Mac Baren Virginia No. 1

I consider myself to be an experienced Virginia smoker in all of its formats, be they ribbon, ready rubbed, flake and all of its delightful breedings...red, bright, stoved, brown, golden...

To my palate, this is the tobacco equivalent of Globalistic Warminating. For those of you in Rio Linda, this means HOT.

Not just the bite factor, which is significant, but also in the bowl warming realm, which is off the charts trying to keep this lit. I've tried it dried to the point of being brittle, breath smoked it. You name it. It still burns hot.

Good raw material, handled with professionalism. Just not to my liking.

UPDATE: Couldn't help but noticing that 4 stars had become my default rating so I decided to do updates. When I came to this one there's only one thing I can think to say. What was I thinking? True to the brand, this stuff bites like a kicked dog and the taste probably resembles what smoking an orange or lemon peel would be like. While it is certainly true that straight virginias are much more high maintenance than my beloved burlies, this one truly abuses the privlege and technique just doesn't seem to matter. I even mixed some of this with 8% perique and aged it for a bit over a year. Still it barely exceeds piss poor moving into the low end of mediocre. If you insist on a straight Virginia, there are much better out there, Old Gowrie, SG Full Virginia Flake, and St. James Flake (a VA/PER) to name a few

ORIGINAL REVIEW: Being primarily a burley smoker, my friendly neighborhood B&M talked me into a round of Virginia #1, to be honest, Virginia smokers seem to be such a fanatical lot, I was curious to see what all the fuss was about. For a burley smoker, initially at least, there was an "off" taste to this blend. Not a bad or unpleasant taste just not what I was used to. A very odd, variation between the grassy taste and the citrus, sweet and sour taste, neither of which I had ever encountered in a burley. Light up through about half way down the bowl I thought "Gee, this is....different" by the time I had finished my first bowl I thought, "I could probably warm up to this." Well, that was about 3 ounces of this stuff ago and warm up to it I have, it has taken a spot in my regular rotation and the different taste is one I have grown to like. I enjoy this tobacco a lot and can see myself returning to it often. No, I've not turned my back on my beloved burlies and can't imagine becoming a Virginia smoking tobacco snob but the truth is that Virginia is a nice change of pace from Burley and/Latakia blends that constitute a more predictable portion of my tobacco regimen. I may not smoke Virginia #1 daily but there are days when this is all I want to smoke and on those days I consistently marvel at how nice and tasty a blend it really is. This is Virginia #1's niche in my rotation. If I smoked it all the time it probably wouldn't be near as good to me as it is but employing it in this way seems to make it very enjoyable and a good intro to Virginias in general. While I didn't experience the severe tongue bite of other reviewers, I did find this blend much fussier than the old school burlies I'm used to. It was very sensitive to how fast you smoked it or how it was packed. If puffed too quickly it became hot and if packed too loosely it would become a bit bitey and fussy. This being the case, it demands a bit more attention and definitely doesn't make my "mowing the lawn" tobacco list (this is mainly the old school burley blends PA, Granger, Edgeworth and the like that are more set it and forget it). Overall though, I found this a good change of pace smoke as an occassional treat. More importantly though, I think it probably peaked my curiousity to do more indepth experimentation with Virginia blends (Old Gowrie is probably next) These lighter, Virginia blends will probably become more routinely smoked as the spring and summer roles along.

I consider myself a fan of Mac Baren tobbacos, being a regular smoker of some of their blends. I tried this in a pouch initially and whilst I wasn't overwhelmed by it, I considered it a reasonable, good value, everyday virginia that did the basics - decent consistent sweet flavour, not too strong and little bite.

I subsequently bought a tin of it and it seems to be a different tobacco. Drier, with a more monotone "salty" flavour that burns exceedingly hot. I was reading a good book and before I knew it the tobacco had bubbled the finish on the high gloss Vauen billiard I was smoking it in. I quickly dumped the load and let it cool. The pipe was a well worn number of mine with good cake that I have smoked many tobaccos in - luckily the finish didn't blister and pop but now it no doubt has a weak spot.

Not to be put off I next tried No1 in an unvarnished, stained pipe. Sipping the smoke still made it burn uncomfortably hot to the touch. This stuff is just too much hassle.

Warning - this tobacco can seriously damage your pipes.

UPDATE - I dried some of this tobacco out overnight and it was better - smoked a lot cooler and less harshly but still a slightly acidic dry smoke

I think Mac Baren flummoxes a lot of pipesters, and I don't know if it's a body chemistry thing, or a pace thing, or a dryness thing. Yes, this tobacco can bite. But it is very sweet, very easy to smoke, and does NOT bite if you dry it just a bit and smoke it slow, just like all the other MB products. They can git ya. But if you slow down, and look for the subtle flavours... man, Mac Baren makes damn good pipe tobacco.

This is like a slightly sweeter, slightly spicier Orlik Golden Sliced. Smoke volume is nice, and it's a satisfying pipe (and yet I am left thinking immediately about that sexy sweetness at the top of the bowl... maybe I'll pack another...).

Nothing overly exciting, though, and I doubt that a really experienced Va smoker is going to be putting aside the Marlin Flake for this product.

This is just what I've been looking for in a summer smoke- lighter than my usual red Virginias but still tasty. Virginia #1 has a similar citrus tanginess as the Mac Baren's Scottish Mixture, but the golden Virginias are much lighter than the Mixture. I also find this to be less sweet than the Mac Baren Virginia Flake, and haven't had problems with either of them biting. For me, this is a perfect smoke on a summer morning.

When I was in that "tweener" stage of moving from all-aromatic blends to trying out more "real tobacco" blends, VA #1 was suggested by my pipe-smoking mentor. Out for an evening of imbibing good liquor and enjoying a good pipe, I gave it a whirl and was interested.. so much so that the next day I bought one of the 100g tins. This was an immediate mistake, as the tobacco right out of the can is a bit too bright, a bit too bitey on the tongue and somewhat flavorless. So I cellared it.. for about 5 years...

... 5 years later...

My goodness! What a change some time can make! The tobacco has mellowed out very much from it's out-of-the-tin state. Visibly, the leaf has gotten a bit darker, the aroma a bit richer, not so sweet and honeyed as it once was. In the pipe the flavor is stronger and more complex, less cloying, the bite nearly all but gone(it will still bite if you're a huff-n-puffer). This definitely isn't your dark matured or stoved VA, but it is much changed from what came out of that 100g tin five years ago.

I can't recommend this as-is, but if you're willing to put some away and while your time with other pipe-fillers, VA #1 will serve your taste buds well at some point down the road.

My tin came from a tobacconist that apparently doesn’t sell much of this blend. The outside of the tin was dingy (though the seal remained intact), though I tended to think of that as an asset rather than a disadvantage— a pre-aged tin, as it were. No date code on the tin, but the gent behind the counter noted that they didn’t get much call for this mixture. Is it just me, or are Virginias getting harder to come by in brick and mortar stores. Anyhow, I was pleased to take it off his hands. A lazy Saturday came along and I was growing tired of the Latakia I’d been smoking, even though it’s February and still cold out, which usually means an English or Balkan blend for me. I had a new-to-me pipe handy as well: a pretty Dustin Franc bulldog which I scored from eBay. Well, well. Pry open the tin and am happy to see a well-packed mass of reddish-brown ready-rubbed flake. Tin note is quite prominent at first, then fades away fairly quickly: a bit of cherry, a bit of sugar. Packs nicely, and I didn’t feel the need to rub it out any more than it was. Actually, I used the air-pocket method to fill my pipe, kind of twisting a plug into the top of the bowl. Takes the flame readily and unfussily. Smoke pours from the bowl and my tongue is flooded with the flavor profile of this tobacco immediately. It’s kulfi: that Asian dessert that I detested in my childhood, but here find immediately beguiling: a creamy, milky sweetness. I haven’t consumed any dairy in the last 10-odd years, but the sweetness is decidedly dairy-like. Creamy, thick and sweet. An undercurrent of woodiness and a slight sourness is barely enough to provide a counter note, but it is there. Mostly just waves of sugared, milky sweetness.

It’s like that the whole way down the bowl. I’ve come to associate straight Virginia with a certain complexity, but this is not complex. Just sweet creaminess. This is smack-dab in the category of a dessert smoke. I had poured a finger of bourbon to accompany, but I put it away as the sweetness became a little too much. Nicotine levels are medium-ish, though my perception of that is likely skewed by the bourbon.

A few relights, but not a bother. Flavor is consistent and smoke is plentiful, and also consistent. By the end of the pipe, I’m happy and satisfied. Will I smoke this daily? No, but then I don’t eat whipped cream for every meal. However, sometimes, I’m in the mood for a spoonful of cream straight from the tub. And I’m always happy when I sneak it.

I guess the critics of this blend might have smoked it too fast, hence reports of its burning tongue and palate. It is good, but not exceptional, which is no reason not to smoke it. A solid if somewhat one-dimensional blend. Its taste lingers on, quite a pleasant sensation.

Addendum, 6 Nov. 2019: You have to try this one in a corn cob. A perfect match, in this pipe it is really sweet and very tasty. Upgrading my rating by two notches.

Update, July 2022 I have been smoking this tobacco for a while now, in various pipes and it is excellent and bite-free. One of my favourite VA blends.

This straight Virginia is very sweet and tasty, smoked slowly it has a slight and rewarding degree of complexity. However, for some reason I can't seem to get a consistently enjoyable smoke because it can and does at times get wet and hot. Even when paying particular attention to packing it lightly etc. I don't know about this one, I really don't. It smells beautiful in the tin and tastes great when smoked but this one might be too temperamental for me to buy again I think. I recommend you try it though because it is different to anything I've tried before in the 'straight virginia' department. It has a unique flavor.