Mac Baren Vanilla Cream Loose Cut

This blend was lost on me. There cut is very consistent with most MacBaren loose cuts; bits of broken flake and mostly ribbon strands.

Smells wonderful out of the pouch, although not that much like Vanilla. More like a blueberry nutrigrain bar.

There's nothing to complain bout the packing or burning, not very goopy at all. The tongue bite factor is minor but it's there. The problem is that I get nothing flavor wise from this tobacco. The smoke coming out of my mouth smells amazing and it almost fools you into thinking that the tobacco tastes good. But it doesn't. It tastes like smooth air. Even on a retrohale it doesn't offer much.

Simply can't enjoy this blend and with the tongue bite factor as well, I don't think I would smoke a free sample of this.

Another tobacco I picked up for a blind taste test, obviously from someone who did not know I had smoked as much of the Vanilla Cream Flake as I could stand (not much) and found it extremely boring and mildly foul. This one I guessed correctly, even though it was the loose cut. Same antiseptic artificial vanilla taste, same bland hot air, same lack of true tobacco taste.

I do like the fact that it burns cleanly and without goop. I just wish it had a more natural vanilla flavor, and more of it. If an aromatic isn't going to taste like tobacco with a mild flavoring, then let it have some flavor of some kind, for pete's sake! But like a lot of Mac Baren blends, this one is all about the aroma at the expense of taste. I know they can make flavorful blends because I've had some. This one, in my opinion, isn't one of them. Recommended for...er...ah...um... the people that already like it, I guess!

Having been smoking pipes and a variety of English and aromatic tobaccos for over 6 years now, I'm not exactly a newbie. Unfortunately Vanilla Cream Loose Cut isn't a very pleasurable smoke. MacBaren claims 'Vanilla Cream', but where is the vanilla taste? It's a very light cream flavor when smoking, with practically no vanilla taste. Almost like smoking hot air. Room note is decent, but not great. Seems to fade fast and leaves behind a slight cigarettish smell. And oh my it's a harsh tobacco. This stuff slowly roasts my mouth... regardless of drying time, packing technique, or smoking cadence. I cannot tolerate smoking this more than one bowl per day. This is a really disappointing tobacco, considering how wonderful their Seven Seas line is. Not recommended- not even for veteran smokers. Go with Mac Baren's smooth and tasty Seven Seas line instead.

I eventually got around to this based on some reviews about how light the vanilla flavor was, not overpowering in looking for a slightly sweeter blend. Actually, this has more of a dark sweet fruity aroma with the vanilla in the back seat. This fruit-vanilla flavor style is familiar and can be found one way or another in other Euro manufactured blends so, it's not so unique. The flavor is a bit rough around the edges and slightly flat; The virginias need more sweet casing. There is a slight bitey tang to the virginias if you're particularly sensitive to them as I am. I'm a bit surprised that this turned out to be such a bomb. This isn't much of a vanilla tobacco but an European aromatic in lines with DTM Blue Note and Savinelli's Cavendish. Didn't care for it.

Mac Baren's Vanilla Cream Loose Cut was a gift given to me by my sister when she went on a trip to germany. I got the 3.5oz tin and was one of the first pipe tobaccos I smoked some 4~6 years ago. When opening this tin you are presented with the wonderful vanilla aroma which makes you want to eat the tobacco but... don't let this fool you. I remembered it smoke very hot and lots of tongue bite when I first smoked (due to inexperience) and almost made me give up on pipe smoking. Now some years later I had the opportunity to try again and even after having some experience smoking, it still smokes hot and bites a little, you should definitely take your time and be really experienced to properly smoke this without the hot smoke and tongue bite.

The strength is mild and also the flavor and taste. Room note is excellent and has a really good vanilla smell.

I cannot recommend this blend due to lacking the vanilla flavor (even though the smell and room note are there). There is little taste, burns hot and MacBites.

MacBarren Vanilla Cream: not a big fan of heavily flavored tobacco, I tend to stick to blond and red virginias; especially not of something titled Vanilla Cream. But on lonely nights in Anchorage, when the bars have all escorted their last determined customers to the door, and the sidewalks have turned ice, I?ve found myself walking home holding my pipe in my coat pocket and looking for something new... I think MacBarren?s web-sight is very informative, and if one can?t fall asleep on those nights, then reading the brief synopsis for each of their blends might help. It is in this manner which I decided to order their Vanilla Cream lose cut. It is made in part of mature virginia, so that was good enough for me. The tin smell is sweet, creamy, beeswax candle like, and you have to pull it away from your nose. Indeed their is strips of virginia inside, and upon lighting the first two matches I caught hint of their familiar aroma. A light creamy vanilla fragrance follows. The nature of the flavor is nutty-creamy. The intensity of the flavor is light to medium, but more on the light side. The sweetness of the flavor is medium-strong. I don?t know much about flavored tobaccos, but compared to my early pipe smoking days with drug-store blends, this blend seems very sophisticated. The smell in the tin is honest to the smoke, only not as strong. The body of Vanilla Cream on my palate is very gentle, but nonetheless their is a biting quality to it. It caught me a bit by surprise. I?m use to a little bite from virginia, but I wasn?t expecting it from Vanilla Cream. It also seems to cling to your mouth a lot more, despite my obsessive compulsive tooth-brushing. Their is no doubt this Cream is a smooth blend. The balance between the body and flavor is like water and ice. The smoke is consistent, not very complex, but I like consistency in a blend, though it does get sour as you approach the dottle. ?You?re pretentious but not the tobacco,? my girl remarked. I was rudely blowing it in her face, but nonetheless she likes the aroma This blend is lose cut, but I hear there is a flake cut Vanilla Cream which might appeal to me better. However it seems to be sold only in Germany. It is a good idea to keep a separate set of pipes for this blend. I?m having a hell of a time getting the vanilla out of my Stanwell.

I'll admit - Mac Baren Vanilla Cream is my Everest. This was the first tobacco I ever purchased and smoked. This served as a high barrier to entry for me. I had read many great reviews and had seen it was top rated in some places, but I struggled to get anything but tongue bite and ash from it. It wasn't until I smoked Frog Morton's Cellar that I realized how great pipe smoking could be.

Fast forward a few years I now know what I'm doing and can get pleasant smokes from just about everything. It was time to return to vanilla cream.

Opening the tin, as everyone says, the aroma is out of this world. One of the best tin notes out there which sets expectations for the smoke fairly high. After properly drying and loading up I lit up for the first time in about 4 years. Surprisingly there was flavor there - barely. The taste is extraordinarily mild compared to other aromatics such as Boswell's Best. With full focus and great care, I was able to get to the heart of what the vanilla cream experience should be and to be honest, it's just alright. Having had some great vanilla alternatives, the effort to get the best from vanilla cream isn't worth it. Unless you're looking for room note only, I'd recommend looking for other vanilla aromatics. I'll likely give away the rest of the tin. And to come full circle this tobacco isn't bad, it just really isn't for everyone and not at all beginner friendly.

This was such a disappointment - a real nothing tobacco. I cannot taste the vanilla and can barely taste the tobacco itself. A shame - I saw the tin, read its listing in 'best aromatics' articles, found the name enticing, and was really excited to smoke it, particularly having read it tasted like vanilla ice cream. Unless something changes, with drying, it honestly does not. Will not be buying again and may tip this away, just to free up a mason jar.

Later: Have now smoked this a few days more and find it, if anything, even worse. It simply makes a nice smell and tastes of nothing. Please don't think you are going to get some amazing taste/complexity experience from this. I bought a small packet of this, and now it is going to get thrown.

The aroma of the tobacco in the tin reminds me of one of those tree shaped vanilla scented car air fresheners. It comes across as being artificial to me. The taste isn't much better. I taste very little vanilla. Actually, I taste very little of anything... Some very light, bright Virginia. That's about it. Also, this blend has a very bad tendency to bite. I found myself puffing so slowly in order to avoid tongue bite that I had to relight it many times before finishing the bowl. At the mid-way point, it improves slightly. The Cavendish starts to show some sweetness. Still no vanilla, but there is still tongue bite. The room note is very light, but very pleasant. Light, sweet, floral vanilla. I didn't really enjoy this one... I've smoked three bowls of it so far. My tin shall remain unfinished for the time being. Hopefully some age will improve it. Not recommended.