Mac Baren Burley London Blend

Wow! Does Macbaren know burleys or what?!! This is an excellent burley. Like most it smokes better in a cob and is the perfect solution to summertime heat. The tobacco is of the highest quality and the casing is only needed to add a tiny bit of sweetness which this one does nicely. The nuttiness of the burley is the main focus and this could easily be an all day smoke. This blend can bite, however, if you are used to smoking Virginias this should be no problem at all. All in all a very satisfying tobacco that is only outdone by Macbaren's Navy Flake, which I think may be the greatest burley of all time!

I'll go out on a limb and say that Mac Baren is to Burley as Rattrays and McClellands are to Virginias. This is no exception. I've smoked this off an on for years and am currently going through a tin I dated in 2000. The Mac Baren cut of tobacco is my favorite. It can be rubbed out or left the way it is to burn cool. The aroma from this aged tin is more of raisins and nuts than anything else. The taste falls into the same catagory and gets better as it goes down. No end of the bowl burley nastiness here- It burns down to a dry and gray ash and I'm now breaking in a pipe with it to see how it does cake build-up. Couldn't ask for a better Burley blend. Highest Recommendations!

This is easily my favorite blend by MacBaren. Anyone who like burley, even a little bit, should try this one. It is to burley as ice cream is to ice milk.

The initial light reveal a slightly sweet mild flavor followed by a genuine burley taste. As the bowl approaches the middle, the flavor becomes deeper; very full. The bottom is quite intense but not bitter or unpleasant. It burns well (after several initial lights) and is well-behaved if not abused. Two thumbs all the way up!

2022 Blend tin note is strong sweet chocolate. This is a course ribbon cut very close to a rubbed out flake. Quite moist from the tin and needed about an hour of drying time. The blend started out with a few rough edges but smoothed out quickly. Defiantly burley and coco forward with some sweetness, but no chemical taste at all. Some lite citrus notes in the background. Super smooth blend. I usually do not smoke aromatic blends, but this one is outstanding. Very glad I was able to buy 2 tins. nic hit is medium. If you like a lite coco flavor this is one to absolutely try. 4 solid stars and defiantly an all day smoke.

2021 Edition # 430

Quite different from the original Burley London blend which had casings and top notes of heavy cocoa, very mild sweetness and a touch of mint. I have some London Blend from 2005 and the coumarin notes have become really bold over time, giving it a sweet spice that wasn't prominent in a new fresh tin. The mint is gone. This 2021 edition has a sweet chocolate tin note like how hot chocolate powder mix smells along with a mild dark stewed fruit note and perhaps some sweet spice. It's very smooth but like the original its taste is extremely mild and almost neutral. There is less of a burning aroma than the tin smell would suggest but very mild chocolate with a vanilla note asserting itself half way down the bowl. More moist than its cousin Golden Extra and the cut highly rubbed out cake. This tobacco is a bit too mellow all around for my taste. The closest I can compare this to is Granger sans the slight touch of vanilla. The 2022 limited release just hit the market, so I popped open a tin of the previous run I had on hand to see if it was worth stocking up on. Glad I did. I'll leave it for others who will appreciate it more.

This is my first tin of Mac Baren’s limited issue London Blend, number 179 of 4,000, undated, received and smoked over the past month or so. The tobacco is a well cut-up/broken flake that ranges from light to medium brown that smells like cocoa over buttered oatmeal. It handles, loads, lights and smokes down with no effort, and the combusted scents are like an expanded version of the tin notes that starts at mild and tops out before medium as it’s smoked down, becoming somewhat metallic by 1/3. This blend works best for me in a #4 briar that has been purged of ghosts, or a VA pipe works fine, albeit it will then harbor the ghost of London Blend. The varietals are very well melded, and it’s pretty consistent, top to bottom. Tastes work up close to medium. Room note is pleasant. Aftertaste is a metallic version of the smoke.

Toasted tobaccos are always a crap shoot for me. I find these to be of good quality, and they actually provide a nice base for the cocoa here. For me, this is a 3 in terms of quality, barely a 3 in terms of personal preference, though I can see from the other reviews it’s a popular blend.

This is the tobacco that was in the third of the three pint canning jars I bought back in April on Ebay. The other two were Gawith, Hoggarth blends that I had never smoked. On the converse, I have a very long, but thin, history with this blend. My first contact was in about 1971 when I walked into a room where a young man was smoking an unstained 4-panel horn that was emitting the most wonderful room aroma I had ever encountered. Roasty, toasty and very friendly smelling; I asked him what are you smoking in that pipe? His reply was Mac Baren Burley. I resolved to get a tin as soon as possible. I made that happen and eagerly lit up. Smoking the tobacco, as is the case in most blends, is a different thing than sniffing someone else's room note. I found the blend to be somewhat strong, but not too strong; somewhat sour and pungent, but not too sour; somewhat enjoyable, but not too enjoyable. As to the room aroma I was hoping for - I never found it. Over the next forty-five years I may have smoked this blend two or three times and my impression of it has not changed significantly. I still think its okay but nothing to write home about. In those forty-five years I have experienced many more Burley blends and Mac Baren Burley London Blend is perched securely right at the crest of the Burley blend bell-shaped curve - three stars.

An impeccable burley blend that burns cool, slow and easy. There is a faint sweetness to the nose but whatever notes come from the topping are very subdued. This is a one light tobacco which is creamy rather than nutty. No bite whatever.

Overall, a no nonsense tobacco that delivers no surprises and no unpleasant surprises either. Would make a good all day smoke, because there is little to distract and it burns so well without attention. I would also recommend this to anyone new to the pipe because the broken flake is so user friendly and it is very good value for a quality tobacco. Not however a star tobacco by any means.

I'm predominently a Burley smoker or Burley-Virginia, and have been for over 20 years. This tobacco is one for Burley lovers. It satisfies every description of true Burley tobacco. I suspect the Virginia component is less than ten percent and simply adds a bit of sweetness that would compliment this tobacco if salted away for several years. And unlike some of the MB blends, there is little to no bite. It's deeper and richer that Golden Extra, an excellent Burley blend in its own right. There's no need to go into a lengthy description of smoking and other qualities - there's plenty of that here. Highly recommended.