Mac Baren Original Choice

My first review of a Mac Baren tobacco was for the god-awful Mixture. Being an open-minded person, I decided to try the Original Choice as well. Both were purchased in a country where good pipe tobacco is a precious rare commodity.

The package is quite nice-looking, and promises the tobacco contained within is easy to light and smoke. It also claims to deliver a "sweet, rounded, and exciting taste." Presumably, this is so it might appeal to young and/or novice pipe smokers.

Well, it failed to appeal to me. Though it is very easy to pack, my first bowl was a bear to keep lit. One would think that, as dry as this stuff is, that wouldn't be the case. My second bowl burned rather hot, and neither bowl held the promised taste. In fact, it didn't taste like much of anything.

This tobacco gets two stars because it is friendly to a new pipe smoker. It just wasn't for me. The second Mac Baren blend I'll dump, and the absolute last I'll try.

Notes from first two tastings:

Nice packaging. Corrugated cardboard instead of the usual plastifoil. Practical and probably works as advertised, keeping your blend from getting too rubbed out. Like the idea.

Nose aroma: Fruity, sugary, and raisiny. Rumcake-like. Like something baked for Xmas. Luxuriously rich smell, this should go down well with family & friends.

Packs well. Charring light fine. Lights nicely. Outdoors went out a few times in the beginning, not later on. Composition quite dry (the tobacco on review had been unopened on the shelf for about a year).

First puff: Mild, yet there's a lot of tobacco taste in it. Mild, but tasty smoke w/ a lot of air. Like a 6 AM morning haze blended with a light camping smoke. Drier and "fierier" than many MacB's.

Begins with a nice Cavendish note. The nose-feel in the pouch does come through in the smoke. But in a *very* much lighter version. Still good.

Quite early on, taste turns chocolatey, raisiny. Smokes cool, and a lot drier than most aromatics. That said, I did get my tongue bitten, though. This one gets hot quickly if you don't mind your puffing. Pack tight, I'd say.

Halfway through the vanilla tones disappear and the taste develops and darkens a bit. The Cavendish and topping moves to the background, and back of your throat. A more balanced note.

The base tobacco, though mild, is of the usual high MacB grade, and quite agreeable. The aromatics start stronger (ahem, it is still mild), then mellow out to give a alternatively tobacco or aromatic dominated smoke. Which is why I can see it is quite a seller.

I immediately had the image of smoking this say, camping, hunting, fishing or hiking. Outdoors, early in the morning, after the morning coffee or cocoa, by the campfire or so.

(Tested in a Gr. 2 bowl, and the aroma was nice. Better in a small pipe, perhaps?)

Great for that first smoke of the day... in a way "I've found my real Early Morning Pipe" (pun not entirely unintended).

UPDATE: Newly tried this one again, now in the warmth of summer instead of the breeze of approaching winter. Positively surprised! This one's a "summer blend". I also had let it dry out a bit more (and by drying out, I mean it was just left as it is, in the closed pouch, so some air will seep in anyway). Doing that proved to be a good call. The taste and smoking characteristics have improved quite a bit. Room note (cottage porch, actually) was beautiful and favorably commented on. I believe it has lost plenty of its bite potential, a good thing. Good for the occasional, light smoke, and very agreeable.

UPDATE: Recently experienced the beautiful aroma of this one when someone else was smoking. Superbly agreeable. Nice to get to experience the "wife factor" on a baccy that's in my own rotation, too.

Appearance: The 100 gram tin of vacuum packed tobacco was released at the end of March 2023 and brought to me from Germany. So the tobacco, in general, can be considered fresh. On the Russian market tobacco came in 40-gram pouches and tall paper jars of 100 grams. Inside was a roughly chopped ribbon of a mixture of four (in my opinion) varieties of tobacco. It was easy to distinguish two kinds of Virginias, a burley and a large amount of Cavendish. Despite the fact that the tin has been open for a month, the tobacco in it has not dried out at all, which indicates that it has a fairly high content of glycerin and propylene glycol.

Flavor: the trio of caramel, vanilla and bisquits from the most powerful topping gives in this composition a real crescendo of synthesized aroma. A little cherry and honey come in a little later, in a secondary role. Behind all this aromatic riot no one can initially recognize a single note of tobacco, though, after a couple of minutes, nutty and woody burley with a barely noticeable cocoa tinge still interferes in this "improvisation on synthesizers", managing to play a couple of notes conceived by the composer of the mixture. The other members of the ensemble, the virginias and cavendish are simply not audible against this background. It's all very much like a high school rock band, with each of the leaders trying to stand out from the others, not counting the one or two boys who just came to play their instruments.

Taste: as you should expect from a good Danish blend with a dense topping, in real life the "band members" behave much more modestly. Some herbal, woody and nutty notes, a touch of bitter chocolate, the taste has light sweetish note of cavendish. Topping, which literally demolished tobacco notes in the smell, in the taste gives only a slight biscuit note, and it quickly fades away. The overall bouquet is simple, familiar, uncomplicated. The strength of the tobacco tends to be minimal. The tobacco is smoked slowly, relatively cool, however, it easily comes to overheat, starting to become bitter just a bit. But even when overheated, it doesn't tend to bite your tongue, and when smoked slowly, it doesn't have harsh notes. The blend burns out into a gray ash with some small lumps and, when smoked slowly, leaves only a drop or two of moisture in the bowl. The aftertaste is faint, woody, slightly sweet.

The smoke is quite abundant, with a sweet and woody odor. Nevertheless, it dissipates easily without giving unpleasant sensations to those around you.

What's the bottom line? Considering that this blend was made for those who are just trying out pipe smoking, I would say that Mac Baren has achieved their goal. The tobacco is still a true best seller, produced and sold in huge quantities. As for experienced pipe smokers, they are likely to pass it by - the strength of the blend is low, and its flavoring can scare off lovers of natural taste. Among my acquaintances there is one who prefers this one to all other blends, and I will easily give him almost a full tin of Original Choice.

The scent upon opening had fruit notes of plum & raisin w/ slight wheat or baked bread undertones. Tobacco had a light moisture content, but had room to dry out some. Packed bowl and let sit for 3 hours (next time will let sit 6 hours for a drier smoke). During the smoke, there were mild flavors of the plum and raisin, mixed with peppery hits mixed with the baked bread/wheat flavor that almost resembled toast with some jam. A light smoke for those venturing into Vapers, but enjoy the slight cavendish sugars. Keep tamper and lighter handy for this one just in case.

Hmm, I can't describe myself as new smoker rather noob piper. This blend is mild aromatic as described but has nicotine in it, therefore strength medium. I really wouldn´t recommend this as maybe first tobacco blend to begin with because you have to really focus your mind to the flavours added which as described are mild and hardly distinguished, I can get hints of creamy notes, hints of Vanilla maybe but is there some rum or whisky at the background lurking? Taste of this blend is bit airy, cloudy like sensation (therefor, taste mild) which lacks some depth so you start over focusing your mind into toppings and might get disappointed whilst doing so.

It was recommended to me as a beginners tobacco,well that's what it is. Tin note is full and wonderful as a aromatic blend and one would expect to have a full taste but no its just isn't there. What is there is a mild sweet taste of vanilla,some fruity,honey appearing if puffed very carefully. It wont bite unless overpuffed,yet like with most MacBs I ve tried there is always some chemical reaction with my tongue no matter how slow I puffed. I guess its a good morning smoke for some who enjoy mild sweet tobacco without real tobacco taste. Wont be buying again.

This is a very intriguing tobacco. The most intense aromatizant is cocoa, with honey or sugar. It's a very simple tobacco: the taste is very sweet, with a predominant cocoa taste, and also caramel and nutty notes; it hasn't a lot of body (this is a good attribute for a beginner or, otherwise, if you don't want a slap of nicotine), but, however, it's a good quality tobacco: tasty, easy-going and very mild.

Flagship of the 'choice' series. It is a pleasant and mild smoke. It is moderately sweet on the tongue and no bite whatsoever. Seems ideal for social occasions. The aroma is hard to pin down. But fruits come to mind, such as pear and apple. This is my recommendation for novice or beginner smokers.

My dear wife likes this tobacco.She loves the room note of it.From MB this is actually quite peculiar blend.There's something that a old pipe puffer like me can't really understand.Easy to pack,easy to light and to smoke.Burns cool with no bite.I like many of MB blends because they are sometimes very unforgiving...with this I mean famous bite and etc.My point is that some of MB blends take time to get it right.... to get the full pleasure of the tobacco.So this blend is mild...too mild for my taste.It smokes nice as I said before but there's something that is missing.If you are new to pipes you'll love it.I call it "plastic" tobacco-it has quality but the soul is missing.For the beginners a must choice.