Mac Baren 7 Seas Royal Blend

"A soft and exceptionally mellow smoke. Delightful, aromatic taste. A true pleasure journey." So say the folks from MacBaren. Now, let me correct them, "A harsh and exceptionally non-descript smoke. Disgustful, aromatic taste. A real nightmare." My throat was sore for three days after smoking this blend, and it ghosted one of my pipes.

Why couldn't I find a better pipe/tobacco shop in Paris, France? It's not that I didn't try (the one I went to was recommended by several people. To protect the innocent, I'll leave it nameless, but will say it was located very close to the Louvre. Their pipe selection was fine, but not so with their tobacco, a real disappointment on that count). I purchased a pouch of this stuff because of MacBaren's generally good reputation for quality pipe tobacco—this is not one of them.

I never buy the same aromatic twice, and this is no exception. I'm not sure why I bother sometimes. As with any aromatic, the room/car/air around you smell fantastic throughout your smoke. But as you churn on: -the flavorings coat your tongue -the moisture saturates the lower half and really heats up -after the quarter of the bowl, the only ones enjoying your smoke are the people around you.

Beginning pipe smokers, Do not shy away from nor be intimidated by English/Balkan/Virginia blends. Do not let anyone convince you that aromatics are where to start. This stuff belongs in Black and Milds. Any time I buy a cliche aromatic such as this, I'm cleaning my pipes with alcohol the next day and vowing never to try them again.

This is the third Mac Baren blend I have smoked and disliked. Very disappointing.

Head for G.L. Pease or Cornell and Diehl if you want to find out just how delicious tobacco can be on its very own without the help of flavor and casings. Thank me later.

The tobacco in pouch looks and feels like captain black royal. it is even as damp. Why would you copy crap? I wonder.

I like to smoke non aromatic tobacco because the first aromatic I ever smoked gave me such a fright. I still wake up nights thinking that my tongue has frayed. However, this one is almost pleasing to the tongue.

I've bought 4 pouches because they were old stock and old price, half of today's price. I planned to blend it with some semois but as it smells good enough to eat I decided to smoke it pure first.

I first packed a billiard and did not get any pleasure out of it. Then tried it in a wider and shallower conical bowl and experienced a very mild smoke albeit without much taste to speak of. I now reserve a very wide and shallow bowl for it to wrestle some taste out of the tobacco.

I don't see much aroma here. It's a very smooth and easy tobacco and if dried a bit, very gentle, too. I can see an all day though not so inexpensive smoke that doesn't require any attention and doesn't distract.

The reason for my experience might be the age of the tobacco. It came fresh and just a bit moist out of the pouch. I did notice that it's very dark, all of it. Deep dark brown with black Cavendish, impossible to tell the Virginia from the burley by their colour. Apparently, the blend has merged and mellowed.

As I'm writing it occurs to me that I might try it in a large pipe. I'll try that and update the review.

UPDATE: a Big pipe isn't a good idea at all. Condensation accumulates in the bottom of the bowl causing at first unpleasant sensations on the tongue and then a taste of a wet cloth that has been lying around for too long.

I'll try a bit more in bowls around 20mm wide and no deeper than 33mm. A Falcon perhaps? And I'll try to trade it against flakes. Perhaps the stuff doesn't age well, in spite of the Cavendish.

A Small Half Bent gives the best results, lots of creamy smoke and a tiny bit of taste.

One thing I can say about this tobacco is that I will be keeping some stored for a long time...because I just do not like this stuff. I drifted away from aromatics after smoking this tobacco and have found so many other tobaccos that I like a lot. The taste of this blend is extremely underwhelming, and the only way I can get flavor is by smoking it hot. Then I get bit. I have a feeling this will get better with age and also smoke a bowl here and there just for a change of pace.

Great smell to open the package, came with a good moisture. The tobaccos seem to be of good quality. The room note is excellent, my wife praised it. The qualities end here. I think the biggest problem is the additives. Hot burning, at first the tastes are very good, but in the end loses the candy, gets bitter and bites the tongue a lot, probably because of the excess of chemicals. I usually go with some cold drink, but the bite that this tobacco causes disappoints me. I had the same problems with Gold. Probably will not buy more. Captain Black seems to have fewer chemicals, not that it's a big tobacco, but I think it's better than this. Note: I used the internet translator, so I apologize if you are difficult to understand what I wrote.

A very underwhelming tobacco. It's an aromatic that doesn't wow in any way. It light smooth and burns well, but the taste and flavor are nearly nonexistent. For being a big selling brand you could do a lot better. Macbaren themselves have a lot better blends too, so don't waste your time on this. I can barely get any taste from this and I've smoked a full pouch.

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.