Mac Baren HH Old Dark Fired

Top five for me. Actually top 2, and I've neglected reviewing for so long simply because I'm incapable of doing this blend justice with any words I know. I'm a simple man, and I like my tobacco the same.

Open the tin or jar anywhere in the house, and you'll know it at the other end of the house. The distinct, delectable smokiness is strong with this one. To me it resembles really smoky BBQ sauce. I've never had the ready rubbed, but I find that rubbing out the flakes destroys a lot of what I love about ODF. Although it does light off a little easier that way. Apparently, like good BBQ, low and slow is the way to go for flavor. So I fold and stuff, after giving the flake a wee bit of dry time, then give it a couple of charring lights. It burns long and cool with minimal relights this way, and the richness of flavor is astounding to say the least. You have to try ODF to get the flavor profile...I think any description just falls short. All the richness of Irish Flake complemented by quality red Virginia. Maybe a mixture of IF and McClelland Blackwoods would give you a fair comparison. I personally enjoy the room note, and so does my wife, which is a bigger deal than what it sounds when the temp outside is nearing 100 and I just have to get my ODF fix.

Seriously fantastic tobacco. ODF and brother Bold Kentucky caused a restructuring of my rotation. Simply put, once I discovered the two, all my others sat collecting dust while these two disappeared at alarming rates. But now I have an ODF/BK day to look forward to 3-4 days a month. And those days I just seem to jump out of bed a little earlier, feel a little brighter, and spend a lot more time with the pipe. Thank you Mac Baren.

Mixed bag this tobacco, the pipe being very influential on the smoke.

In some pipes I get a sweet virginia start that fades as the bowl progresses into a deep woody smokey earthy flavour of the dark-fired burley. In some pipes I just get the deep woody smokey earthy flavour of the dark-fired burley. And in some pipes the sweet virginia weaves in and out of the dark-fired burley flavour all the way through the bowl.

I can see why people love this flake as it's easy to prepare, doesn't bite, smokes dry and it has alot of flavour. Personally I'm not keen on the very dominant dark fired burley flavour.

Update of 2014-12-07: Sitting with my laptop in front of me smoking a bowl of this and feel compelled to say that this is simply GREAT tobacco. Rich, tasty and unobtrusive yet with a very strong and confident personality. Incredibly satisfying and tastefully rich. Damn it's good stuff. So glad I went totally OCD on my orders a few years ago.

I've had a few tins of ODF and it is a consistent and excellent product. Well cured, well blended, well cut and, well, very enjoyable. Packs and burns with ease and to my most important criterion, totally satisfying. I love the taste that seems to swirl around in my mouth between sips and puffs, and the fabulous aftertaste (if that word can be used to connote an asset and not a liability). This tobacco is why I have smoked a pipe for so long now. ODF, and feel free to laugh, makes you feel like a man (and not in the "I just set the record for consuming a gallon of habenero sauce in 6 minutes and now I'm going to puke" kind of way. Along with a few other HH offerings (Mature Virginia comes to mind) MacBaren has come in from the cold and raised the bar. Good for them (and us).

I've had the remainder of this tin of Mac Baren's HH Old Dark Fired in a jar for the past ~1 year or so. I haven't had much of it lately, so I'm approaching it fairly fresh. Opening the jar, the "tin note" is much more mild than I remember, especially for such a robust blend. This is probably because there are only a few flakes left. The flakes are more firm than most, and I generally rub them out before smoking. The jar scent is much sweeter than I remember as well. When I first opened the tin, before jarring it, I remember there was a strong BBQ scent. Now, I smell mostly faint chocolate/cocoa. After rubbing out a bowl's worth, the BBQ scent is more apparent, along with a sort of robust dark sweetness, if that makes sense. It's a bold scent.

First few puffs... it's very complex. Definitely robust in flavor. There's some sharper cigar flavors, and some nuttiness... along with a bit of vinegar. Also there's a lightly sweet dark chocolate flavor, a dried fruit sweetness, and a pepper/spice flavor. The BBQ flavor is not as pronounced as the scent may lead you to believe, but it's there. It's a rich tobacco flavor overall. This blend simply does not bite, no matter how you smoke it. And the strength, nicotine-wise, is a bit more than medium.

Bottom line: I wanted to rate this 3 stars, simply because I've rated so many blend's 4 stars already... but this is just so good. It's the best MacBaren blend I've had. It's rich, robust, and very satisfying. Definitely a 4 star blend.

Not as racy as the Kendal Kentucky, HH Old Dark Fired brings a more graceful mix of finely pressed Burley, Kentucky, and Virginia.

The pouch greets you with a thrill of earthy wood BBQ spice folded with tenderly sweet-grassy tart tones; strong but not brutish. This is a very attractive looking blend if I must say. Ebon-brown strips of rich cultured tobacco. And the taste, wow! Superbly balanced and deliciously amalgamated as one would expect from Mac B. ODF offers a full base tethered in a buttery toasted nuttiness and spiced deep wood.

The Virginia wraps around the overall bottom registration a sweet tangy charm. Smokey and very herby this one. Reminds me of the essence of basil and thyme combined. Mellow and highly enjoyable. This stuff is fine with a capital “F”

A virginia/kentucky blend with, as Mac Baren says, only a minimal casing. The tin smells of barbecue smoke, a little plum sweetness, vinegar, and some of that standard Mac Baren essence as well which I assume is from the casing. Not much, if any, of the casing, or any added flavoring, comes through in the smoke. Full flavored and medium nicotine.

The virginias are a little bready and earthy, and the kentucky is of course smoky, nutty, and a little spicy. The spice fades as you go through the bowl until everything is very smooth. The two components are perfectly balanced for me.

A splendid flake that is not duplicated in its taste in my experience. On the palate toasty, slightly sweet, slightly sour (but less than the tin note might suggest), with pleasing spice. A placid, contemplative smoke that I want to come back to often.

Came in a nice tin with very workable flakes. The flakes were thin enough to break apart nicely and they maintained their density once packed for a very long lasting smoke.

Having never tried this before, I was expecting the "hay" taste I associate with a virginia, but was unsure how the "Dark Fired" element would affect things. The initial aroma was light and didn't have any smoky or caramel smell I would've predicted from something "Dark Fired", nor did it smell like a Virginia barn, so I suppose I really had no idea what was coming.

It was a very deep smoke that caught me off guard with nicotine and a straight-to-the gut punch that gave me a bit of a buzz by the end and at times stung my nose. It was too heavy for my usual craving, but I did appreciate a very mild sweetness likely brought upon by the firing technique used.

This was the sort of smoke I could imagine a hands-on working man tackling.

So, I was fortunate enough to stumble across a very select bunch of tins at the most inconspicuous place one would expect to find quality tobacco. The 3.5oz tins were being sold for 12.75(USD), and they had 3 years worth of dust on them (not literally). I bought one tin, smoked a single flake in my most fitting pipe. Then bought the other two tins, which benefitted from a few more moths of aging the next day. The flakes I had purchased developed a network of crystalline plume within the flake, very very exciting to a new smoker.

My first experience with Old Dark Fired is one to behold. I sat on the back porch, finishing up The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien peaked my interest in the hobby) and little did I know In my pipe was deep and rich treasure that will not soon be forgotten. The flavor is somewhat monochromatic throughout the bowl, but do not read that as boring. Dark, dried fig, raisin, and roasted nut all swirl and fill the mouth with thick, rich and satisfying smoke, and somehow a sweetness that is rather outstanding among other tobaccos. There is a great deal to be said about this blend and it is somewhat a regular in my rotation, though I'm slow to deplete my stock of my aged supply. Upon sitting my book down and standing myself up, I experienced an almost hallucinogenic sensation that permeated and stilled the deepest reaches of my mind's waters. That was pretty neat for a young man, a year later, I would say this is the most satisfying smoke one can get their hands on, and if you can resist smoking, age does the blend wonders! Thanks for reading and Bless you!

-Max