Today I sampled a new tin of tobacco of Mac Baren HH Old Dark Fired in my Savinelli 804KS Sitting pipe. This 3.5oz tin has a sophisticated look about it in its simplicity; dark brown label with subdued lion's head and signature scripted print. When I opened the tin I found the tobacco slices (3 neatly stacked rows which look like sticks of gum) wrapped in gold foil. A label under the tin base reads:
"A bold flake of dark-fired burleys in a well balanced unity with Flue-cured Virginias. This flake is Hot Pressed, meaning that during the pressing, heat is added by steam to the tobaccos which causes the tobacco to intensify the marrying process giving us a bolder tobacco. The robust, earthly flavour of the dark-fired burleys shines through in the taste, and you will experience a deeply satisfying smoke indeed."
Dark brown with thin streaks of light brown Burley & Virginia tobaccos are pressed and thinly sliced into flakes that smell slightly sweet and also have a slight aroma of ketchup. These flakes appear to be quite dry but are moist which is noticable when I rubbed it out. I probably should have aired out a couple of slices (I only needed about 1-1/2 slices to fill a bowl) before I packed it, but I could wait. After first light, the burning tobaccos produced light puffy smoke, but what I really noticed is the rich and creamy coating on my palate. Maybe "earthy" would be a good word for it. It just has a a little smokiness and spice that makes me think that this is an expensive tobacco blend. Is that weird? I don't know...it's rich and I like it! This is another blend that smokes great from beginning to end. I had a couple of re-lights which I expected. I may try letting a couple of slices air out for a few before I smoke another bowl, just for comparison sakes. At the end of the smoke I was left with a bowl of white ash and almost no dottle. What a great smoke this Old Dark Fired turned out to be. My last 3 tins of new tobaccos have been fantastic: J.F.Germain & Sons 1820 & Royal Jersey - Original Latakia Mixture, and now Mac Baren HH Old Dark Fired. I hope the next few new tobaccos continue to be satisfying! If you haven't tried ODF, getcha some because I highly recommend it for sure!!