Mac Baren Original Choice

The flavourings used provide a unique & well rounded taste that blends well with the natural tobacco taste (which is there but very mild). Not a very "spicy" or varied taste, but not weak or flavourless. Just mild. Very sweet but not absurdly overpowering. Smells almost only sugar, but the taste is far more honest that that. You can't really tell what flavourings are used, what is flavouring and what is the tobacco itself. It just tastes Mac Baren Original choice. Some aromatics taste like taking a cigarette puff and then eating a piece of candy (during the exhale), without the flavourings meshing well. Like pouring sugar on a steak. This is not one off those aromatics, and also the best "pure" aromatic I've tried. I've despised most off them, including some that get decent reviews here.

Burns well. Small pieces and rather dry so pack lightly.

Must try for aromatic lovers, but also for people who hate them as I think this one might change your mind. At least as long as you don't have fericious hate for sweet blends.

Edit: After having tried even more aromatics I'm just continually convinced off this blends superiority. It's the only aromatic I smoke even somewhat regularly.

I don't smoke aromatics too often, but decided to give this one a go. As with most of this ilk, there is hardly any nicotine to detect at all and a very nice room note and tin note goes without saying. I would agree with others who have said that this is a better version of Captain Black with less of the goop associated with that line of tobaccos. Its a change of pace for an English smoker and a better blend than the OTC blends out there. Definitely recommended.

sorry but this stuff wasnt good for me.mild tobacco and aromatic.i dont like aromatic tobaccos and specially this tobacco.if you dont like aromatics dont waste your time with this.

Inoffensive, but actually also unappealing to a seasoned smoker. Suspiciously flat in flavour and overly sweet. Burns reasonably well and stays lit. Maybe useful for someone starting pipe smoking. I could not finish the pack past two pipefuls, despite being a natural aro smoker.

I ordered this by mistake. It came in the usual metal round tin, not the corrugated cardboard version in the product description. The tobacco itself is predominantly dark with light leaf scattered throughout. It is an easy to pack short ribbon cut.

The tin note is exceedingly sweet. Notes of licorice, toffee, vanilla and more, but the prevailing top note is raspberry: Confectionery raspberry.

Burns easily. The casing translated to a nasty chemical taste when ignited. It left a nasty coating on my tongue. Not much of a tobacco taste at all. This is sickeningly sweet and it will probably sit in the back of my drawer for years.

I can´t get tired of this tobacco. Despite im an english mixtures smoker mostly this is one of those aro you must always have. You can enjoy the full taste of virginias and burley and a little sweet flavour has been added (Honey/mapple syrup?) to the black cavendish.

Nice paper-board outer package with a tobacco leaf sticker on it and no other motifs than mac-baren crest. Looks as it is a true tobacco we are about to try.

A lot of black cavendish among bright virg. and burley. No artificial aromas and toppings to kill the tobacco taste, if we ignore the natural sweetener which only enhances the fine natural aroma.

It smokes fine, tastes sweet enough, mild, but still is a serious smoke with some body. An all day smoke for any occasion. The room note is very nice, fruity almond like.

It suits all, from beginners to ones moving from aromatics to a more natural english or oriental blends.

It's neutrality will not appeal to heavy latakia smokers nor sweet cherry-vanilla-aromatics lovers. However it has it's place in a spectrum of tobacco and in a way it makes an important link in a chain of many blends.

I recommend it to all that start with smoking pipes, to all that want a day off from the heavy english mixtures, and to all aromatics lovers willing to try something more natural.

Fairly cool, very mild and, as the esteemed Noorrmm puts it, fruity and sweet, it is indeed one of those new blends (very much like Dunhill?s Aromatic or Mild Blend) designed to appeal to a new generation of pipe smokers. Without being entirely a scented tobacco, it does have a noticeable aroma?perhaps a bit too sweet for my taste?that gives the whole blend a tasty and smokey structure, in the Danish tradition.

The blend comes in one of those new corrugated carton pouches, lined with a golden foil paper. It is quite moist without being goopy. Visually it is a very nice tobacco, comprising golden thin ribbons (Virginias?), crimp dark brown leaf (Burley?) and jet black cavendished leaf. It can be packed as it is from the pouch, and its fairly easy to light and keep lit.

I do not mind smoking it every now and then, but its mildness tends to dry up the palate (though I would not classify this as a tongue biting tobacco) and does not reach that satisfaction point I find in other blends. Again, with the esteemed Noorrmm, it is an above average aromatic mixture, and should be very enjoyable to those picking up a pipe. If you are used to stronger or more consistent blends, too much of this stuff could parch up your taste buds!

Addendum (18 Nov. 07)

For the better part of the last six months I've been smoking this blend. It is indeed a very mild product, but once you get the hang of it--especially in the filling-up-the-pipe department--it can become a very suitable companion. As in Mixture Modern, and unlike Cube, I can really taste the Burleys and Virginias in this blend. The aromatic structure is nice (people tend to compliment the room aroma), but not pervasive to the point of occluding the tobacco flavors.

Not a bad choice at all.

Original Choice tastes like there might be some quality tobaccos in there underneath all that fruity nonsense, but I am still unable to find it in my heart to give this blend two stars. The strawberry-banana-grenadine topping is simply ghastly. I don't mind the odd aromatic (I smoke Mac Baren's Plumcake sometimes), but this stuff tastes like a whole year's worth of Friday afternoons when I was 10 years old. Like the package says, it won't bite your tongue, but it might burn your ass if you spent good money on this garbage. About the only thing this absolute crap has going for it is the fact that I can send it to the landfill with confidence that its corrugated cardboard packaging will biodegrade.