Mac Baren Virginia Flake

Presentation: Yellow label with black trim and text. I love the paper on the inside that hold the tobacco, it is quality.

Cut: Beautiful signature Mac Baren flakes, solidly pressed and very clean looking but also rub out super easily. A touch on the moist side.

Tin note: General light sweetness, maybe a little grassy.

Tasting notes: Tart citrus, slightly sweet grass, earthy, extremely faint fruit. The topping leaves a certain film feeling on my tongue, feels cheap and chemically. I wish they didn't put it in there because it ruins it. I also wish there was more red virginias in here.

Mechanics: Might bite due to topping.

Extra Remarks: What is otherwise a very pleasant mild to medium VA blend has been tarnished by a topping. Maybe I'm extra sensitive to them or something but it ruins the blend. And to be clear, my contention is not that the topping is too strong, just simply that it tastes and feels bad while smoking. Besides the topping, I can tell it is quality leaf and potentially enjoyable to some. 2 stars.

A really nice Virginia flake. It's definitely cased with something sugary-sweet. Nice presentation in the tin. It works really well with the fold & stuff method. Although monochromatic, it's a good solid sweet Virginia. Works well in a narrow tall chamber.i just took a driving trip and two flakes folded into my Neerup made for a two hour smoke!

I have found this nice flake tasty and light. Definitely sweet due to the Virginia. the flake shape gives you a pleasure sense to touch the tobacco to rub and load highly recommended to the amateurs and daily use.

This is a good and austere bright virginia flake. The tin note is nice, I would describe the smell as a very subtle chocolate plus anise. The smoking experience is not extraordinary, but very enjoyable: the typical bright Virginia, sweet and with a nice body. For me, it´s closer to Orlik Golden Sliced than to Virginia n1. The latter is sweeter and has some hay-like notes. Also, V1 is very moody (can bite very hard unless you manage to get the right puffing pase), whereas VF it´s closer to other “cool-smoking” Virginias (once again, GS comes to mind). The casing is there, but at the final rows, and always helping the tobacco taste. Overall, very good, not very complex, easy on the N factor, and has a nice room note. I would recommend this tobacco, specially if you like the Mac Baren classical line or OGS. Finally, the fold and stuff packing method makes this blend shine.

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.

Now then. This is a nasty little rascal of a blend.

It looks so cute in it's tiny little yellow tin. And it smells just like a good virginia flake should smell, with an economical oblong of tightly stacked brown, unassuming flake.

But that's what it wants you to think.

It's a little nasty sleeper that will come to haunt your worst nightmares. Oh sure, the flake is nicely moist and breaks up, just as a good flake should. Packed lightly and ready for a nice virginia smoke just like the old boys of yore. You know, the ones you remember as a kid, thinking 'nice smell but I'll stay on cigarettes'.

You char-light, take a puff and ye gods ! What a narsty surprise awaits your poor old tongue. It's an assault and battery on your mouth. It's brutal death metal only orally induced.

It'll leave your taste buds in pieces and your tongue cut into shreds. You smoke this one at your peril. It took days and countless bowls of Stanwell aromatics and DT's Choo Choo train to help heal the evil that this little devil inflicted on me. Shaking hands dump the contents into the ashtray and you half expect your best glass (and expensive) pipe-ashtray to start melting from the poisons contained therein.

And yet the rest of it sits there, in it's smart little tin, smugly laughing back at you for being a big jessie. None but the bravest of smokers should attempt this blend, even if it did only cost 6.80 euros from Spain. I'll be having words with you, my dear son.

Yes, this is the assassin of all virginia flakes and only the noblest and gentlest of pipe smokers will make friends with this one.

I'm off to hug myself better with Capstan's Blue Flake, also made by Macbites. I mean MacBaren's.

It's the back of the cellar for you my lad, under strict guard.

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.