Mac Baren Navy Flake

This tobacco packs and lights very easily. It would be a very good starter blend. It is also not as complex as some of the other blends in my current rotation. It would serve well as a good morning pipe, but I prefer it as an after lunch treat. It is better in a small to medium bowl because of its light (somewhat bland) taste. Upon initial light, the flavor is fairly sweet as most VA tobacco is, but as the bowl progresses it becomes more nutty and earthy. The tobacco burns to a very fine ash and leaves nothing behind in the pipe after a pipe cleaner or two. I prefer a slightly more complex pipe in most cases but this one seems to fit the bill when I have to be considerate of other people and I do not want to smoke an aromatic. Overall a great tobacco, I would recommend anyone give this smooth smoking, mild tobacco a try.

You can go two ways to enjoy this tobacco, either rubbed out or smoked as a flake should be smoked. I tried both and do not recommend rubbing it out, it changes the taste dramatically and not for the better.

Mac-Baren?s take on how to fill your pipe with flake:

http://www.mac-baren.com/TopMenu/Expert-Knowledge/Flake-Tobacco/How-to-fill-a-pipe.aspx

The tin looks nice and on opening it, a nice fruity smell awaits you. The tobacco is nicely stacked in big thin flakes. The humidity level is good but drying it in the tin for a couple of days makes it smoke even better. I packed my pipe with the above technique topping it off nicely with a bit of rubbed out tobacco to ease the lightning process. Very few relights are needed.

The first bit of the bowl tastes very sweet, honey like with hints of fruit and gradually the fruitiness seems to disappear throughout the smoke bringing out some nutty tones. Not a complex smoke but enough to keep you interested. Overall to the end a very nice sweet and nutty aroma but different than any other burley I have tried.

I felt not tongue bite whatsoever, light on the nicotine and the room note is very pleasant. In short I feel this is a good afternoon smoke that?s worth every penny. It?ll be on my regular rotation.

First, a couple of caveats. I've never been a huge fan of flaked leaf, and MacBaren blends have always been bitey to me. Now with those out of the way, I love Navy Flake. It's primarily a Burley blending, but the Virginias are of obvious quality, and there's also the sweet MacB Cavendish present. I have to up the general taste from the majority of reviews from Mild to Medium, to Medium. My opinion, is all. I can even enjoy this in my largest pipes. If I was made this way, I could imagine this as an all-day blending. I'm primarily a Latakia/Oriental lover, and when I want straight Virginias, I head to Hal-O-The-Wynd and/or Old Gowrie. Navy Flake is a wonderful mixture for those days when this just feels right. It's remarkably cool and dry, and stays lit. What else can I say? Now I have to be patient and see how well this ages.

Mmm, a rum soaked burley brawl!

With the weight of reviews already laid before you, I think you'll have no problem in guessing what the appearance and taste is like for this one - so I won't go into this any further.

It's rummy, burley centred and rather yummy, enough said.

SIDE NOTE:

Navy Flake mixes very (very) well with perique. If you want a smooth as silk smoke with an extra kick, then NF can easily cope with the addition of upto 25-30%. Only Rattray's offerings can cope with such a quantity, so this is a good alternative. Especially with the current problems with obtaining Rattrays in the UK at the moment.

An Excellent experience!

I keep reaching for this all the time.

Interesting Observation: I visiting Russia, staying in a biggish hotel room and I smoke with closed windows late at night. I do not ventilate all that much. The room has developped a noticeable but easily acceptable and quite pleasant note.

Good stuff. I am not a big fan of burley blends, i find them a bit boring. This blend is good though, easy to pack and light, good flavor, and no tongue bite. I like smoking flakes in my den when i'm reading because i can puff and puff for a very long time.

I like this stuff but I can easily do with one 50gr tin once in a blue moon, just for a change of pace, not the kind that I would smoke often.

If I didn?t have such a wanton and promiscuous palate I could almost smoke this exclusively. I?ll admit to being a sucker for Virginians and light burley blends. I judge English blends by the Virginian taste to them, the beating heart of the oriental/latakia English blends. I could laud the virtues of this flake, the presentations, the ability to buy it in bulk locally at a reasonable price, the rubbability and foldability, the adequate nicotine hit.

This is a classy tobacco. Open the tin and the Gold Embossed MacBaren name on the foil is a pleasure to look at. Open the foil, and here are two neatly stacked piles of flakes. The smell is like a honey virginia. After some drying and packing....Initial light if a nice virgina burley taste. Like most MacBarens the flavor is very 3 dimensional. Cruising speed through the bowl has a mild, to almost imperceptable honey taste mixed with a nice, slightly sweet virgina and cigarish burley taste. The flavor profile does darken as the bowl progresses- getting more burlish toward the bottom- Which is not a bad thing. With proper prep, no hint of bite....Nicotine was a tad below med....But very satisfying (only one flake used). All in all, a great Navy cut. I think it would have been a truer navy with a rum addition...But nice. Recomended.

This is a good middle-of-the-road that should be appreciate by both burley fiends and light aromatic smokers. The packaging and cut are classic, and this tobacco has superb burning qualities. The flavoring is applied in just the right amount and it seems to do well in just about any size pipe. It's also one of the few burley-heavy blends that I think smokes better in a briar than in a cob (there are lots of burlies that do well in either, but IMO most of them don't really "sing" until you smoke them in a cob). This isn't one of my favorites, but lots of people swear by it. My one real complaint is that it bites more than a burley-based tobacco should. Recommended.