Mac Baren - Golden Blend pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Showing reviews 1 through 20 of 58 reviews of this tobacco NEXT >
camillako	02/27/2013	Mild	Mild	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable
Same problem as faced on all Mac Barens for me. Intriguing aroma off the tin but very disappointing experience in the bowl. Burns quite hot and bites quite a bit too. For me smoking MBs has become just an exercise for temperature control and just not pleasant. would not recommend it at all except that i can't give it 0 stars and i think the MB vanilla is even worst
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JustOneforMe	04/26/2012	Very Mild	Medium	Extremely Mild (Flat)	Pleasant
I have now smoked several Mac Baren offerings and will not review them any further since they are extremely not to my liking. If interested in my thoughts about their line of tobaccos then just see my review on Burley London, it pretty much sums up this vapid weed give or take a slight aromatic difference (vanilla, cherry etc...).
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joelson	05/26/2011	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild	Pleasant
it's the most humble and elegant tobacco that i've ever smoked... it wants nothing, but gives you a LOT! a simple tobacco for simple smokers, that have touched me with it's simplicity... like a sage one said: "i think that some types of tobacco disapear because some types of smokers disappear..."
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Doctor Max	02/06/2011	Mild	Very Mild	Medium to Full	Very Pleasant
This was my first pipe tobacco, and what a nice introduction to pipe smoking it was... The tobacco comes in a coarsely ready-rubbed form, sometimes with a few intact flakes on top (I wish it came in a flake version!), which is very easy to pack and light. Tin aroma is very pleasant, a nice burley with fig, raisin, date, hazelnut, almond and cocoa notes with a slight sweetness. Flavour comes through from first light and is very true to tin aroma, with addition of a distinct biscuit note and a very pleasant, discrete sweetness. The flavour develops a cocoa-like bitterness and that Mac Baren maltiness as I go through the bowl. Room note is a pleasant, slightly sweet note of slightly burned biscuits, almost no hint of smokiness. This tobacco burns incredibly cool. Nicotine content is quite low. All in all a straight forward, excellent burley. Mac Baren really hit gold with this blend.
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pipealicious	04/03/2010	Medium to Strong	Mild to Medium	Full	Tolerable
My first Mc Baren product was plumcake, which I needed to get used to and learn to appreciate. Now I like it a lot. This blend is less complicated but absolutely delicious Burley. The broken flake cut is excellent, the moisture content out of the package is perfect. Stuffed loosely in the pipe it starts off at first light. The taste is a lightly sweet, toasty, chocolate high quality Burley. Top product and a delicious no-nonsense tobacco. My go-to blend at the moment.
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The German	02/08/2010	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant
And yet another classic I have so far managed to not sample. I picked up a tin while looking for something enjoyable in a place that offered mostly non-branded cheap aromatics. And when I say cheap here, I don't mean worth the expense. For a blend that is mostly Burley, this one is remarkable, IMHO. The tin aroma is the usual Burley cocoa and chocolate, with some sweetness. I cannot make out the honey some reviewers have noted, though. The leaf upon opening my first tin featured a few complete flakes on top, with mostly a broken flake and some ready-rubbed beneath. Honestly: I wish I could get this as a flake; my smokes with this 'baccy as a fold-and-sink flake were spectacularly good. In the ready-rubbed strata of the tin, this is still a beautiful 'baccy. One-dimensional, maybe, but from top to bottom, the cocoa note of the Burley comes through with remarkable sweetness, VA noticeable in there (though not too much so -- some freshness and acidity in the background), and a goodly amount of spice after the first half, which I find remarkable for Burley. The room note is more typically Burley, being dry and somewhat sweet; nothing remarkable in the final tally, but not bad at all either. If you like Norwood, you should probably try this. If you like Burleys in general, this may be a must-try. Despite the hit-and-miss tin presentation, I'd say this is one of the best blends I have recently tried. It's in my rotation as of now.
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Steden	12/22/2009	Mild	Very Mild	Mild	Pleasant
GB is a fine straight Burley monodimensional. The hue is attractive and the smell is subtle and natural, mild in strength, not too sweet but never sour, it does not bite the tongue and it becomes bitter only if you puff too fast. Starting from the second half it develops a mellow mix of flavours: woody, salty, chocolate, roasted chestnuts; everything is subtle and agreeable, It posses the elegance of the sobriety often associated to a fine Burley. A very versatile tobacco with an almost no existent room note, it may be useful to all: a diversion for fans of Virginias, Latakia, Aromatics, a good habit for lovers of pure Burley and an interesting ingredient for fans of blending. Three very solid stars recommendation for you and a tobacco added to the rotation for me. Try to match with a Belgian beer by Trappist monks.
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doc'spipe	07/31/2009	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant
According to Mac Baren, this is the same as their Golden Blend. Golden Blend is the European name and Golden Extra is the name for USA distribution. My reviews for each are the same: I have re-introduced myself to Golden Blend (my tins read Golden Extra) after a lapse of many years. This review is of the tinned version (stamped Oct 2008) and freshly opened. The tin note is a tad sweeter than Mac's London Burley Blend which is a favorite of mine. Moisture level right for me, packed and lit easily. There was no problem keeping this one lit. I would say that it is similar to Mac's London, but differs in that it is not as full-bodied as Burley London Blend. There is no typical honey casing as with many of Mac's offerings. What I detect is the very mild presence of chocolate, and bittersweet. If any honey is present, I can not detect it. Although the tin description lists it, I do not detect the inclusion of any Virginia in Golden Blend. Slow smoking reveals a mildly sweet tasting Burley. It is more astringent/sour than BLB but not bitter or harsh on the throat. Before lighting my pipe, I like to suck through the stem to taste the tobacco and rate its flavoring. As stated, this one had a very decided chocolate taste before lighting. After lighting, the chocolate presence took a back seat, but not in a bad way. The solid tobacco taste was the front runner. There was no bite whatsoever. Sometimes the Mac's produce a slight sting to the tongue, but not with this one. I puffed on it fairly aggressively to test this out. I eventually settled to a more paced smoke which was very enjoyable from start to finish. Golden Blend is a pleasant smoke. Although I find BLB fuller tasting as a Burley, Golden Blend is a nice change of pace for when I want a lighter Burley with a touch more sweetness.
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viscfab	07/24/2009	Mild	Mild	Medium	Pleasant
Very similar to Harmony but a little less honey casing on it. Very decent puff.
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Tallman	07/19/2009	Mild to Medium	Mild	Medium	Pleasant
I fired up a lightly packed bowl of this in a big Aldo Velani and, since I read ALL of Pipestud's reviews on tobacco I want to try, I sat down in the workshop, ignored all the tasks that called my name, and puffed slowly...and was not disappointed! I'm not experienced enough yet to understand how many "dimensions" there are in a tobacco...if this one is "one-dimensional" or "multi-dimensional", I don't know..I just know it tasted like tobacco, had a little hint of sweetness, and was overall an enjoyable experience. I'm finding I really prefer the Virginia blends better, but this is a good smoke.
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j4nier38	05/11/2009	Mild to Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
Definately not a bad smoke, but at the same time this one just didn't do much for me. It burns very nicely and doesn't bite. The flavor isn't bad, but it is very one dimensional. That isn't always a bad thing, however I personally got bored with it. The room note is pleasant during and after the smoke but it is one of those blends where is isn't so nice the next day. Like I said, not bad but just didn't do it for me, worth a try though.
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Beer	04/25/2009	Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant
I am exploring the world of MacBaren tobaccos, and so far the Navy Mixture has been my favorite due to its good balance and sweet but natural taste. Golden Blend seems similar in composition, except that it's more rubbed out than the Navy Mixture, and it has a slightly less sweet/honeyed smell. This is a tobacco that packs easily and doesn't require particular care, that burns regularly, slowly and cool to the bottom of the bowl. Truly well behaved, a nice all-day low maintenance smoke. And, quite incredibly (considering MacBaren's reputation), it doesn't bite one single bit. Navy Mixture was much more bitey in comparison! What I like about this blend is that it tastes natural, with some nice nutty and fragrant quality Burley and a decent measure of bright Virginia. The casing is very unobtrusive, probably just a touch of sugar/honey and some cocoa (at least that's the smell I get from the tin... and may I say a heresy if to me it smells a bit like Dunhill's Royal Yacht?): not artificial at all. On the other hand, it has a rather dry, woody, earthy taste. A bit like Edgeworth Sliced, but less woody and much more delicate. And, most importantly, though it isn't particularly sweet it doesn't get bitter either. It stays very consistent to the bottom of the bowl. Which of course also means little or no flavour development... and this is my main complaint. The other is that it's rather mild in taste (while the body is rather satisfactory), while on the other hand Navy Mixture was way richer and more complex. Overall, a fine blend: not particularly exciting, but neither is has serious faults. Good to smoke once in a while, quite pleasant to those around you (my wife doesn't like aromatics, and confirmed that this blend has a very subtle and unoffensive room note) and it DOES taste of tobacco.
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strongirish	03/16/2009	Extremely Mild	Extremely Mild	Very Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable
I am very much a burley lover so when I received this tin I could not wait to dig in and try a bowl. I packed it lightly into a large pot that I just smoke burleys in. The tobacco smelled sweet and natural upon opening the tin. It is ready rubbed and looks liked it was a slice upon manufactuer and then rubbed out. Reminded me of what Amphora Brown used to look like and feel. It lit very well on first light and I settled in with it as it's a slow burning tobacco and was very mild and tasty. I never had to light it again and it vurned down to a grey and white ash. It had the flavor a a nutty burley but no harshness or bite at all. Very enjoyable and burned all the way to the bottom without changing it's charactor. Only when I got almost to the bottom did it get stronger but was never harsh. I like this alot and will smoke all ot with pleasure and I do see buying more of this.
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Pipe4ever	03/08/2009	Medium	Mild	Medium	Pleasant
This, for me, is one of the most enjoyable burleys, it has a great mild nutty flavor for an all day long smoke, it has a slight chocolaty taste that comes from the burley and a light honey/toasty flavor which is typical to all Mac baren offerings, it is less nutty but less bland than Burley London Blend and has a distinctive chocolate flavor. Golden Blend would be a perfect 4 star burley if it has a little bit more body. I would rank Mac Baren Navy Flake as the best Burley ever made, golden blend and BLB comes just next in my list, with many other good burleys from other makers.
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Skando	03/08/2009	Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable
EDIT MAR08/2009: during the working week just ended , I have been in good company with Golden Blend and Mixture by McB. It's been a true pleasure indeed, far much more than I did expect! They both will be in my regular rotation, and I'm starting to think to some mix between them and more... * It's quite hard it happens I go to OTC blends (and even less to aromatics). Two fellows I visit on occasion are from McB, one being Golden Blend, the other is Mixture. I'm glad I did with GB, maybe the only almost Burley blend available in Italy, considering that american B's blends of the like of Edgeworth have disappeared so many years ago... Tobacco was much dry inside the pouch, the cut similar to a flake roughly broken, with long pieces of flake. Smells approximately nothing but a very faintly sweet and natural tobacco, and so the smoke, which I have appreciated. Oooohhhhh, unlike several of the McB's, this is not burning you mouth! This is something to smoke without thinking at the pipe, nevertheless it delivers a honest smoke, of course the risk of boredom is just round the corner ... so, at half the pouch I have mixed it 50/50 with McConnell's Scottish Cake, and got a really all-day mixture. I'm giving GB two stars and half, the other half to get once I find a younger pouch with more flavour. Anyway, thank You GB !
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Dubinthedam	03/02/2009	Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant
This is another packet MacB I will be adding to my rotation. A nice burley in the continental style. This is not Old Joe Krantz, a great strong classic burley, or Barbary Coast! But none the less a very nice mild one, without any casing, just that honey on toast taste you get from all MacB's. They don't mention any of their Cavendish in this blend, so I guess they can add that 'honey' taste to any blend. It is nutty, but one of the least 'nutty' burley's I've ever smoked, it's more Brazil nut than walnut. This gets a strength level of 3, according to their own rating. I find all MacB's fairly mild, so the other level 3's I smoke are Plumcake, Dark Twist and Navy Flake. The only exception is Mixture which is a level 2. I love MacB because they set a benchmark for price and quality when it comes to Drugstore packets. I love the hassle free nature of the packet, and the price being mostly 30% cheaper than a tin is a bonus, hence I'm always ready to try another MacB. I'm glad I did on this one. I find she DOES have that MacB bite, take care and you will have a nice all day smoke that won't break the bank and makes a nice change from aromatics and VA/pers.
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7formy1911	01/30/2009	Mild to Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
I received two ounces of this from my favorite online 'baccy dealer and thought it would be a good stop in my search for a decent burley. It had a solid tobacco smell in the pouch with a hint of honey sweetness. It was very inviting to my senses and I couldn't wait to load up a straight apple and get a match to it. As soon as I put match to tobacco my tongue was struck like a cobra waiting for me in the elephant grass on safari. I can't recall having ever been bitten so hard! I'm usually a virigina and VAPER smoker and haven't had any problems with tobaccos that traditionally bite if puffed too hard like Hal 'O the Wynd. I use the Frank method for packing my pipe and never puff too hard. A slow, gentle draw now and then keeps every other tobacco I've ever tried from biting. I don't know if it's the casing, the humidity (the tobacco felt on the dry side actually) or the humectant. In any case this is a tobacco I cannot recommend. No burley should bite this hard. Heck, I can't even think of a virginia that has ever bitten this hard. If by some strange miracle the bite goes away then I will revise my review. Even with the bite I could tell there was some flavor there along with a sweet grassiness usually associated with virginias. It's just hard to taste it when your taste buds are scorched.
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jopado	12/17/2008	Mild	None detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
I'm thinking that Golden Blend is now labeled Golden Extra under Mac's logo. I've tried to submit a review before but must have done something wrong. (Big surprise!) But what ever I might have said then I need to tell you now I'm starting to understand the term "all day smoke". It's a little difficult to deal with out of the tin but in bulk it performs GREAT. No need to rub it out any more than it is. You'll be tempted to rub it down because it seems a little to course to pack but go for it. In a medium to large bowl I use the simple 1/3-2/3-3/3 easy draw pack and often never have to tamp or re lite and taken slow and easy my pipe never gets hot to my hand nor the smoke to my mouth. True, it's not an exciting smoke or a "complex" smoke with flavors bouncing off of every corner of your tongue but it's my first comfortable "all day smoke". Not quite enough to make me turn my back on the rest of the cellar but close.
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SmokeKing David	11/09/2008	Mild to Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
I am surprised at how satisfying this blend is. And the quality of the leaf is noteworthy. This tobacco is pleasant; it's not wimpy and it doesn't overwhelm. The light honey casing complements the burley tobacco quite well. I had been smoking VaPers, VAs, and English & Balkan blends and had the urge to try something else. So I turned to a one-year-old tin (labelled "Golden Extra") sitting in my "cellar." Maybe the small amount of aging has something to do with it, but for whatever reason, this burley blend really did the trick! I enjoy many types of pipe tobacco; this hobby seems to offer a veritable smorgasbord of options. I had in recent months smoked few burleys. But Golden Blend out-did several really good Virginias over the past few weeks. A creamy mouthfeel, along with a hint of honey and chocolate, accompanied a natural tobacco taste...when I dried it a little and "sipped" without puffing too vigorously (a technique properly advocated by many learned reviewers on this site, particularly Sasquatch). Golden Blend (a.k.a. Golden Extra) gets a gold medal. Four out of four stars. Govern Yourself Accordingly, SmokeKing David
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ENThomsen	10/12/2008	Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
(This review is for a tin of "Golden Extra" bought back in the summer of 2002. I rediscovered it last month in a tupperware container in a forgotten corner of the basement.) This burley is better than I remembered. The topping/casing is not very strong and the quality of tobacco is very good. I have not had much trouble with bite, but I must concur with the other reviewers regarding heat. This stuff burns pretty hot. My old tin is anything but dry, but you have to be mighty careful. I can definitely see how this tobacco could blister a pipe. Also, this tobacco is described as "ready rubbed". Well, maybe I am over-doing it, but I rub it out also. My additional work may be preventing bite, but it isn't preventing all that heat. "Recommended" with caution: Go Slow.
Showing reviews 1 through 20 of 58 reviews of this tobacco NEXT >