a dent. For me, this would be a blend I would set out the night before. A little crispy is always better than sopping.

While the moisture level made it hard to get going, it genuinely surprised me with how well it stayed lit. I expected many more relights based on the moisture level.

This was pleasant for the category it sits in. While this is not the type of blend I usually enjoy, inside of the heavily cased aromatic world, these 7 seas blends perform as good as any in the class.

If this type of blend is your thing, I expect you would love this line. I personally believe these are way better than the captain black line, but the nostalgia factor is so hard to beat.

I had a hard time with this blend as it was a good one with plenty of what you would expect from a decent burley-cavendish- Virginia tobacco. It burns cool and clean, never bites, but the flavoring is over the top just a bit for me. I have a tin that I use to collect what doesn’t make it into the pipe and I thought this blend added a good roundness with that mish-mash, but on its own, it gives me palate fatigue. Again, it’s a good tobacco so I’ll give it a 2 and a half and let you decide.

ill be reviewing these in comparison to other aromatics smoked in briar pipe.

bought it from a local store for 5.33 usd. thought its an upgrade from cb royal. upon opening the pack i was greated with a wonderful smell of nail polish and some acetone with a whiff of chocolate. from the looks of this propylene glycol soup i just knew i had to leave it in a plate for 2 days to dry out. after packing light i had trouble lighting it eventually... voila i can blow a mildly sweet ashtray flavoured steam. as a pipe tobacco aromatic it failed from every aspect try selling it as hooka tobacco it may work . would recommend 7 seas regular, cb original or any other european style aromatic they are much better .

This aromatic was biting like hell. It was very wet out of the pouch, but even after some drying time it did not have a better taste and less biting. The smell from pouch was wonderful, but it wasn´t worth for that pain.

Royal blend is another very good aromatic from MacBaren, which captivates with a wonderful smell from the tin. The sweetness is the most noticeable, which most probably comes from chocolate and honey-vanilla notes with a very distinct hint of liqueur. Oh, great experience! Several times a day, I swing the inside of the jar into which I poured this tobacco.

Humidity, for me, at the right level, although I must admit that I am not a fan of too dry tobacco. However, it is worth shredding it before packing, because then it burns easily, slowly and, for a MacBaren, quite cool. Also does not leave condensate. It definitely shouldn't bite.

The taste is unexpectedly deep. Of course, you shouldn't expect an experience like e.g. with Bobs Ch Flake from Gawith. The most noticeable from the very beginning seems to be sweet dessert chocolate, with a hint of honey and vanilla and a liqueur sticking to the back all the time. About halfway through the bowl, the sweetness disappears, giving way to tea - like, grassy, ​​woody Virginia. It is all wonderful indeed.

Definitely recommendable aromatic for a everyday smoke, which in terms of price / quality ratio is second to none, just like the others from the 7 seas series.

EDIT: After two bulks im tired, this is just too much sweet like a whole jar of nugat cream eat at once. Must say that i was also very bored smoking it at the end. I need a break, very long break. In fact im not sure if thata break will ever come to the end. And because of that im oblige to change my rating to four stars.

The weaker of the 7 seas blends to be easily found here in Brazil. The fruit and liquor aromatics are heavy and don't add a thing to the tasteless tobacco.

[FRENCH]

A la sortie de la blague, le 7 Seas Royal Blend nécessitait un petit temps de séchage. je le trouve légèrement gras au toucher, avec une odeur mélangeant de la liqueur (plutôt du rhum), du sucre, et une pointe de vanille très subtile. Facile à bourrer dans la pipe, relativement facile à allumer, il se consume très bien. Au fumage, un goût prononcé de tabac aromatisé à l'alcool et au sucre, très agréable, touches qui ont tendance à disparaître à la fin du bol (dernier quart environ). Pas de changement notable dans le goût de la fumée durant le fumage, c'est un tabac qui a une ligne directrice et qui s'y tient. La room note est très plaisante, un peu prononcée mais vraiment agréable. Le côté aromatisé est très présent, ce tabac peut ne pas convenir aux fumeurs préférant des tabacs non aromatisés. Entre un 7 Seas Royal Blend et un Alsbo Sungold, je préfère largement un 7SRB, dont je ne me suis pas lassé (contrairement au Sungold). J'ai fumé une blague de 50g de ce tabac uniquement dans des pipes bruyère et bois de rose, la prochaine fois j'essayerai dans une maïs.

I wanted to like this blend. It smelled so appealing to me when I first opened the sample bag. Unfortunately, it just didn't do it for me. Like most of the 7 seas line, it bites and is pretty flat on flavor.