MacBaren Vintage Syrian

[Mad Hatter]

This is a great and well balanced blend. I was a bit intimidated by the description on the bottom of the tin which begins "A little under half of the volume, is a smooth and yet powerful latakia from Syria". I had never smoked Syrian Latakia and was expecting the same sort of flavor that comes from Cyprian latakia. Boy was I wrong! I'd say the syrian is much closer in flavor to perique that to cyprian and as a matter of fact the first three bowls I smoked I thought I was experiencing a perique ghost even though I didn't recall having perique in that particular pipe. That being said, this is a pretty simple blend of syrian, oriental and VAs. (Anyone who isn't completely familiar with the taste of orientals should buy a can of McClelland blending oriental and give it a try straight from the can. Its good.) The flavors are well balanced, and intermingled even better. Overall this blend has a medium flavor with a bit of depth but not a lot of thickness.

The reviews for this are so-so, but I expect a lot of Lat lovers thought they knew what they were getting then got something different. If you are a lat lover you may not like it and if you smoke it in a latakia pipe it will definitely be a lost cause. If you're a lat hater or a perique junkie it would be well worth a try. I plan to keep this stuff around from here on out. I might dedicate a pipe or two to this but I think I'd feel same smoking it in a VA or VA/per dedicated pipe also.

[DubintheDam]

Good review MadHat, I picked up a wee sample a few weeks ago, most of the shops here are still testing it, so it's still not up for general sale.

I was actually disappointed, MacB's are always a good price, so I was hoping I could find a more reasonably priced latakia, than Solani, Rattray's, Pete's or Dunhills. I found it too sour, bitter and tart, I threw the remaining handful in my MacB's Plumcake with great results. The sourness went really well with the plum flavors.

I think you make a good point on the perique, it does give it an unusual quality for a Latakia blend. Vintage Sy.gets a lot of good reviews..but for me it just doesn't have the sweetness I'm after.

[NCRadioMan]

Nice review. I like this one quite a bit, too. I do smoke it in my Lat pipe and I can still taste the difference of this blend but like you, I have thought of dedicating a pipe for this one.

[Davetopay]

I really wish I could find a way to sample a small quantity as my storage space and budget don't always allow for the purchase of random 100g tins.

[IrishCorona]

Another good review bro......Thanks. That doesn't sound like my cup of tea.

I've got the HH Mature Virginia if ya wanna try a couple bowls. It's pretty mild and should definitely be smoked out of an UBER clean pipe.

[RJpuffs]

I got a tin of the vintage syrian and gave it a shot. This is the first latakia blend I have ever tried, granted its not the so-called typical cyprian version. Cracked the tin open and closed it back for a week (yes, its a Mac Baren so once bitten twice shy).

The first bowl was not encouraging, the tobacco is loose cut and feels very dry - but the 15 minutes of drying was apparently insufficient. Salty, sour, almost fishy - I expected the neighborhood cats to chase after me.

Left it alone for another week, then dried out a bowlful for a full hour. Dropped it into a new un-broken-in Bjarne (only a couple of straight VA bowl's smoked in it). Well, much better.

Lit up like a torch, no doubt dried well enough. In fact it lit right off the charring light. Thick, chewy, cool smoke. The taste was more palatable this time, but muted. The latakia was clearly there, thick and musky (musty). The orientals nudged their spiciness forward occassionally, and the VA sweetness popped its head up here and there. It was well balanced, none of the three major flavors took over - however, the whole thing was very muted and almost depressing.

It felt like being at the funeral for your rich dotty aunt who had all those cats. Like the mystery box her lawyer handed to you before starting the eulogy. Listening to unrecognizable relatives droning on about things that never happened, and gently shaking the box to try to figure out whats inside. A rattle of an oriental, could it be gold? A thud of a VA, or is that a cat in there? The solid heft of latakia, or is it the fruitcake thats been passing through the family for 3 generations? Can't quite make it out, and then the bowl is over and someone walked away with your box and you'll never know what was inside it.

It never satisfied the palate completely, but it does have a dark enigmatic quality that makes me want to try it again to see if I can "get it" the next time around. Not something I would recommend, nor plan on buying another tin - but I would hold onto the remainder and try it again over the next few months.

Footnote: later in the day I loaded a bowl of straight VA in the same pipe. This puppy ghosted the oriental spiciness pretty much through the entire next bowl (nothing else). It actually tasted quite good with the natural straight VA sweetness. Or it could have been my tongue that got ghosted.



RJ

[wharfrathoss]

i like this one a lot-picked it up after hearing about syrian latakia-definately a different flavor than what i am used to-based on the tin description i expected more strength-when i smoked it in one of my english pipes, i wasn't impressed, but when i smoked it in an oriental pipe the difference was night & day-i've decided this one is best smoked on a clean palate or early in the day

[glassjapan]

I picked this up after reading Johnnyflake's thread about what Syrian latakia blends are still available. My first crack at latakia was Cyprian variety, Penzance and Nightcap. Just too overpowering smokiness to me. Later I was gifted some Balkan Sobranie (thanks again Freddie) and that gave me some hope. And after trying the Macbaren VS, i'm totally loving the Syrian versions. MacBaren is fairly cheap and very enjoyable to me. Compared the what the Syrians are going for on ebay, this one is an inexpensive keeper.