Mac Baren Modern Virginia Flake

Three very smart rows of dark brown flakes with a mild, not over the top fruit note. Deep inhalation and I get fresh (not sugary/artificial) apricots and something else fruity which may be the pineapple. All in all very nice.

Very easy flakes to work with and at a ready to smoke moisture content; it's what you can expect from Mac Baren! I am thoroughly enjoying this offering. I don't get any individual fruit taste per se; just an overall, mild sweetness and not an overly sugared fruitiness as one might expect. The taste of the Virginia was very enjoyable and totally different from OGS and Capstan Yellow. It was more along the lines of Capstan Blue in its fullness and lack of hay/grassiness. No bite, no moisture, doesn't smoke hot.

4 stars across the board and one I would be happy smoking several times a day, every day. Thank you Mac BAren!

This is the best Virginia flake I have had. Complex enough in flavor to continually satify, the Virginia tobacco provides a fine flavor,easily beating a number of options in the market.

No sir, this one did not cut muster with my palate. In fact, it really was downright unpleasant to try to get a good smoke out of. I tried fast puffing and slow puffing, but it actually smoked best when I didn't puff at all and kept the pipe out of my mouth.

I thought the Virginia element was tart, the Burley and Cavendish casing just flat nasty and the wetness of the leaf (wouldn't dry out for me), produced way too much heat and steam. Who wants modern? Come on Mac Baren, bring back that delicious HH Vintage Virginia!

To me the tin note is very comparable to Erinmore, but the difference is in the smoke! The flakes are beautiful especially in the 1lb block, before they are separated you can see every leaf. I fully rub out (or at least mostly) my flakes and this one does so easily. Upon lighting I get a nice sour Virginia flavor and don’t really even notice the toppings as they meld with the Virginia perfectly. It’s tangy. The flavor stays fairly consistent to the end burning to a clean grey ash. The room note is not bad and less cigarette like than say Golden Sliced. Also has very little spice when compared to a lot of other Virginias and doesn’t bite at all. Nic hit is mild, much more mild than Erinmore and I like that about it. I was worried when they used fruit in the description as I usually dislike fruity tobaccos. So far I would have to say this is toward the top of my list of Virginia flakes and that includes some at twice the price! Very glad I tried this stuff and plan to keep it in my cellar.

well, I guess if you like aromatics, this is fine. Its very sweet and its hard to taste too much tobacco beneath all that apricot jam they slop on it. Honestly, it shows how subjective pipe smoking can be. I see reviews of McClelland flakes...pure tobacco....getting 2 and a half stars, or 3 .... but this gets four. How is that possible? Again, its all subjective. But.....but......to be clear, this is sweet...well made, like all macbaren products. But its essentially a high class drugstore blend.

This is an interesting smoke. There is a nice nutty quality along with a pleasant sweet bread and vanillia, and citrus flavor from the Virginia. As for the top flavors I thought the pineapple flavor actually worked well. As a non areromatic smoker I was very shocked by this. However I was confused by the apricot flavoring. When it worked it felt out of place, but for the most part it was just a flavor that muddied the overall profile of this tobacco. I would smoke it again, but I would not seek it out.

Judged on appearance, Mac Baren's Modern Virginia Flake is a four star tobacco. The flakes themselves are perhaps the prettiest flakes I've ever seen. Cut perfectly, tissue paper thin, fold and pack perfectly, easy to light, no relights necessary, and burn to a light grey ash.

The aroma of MVF out of the tin is that of lemon drops and graham crackers. Quite nice but a bit on the mild side. The taste of the tobacco follows the aroma -- mild fruitiness layered over caramel sweet Virginias, also fairly mild. By mid-bowl, the topping dissipates considerably but never leaves completely, while the sweet tobacco flavor remains constant throughout. All-in-all, a pleasant smoke although not very complex. Sort of a milder version of Erinmore Flake.

The nicotine level is also mild and the room note fairly pleasant.

I like MVF enough to give it three stars. I knock it down from four because, considering the price, IMO it should be stronger in both flavor and strength.

If you like mild, sweet Virginia tobacco, you will like MVF. If you're looking for a lot of flavor and/or nicotine, keep looking.

The natural tobacco flavors are wonderful. Mostly Virginia fruit and citrus with just a touch of nut and earth from the Burley. The topping is very tasty, mostly apricot with a hint of pineapple. When they said "ripe" in the description they weren't kidding. In fact, it's almost over ripe. A little too much so for my taste. No doubt, it's a great flake of high quality, but the added flavors make me think of fruit that is a day or two past it's prime. Evidently, a lot of people like this one so maybe it's just my taste buds. At the least it's worth trying.

Mild to medium in body. Medium in taste. Flavoring is mild.

I smoked this tobacco for the first time this morning. It delivers a sweet mellow smoking with a number of relights. Since I am a beginner I found the nic hit borderline tolerable. However when in the afternoon I mixed half a flake with the same quantity of Epos white tobacco smoking was very smooth, easy burning with a much better taste. I am going to experiment with Epos as a base mixing it with other tobaccos especially the stronger ones.