Mac Baren Amsterdamer
(1.89)
Hollandsche Rooktabak Fijne Snede. Fine cut. It used to be, as per the picture, Hollandsche Rooktabak Middel Snede, a medium cut. You may know the Amsterdamer from your last holiday trip to France, a blend of choice tobaccos, blended after an old dutch recipe. He's flavored really mild with a touch of licorice and has excellent burning qualities. This traditional loose-cut blend from South American and African Virginia tobaccos, as well as Kentucky from South America and far East is a wonderful treat for pipe smokers that look for a tobacco with a strong character.
Notes: Previously produced by Imperial Tobaccos; and before that, owned and produced by Seita, it is now owned and manufactured by Mac Baren. From Mac Baren's website: "A typical Dutch blend based on the finest Virginia and dark fired Kentucky tobaccos. The Virginia tobacco origins from 2 continents and adds a natural sweetness to the blend. The dark fired Kentucky contributes to taste with a slight smoky note due to the fire-curing. Different tobaccos each with their own distinctiveness are masterly blended to perfection to create the greatness in Amsterdamer. The blend is a loose cut pipe tobacco which makes it easy for the pipe smoker to handle."
Details
Profile
Strength
Mild to Medium
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
Mild
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Tolerable
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Mild to Medium
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming
Average Rating
|
1.89 / 4
|
Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 Reviews
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 17, 2015 | Mild | Very Mild | Mild | Tolerable |
This is another fine example how everything regarding pipes got worse in recent years.
While Amsterdamer never was a high class tobacco its current incarnation is a bad joke. For starters they changed the entire blend. There are no more Java tobaccos in it which were one of *the* defining criteria for an old school dutch blend. But also the taste is gone and replaced by some sort of cigarette flavour i really don't care for. If i want the taste of cigarettes i go out and buy some, there is really no need to manipulate that into my pipe tobacco.
The burn is hellish fast as it has always been in this blend. If smoked too hot its very prone to tongue bite. This is not helped by the pouch being used to pack it is notorious for being unable to keep moisture.
The room note also turned unpleasantish but it never was that great anyways.
If you lived in Europe and started your pipe career early enough it was damn hard to avoid this blend weather you could enjoy it or not. And if nothing else it at least was cheap, another thing that this blend lost. It is not worth the € 8,- they ask for it at all.
I really want to find something positive in the current incarnation but all that comes to mind is its nostalgic pouch.
Overall i cannot recommend this blend any longer unless you feel *really* adventurous and ran out of stuff you have not smoked yet. Which is a pity because the old school dutch blends are a dying breed as it is, no need to further advance that by deliberately ruining them.
While Amsterdamer never was a high class tobacco its current incarnation is a bad joke. For starters they changed the entire blend. There are no more Java tobaccos in it which were one of *the* defining criteria for an old school dutch blend. But also the taste is gone and replaced by some sort of cigarette flavour i really don't care for. If i want the taste of cigarettes i go out and buy some, there is really no need to manipulate that into my pipe tobacco.
The burn is hellish fast as it has always been in this blend. If smoked too hot its very prone to tongue bite. This is not helped by the pouch being used to pack it is notorious for being unable to keep moisture.
The room note also turned unpleasantish but it never was that great anyways.
If you lived in Europe and started your pipe career early enough it was damn hard to avoid this blend weather you could enjoy it or not. And if nothing else it at least was cheap, another thing that this blend lost. It is not worth the € 8,- they ask for it at all.
I really want to find something positive in the current incarnation but all that comes to mind is its nostalgic pouch.
Overall i cannot recommend this blend any longer unless you feel *really* adventurous and ran out of stuff you have not smoked yet. Which is a pity because the old school dutch blends are a dying breed as it is, no need to further advance that by deliberately ruining them.
Pipe Used:
It went trough rotation.
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 19, 2016 | Mild to Medium | None Detected | Extremely Mild (Flat) | Tolerable |
Gentlemen, don't waste your time; this is cigarette tobacco.
Apart from a pleasant, fig/dates burley pouch aroma, it is utterly uninteresting. Burns hot, incredibly fast, tastes ashy and bland. Very thin ribbon/shag cut (like cigarette tobacco). Room note is unsurprisingly like cigarettes, albeit a tad more pleasant. Works well for roll-ups though (or pehaps if you prefer to inhale the smoke) but that's not the point here.
Apart from a pleasant, fig/dates burley pouch aroma, it is utterly uninteresting. Burns hot, incredibly fast, tastes ashy and bland. Very thin ribbon/shag cut (like cigarette tobacco). Room note is unsurprisingly like cigarettes, albeit a tad more pleasant. Works well for roll-ups though (or pehaps if you prefer to inhale the smoke) but that's not the point here.
Pipe Used:
Corn cob
PurchasedFrom:
Local tobacconist in France
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Sep 29, 2015 | Medium | Extremely Mild | Mild to Medium | Strong |
Another "find" on a Spanish holiday. I used to regularly smoke this tobacco whilst on holiday in France and quite enjoyed it way back in the 70s and 80s. It is the second most popular pipe tobacco in France. I persevered with it in a new Spanish bought pipe, which was of decidedly inferior quality. I never finished the pouch as it appeared to be a bad match for the pipe (no pun intended). The pouch and remaining tobacco was deposited in a communal waste bin at the holiday resort, as I found it smoked far too hot these days for my taste.
Pipe Used:
Spanish pipe which bore name "Dorex"
PurchasedFrom:
Santa Susanna Tabac shop
Age When Smoked:
straight from pouch/packet
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 21, 2012 | Mild to Medium | Mild | Medium | Strong |
This tobacco is probably a best seller in France. Actually it's the most known. It's sweet and rather tasty. It's a good tobacco for beginners because of its low nicotine strength and its taste that isn't disgusting.
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Sep 16, 2019 | Strong | None Detected | Extremely Mild (Flat) | Unnoticeable |
That was my first pipe tobacco, because it is the easiest to find in France, and I'm glad I rapidly found better quality products. The taste is awful, and the tobacco itself isn't worth the try.
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Apr 18, 2011 | Mild to Medium | None Detected | Full | Tolerable |
My experience with this tobacco reaches 80-s, when Amsterdamer was available lightly pressed in vacuum packed pouches, and was made in Switzerland, not in France. I remember this tobacco well, as relatively light, golden shag of a very pleasant, subtle sweet "grassy" flavoring. As I suspect, it was mostly kumarine. Just recently I had extremely different affair with this stuff. After a long gap, last week in Paris I've bought one pouch of Amsterdamer, which surprised me as dark, harsh, of cheap impression tobacco, something like really bad cigerette. Previous aroma was not detected at all, another one was barely present, but in any case it was nothing pleasant. Generally, it is different and significally worse tobacco than 20 years ago, made by different company, of different tobaccos and with different (if any) flavoring. It is bad thing, which shouldn't be considered as pipe tobacco.
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