Mac Baren -- 7 Seas Regular Blend

Brand: Mac Baren
Blend: 7 Seas Regular Blend
Style: Aromatic
Pipe Used: Savinelli #313 Natural Prince
Price: Free Sample

Appearance: 7
Taste: 6
Room Note: 8
Value: 8 (based on list price)
Overall: 7

Mac Baren recently launched their new 7 Seas series of aromatic pipe tobacco and everything from the blend names (Regular, Royal and Gold) to the nautical theme and pouch aroma are reminiscent of Captain Black. While many pipe smokers look down their noses at such drugstore fare these old-school blends still make up the vast majority of pipe tobacco sold so they must have something going for them. And if Mac Baren has decided to make a none-too-subtle attempt to update such a classic then who am I to argue?

I received a few pouches of the Regular blend with some of my recent tobacco orders and decided to give the stuff a try. The tobacco was a dark, almost black, cross-cut mixture that was a bit moist and smelled of vanilla and hints of cocoa.

I loaded up my trusty aromatic pipe, gave it a light, and began happily puffing away. The tobacco lit right up and burned down about two thirds of the way before a single relight was required.

Mac Baren's 7 Seas Regular tasted very similar to Captain Black White in that the tobacco was lightly flavorful and the vanilla was quite noticeable. But whereas Captain Black has always had a nasty burnt plastic aftertaste to me this stuff was much more refined and smooth. It was still a fairly weak tasting blend but at least it was pleasant.

The room aroma was quite nice which is a feature touted right on the pouch as it aims to be as non-offensive a tobacco as possible.

The blend also burned nicely and caused no tongue bite which made for a leisurely 30 minute smoke and before I knew it all that was left in the bowl was a bit of ash and dottle and none of the goop that so often comes along with typical drugstore aromatics.

Mac Baren's 7 Seas Regular is a nice enough update to an old classic and can be had at a very reasonable price. I liked it well enough but there are just too many better aromatic blends out there to make this a regular smoke for me. But I do have to say that I'm intrigued enough that I just might sample the other two blends in the series to see what they have to offer.