Mac Baren Plumcake

Not a bad blend, but not really my style. The other reviews saved me from some nasty tongue bite. Even puffing slowly got me pretty close to a burnt tongue. I love the taste of this when I can get at it. The latikias seem to overpower it for me. On good puffs, there's a wonderfully sweet rum taste, but I can't stand the inconsistency. The room note is pretty good for latakia, but it's clearly not an aromatic.

This blend was very surprising. Expecting more of an aromatic plum kind of blend I got a bit of a complex english.

The blend did burn pretty hot, and the taste wasn't too great.

The room note was actually pretty decent, and it did light easily. However it also burned pretty quick.

Because this type of blend is one of my favorites, and they kind of pulled it off, I'll give two. I also believe mac baren can make a good blend, but am still looking.

Gave this blend a try this morning. I had high hopes for it because of the fact it's been around for over 50yrs and has had pretty good reviews. However, I didn't like it nearly as much as I wanted to. The Syrian Latakia was pretty evident in the blend to me, and I just am not tempted by Lady Latakia. To me she's the Kim Kardashian of tobacco. Others may find her gorgeous, but she does absolutely nothing for me. Me I'm more of a Drew Barrymore, Sasha Alexander kind of guy. Give me a nice VA/Burley blend and I'm happy as can be. So if you're looking for a twist on Latakia or are interested in giving Lady Latakia a try pick up a tin.

If you can handle the tongue bite, by all means test drive this blend. Good flavor, I just can't get past the charring light, it burns me that bad. I purchased my tin back in 3/06, and even with 5.5 years of proper storage, still burns my mouth.

I bought two ounces of this loose the other week, mainly based on the reviews on here. I have now smoked six or seven bowls of this so far and it puzzles me!

I get no hint of the casing, either in the pouch or when smoking, I don't know if this is because it was purchased as a loose. When smoking, it is tolerable but not as nice as some others I have tried. If anything it is a bit flat - I certainly wouldn't describe it as an aromatic, more like a "normal" tobacco. Occassionally one gets a hint of sweetness whilst smoking which I assume is the rum casing coming through. I have experienced no "bite" with it, though it does leave a taste of tobacco on the tounge for a good half hour after smoking, not unpleasant though. No problems with having to relight this, but again it is a pretty dry tobacco that I had so perhaps it would be a different story if I had got a pre packed one.

All in all then I'll enjoy the rest of my two ounces but I doubt I'll be buying this blend again

I've heard nothing but good things about Mac Baren's Plumcake and so I got 1 oz. from my tobacconist. It came out of the bulk stock from the 1 lb. container and it was as dry as a dog turd on a hot July day. I don't know if that had anything to do with what I experienced, but I'd not be surprised if it did. I didn't think that tobacco was supposed to "crunch", but "crunch" it did. Needless to say, my first bowl of this was horrible. It tasted like turpentine and almost made me give up on trying it further. I found out a method to rehydrate it and then had another go at it (if for no other reason than it was a venerable blend and I wanted to give it a fair hearing).

The second, rehydrated bowl of Plumcake was like a totally different animal. I'm not sure what my rehydration did to the Rum casing on this blend. I could still smell some rum, but it wasn't overpowering, yet it had more aroma than before I restored it.

The strength of the blend also stood out to me. It was not super strong, but much stronger than I was used to. The bite I experienced before (not tongue bite) was still there, yet this time it was not as noxious. It made my upper palate tingle so I am assuming this is the Latakia in this.

The room note was not as pleasant as a true aromatic, yet it was not overpowering. As I smoked this, it still seemed to have that harshness to it. It wasn't the same as my first bowl (which seemed I've compared to turpentine) but it was still there. I can't say that I enjoyed it. The blend seemed to be out of balance.

Perhaps this is a good blend if you enjoy very harsh tasting tobaccos, but I think for most folks, they'd do better to try better balanced blends. It's okay, but just not my cup 'o tea.

This is a nice enough tobacco, a solid two stars, but not much more. There is supposed to be Latakia in this tobacco, but I couldn't taste it for anything. The navy flake portion is nice and the topping is slightly detectable, however, if you had a bowl of anything else before this you will probably miss it. Nice tobacco, decent experience. I would have liked it more if I hadn't paid so much for it.

Latakia is hard to detect in this sweet light tobacco. I bought it in Madrid Airport and tried it the same night I came back home.

When I opened the tin, I did not like the aroma of this tobacco, but when I smoked it I was more satisfied about it.

The taste is nicely flavoured, and sincerely I found it very sweet and fresh. The mixture of variuos kinds of tobacco requires that you smoke this item more than a time to enjoy fully all the tastes.

Surely I've clearly spot the gentle rum taste, and the sweet flavouring of this tobacco.

I think I will end my tin of Plumcake enjoing all the tastes that it can donate to the smokers.

This is a tobacco that I wanted to love, the touch of latakia was there It was a smokey sweet smoke I'll try again!