Mac Baren Modern Virginia Loose Cut

This was unremarkable but pleasant. The fruity pouch note is in the smoking taste as well, but it is mild and does not overpower. It is slightly sweet, and the Virginias give it a slightly grassy note. There is a little citrus in the flavor, and I am not sure if that is from the Virginia or the mild topping. I can believe the fruit topping is apricot, because that was in the description, but I was not struck with any specific fruit flavors.

I have been smoking this in the truck with an assortment of pots and a cob. To my palate it is a nice step up from an OTC and an easy Virginia-forward mildly aromatic smoke. This would be a good and inoffensive "all-day" smoke. The room note is pleasant, and it does not fatigue the palate. For a reason I can't quite put my finger on, it does not punch any of my buttons.

On my scale, this is a 2.5 - no regrets, but I am not likely to buy more.

Tin aroma is very heavy fruity apricot but, being a top flavor doesn't come through that much in the smoke. The flavor is more simple and mild, slight sweetness and fruit, balanced with practically no bite which is nice for a virginia. In relation to the milder taste the top flavor is way overboard and would be better if it was somewhat understated yet more complex. I'm not sure what Mac Baren is trying to do with this one, if it's their attempt at something similar in class to Erinmore or other super fruity blends. But again, it doesn't have the heavy flavor of something like Erinmore that it's tin aroma would suggest which seems incongruous to me. A mostly virginia ribbon with an almost insignificant dose of black cavendish that I can't discern offers much. A rating of 2.5 stars.

p.s. I did not taste any off flavors as some have noted.

Modern Virginia Flake has become one of my favorites. I blew through a tin of the flake at recored pace so when I received a sample of the loose cut from Smoking pipes, I was ecstatic as I figured it would be like the flake... same bacca and flavoring, except loose cut for easy packing.. right?

Wrong.

Modern Virginia Loose cut is nothing like it's brother Flake! Flake has more flavor in both topping and tobacco. The Flake version is by far sweeter and has a nice balance of flavoring and tobacco taste! MV Flake burns slower and cooler and has a richer color!

Modern Virginia Loose cut in my opinion is weak in tobacco flavor and aroma. The taste is overall weak. It was like a lighter tasteless hot-burning version of the Flake. Even the color of the tobacco is much lighter than its Flake version.

The loose tobacco burns hot and overall the room note is not there. The loose cut does burn to a super fine ash and cleans easy and that's the best I can say for it. I'm disappointed in the loose cut and would not recommend it at this time.

I highly recommend sticking to the Flake version and rubbing it out if you like a loose cut.

The pouch reminds me of echinacea tea. Later I heard Per Jensen say that it had some peach flavoring in it during an interview.

Tobacco packs easily and lights just the same. The first few puffs are very sweet and creamy, almost reminiscent of creme brûlée. The flavors I got after that were sweet, similar to a stevia sweetness. I am not particularity fond of MacBaren's cavendish and it is definitely present in this tobacco.

This tobacco has a tendency to burn hot but doesn't leave behind too much dottle at the end of a smoke.

I will say I was disappointed when this came out thinking that it was going to be a true VA flake but instead it's just peachy cavendish and burley and VA. Not for me, but may be for you.

Nothing special about this tobacco. Taste like cigarettes. Can not recommend it. However no tongue bite. Lights and keeps easily lit. Burns to white ash.

From a demo pouch sent out: a decent enough mild VA-based aromatic. Burns a bit on the hot-side for me, and for whatever reason, this never really caught my interest. The dark fruit topping is tasty enough for the first third of a bowl, but disappeared soon thereafter. What was left wasn't bad, but it was a tad boring.

Recieved a free sample of this from 4noggins (20 grams/.71 oz). 8 pipefulls later and i am very impressed. I'm not really a big McB's fan but that seems to be changing with all the new releases. Gone are the days of thin weak tobac. Old dark fired is another great release of their's. Modern Virginia shares some similarity with Erimore, however it a different take on the style and a little lighter. Smokes very easily straight from the pack. Low PG and doesnt get gloopy at all. This was free but looking at the tins the price of this is also very reasonable for tinned tobac. I'll definitely be buying some. If Va with a bit of light flavouring is your idea of a good time them definitely try some. A very pleasant experience.

I have smoked this from 2 different tins, one when it first came out and just recently with some age to the tin . I found this to be a nice flavorful Virginia that was quite good with some age on .A silky and satisfying smoke, I plan on enjoying this for some time.

I don't have a lot of luck with Mac Baren. In their defense, there are a couple of their blends that are magical, but most of the time they are dry, honey-drenched flame throwers. This is one of the latter.

I do have to admit, the Virginias used are of good quality (if a bit over-dry). However, why do they have to put that honey/fruit/sugar topping on most of their stuff? Virginias burn a little hot any way and if they're dry and drenched with accelerant...

Anyway, I'll give this 2 stars and will possibly revisit it later. I've read that the flake version is better and it may treat me a bit less harshly. It's quality stuff, I just don't understand the fruity, honey topping.