Mac Baren HH Old Dark Fired, sold by Oz

A very nice, and strong, tobacco. Good earthy flavors and burns very well. Will definitely reorder.

An old and very English style of rubbed dark flake that is firm and leathery to the touch. The first sniff of the bulk tobacco reminds of me of barbeque sauce. If you ever smoked McClelland pipe tobaccos- you'll know the smell I'm talking about. ;-) It can require a lot of relights, but its worth it. IMHO- the flavor is more consistently pleasurable if you simply fold the strands and load them without crumbling, but it helps to at least rub out the very last portion to make it easier to light. The taste and smell of the smoke say "old world" to me; hard to describe... like a Black rope twist from Gawith & Hoggarth, except there's virtually no bite at all. And unlike the old black rope- as long as you smoke it slowly its relatively gentle by comparison. The "room note" (lingering scent) is ancient and earthy, almost like an incense... frankincense or myrrh. Mysterious and alluring. I find that it smokes best out of a medium to small briar, not allowing it the possibility of getting too sooty or sour at the bottom of a large, deep pipe. It absolutely shines in a clay pipe, which seems appropriate considering the fact that rubbed flakes like this were more common in the era when clay pipes were part and parcel to smoking in general. This might be a good place to start for novice smokers who want to delve a little deeper into the heritage of pipe tobacco without having to endure the kind of tongue bite and palette exhaustion that can come from indulging in the more antiquated varietals.

This blend has a lot of flavor to it.

ODF-RR is a good, nutty, earthy burley with some Virginia overtones. It is deep and full - just a little of the Virginia tart and sweet. It delivers on the tobacco taste. I did not detect any added flavor, but I don't have the most delicate palate. It has a good consistent flavor and smokes very clean to the bottom of the bowl. If you would like to try a really good medium-strong pressed burley blend, this is highly recommended.

Excellent service, good communication. Tobacco arrived beautifully conditioned. A very good flavoursom smoke. Will buy from you again. Thank you

This is a great, deeply flavored tobacco. Although I gather this is mostly burley, I has a definite Virginia taste, but with a deep, toasted bread tone. Since I'm a lataholic (don't go to meetings though, I don't want a cure) this is a nice switch about once a day. The toasty flavor appeals to my lataphilia without any lat flavor; the first to do that. Unlike other tobacs available either flake or rubbed, I like this one in ready rubbed bulk best. MacB did a great job in the rub. Strands definitely appear as a uniform separated flake, not a random dusty mess. Almost as if it were carefully pulled apart into a ribbon. Packs and lights well.

Ready rubbed cut so care should be taken when packing. It burns evenly and cool. Very meaty earthy smoke and packs a considerable punch. Room note will not win any prize but if you are venturing into the realm of non aromatics i dont think you are interested in that anyway.