Mac Baren 7 Seas Gold Blend

I liked its taste. Room smelled so nice. You should try this. This was my firt tabacco and it has not been too long since i started but i liked it best.

I am new to pipe smoking. And the only reason I thought of posting my comments was to say that it appears like I am smoking a whole different blend. The 7 Seas Gold pouch was fairly new. The bowl stays lit and the tobacco is easy to pack. But man is there some bite! After two bowls, I felt like someone had steamed my tongue! Taste wasn't bad I think, but honestly I was trying to avoid the bite and concentrating on just that. I am going to let this tobacco sit for a while and see how it is a few weeks later.

7SG has a great smell in the pouch which makes a smart presentation, the golden/brown Cavendish base is correctly moist and ridiculously easy to keep lit, mild on the tongue and a very easy going in every sense. The flavouring is a mix of vanilla and fruits very pleasant to the nose, it is applied with light hand but it’s rather chemical and it lasts for ages in my mouth with an unpleasant feel. Still I surely prefer this one over its cousin Regular, none the less I can’t give it more than two stars because of that bad chemistry feel.

Well, it is not the worst tasting vanilla aromatic I have ever tasted. How is that for the start of a review. I have had the tin for two years and was happy to finish it off the other day. I suppose their is some decent tasting Burley notes when you get down to about the last third, but the preceding thirds are typical heavy chemical taste.

The room note is great, I will give it that much. I have received some compliments in that regard. I like the tin art and there is no need for wasting a jar on this one as the humectants will keep it in its moist state for at least two years in the tin.

As to how to recommend, I will give it two stars. Better than a captain Black, but far short of a Peterson or even a Stokkebye Aro.

Well it comes in pouches here. Easy to burn and easy to smoke, gives you something unoticeable about in your mouth. The vanilla flavor is lost during the start. Without filter it comes the flavor that they say. With filter some stiches comes from the nose but boring.
The pouch after several openings make the tobacco dry which at my opinion needs to happen because this is moist enough.

Easy to smoke... sometimes to boring to puff puff.
Maybe if i have nothing to fill up my pipe i buy it again,

Anyway.

After smoking great Royal Blend, i was curious about other 7 Seas tobaccos. I've tried Golden Blend and it really dissapointed me. It's very sweet but not in the natural way. It's owerwhelming, chemical sweetness. Aroma is flat, it taste just like pure sugar for me. This tobacco is also very wet, leaving sticky layer inside the pipe. Worth trying only if someone is looking for very sweet tobacco.

Sort of smelled like a dusty box of gingerbread cookies and graham cracker crumbs. Nothing terribly sweet here, just a hint of spice wafting over some uninspired wet cardboard aroma.

Sparked up great and burned pretty quick. It was a simple smoke, yet lacked the initial aroma for taste once lit. It did leave some spittle in the bowl, and at times got caught in my throat with an odd bite, which was odd since everything about it was mild and unremarkable.

It was an OK smoke, but for an aromatic it was one dimensional and flat.

So the description here says that it's a Virginia Burley, but in the website of Mac Baren it's stated that a "touch" of black cavendish is added. I do think that this is noticed throughout the smoke, specially because the burley never truly predominates the background.

It is a really mild mixture. It has a slight caramel-like vanilla flavour, and some honey too. Although the honey comes and goes, and is lost in (or enhance the...) caramel-like sense of the general smoke.

I think it's a good mixture for beginners, and a decent one for long-time smokers that not necessarily like strong case aromatics. Now, for aromatics lovers this might go as a little plain. I, myself, am a regular english smoker, but when I go for an aro I like to go for something with a stronger flavour and aroma. So for me it got a little boring around halfway of the bowl.

Doesn't need a lot of relights, and the moisture was actually on point. I don't know if this is a good thing though , since the tin I smoked from was a friend's and he said that he opened that tin a long time ago ("months ago, maybe a year") but that he didn't smoke that often, so I'm gonna assume that brand new from the tin the tobacco might come a little too wet.

In general a good smoke. I'm going to give it 2 stars mostly because for me it was a bit boring. But I think it's a really good one for new smoker

A nice aromatic tobacco. I get a sweet maple and brown sugar taste when smoking it. About 3/4 through the bowl, the maple and brown sugar flavor fades and is replaced by a sweet natural Virginia tobacco flavour. Room note is of tasty baked cookies or pancakes. No artificial taste. But as with most aromatics, it should be properly dried before smoking (~30 seconds in the microwave is the quickest and most convenient way). You will also get a nice little nicotine hit at the bottom of the bowl. Complements MacBaren's Seven Seas Regular nicely. Beginner and veteran smokers alike really can't go wrong with this delicious and affordable tobacco.

** Minus one star 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. **

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.