Mac Baren Burley London Blend

Addendum: 07/19/2007

Tastes do change. About half of he pound I bought in 2004 is still under seal. After awhile, the tongue bite of this tobacco stole much of the pleasure this tobacco originally provided. It has been about four months since I smoked a bowl. And it still burns hot. And I still like the stuff, only not so much

ADDENDUM: 08/10/2004

The 4 ounce tin I spoke of in my original review went quickly. I did not purchase anymore for several months, but this tobacco was never far from my thoughts. About a month ago I began trolling the online tobacco vendors for London Blend in bulk. I found several, including one that was selling it for $22.00 per pound. I could not resist.

Smell is a very personal and evocative thing. A few years ago I visited the home where my maternal grandparents spent their enire married life, many fond memories. There is the main house and the original house that everyone called "the shanty." Both were built by my grandfather, who immigrated from Denmark with his parents as a young child.

My parents and I lived in it for a couple years after I was born and visited there often thereafter. My grandfather raised strawberries for market and stored his baskets there. They retained the scent of the berries. Stepping back into that house, the faint strawberry scent was still in the air. It brought back many pleasant childhood memories. Judging by the reviews I read here, I think some of us are searching for something elusive when we try a new tobacco. Sometimes you can go home again and sometimes you can't

I was not greatly disappointed with my second visit to London Blend. The pound I received was the same tobacco I received in the tin, though, my nose was telling me that the bulk pound I received did not have the age on it that the tinned tobacco did. Who knows?

Otherwise, the cut, the color, the smoke was excellent. While I have some Nut Brown Burley on hand, London Blend tops it in my opinion. Still highly recommended.

Thank you. You, my fellow contributors to Tobaccoreviews, have been an excellent guide for me as I have sampled and enjoyed a variety of fine tobaccos over the past two years. Your combined good taste have led me to several excellent selections in which I have delighted. I have become something of an "Amen" chorus to your aggregate good judgment.

The latest of these is Mac Baren's Burley London Blend. As a Christmas present to myself I purchased a 4 oz. tin from an online shop. Upon opening the tin, the first impression was of a broken flake, not unlike a Virginia flake. These "flakes" were a combination of dark and bright. Moisture was near pefect for smoking.

It does all things well: packs well, lights well, smokes well. There was little moisture condensation in the bottom of the pipe stem. Most importantly, it is a very nice smoke to the nose and the palate. Virginias and Virgina/Perique blends, especially McClelland 2015 are my first choice.

However, Burley London Blend has earned a place as a regular in my rather small rotation. There is little or no bite. It smokes well in the few pipes I own, from a small Meerschaum to a large bowl 3/4 bent briar. The room note is, I think, more pleasant than my 2015. I walked back into my shop after smoking a bowl of London Blend a couple hours earlier. The lingering fragrance was very nice indeed.

To my fellow pipe smoking colleagues on a budget like myself, a recommendation. At a local big box discount department store I purchased several "Snap*ware" clear plactic storage cannisters. They come in pint, quart and half gallon sizes. They are clear, hard plastic and have a very tight seal. They have kept the last of my 5 pound order of 2015 in excellent condition for about a year now. A good poor man's tobacco jar.

God bless you all and a good new year to you.

Prison Chaplain

I am one of those pipe smokers who loves Virginias like fish love water. I like to keep a couple of English/Balkan blends, lighter aromatics, and burleys around mostly as palate cleansers or just to "shake things up" a bit. I had never even considered including a burley in my regular rotation until now.

I bought eight ounces in bulk at a local B&M and was delightfully surprised by a warm and fragrant, but not overpowering, aroma. The tobacco is at the perfect moisture level, it packs and lights well, and burns cleanly. Like most burleys, it isn't quite as heavy on flavour as are the Virginias, but I can see this as being a delightful addition to my daily smoking selection. Even the room note is warm and pleasant, reminding me somewhat of raisins, figs, and perhaps even leather.

My only word of advice concerning this blend: smoke it slowly. It can bite like a rattlesnake if you don't. Also, I'll second the advice of some others here to try it in a corncob. You won't be disappointed.

I've really come to like this tobacco very much in the morning with coffee or tea. Very pleasent, mild, but tasty, best in a good Danish Freehand. Less sweet than Golden Extra, but almost the same in every other way.

BLB posseses a natural sweetness and body not dissimilar to one of Rattray's ready rubbed Virginas. In fact, it reminded me quite a bit of Old Gowrie. The tin aroma is redolent of freshly cut grass and dried fruit, a musty earthy sweetness. The taste, while somewhat one-dimensional, is similar to the aroma in its natural sweetness. While its not one of my all time favorites, Burley London Blend serves its purpose as summer in a can, an excellent blend when I'm looking for something light and refreshing.

BLB is one of my favs. There is a mild sweet taste with hints of nut from start to finish. (Some would say it has a Chocolate taste, but since I dislike the taste of Chocolate immensely, I would have to disagree) It leaves a pleasant room note, however it does tend to burn hot. Be very aware of this when you are breaking in a new pipe. Although it has been said that BLB is the best for this, I would be very cautious. BLB should be smoked with some patience. Put it down from time to time, and let it cool. I purchase about 4 oz bulk from a dealer who tends to sell more cigars than pipes, and well you could say it was almost dry. It lights very well, burns without relight, and it doesn?t leave a tongue bite. Maybe I have stumbled onto something here.

This is a blend that could be a "go to" for burley lovers, of which I'm one. I like the cut. I like the good, old-fashioned taste, and it's burning quality. It has a dependable tobacco taste and is not finicky about smoking technique, a working-man's tobacco with a refined sense to it.

I especially like this blend's ability to play well with other blends. The addition of Burley London Blend always seems to enhance other tobaccos, providing strength without taking over the situation, much like a really good friend.

All in all, I really can't see a tobacco cellar without a pound or two of this blend sitting quietly over in the corner. A must blend to have in my opinion.

This is a "sweet" burley blend with some kind of light casing with a pleasent aroma. It can burn very hot if overpuffed even slightly. Sipped slowly, it has a great burley flavor. However, its just too tempermental to recommend to anyone except Burley lovers and then only if a regular favorite is not accesible. Wilke's Nut Brown Burley and Affordable Pipes Blue Grass Melody both taste better, have flawless burning characteristics, and costs less.

If you love burley's and don't mind a tempermental weed, give it a try you might just like it. If your not one to enjoy Burley to begin with stay away.

I found it difficult to keep the incredible complexity this pipe tobacco is capable of. But the nutty burley combined with sweet virginia provided a very satisfying and complex taste. The beginning and end of the bowl was a little to hot and tasteless to receive a higher rating. Maybe i should rub it out more. This tobacco has potential, and with a little tinkering i think its very likely to turn into an all day smoke. Very good blend.

Years ago I tried burley tobacco - bought from a local Sohio station that also had a rack of pipe tobacco and worse-than-evil cigars. One or two packs of the stuff convinced me no one in their right mind would use it for smoking. Spreading on the floor to mop up oil & gasoline spills maybe, but not for smoking. So 2004 comes along and I read all the above reviews - shaking my head and figuring the authors had all been on the top level of a bus touring the Honduras and had all fallen off on a sharp curve and sustained massive head injuries. But the power of demented suggestions is not to be underestimated and, after resisting for some months, I closed my eyes, held my nose and bought two Missouri Meerschaums - the Missouri Pride model at the nearly pointless price of 2 for $5.95, and a tin of McB.'s Burley London Blend. And being generally a lover of Orientals and English blends, with only a budding appreciation for Virginias, it took another 6 weeks for me to cajole myself into actually trying to smoke this ominous combination. This is ridiculous. An undisclosed number of relatively costly pipes sitting around here along with at least 10lbs. of 15 or 16 kinds of pricey tobaccos - and I'm having a grand time smoking BLB in a pipe that costs less than a small book of postage stamps! It's Burley (BURLEY!) for crying out loud! It CAN'T taste that good or behave that well. No Way! And the pipe! No grain. No hallowed briar region in its' noble Past, no aerodynamic stem/bit design and the rest is no environmetally-inspired shape by the last carver of an obscure Yatzi indian tribe from the deeps of Equatorial BonsaiLand, Wash. D.C. or some other weird place. And it isn't even made with modern equipment! It's a CORN COB! Same item that substituted for pages of the Sears catalog on my uncle's farm a while back! C'MON! BLB thoroughly deserves all the praise and recommendations Y'All have been heaping on it above. I haven't tried it in any of my briars or meerschaums but - there is no need to. The humble corn cob - Fashion Statement from Li'l Abner and the Hinterlands - handles BLB with such aplomb you'd think it was one of the Creme de la Creme roots. Even if you don't smoke, you should try this combo!

Tiger