Mac Baren Dark Twist Roll Cake

Only had a small quantity of this, passed on by my son. It was what was left (20g) of a 50g pouch he had obviously sourced from our favourite German tobacco shop.

It was therefore somewhat dry, but I think there was enough there to merit a review of sorts.

Couldn't be bothered messing around with the roll cakes, just broke it up and loaded. I know, this is sacrilidge, but there you are. The pouch scent was sweet with a pleasant malt-like aroma that stayed within the smoke.

The base is clearly virginia, but the other tobaccos, black cavendish and kentucky, I can barely detect, though obviously they contribute to the overall flavour. The maple flavour may account for some of the pouch aroma, but it wouldn't come to mind if I hadn't read the blend description.

This is a fine, mild blend that would make an excellent all day smoke and has more than enough going for it to justify including a pouch (tin ?) of this in the next German order I make.

This is my emergency tobacco, when I am for some reason unable to get to my stash of Samuel Gawith Full Virginia Flake. It is possible, I have found, to procure Mac Baren almost anywhere. Why it reaches to the far ends of the earth and decent tobacco can't requires speculation outside the scope of the present commentary.

I have hated Mac Baren products for a very long time. But in an emergency, these coins are tolerable. I don't like any kind of cavendish, but this is the least-annoying blend which includes it.

Now, having said that, there are a few pleasures to be enjoyed when one is stuck with this tobacco. It has a sweetness under the cloying film of cavendish. With very slow, patient sipping an occasional sour plum flavor manifests itself. I have a hard time getting the sweetness of the Virginias most of the time. It doesn't have a lot of gooey nasty chemicals, so that's something I guess.

I have been fortunate enough to sample from a bulk cannister, so presumably some of the foul chemicals present in tinned samples have been able to ooze into the air.

My poor Peterson 302 is expected to recover within the next month or so.

There wasn't much flavor, but there was a *lot* less bite than I had expected.

It is a sad substitute for proper tobacco, but it is a little better than Borkum Riff or Captain Black. I really hope none of you have to resort to smoking this stuff, but it will fend off nicotine withdrawal until one can find some civilized tobacco.

This one is just kind of meh. It is a nice looking blend with the little coins and all, not as impressively aligned as, say, an escudo.

It is a light bodied Virginia with some Cavendish (most likely also from Virginia). This one can be a little bitey for the mindless puffer, but offers a nice natural sweetness to the patient. I found this one more enjoyable in the warmer weather as opposed to the winter. I probably won't rush out and buy more of this one as there are too many other blends offering a similar flavor profile that I would prefer to this one.

The Peter Stokkebye Luxury line of VAs are all superior to this coin IMHO. I can, however, find a reason for the smoker who prefers tins to stock up on this one as the 100 gram tins are quite a bargain. For this, I offer 2 stars as somewhat recommended.

I also think that anyone who likes Virginias will not find smoking through a tin of this a waste of time, but just don't expect to be blown away.

A superlative Virginia-sweet, spicy smoke. Really fine leaf. The spice note is distinct among all tobaccos that I’ve tried and comes through similarly in the taste and room note. Fine aftertaste. The Virginia leaf is cured after treatment with maple sugar infused water as in many other Mac Barens blends,as the company describes its production. This treatment may account for a tongue bite that some reviewers report. If so, sip it or try it in a 9mm filter pipe: it’s worth the investment to enjoy this tobacco. This is a true classic.

After a (really) bad start with this tobacco, I'll have to revise my opinion on this. I got granted a sample of this some months ago. The tobacco tasted straight out flat, dull and did bite like a yard dog. No Kentucky taste at all. Today I went "all-in" gettting a 100g tin of it - somehow it tickled me to get this one, even tho I had made really bad experience with it.

Now to the actual review: First thing I'd like to mention is that Mac Baren states on the website, that this is 100% PURE tobacco, with only Sugar- and Maple-Water added to it.... that's a straight up LIE! ** Follow this link and see how many additives 100g of Dark twist contain...: https://service.bmel.de/tabakerzeugnisse/index2.php?detail_id=100550&site_key=153&stichw_suche=twist&zeilenzahl_zaehler=2 ** I may seem bitching about it, but its a break of trust to me... claim something is most natural then I see a list that shows it has a exorbitant amount of additives...why Mac B? As much as I love your tobaccos - not cool!

The tin smell is outstanding. It's not an "aroma-bomb" just a subtle, gentle smell of dark (fruit) bread, which a hint of maple, caramel (=sugar). Brilliant and natural seeming, albeit being full of additives. Very appetizing scent tho'.

The Coin-Cut is handmade and very well crafted. It's ment that you take 2 coreless coins + 1 with the Kentucky coin. But as Kentucky fan(atic) I already see it coming, I'll have a half tin full of coreless coins, because I smoked all the ones with the Kentucky core. 😛

Then the taste - oh my, ths is a delicious blend! Besides the tons of additives this blend has the taste is quite natural taste of slightly citrusy, dark- and fruit-bread, hints of maple and a constant, but very subtle sweetness. Accompanied by a gentle spice, thats has a peppery mouthfeel, almost like Perique. Woodsy and hearty, tangy smoke notes of burnt wood. Not overly complex, but just enough complexity to keep me thrilled. A nice companion to Mac Barens "Three Nuns". Tastewise, their living in the same alley, but Dark Twist being the sweet one of them, and the Nuns being the more hearty one. But somehow they share quite a few nuances to my perception.

All in all this is a very refined and tasty blend, that can be smoked all-day and every-day. Good blend for the first bowl of the day imo. Not too strong, not to mild.

This mixture is usually categorized as an Aromatic and I am generally scared away by any artificial flavouring and sweetening. After carefully reading the description of this mixture on Mac Baren’s homepage (www.mac-baren.com) I concluded that this is NOT an Aromatic. The ONLY substance added on to 100 % natural tobacco is maple syrup. Not any (other) artificial flavouring what so ever! That’s why I decided to try a pouch. I am glad I did.

It is a neat Curly Cut, produced in a laborious, interesting manner. I suggest you read the description on the above mentioned homepage of Mac Baren. I don’t rub it out, I just break and loosen the coins a little, which leads to an excellent stuffing, burning and smoking condition. The flavours deploy rather inconsistently, because it depends very much on how you stuff your pipe, and on the size of the pipe, since all the coins are not identical, as explained on the manufacturer’s homepage. Makes it interesting to explore.

This mixture is rather strong for a Mac Baren and quite complex in flavour, even though it is composed of Virginia and Kentucky exclusively. There is NO Black Cavendish as some reviewers wrote. The black eye in some coins is Dark Fired Kentucky. There is no prominent aroma peak, but there are plenty of discreet hidden flavours coming out of this Virginia. With just the right amount of Kentucky, the aroma palette is accompanied by a smoky taste. In fact it’s all about natural tobacco aromas. The added maple sugar is very reserved and not easily detectable or distinguishable from the natural tobacco-sweetness. All in all it is a tasty, recommendable, everyday/anytime Virginia/Kentucky mixture, without adding it to my rotation or favourites.

This is a really beautiful tobacco to look at. Little coins of varying shades of brown are so inviting. Alas, I have a very love and hate relationship with this tobacco. When it's good, it’s good. But when it's bad, it's bad. Sulfurous magma tongue and gum scorching bad.

First time I tried this was the first time I experienced gum bite. It was incredible. My gums along my top molars were in so much pain. I put the pouch back in my tobacco cabinet and let it sit for about 8 months.

Coming back to it after a decent amount of time it smoked much better. The Vas are sweet and the Dark fired gives a wonderful smokey slightly sweet, slightly spicy BBQ sauce flavor. Maple and brown sugar are also swirled into the flavor experience. All of this comes together at the end of the bowl and it's marvelous. The thing is this experience is only 5/10 smokes.So every other time I have to dump it due to the bite. I have a feeling a little white burley would do this blend just right. To help it burn slower and round off some of those sharp edges.

I can't fully recommend this because it's such a fickle blend. But I have found some tricks to sway it in the way of enjoyment. 1. Let this dry out to mitigate the bite. 2. Smoke in a smaller bowl; too big and you may be being charged for arson. 3. Slow, slow puffing. Puff as if oxygen is being taxed.

All I can say is that I'm happy there is HH Old Dark Fired. Because all of the shortcomings of this tobacco are made right by that one.

I like MB blends and it is no surprise I like this one as well. When I first recieved this blend, I thought it was kind of bland at first and toyed with putting it in the cellar to age for awhile. But I tried a few more bowls and each time I liked it better. Now that I have smoked over 50gr of this I find myself reaching for it quite often. It has a nice spicy, creamey flavor, a really nice room note and it satisfys. In the tin it has a fresh VA type note to it and the little disks are very attractive and contain mostly a medium brown colored tobacco. It is a little too moist when first opened and improves greatly with some drying out. It packs rather tight in the bowl so you have to be careful not to pack it too tight, even if you rub it out a lot. It takes a few lights to get going and I find I have to relight a few times while smoking it down. It creates a very dark ash, dark grey and black and it burns down slowly and does leave some dottle at the bottom of the bowl. It is slow burning thus producing a cool flavorful smoke but if puffed to aggresively it can bite. This too me is a great blend, it does need some care in smoking it and prep, but worth it. A fine MB blend that I will keep around. I recommend trying it.

I found the this tasted like shoe leather that was dragged though my dog kennel after the dags ate beans. I was shocked be cause of the recommendations. So, I tried some more.... same result... I bought from a different dealer same result.... Not impressed at all.