Mac Baren Capstan Original Navy Cut Ready Rubbed

This review is of the ORIGINAL Capstan Navy Cut Ready Rubbed and NOT the new Mac Baren's version which I have tried and enjoyed, but, as a Virginia, it was way too fresh to favorably compare.

The ORIGINAL Capstan Medium had a pleasant enough smell in the tin, but certainly nothing unusual. My nostrils detected a slight essence of hay and fermented fruit. The strips are moist but not overly so. I did rub out fully for an easy pack job. The flavor is bold, my Virginia Bite-O-Meter barely registers, and the weed remains at a wonderfully even burn throughout each smoke. Is this one of those rare "I've gotta cellar some tins" type blend? Absolutely! It is not a legend by accident.

Typical Virginia tin note of molasses, honey, dried figs. Typical honey-molasses based casing. Reminds me of other Mac Baren blends: that Mac Baren tongue bite is there, but not so strong... This is not bad, but not great either.

Capstan Original Ready Rubbed [Blue tin] is just as great as the Navy Cut Flake. I smoke both straight out of the tin. If you gently sip, this exceptional smoke is creamy soft, the flavours deep but with also a gentle sweetness. This is top quality Virginia with a between medium to strong Nic-hit. The slower you sip pipe tobacco, the more you get from it; and this remains true for Capstan Original Ready Rubbed. Try half a bowl of dry, almost half a bowl moist from the tin and at least a 1 millimetre topping of dry powder, to ensure an even light.

Capstan Ready Rubbed has always been a favorite of mine. With some appreciable age on it, it's absolutely wonderful.

There's a nice honey flavor and a rich Virginia taste with some hay and citrus in the background. A little bit of graham cracker taste too.

The honey flavor backs off a bit mid bowl. There's a nice bright Virginia tobacco flavor, with sweetness in the background.

The honey does make a slight reprise towards the end of the bowl.

Very seldom do I feel compelled to review a tobacco because, frankly, very seldom do I come across a tobacco that I find exceptional in the satisfaction it delivers. Capstan Original Navy Cut Ready Rubbed has proved to be one of those rare finds. This tobacco has everything that brings me pipe smoking pleasure. It is ready to smoke right out of the tin, it is easy to pack, stays lit, produces a good volume of smoke, smells and tastes wonderful, burns cool (if you pack it correctly), won't bite even when pushed - and - the experience is easily repeatable from bowl to bowl, pipe to pipe.

Tin note is dried apricots. Room note is sweet hardwood BBQ and spice. Smoke is creamy with good body and rich, natural Virginia tobacco flavor. Retro-hale is spicy, a bit citrusy and teasingly effervescent - almost in a Fresca or root beer float sort of way.

Pack lightly for an effortless draw (lighter than soda through a straw). For my medium-sized briars I gravity feed the bowl, press lightly to about 3/4 full then top up just above the rim and lightly press to level (only two layers instead of the usual three). Test draw before charring light - again it should be effortless for the best experience with this tobacco. Can be a tad stubborn to take a charring light - I char twice before the true light. Once lit tamp lightly every few minutes to keep the coal seated. Very seldom do I have to re-light if I keep it tamped. I generally get an effortless 30-35 minute smoke before the coal reaches the dottle zone in the heel. Don't attempt to relight the dottle as the taste becomes a bit acrid. Anything above the dottle zone seems to do fine with re-light and/or DGT.

A wonderful, tasty, satisfying, no fuss tobacco that I highly recommend.

A very nice medium to full bodied straight Virginia blend. Tin note offers citrus, hay, fresh tomato, little grass. Rubbed out flakes are quite chunky, you can still fold and stuff if you like. My tin came a little moist. I give it at least 45 minutes drying time before smoking. This one offers a lot more flavors than it's brother/sister blend Capstan Gold. Rich dark Virginias smoke sweet, tangy, a little spicy, with hints of fermented fruits and hay. Flavor is consistent throughout the bowl. May get a little harsh if pushed. Very easy to light and keep it lit. Requires a few relights. I have yet to try the flake version and compare with ready rubbed. I came to prefer original navy cut (Blue) to the Capstan Gold version. Highly recommended for Virginia lovers. I will stock up on this to age even more. I bet this will become a phenomenal Virginia blend after aging for at least 5 years. 4 stars out of 4 for me.

Pure Virginia tobacco flavor. As far as a straight Virginia goes this is in the Top 10. Most Virginia blends really try to play up the sweetness. This is much more balanced. Using a narrow bowl I found this blend to have a certain kind of depth that was really enjoyable. Grass, hay, barn, natural sweetness, light , whispy, purity, clean, very middle of the road but in all the best ways all come to mind when I smoke this. A slight bite but very tolerable. This was left in a jar for a few months to relax.

Mac Baren- Capstan Navy Cut RR

Tin dated Jul2018, upon opening I was met with a strong household cleaner citrus smell almost like a urinal puck that was quite unpleasant, the tobacco was packed hard as a puck and still had a good seal upon opening.

Pulled enough to get a full bowl and let it dry for 15 minutes as I refilled my late evening coffee.

First light was slightly harsh, noticing quite early the almost citrus topping, the Virginia’s are bright, fresh hay and grass on the retrohale. I get a nice slight sweetness on my tongue throughout the bowl.

This will need more drying time, and a few re-lights to get started, I have not tried the flake counterpart but the consensus is that it’s the superior version, so down the road I may give it a shot.

Straight Virginia that delivers some citrusy hay flavor, but overall seems very one dimensional, I think others in the same category do it better, I wonder how this differs from the original smoked by countless before.

I will revisit this tin and thus far while not impressive it’s an average smoke. I will give this a flat 2 rating may change as I smoke this more down the road.

50g pouch.

In the UK this is an OTC blend which isn't as common as others. I have had a few pouches over the years. It has a very lemon peel essence to it, a bright juicy citrusy virginia. What I am smoking now is a jar of it which I have had from july 2015, so that makes it 4 years 8 months old. It is dry and that maybe because i transfered it from a dried out pouch or I did it myself for preparation reasons years ago and forgot about it.

Similar to Gold Block in taste but minus cavendish. Having just got through a particularly unusual bitey jar of 4 year old Gold Block which I added perique to for taming (it didn't tame that pouch)-this Capstan Navy READY RUBBED is a welcome relief. I realise that over the years I have gone off dirty cavendish.

The rule with Capstan is to dry it out completely before smoking, have a well caked dirty bowl to smoke it in and note that the more you smoke it, it self seasons the bowl where it gives taste back to the smoke , amplifies the taste,self corrects its rough corners. Earl Grey tea, lemon peel,lemon curd, golden corn flakes, hay.. It really is a nice easy virginia of sweet and sour simplicity. I dont need to add any perique to this.

I do think this has aged, its less grassy than a fresh pouch and has a bit more mature breadyness .. Since I dont really get along with Gold Block anymore this will be its replacement because it has what I like about Gold Block minus the bite and cavendish. Capstan wont bite you in a session, but over a whole day you might feel peppery in your mouth. I would say it doesnt bite, but it doesnt offer sympathy for an already bitten tongue if you were smoking something else before hand that did.

With care of preparation and cadence, plus a bit of ageing, this tastes more expensive than its price. Its close to SG BEST BROWN FLAKE in taste.

I use a Falcon Shillelagh twist stem and a solid Turkish Meerschaum hyperbowl shape bowl. Similar draught to a cob pipe.

No bite, no gunk, burns to a clean dry fluffy ash, stays lit, stays cool if not packed hard and pre dried before smoking, no chemical tastes, tastes consistant down the bowl, 3 STARS***