Mac Baren Club Blend

This is one of the four curly cut tobacco blends Mac Baren currently produces (Roll Cake, Club Blend, Dark Twist, Stockton) and is on the milder side, very similar to Mac Baren's Roll Cake, but without the honey topping. There was another curlie from Mac Baren - Latakia Blend, but it was discontinued due to people not liking the small amount of latakia it had. This blend consists of Virginias and black cavendish tobaccos. Mapple sugar has been added to the blend to sweeten up the taste. Upon opening the tin I'm greeted with toasty aroma with a some grassy notes from Virginias. The coins look very neat with bright Virignias surrounding darker kernel in the middle which appears to be black cavendish. Moisture level is almost perfect for smoking it right out of the tin.

I usually pack the coins in the bowl without rubbing them out. I take 5 - 6 coins, stack them together and roll them up, then insert the roll into the bowl of the pipe. I love smoking them this way because, until the middle of the bowl it's just basically VA tobaccos, but when the mid-bowl hits, I'm getting this smoky taste from BC. Then after the mid-bowl it's mellowing out again.

Lighting this tobacco is a bit of a challenge. From the start it needs at least two charring lights, but when that's done, it burns pretty well.

I really love the taste, its toastiness. At the beginning I get the sweetness from the Virginias which mellows down as the smoke progresses. This is really satisfying smoke. Can give tongue bite if smoked too fast. I can get an hour and a half of enjoyment out of a bowlful of this blend. The strength of this blend is on the medium side. Nicotine level is on the low side.

The room note is noticeable, but is not offensive. Actually it's rather pleasant.

Would definitely recommend this blend for all pipe smokers.

A nice roll cake, with soft coins that crumble easily (not as compact as, let's say, Escudo).

It's a very typical MacBaren recipe: dark fermented Cavendish is used instead of Perique for spicing up the bright/red Virginias. The result is less spicy and sour than Perique, but interesting nonetheless.

It's a complex, dark, autumnal tobacco with little Virginia sweetness. What dominates the blend is a leathery and woody taste. The dark Cavendish gives a great contribution, resulting in a taste which reminds of a very fermented black tea (without sugar or milk). Something like a classic English Breakfast blend of tea from Kenya or Sri Lanka. Even slightly smoky, at times!

As usual with Danish tobaccos, anyway, the taste is very subtle and requires slow sipping for full appreciation. It's not an intense tobacco, and while body and moutfheel have a good consistency, the flavours are quite subdued. By the way, it feels very natural: MacBaren says that they simply added a little water and sugar, and I believe them. It's not biscuity like some other blends from this brand, not at all.

The coins can be very easily loaded into the pipe, with very little crumbling: little care is required for an excellent burn... simply stack up some coins, press a bit, and fire it away. It burns regularly, neither fast nor slow, with no tongue bite and very few relights. Very consistent in flavour from start to finish (it just gests slightly more intense towards the middle of the bowl).

I would love some more flavour intensity from this tobacco (and this is why it only reaches a "recommended" for me), but it's a good and balanced blend. If you dry it a little bit, anyway, the taste gets more intense.

Club Blend is a delicious treat for Virginia fans. It has a fairly narrow dynamic range but is never tedious. The roll cake cut is easier to deal with than flake cut. The little disks rub out readily and you control how fragmented it is. I suggest you want the first couple of disks pretty coarse, the next couple a little more completely broken up and the last one or two thoroughly rubbed out. This treatment ensures that your pipe will be easy to light and keep lit.

If you smoke slowly, Club Blend has a sweet disposition. No Virginia is going to be bite free if you rush. Virginia tobaccos have a natural tanginess. The usual Virginia/perique blends are tangier. By comparison, this blend (Virginia/cavendish) is very smooth and mellow. There is a nice natural sweetness to this tobacco and it may get some artificial help, but if so it is very subtley done.

Non-smokers will likely find this unoticeable or will comment favourably on it.

When Canadians are considering the price of Club Blend they should bear in mind that it comes in 100g tins.

I like this tobacco and will keep it in stock.

This blend is similar to MacBaren’s Dark Twist roll cake, but I find Dark Twist a half a star more. I really can’t express why this doesn’t get the 4 except I like the other better. With that being said, this is a tobacco for a veteran smoker and like Dark Twist, it’s a full flavored blend that burns cool, maybe even a little cooler than Dark Twist. With a low enough nic hit to be an all day smoke for a veteran. Never leaves moisture in the bowl and like other Virginia based tobacco from MacBaren , it’s a fine tasting smoke. The flavoring is mild enough to let the tobacco taste dominate and not cause palate fatigue which happens with overly flavored blends. If you like Virginia, Kentucky, Cavendish blends in a pressed cut, you won’t go wrong with this one.

I got lucky and bought a Batch from 2009, upon opening it i smelled the classic Mac baren aroma and another smell that reminded me of dried figs. this tobacco is thinly sliced rope , sticky , darker tobacco colors dominats the lighter one and it was a little wet some may find drying it makes it better i just smoked it as it is and worked out fine.

picked 4 discs roled them and stuffed them vertically in my bent billiard pipe , lightly rubbed another 2 and filled them above and it was a perfect smoke for me i enjoyed it for around 2 hours sipping slowly , it tasted sweet, bready and it had this lovely spiciness, sometimes the spiciness dominates other times the sweetness dominates keeping you entertained. this tobacco is mild to medium in strength nothing is overpowering here. it burned completely and needed around 5 relights to finish the bowl . 1 point for taste (subjective)(don't bore you) 1 point for not biting at all 1 point for quality 1 point for price.

This is a nice easy smoking, tasty tobacco, the black Cavendish seems to be nicely dispersed throughout each coin and the Virginia is there too of course. This is a cousin to Dark Twist, except is seems to have less of the dark fired leaf in it. it's quite tasty, a little sweet, a little spicy, a little smoky and burns well. I rubbed about 4 coins out and let them dry for about 20 mins. before loading up my pipe, I find that doing this with most Mac Baren blends staves off that dreaded tongue bite. I'm going to cellar this to see what a little age does to it. 3.5 stars.

Popped open at our NY Pipe Club meeting a tin of MB's "Club Roll" from at least one to two decades ago (imported/distributed through Fireside in NYC). I'll refrain from using (positive) expletives, and simply say "amazing." Sweet and tart at the same time. If this is what tobacco aging is all about, I wouldn't open a single tin until 20 years after purchase. No idea what the current crop of Club tastes like, but will buy a few to cellar. My descendants can then do another comparison of the different generations of the blend.

This is similar to Mac Baren Dark Twist roll cake; but the Virginias are a little more piquant, or sharp; and the dark fired Kentucky seems more forward, smokier, and sweeter (the maple syrup topping is more apparent) . There are no similarities to OTC aromatics, so tobacco purists can buy with confidence.

If you like Escudo, Superior Round Slices, P/S LBF, Doblone D'oro, or SG Cabbies Mixture, then Club Blend could fit into your rotaion too. (And no, I'm not conflating dark fired Kentucky with either Cavendish or Perique. Club Blend has dfK, and the others vary.)

You will have to adapt to a slight pinch from Club Blend's Virginias, but that sort of grows on you -- like piquant spices do -- and you'll find yourself gravitating to it.

Sweet gray smoke from the light to first half of the bowl, Spicey bread and nuts on the last half. Very happy with this blend. Very few relights, only 2 the whole bowl. Virginias creep out later on in the smoke and give some earthy overtones and sweetness. I don't get much of a fruit note, but A nice sweetness that I can see from the maple. Reminds me of Fall leaves changing colors, and a nice crisp north wind, when I smoke it. Makes me crave a nice Pumpkin Spice Tea when I smoke.