Mac Baren Burley London Blend

After reading the reviews written for this tobacco I gave it a chance and I was not dissapointed.

The semi-rubbed burley smells great in the tin. It is a real tobacco smell and has a perfect moisture degree. Packs and lights easily. It is burning fast but with a well controled puffing cadence it offers a cool and nutty smoke. The casing is very light so that you can enjoy a pleasent sweetness as well as the burley's characteristic true tobacco taste.

It is a good choice for me between my regular Virginia smokes.

Have to thank Traderbob and Creeper below for my overall pleasure with this great blend. I ordered it in great expectation based upon the reviews seen here and was at first disappointed.

Ordered this in bulk and it arrived, as remarked by others, only partially rubbed out. My initial problem, I believe, was with the seller: the stuff was so dry that when I started rubbing it out, it crumbled into fine grains almost the size of table salt. After re-hydrating it a bit and being more careful, loaded up a bowl and went at it. Man, for a Burley, this stuff was STRONG. Started to get a few nips that felt as if it was going to bite. Went to the computer and reread the reviews and saw Traderbob and Creeper's recommendation to pack this very lightly and tried that with a fresh bowl. Made all the difference in the world. It now offers an extremely satisfying, tasty smoke with no more problems.

When properly hydrated, packs very well, lights easily and gets going with just one light, easily stays lit all the way down and leaves a dark charcoal ash with no dollop. Smokes cool and with no hint of a bite (now), extremely honest and pure tobacco flavor, and leaves no objectionable taste in the mouth or pipe.

Thoroughly enjoyable smoke that never pulls your chain. Don't know that I'd recommend this for a beginner; it certainly does not qualify as an aromatic and is a really serious baccy that IMO only a seasoned, serious pipe smoker would enjoy.

I started with this tobacco very early in my pipe smoking experience. A co-worker smoked this tobacco and I enjoyed the room note so much I purchased a tin. After taking a break from pipe smoking for about 20 years, I started up again several months ago. For the first few weeks I had trouble with bite and discovered that I was packing the bowl too tightly. For me the key to this tobacco is a lighter pack, and slow smoking. I love the taste and stock this tobacco as my primary smoke. I find the term "ready rubbed" a little deceiving as I must rub the tobacco between my thumb and finger prior to packing in the bowl.

The scent when opening the tin is "woodsy" with a scent of nut. I love the scent that it leaves on my fingers after rubbing for the bowl. This tobacco is typical of the rougher cut in that I generally light and then have to tamp down and re-light after the initial start.

Update: This is actually my all day smoke, this is delightful burley smoke, very high quality at very competitive price, BLB is the best burley out there, if you are unsure try it for yourself.

Reliability, professionalism and consistency are sorely lacking with most tobacco brands - not with Mac Baren

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This is the best straight burley from Mac Baren. Top quality white burley leaf slightly cased with Mac Honey, it smokes cool and bite free, not as nutty as Prince Albert but it has more natural tobacco taste without the Prince chemical after taste. However, unless you love burley, this can?t be an all-day smoke because it tastes a bit bland and boring after 2-3 bowls.

For me, this is a bench mark burley blend. Compared to several of the other burleys I smoke regularly, the topping here is very light. I get just a hint of a honey like aroma in the tin, and when smoked it's just barely noticable. BLB has the best burn rate I've encountered. In my burley pipe a bowl of just about anything else lasts an hour or so; a bowl of this stuff goes two hours without any signs of bitterness or dampness. The taste is rather low key and very subtle but with every bowl I've smoked, theres a spot in the middle where that warm, nutty, mellow tastes comes through and for those who enjoy burley it's darn near the holy grail. As others have recommended, this is one you'll want to smoke very slowly. I guess I'm just lucky but I've never encountered the tongue bite that you hear so much about. For those who like a good burley smoke, you have to try this one. If purchased in bulk, a good buy.

Being this is the 40th review there's not a whole lot of opportunity for drama here, but I might just add that I have now just begun to make aquaintance with this tobacco after a 20 yr hiatus. Having tried this years ago, I found myself progressing to the Golden Extra and then to the Navy Flake and never looking back. I think what happened was that those latter tobaccos had more strength and the Burley seemed a bit pale by comparison. I purposely refrained from use of Navy Flake for an extended period and then opened the Burley. Now that I try this one again I recall how good it is. True, it is milder than the Golden Extra or Navy Flake but it is also smoother and has a taste that never seems to get tiresome, even in a large pipe. Highly recommended.

I should preface this by saying that I am and always have been a serious burley fan. That having been said, I think a lot of people can find something to enjoy with this blend. This is an aristocratic grade of white burley in the Macbarens "ready-rubbed" cut. Burley is very low in sugar, meaning it must be cased to provide a tasty smoke. This is cased so lightly and discreetly as to be unnoticable. I think the term "London Blend" alludes to the fact that a smoker of english blends will enjoy this blend. The casing enhances the natural taste of the tobacco. No vanilla,coconut,Etc. This tastes like tobacco. Tin aroma is sweetish with a hint of anise. As with all Macbarens blends, it comes a little wetter than I like. The cut packs and burns well after a couple of days drying out. The cool, even-burning smoking characteristics of burley are nicely showcased with this blend. The taste is nutty, smooth, and lightly sweet.The taste remains consistent throughout the bowl, burning cleanly to a mottled medium-grey ash.Nicotine content is satisfying but not powerful. A nice treat for a bulk/drugstore burley smoker or a change of pace for anyone.

This was the first quality pipe tobacco I ever smoked, and I've been smoking it for 25 years. I try other tobaccos, many of them good ones, but I always end up back to this one. I've smoked more Mac Baren's "Burley London Blend" than any other pipe tobacco. It's a great burley that is very lightly sweetened. I like Mac Baren "Ready Rubbed" cut. It looks like a flake tobacco that has barely been rubbed. I load it into the pipe as is. BLB has that great burley flavor from top to bottom of the bowl (I happen to like consistency) and never bites my tongue. BLB even smokes great while riding the motorcycle (cheap large bowl bent pipe with wind screen). I highly recommend BLB for burley lovers & also for those who think they don't like burley.

What can I say that hasn't been said already? If you love predominantly burley blends, you'll love this tobacco. If you don't like burley blends, I think you should give LB a try. You'll be pleasantly surprised with one, great tobacco.