Mac Baren Roll Cake

Roll Cake presents as tiny, delicate, loose coins with a range of colors from specks of blonde to thicker, darker browns - visualize a 50% scaled down version of Luxury Bullseye Flake. Tin notes of hay, fig, date, molasses, and dark chocolate.

The charring light brings a nice, sweet cocoa to the forefront. But it's quickly swept away by the more dominant molasses flavor. By mid bowl the molasses shares center stage with stewed fruit flavors of fig and date with the dark chocolate and lighter Burley cocoa notes present, but further in the background. By the final third that consistent molasses note persists. Overall, the blend is consistent throughout the smoke, and a treat for lovers of this flavor profile.

A note on tongue bite: As with many Mac Baren blends, this one can burn hot if not smoked carefully. With a consistent cadence and gentle sips, this blend produces gorgeous molassed flavors with notes of stewed fruit and chocolate. But pushing this blend is punishment on the tongue, and I would not recommend it for a newer smoker. Tobacco blends that require this much care are easily dismissed given the wide range of wonderful blends available today. However, that would be a mistake. In the case of Roll Cake, the flavors are so delicious that it's worth the patience and practice needed to smoke this blend successfully. In my humble opinion, this is a tasty blend that's worth the care needed derive the flavor.

In short, do not fear the Roll Cake. But approach it with caution. The patient smoker will be well rewarded.

Apparently, Roll Cake has been re-engineered to remove perique, much like Three Nuns. My tin's bottom reads "A blend of twisted Virginia, Cavendish and perique tobaccos." A pity, since they used it in a delicious proportion that didn't irritate my mouth.

I've smoked several tins of RC, unlike far too many reviewers here. This blend requires more tries than most to get the pipe and technique down. I gave up on my first tin for several years, dismissing it as a biter. Either the years mellowed it or the large Comoy I use tamed it, but I now find it to be a very rich, spicy and sweet blend when smoked slowly. Admittedly, the tins I've finished are now nine years old, but I advise those who judge (and post) after one bowl to keep trying. It ages well.

I'll try a new tin to confirm the above ingredient statement as well as my assessment of the blend presently sold.

All Mac Baren doubters should invest in a tin to really see how their (admittedly, not always unfounded) prejudice holds up. Of all Mac Baren's offerings I've come across, this is the one I enjoy the most.

I do detect some perique'ish components in the tin note. It is probably something in the cavendish process giving it that sweet 'n sour/spice note. There's a sweet, sugary intensity to the note and latakia is, as far as I can gather, present in the tin note, but not to any great extent.

For a Mac Baren, it is in the expensive league, but as a premium blend among others, it fares well. And worth it, I might add. In the usual Mac Baren way, the tins are filled to the rim, so you're getting your pennies worth - the moisture content, which is a bit high, has been frowned upon by my predecessors, but that is the least of my headaches. I've had Mac Baren blends hold up for years in perfect smoking condition in simple Tupperware containers. How can that be anything other than good? Perfect for those of us that simply can't stick to anything less than 20 opened tins at any given time. I do find it smokes better when aired out a little, and I'm never in such a hurry that I don't have time to let it rest in the pipe before lighting up; an hour or so is just about right for me.

Taste is predominately that of smooth and creamy burley, and the "periqueish" cavendish make its way through in the taste if sipped very gently. There is a faint note of latakia spice and smokiness melding in and out also - but hard core latakiaphiles probably do not need bother on the premise of the latakia. Like many Mac Baren's, you're not doing yourself any favours if you smoke only a few bowls and then give up. I symphatize to some degree with the "Weak, and insipid...warm tasteless air" remarks, but my sympathy only goes as far as saying: Do it again and do it right. It takes a little getting to know and pacing is key. Although Roll Cake is very forgiving when smoked, if you're not getting any taste, you're smoking too fast. With the right tempo the flavour is very pleasant - almost like a mild and sweet va/per with just a dash of burley; and like with va/per type blends, the side stream is an especially pleasant aspect.

Roomnote is quite unobtrusive, and pleasant to a smoker - you'll possibly get away with it amongst non-smokers or better halves (but don't take my word for it).

In conclusion, although Roll Cake in general can be considered an absolute top quality blend, it just lacks that intensity in flavour and nicotine punch that I crave. It's typical for Mac Baren in that it's a tiny bit too cumbersome to smoke and enjoy effortlessly. Every Mac Baren that I have smoked have all been needing some degree of coaxing in order to lure out those elusive flavours that hide in there somewhere, and unfortunately Roll Cake is no exception. But even so, I can definately recommend it, because once you hit its sweet spot, you'll be glad you stuck with it.

For what it's worth: when I smoke this I like to take 4-5 coins and roll them up until they start to resemble a plug, and stuff lightly, then add a couple of whole coins on top to create a seal - and finally, I take another coin and rub it up properly and sprinkle on top to facilitate lighting. There are many other ways to smoke it, but I find the above method works best for me and delivers the most flavour.

I smoke Roll Cake in a (to Mac Baren spun cuts) dedicated Vauen White Dot, which is filtered, but usually smoked with an adapter. The production code on the back of the tin is 08102991, which translates to october 26 2010.

I enjoyed this blend immensely. Of course, I like hot peppers for the same reason. As Granny Rex would say, "It hurts so good!" Freshly opened from the tin the aroma was a sweet & natural tobacco symphony. I slipped three coins into my beloved battered bulldog known as Black Wreckage & commenced the charring light. Imagine my surprise to find that someone had carelessly left their pet viper in my pipe! I later found that all this blend lacks is time. Once it dries thoroughly it's a great smoke. There's just enough sweetness to let you smile as you puff your way through the bowl without needing being so cloyingly sweet that you need insulin. By the bottom of the bowl you reach a deep silky tobacco flavor with the slightest woodsy notes.

The last of the Roll Cake-Series by Mac Baren I got to smoke. All of them appealed a lot to me, yet Club blend was a bit too sweet for my taste. **Only confusion is the description** of this one... some description mention some Latakia, others don't. Some say this one is "the only of the Roll Cakes with a mild top-flavoring" (which I doubt, as Club Blend is obviously topped by something fruity!)

**Opening the tin of Roll Cake** a natural tobacco aroma comes out. The tin note is somewhere between the Dark Twist and Stockton to me. The breadiness that's present in all the Mac Baren Roll Cakes is also dominating here. Mild sweetness and no topping or flavoring I could detect. Its smell is less spicy than the Stockton, but less sweet than the Dark Twist.

As usual with the Roll Cakes by Mac B. this one **comes perfectly conditioned** and can be smoked right away. Yet I prefer some short drying period as it enhances the flavors for me.

**In the pipe I instantly get greeted by** the familiar Mac Baren Roll Cake aroma of rich, bready notes. Some top-notch Virginias must be used, I like them a lot albeit not being too much of a Virginia-guy. Surprisingly this is pretty spicy, almost peppery. The Black Cavendish in the cores of the coins is made from dark-fired Kentucky according to Mac Barens description, and it may make for the rich spiciness. A gentle sweetness is in the background, but the bold spice and rich breadiness is dominating all the way. Throughout the bowl a mild nuttiness builds up, which I love, as well as a decent earthiness and slightly smoky peaks.

Roll Cake Spun Cut is very tasty to me. My ranking was: 1. Stockton (love it); 2. Dark Twist (pretty tasty); 3. Club Blend (nah.. too sweet for me). But after having smoked the Roll Cake Spun Cut, Stockton shares the lead with it! It's a spicier companion to Stockton, but very similar in taste and a aroma in the very same vein as Stockton is. With Spun Cut having this nice Burley nuttiness and richer spice; and Stockton having this pleasantly smoky, and a whiff sweeter character. Both having this lovely, bready aroma that characterizes all of the Roll Cakes for me.

To be honest **I really can't make out any flavoring**... not a whiff! And the **Latakia? Maybe..**, there's a slight smokiness in the back that reminds me of Latakia, but I couldn't make the Latakia out as such if I wouldn't knew.

|| Personal rating: 3-stars | Attempt of an 'obective rating' : 3,5-stars ||

just smoked a few bowls of this from an old tin dated july 2009. so take it for what it's worth. the years clearly change a tobacco. this was velvety and smooth. it was just a beautiful blend of high-grade va/bur/cav. and i adore spun-cut flakes. don't know what a new tin offers, but i'm guessing it's a bit more forward. lucky i've got 3 more ounces to go. be well friends.

While Dark Twist is the tastiest of these Roll Cake blends from MacBaren, RC comes in second for me. These little coins are IMO the perfect size and easy to pack like a roll of coins stacked in your bowl or rub out to a stringy consistency, either way you will get a sweet Virginia zing with toasty notes. Actually quite nice and while not the amazing value they used to be, still a good price for 100 grams of very high quality tobacco. Mac Baren may be known as flamethrower blends but no one can claim they use anything but the very best tobacco.

I was gifted a sample of this at my recent pipe club meeting. I am a fan of burley/virginia blends. This one is quite nice. Disregard other reviewers notions of perique and latakia, there is none here. Perhaps a little spicy character at the beginning. Mellows out to smooth tobacco flavor and then sweet fruitiness from middle to end. Reminiscent of Edgeworth Sliced. Only drawback was it was quite wet towards the end, and the tobacco had ample time to dry. Lots of gurgling. One of the guys in the smoke shop noted the aroma was quite smoky, similar to mesquite.

Delicious mild flavor with just enough nicotine for my morning puff.