Mac Baren Burley London Blend

The unfortunate thing about London Burley Blend is underwhelming lack of strength. It's a beautifully presented light-medium brown rubbed out flake with a light honey aroma (like so many of Mac Baren's offerings). It lights well and the smoke has a reasonable body, yet the taste (and it is wonderful) is so light it is hard to detect. If only Mac Baren could simply amplify this taste considerably, it could indeed be a personal favorite.

I have always considered myself to be a bit of a burleyphile, I was hoping this blend would be a more refined and elegant version of plain burley on the line of a Prince Albert. While I know this blend is popular with many burley lovers I could not enjoy it. I found it harsh and bitter with nothing much to make me want to repeat the experience.

I can see why some people might like this, but I don't. The tobacco presentation exudes quality; the metal tin is painted, not labeled, the tobacco itself looks and smells great, and it packs and lights easily. Unfortunately, that's when it all goes south. There is almost no flavor to this tobacco other than that of very slightly sweet hot air. It also bites. I'm not sure I would even bother blending it with something else as it has no flavor of it's own and would only impart some of it's bite.

McB Burley L.B. Purchased in bulk form. The bag aroma seemed mostly of tobaccos, with a faint hint of maybe chocolate. It's moisture content seemed a bit dry, but what do I know, this was my first go around with this blend. So I jumped right in and loaded up a bowl. After a trouble free light up, I was rewarded with nice clouds of smoke, noticeably heavier in body than many of my favorite OTC burleys or for that matter their (McB) Golden extra. So far OK. But it did not take long, for my mouth chemistry to detect that all too familiar somewhat harsh and soapy mouth feel (not taste) to kick in, this tendency or reaction I prefer not to except in my tobaccos, so it looks like my existing burley rotation stays as is... With that out of the way, I did not encounter any tongue bite, and this stuff is not without its own merits, as shown by the many positive reviews on this site, but for me LB is not my first choice when smoking burleys. So in good conscience, I can only somewhat recommend this blend. My personal rating 2.5 /5

Well...I typically do not fall in with the crowd...but in this case I must. As for all the good points stated above...I agree....this stuff is good!!

I have reviewed and slammed many in the MB line...but this is the second best in the line next to Navy Flake.

I like my weed to produce a greater volume of smoke so I rubbed this one out well...in the semi flake form it was not enough...it burns slightly more quickly, but I like the extra smoke billowing upward to my proboscous....and the smoke rings I can blow please me to no end.

Burned just a tad bit hot, but this was when I had not rubbed it out and was puffing pretty intensely.

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addendum

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Isn't it interesting how our tastes change over time and with greater experience. I am not really as fond of this MB blend as I once was, but it is still ok.

MB's Navy Flake and Dunhill's Elizabethan Mixture are catching my attention now.....and after more experience with this blend I have come to think of the slight toasty quality of this weed to be similar to bran flakes with lots of sugar.

Well, hmmnn... lets see, I really like this for what it is. I think it is a very good burley, I really am not a burley smoker, but on occasion, esp. in the mornings in a big bowled pipe. It is very easy to smoke, no bite to speak of, and burns quite cool. This stuff seems to take forever to get through a bowl of so u better be committed when u sit to take a puff off of this. Very good for the burley lovers, not good for the wife lovers as she will hate this blend. A good patio or back deck smoke though.

You know, I was going thru the Carolinas and there was JR Cigar and Tobacco. So, what could I do? My truck was drawn in the parking lot as if a gigantic maganet was pulling it forward. After entering the pipe tobacco room I ran across this blend and since I like burley in general I thought why not.

The tin was a 100g tin and at the price it was a good deal. Something like $7.00. When I opened the tin the aroma was very pleasing to me. Smelled like what I envision straight burley should smell like. After reading reviews on here I was all excited to taste it and could just imagine the wonderful chocolete and walnut tastes coming into my mouth.

What I had happen instead as I smoked it in my vintage Peterson 307 was it burned me with some serious bite. After a couple of bowls like this I started wondering if it was me or the bacca so I called a close friend and pipe smoker who I know favors this brand a lot. He gave me some simple instructions and I decided to give it another run. Sorry but the same results...bite.

So, for now I am going to send the remaining half a tin to him since he likes it so much and go back to my regular UF and other blends. I was not totally disapointed as there were moments of nice burly flavor but for the most part it just bit the crap out of me.

To me, this is the Burley blend by which all others are measured. I know others will give this honor to University Flake, Edgeworth, Barbary Coast, or some other, but my Top Burley Honors go to London Burley Blend. High quality white burley, ready rubbed, lightly topped with something sweet, which I find reminiscent of Earl Grey tea. I find this to be rather low in nicotene, and definitely falls into the "all day smoke" category.

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EDIT 10/06: I used to smoke Burley London Blend a lot, but I don't smoke it much anymore. Since I first reviewed the tobacco I now find I get tongue bite from it very easily. I'm not sure if this is due to my body chemistry or the tobacco, but it is very unpleasant. The tobacco seem to burn hot and with little of the flavor I used to enjoy. There are many other quality burleys available which I enjoy and which don't bite, so I'm downgrading my review to two stars.

I won't go into the usual detail that I do. I purchased this blend in order to find a replacement for Edgeworth. This blend comes somewhat close, but not a replacement IMO. It is one of the cooler smoking MCB blends, but can still nip the tongue if not careful. The casing is very light and is smelled in the room note more than it is tasted. It comes as a broken flake that works well if you just stuff and light. Smokes to the bottom of the bowl with no fuss and leaves a fine light grey ash. Yes, this blend tastes like Burley and pretty good one at that, but not as tasty as Edgeworth. I will buy some more and keep for an occaisonal change of pace. Enjoy...