Mac Baren Capstan Original Navy Cut Ready Rubbed

Alright, I am a quite newbie in pipe smoking, and I have access to almost no tobaccos, so my review might be taken with a grain of salt.

The first time i filled my pipe with this blue marvel, i had just opened the tin, allowed it to rest about 15 minutes and proceeded to smoke it. Just like some of the reviewers here noted, it was quite tasteless, giving a bit of nicotine and very little taste.

Later, I put the rest of the tobacco to a jar for a few hours after letting it sit out in the open for about an hour; then i transferred it back to the original tin.

The next day, I brewed some Earl Grey Tea (with a pinch of milk) and smoked it again. Now, that was a tobacco i truly enjoyed. Perhaps due to my brief airing, or perhaps due to the tea, I could now detect hints of a sugary taste that paired extremely well with the tea. Every puff i took gave me a taste i quite enjoyed. I should emphasize that the taste is still mild, but not undetectable. It is a mild, sugary, enjoyable taste. It isn't legendary or anything, but if you enjoy the occasional pipe smoking or have access to a very few number of blends like me, I believe you will enjoy it.

I've been smoking the same tin on and off for around two months now. When I first opened the tin it had a pleasant and typical Virginia smell, slightly sweet and grassy. I filled a bowl in one of my briars and I will admit that it was the weakest Virginia I have tried to date. Being a new smoker after only 2 years I chalked it up to inexperience and tried a few more bowls in different pipes. Nope. Still the weakest blend I had tried with little to no flavor to me. So I jarred it and forgot about it for around 2-3 months.

I have reopened the jar and smoked a few bowls in the past few days and what a difference. I have found it took on a lot more flavor. It has taken on more of a sweet note, which is a tiny bit incense-like. The grassy Virginia is more pronounced and the blend has become more complex and smokable. I will admit however, that even with the improvement from aging I might not buy this again, and if I do it will immediately get jarred and cellared for a few months to years. The taste intrigues me so I will be trying the Flake version of this and see if my experience improves.

Edit: The more I smoke this the more it improves and so I will bump my rating up to three stars. This tobacco shines with age and the grassy citrus notes start to really shine I am about to buy a few more tins of this a put them in the cellar to age for a year or more.

This is a nice straight forward VA blend, i really couldnt detect any topping or casing. Good dose of vitamin N and quite easy to smoke. When sipped slowly no heat or bite was encountered. Nothing mind blowing here, just straight VA. I would've liked to have tried the original blend for historic comparison, the tin i have is Mac Baren production. I doubt id buy it again but i will try Capstan Gold to see if any differences exist.

After spending some time with some Burley and Latakia heavy blends, I decided to go back to my favorite - Virginia's. When the guy at my tobacco store said it was Tolkien's favorite blend, I thought what the hell, and decided to give it a shot.

The tin I got looks like it's easily 5-6 years old. It's just damaged, discolored, rusted on the outside. That made me even more intrigued.

Opening the tin, I was greeted by a very ketchupy smell. Not a bad thing, but I didn't get any hay or zest of anything. The moisture out of my tin was just perfect, and was ready to pack right away. So I grabbed a Peterson and went to work.

Packing is easy, and after two charring lights, I was on my way. Tamped down once at first, then a second time mid bowl. Very easy to maintain, and it burns very cool for a Virginia. You can light it and pretty much just forget about it.

Produces a satisfying amount of smoke, and a decent level of nicotine as well. The flavor isn't the best I've had out of a Virginia, but it's still a very good all day smoke. Something you can just pack and not worry about. I got no tongue bite and with proper technique, it won't bite you, either.

As another reviewer stated, it needs Perique. I 100% agree with this. Just a touch would make it a lot more interesting.

Overall good smoke. Not sure if I would buy again as there are better Virginia options out there which I prefer. But still good.

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***

Not bad everyday smoke.Lits well, burns well, leave pipe dry, no tongue bite at all. Nothing special, but recommending to try for everybody, you will like as a neutral day smoke.

Note: this was from a pouch. In a briar, slightly bitey and boring. In a cob, this was still very generic but the bite was gone. Overall, for me this was a very decent but straightforward VA, and really a 2.5 star. I wouldn't rebuy it.