Mac Baren Virginia Flake

this is my first review. i've been trolling this site for a few months now getting great tips from smokers so i thought it time to leave some comments of my own.

and i seem to have picked a tobacco that only comes 'somewhat recommended' but i'm going to leave it a higher mark than that. as soon as i saw this tobacco and smelled it in the tin, i had a good feeling. right from the tin i got hints of honey, grass and licorice. i pulled out a couple of flakes, let them rest and dry for about 10 minutes, then folded them into my pipe, topped it with a bit of broken flake and struck a match. i sipped at it as i've heard there might be some tongue bite but like vinnie799 found none. just a pleasant smoking tobacco with an attractive natural sweetness. it burned very well. and i never got tired of the taste from start to finish. and even now as i write this (about 20 minutes since finished the bowl) i am still left with the pleasant flavours.

my guess that lovers of big, bold VF won't enjoy this and likely find it too mild but i thought this to be a quality tobacco, with a natural sweetness that burns very well.

i will be keeping this VF in my rotation and recommend it to smokers looking for a clean, naturally sweet VF.

Just a straight up Virginia flake. Very grassy, very one dimensional. I suppose that a person could want to smoke this alone, but it is actually a very good blender and makes a fantastic base for the addition of some Red Virginia, Lat, and perique. 2 stars straight, 3 as a blender tobacco.

I bought my Virginia Flake in the 1lb offering. The presentation of this flake is down right beautiful. It's a one pound hunk of long thinly sliced Virginia right off the ol' chopping block! It has such a sweet grassy smell to it that transfers to the taste nicely. As I said the flakes are thin and quite long as well. At first I thought I would need to cut one in half to smoke in my favorite flake pipe, but due to the thin slice one flake folded in half and gently twisted fit right in. It's very pliable and a good moisture level as well. The charring light got things going nicely and I tamped down the tobacco and lit again and didn't have to mess with after that. It does light easily which is a major plus with any flake. As far as taste goes it does have a nice light taste and mild strength. It's got the typical grassy, hay like, taste and none of the cigarette taste normally associated with VA's. I think it's a good choice for a nice light, sweet and mild VA available in bulk.

i've been trying different tobacco but this is probably the worst tin i bought.

packaging & aroma when you get from opening the tin is great! when i smoked this, i thought it was good the first three puffs then it took 360 to "what in the world am i smoking?"

the taste is probably truly mild or more like smoking cheap cigarette tobacco. if i had a choice between smoking this or not smoking, i will chose not smoking at all.

i highly recommend picking something else to try.

It is what it is. It has very straightforward elements of a Virginia, but I detect hints of the burley and cavendish MB uses in Navy Flake. It does remind me of a RYO cigarette tobacco and the room note is reminiscent of those Stokkyebye RYO baccys I no longer partake. It is no SG Full Virginia Flake, which I tried first, but it's a decent smoke. I would recommend it to someone who has yet to venture into Virginia flakes. I actually took a flake and mixed it with Captain Black White as a last ditch effort to keep from throwing the CB away. It's not bad. Tones that sickeningly sweet CB down nicely.

When I first lit my bowl, I was wondering why people didn't like this tobacco. While it wasn't a straight Virginia, the flavoring was applied with a fairly light hand. Light citrus and honey notes, along with a little tobacco taste. A little wet, but no biggy.

Then it nosedived into eaux de crushed Marlbaro Red Butt. Absolutely terrible. The worst part is, being a poor college student, I'm gonna have to smoke the rest to justify the purchase.

One may think to a Mixture (or Navy) Flake without any Burley and Cavendish. You know it's a Mac Baren from the very first.

We are talking of something not so natural, the honey factor is quite evident, and maybe a touch of lemon and vanilla. The favouring is applied with light hand, but enough to cover the sharp edges usually associated with Va's. That's why VF is never shining any hayish or fruity notes. But also nothing wrong.

VF is better in medium larger bowls, stuff easily both with the fold & plug method or rubbed out, and burns evenly, cool and unbiting. It doesn't suffer any deterioration by several relight, and good with DGT. The strength never exceeds the mild-to-medium notch.

It's the first tobacco leaving me a so sceptical... difficult to tell if it's good or not. Sometimes it gives me some very nice experience, others I'm just bored. Virginia no. 1 absolutely wins the match in the McB family. I'm simply unable to compare it with other flakes of other brands.

Upon opening the tin I get the smells of grasses,hay, raisins, and possibly chocolate. Unlike the interesting smells in the tin the smoking of this tobacco is nothing special. It has the same tastes all the way through, mainly of hays and woody with a slight hint of fruit once in a while. I prefer a stronger Virginia like Samuel Gawiths Full Virginia. All in all and okay tobacco but nothing amazing.

Virginia Flake is Virginian and a touch of Burley. Why? I?ve been looking for a bright tasting Virginian to replace Dunhill?s Lt. Flake and, so, yet another ho hum tobacco. Light Flake had a topping or casing that never left a ghost, this does. It is of great quality, but why the Burley?. I taste the Burley. Its sweet smoke didn?t bite. I don?t need being saved by the bite-reducing Burley.