Mac Baren Virginia Flake

Mac Baren - Virginia Flake.

Note: a review I did a few years back but disagreed with, so decided to re-post.

Because this is now supplied in a pouch I was unsure whether the flakes would be loose or not, but the pouch contains a plastic case in which the tobacco sits. Underneath the foil seal resides two rows of light brown, perfectly hydrated, thin, flakes. I like a flake to be fully rubbed and the task is very easy with this: they crumble as they're picked out.

Now, the smoke: it's good, but not the best straight Va I've had. The Virginia tastes fresh, sharp, and a little zesty. I'm unsure as to the variety of topping used, but I note an added sweetness and very subtle herby quality. The burn from V.F. is reliable, but can become too warm if chugged; this reduces the rating a little.

Nicotine: mild to medium. Room-note: very pleasant.

Virginia Flake? Because of the heat it misses out on four stars, but it still warrants three:

Recommended.

I purchased this tin from a store a number of years ago and just got around to trying it. I am not the biggest Virginia fan, but I thought I would give this a go. When you pop open the tin there is a sweet tobacco smell. I do not mean candy, but a real sweet natural tobacco aroma like freshly cut grass. I tried rubbing this stuff out and also tried just stuffing the strands into the bowl. It takes a couple of charring lights and a serious lighting to get it really going. The moisture was perfect even after all this time. There is a good amount of smoke and the taste is of Summer. When you smoke it rubbed out the light taste is even more pronounced. If you smoke it with the stuffing method, you get more of the earthy sweetness. Either way the room aroma is essentially the same. The wife just complains that it smells like a really strong cigarette. The smoke is the same from first uff to the last. And the light flavor never seems to change. The ash is fine and knocks right out of the bowl. This reminds me of a hot Summer day. And it even goes really well with sweet tea. I am writing this in the middle of Winter so the contrast is even more noticeable.This little tin will provide more smokes than you might think. I have tried it in a small briar and a large cob and the performance is the same. The nicotine is average. This would also be good with an American style beer such as Budweiser. I am not sure I would buy it again with so many other tobaccos demanding my attention, but if you truly love plain Virginia and have not grabbed this tin yet, you really owe it to yourself. By the way, I am much more of a Burley smoker so take it for what it's worth.

This is the first flake that I successfully smoked using the food and stuff method!

I found VF to be just a good, honest Virginia and nothing more. Smoke it cool and you get some nice citrus notes along with the pure tobacco flavor, get it hot and it gets a bit harsh.

Not too sweet, not too bitter, just right...

My very first foray into Flake and while I did enjoy this one, I have subsequently settled on two others that I will mention elsewhere. A caveat, I am a novice flake smoker who is still working out the kinks on how to load by folding. I had better luck by rubbing this one out and loading properly. The tobacco is a very flavorful one and I tasted hints of honey and grain. I did experience a bit of tongue bite but, I have to chalk that up with my lack of experience with Flake tobacco. I am told that this can occur more often with bright flake like this one. All in all I would smoke this again but for now, I am moving on to another flake to experiment with.

I like this much better than Virginia Number 1. This blend gets better the more it dries out and is very mellow. Room aroma is about the same.

I've just purchased my first tin of M.B. Virginia Flake. As a Mac Barens lover, this blend has been on my "To Try" list for a few years now. These are my first impressions. I've been smoking some top notch Virginia flakes for awhile now so I wasn't blown away by this but that doesn't mean I think this doesn't have a place. Say, if you are a Virginia n°1 smoker and have been itching to move on to more straight up bright Virginia blends, this might be a next step. Or if you plan on moving away from other lightly topped aromatics and want to enter the world of flake tobaccos, this might be just the thing. This is an affordable smoke and is presented in a beautiful way. Tin moisture was just right, and I didn't encounter any bite though the key to enjoying this type of tobacco is slow, light sipping. So, as it stands, this seems like a great gate way flake. Though there are many other great first time bright Virginia flakes, I would recommend this if you had the chance to pick it up.

Absolutely my favorite among the standard Mac B. blends. This is an honest VA flake in the medium range. Only very lightly flavored to enhance the natural VA notes. By no means a complex experience, but a straight forward, honest tobacco. Notes of fresh bright VA with a little sweetness. No bite and a mellow smoke. A basic medium strength VA flake to be smoked all day long.

If you're looking for an ultra-light smoke, this may be for you. I disagree with the description of a "full" taste. It is definitely not full.

Despite this, I think it achieves what it likely tries to; namely a very light Virginia flake that has a light coating. For these reasons, I give it three stars even though I personally find it too light. I vastly prefer Virginia No 1 by the same blending house.

Govern Yourself Accordingly.

I am a new pipesmoker, so take this all with a grain of salt. However, I am a long time cigar smoker and no stranger to good tobacco or full-bodied tobacco. This flake is not full-bodied, but it's certainly good.

The first third of the bowl was very mild indeed, but the flavor built nicely and by the halfway point was very enjoyable. Though Mac Baren says this is slightly flavored, I didn't notice it; I just tasted mild tobacco. The best thing I can compare this to is a high quality Dominican cigar with a Connecticut wrapper: mild, but worth your time. The second half of the bowl was especially good with nice natural sweetness and just a hint of nuttiness.

I had some trouble getting it lit, but only in the first third of the bowl; after that I think I relit once for the rest of the bowl. I also experienced a little gurgle. I'll chalk up both of those issues to user error. The gurgle might very well have been me slobbering down the pipe.

I experienced no tongue bite, even when I was getting a little greedy with the puffs.

I smoke outside, but I popped my head in and blew a few puffs at my wife. She said the room note was "like a cigar, but nicer."

All in all a nice simple mild smoke that, within its mild range, had plenty of very nice flavor.