Mac Baren Vanilla Cream Flake

I find this blend much more pleasant after several months of aging in a sealed jar. Just for kicks, I bought about 8 oz. of VCF about 10 months ago and didn't really care for it then, but seems to get better with a little age.

I am usually not a lover of aromatics, but sometimes I want to reach for something sweet. Since MacBaren uses quality leaf compared to other brands of aromatics, I gave this one a try. The fact that it was in flake format was a bonus, too.

First of all: this is one incredibly slow-burning tobacco. If you fold the flakes like the MacBaren website shows, a couple of flakes will last at least a couple of hours... so be sure you have some time to enjoy your pipe! As a result, it burns cool and dry, which is certainly a nice thing: this is not a scorching and goopy aromatic!

The vanilla flavoring could be more intense and sweeter: this one smells rather natural, but I also detect some hint of alcohol in it, and something that smells like fermented bananas. Other vanilla blends I have tried are much sweeter and intense in the flavoring department. It WILL still flavour the bowl easily, though, so keep it for a dedicated pipe...

At the match, as I said, the tobacco burns great. And the smoke actually tastes of tobacco. I would almost be tempted to say that it tastes more of tobacco than of vanilla, which is quite a feat for an aromatic (they usually either only taste of the flavoring, or of hot air). Problem is that, like other MacBaren tobacco, it is a very mild tobacco. Good, but it leaves you wanting something stouter. Anyway, it has some nice body and mouthfeel, and it is a nice Cavendish and Virginia blend... simply, I just wish it was more flavorful.

Room note is VERY sweet and persistent. If you like vanilla, all right. But my wife said that it's a bit more intense than she would have preferred: sometimes even too much of a pleasant thing can be too much...

Overall: a vanilla flavored flake was a nice idea, and it's a quality tobacco. But in the same genre, I prefer the German blend called Sweet Vanilla Honeydew.

one of the best flakes in the aromatic world that i have encountered. although similar to the loose cut however there are few differences basically it burns slower (oh the intelligence!)secondly which i might be consider as a con is that the room note not always appreciated but certainly tolerable. the taste is fuller and you feel the blend hold its body perfectly with a considerable nic kick to it (as oppose to normal aromatics) the tobacco taste is more dominant than the flavoring added but you can defiantly taste the sweetness and get that creamy sensation. to me its a safe zone tobacco and i would certainly recommend it. ( i pack it through folding method however breaking the flakes down help with more even burning)

ouch!!! this stuff BITES!! and but quick!! strong, spicy, sour, hot, biting and unklike what i have come to expect from the house of MacBaren. A disappointment all around. The vanilla is indeed there. The tin is very neat, as a consolation. It will be nice to keep after this nicotinic rat-poison is smoked or relegated to an old shoebox. Sorry to have to be so negative regarding a MacBaren offering. :

i liked the planta danish black vanilla, for this type of thing

I would like to preface this by saying that I am not primarily a smoker of aromatics. I tend to lean toward latakia blends and the like. I picked up a tin of this at the recommendation of a fellow pipe smoker.

I found this to be a bit too mild for my tastes. The vanilla is definitely noticeable, and is not overpowering. It still leaves plenty of room for the tobacco flavor to come through. My experience with this blend was that there just wasn't enough tobacco flavor to fill in that gap, but the flavor that was there was definitely pleasant.

Filling and lighting was easy enough with this blend. I used the fold and plug technique and it lit fairly easily and kept burning quite nicely through the smoke.

For an aromatic blend, this is quite nice, but it doesn't pack much of a punch other than the bit of vanilla and tobacco flavors. not as good as the non flake vanilla cream as I have heard.

I like a vanilla aromatic once in a while, but this stuff just bites and stings like a bee. It's a shame because it has a pleasant enough taste and a wonderful room aroma.

I used one ounce of this as a blender in a 7-ounce blend and it justs dominates the blend. It certainly has a presence, and the bite transferred to the blend as well.

It is presented well, has a nice smell in the tin and the moisture level seems correct.

After unwrapping the gold foil within the tin you are presented with delightfully dark flakes of tobacco flecked with gold. The tin aroma reminded me a little of a pleasing mixture somewhere between home made creme brulee and white chocolate. Having roughly rubbed out a flake between my fingers, I packed it into a Peterson system 314 pipe that I have dedicated solely to aromatics. It took three attempts with my old boy lighter to get the tobacco alight, but afterwards it burned evenly and well all of the way to the bottom of the bowl. The flavour of vanilla is present throughout the smoke, though it did fade in and out of intensity midway through the bowl. But having said that, the vanilla really does blend well with the mellow taste of the Virginia and Cavendish mixture. I must say that I enjoyed this Mac Baren offering much more than I thought I would and I will definitely be buying this excellent vanilla three star offering again.

This time my Mac Baren flame thrower came with a vanilla kicker...pass

I bought this tin, last morning as I was wandring along the streets of Stockholm. I longed for a great aromatic, to beginn the day in a extraordinary fashion, so I went in the tobaccoshop of the block. But to my bare disappointment, I was neither amused nor intrieged by its rather repulsive smell. On the other hand, the taste was entirely different. Vanilla embraced my tounge by the second bowl and I feel as if I was in elysium, BUT that feeling disappered as s quick as it appered. What I'm trying to say is that, Vanilla cream can be awsume but most of the time, it's even more flat and boring than Borkum Riff (no, I think I exaggurated but you get my point).