Mac Baren HH Vintage Syrian

[ZeroContent]

Picked up some Mac Baren HH Vintage Syrian from my local B&M. I'm just settling into my first bowl right now. So far, it's very nice. The smell in the bag is a mix of ketchup (like the smell of GLP Cumberland, at least to me) and a bit of smoke, I was expecting a more smokey smell since it's supposed to be pretty heavy on the latakia. It reminds me of a barbecue sauce at City BBQ called brush fire. So overall very nice smelling. Moisture content was perfect. Packed super easy. Right at first light it's a very light pine flavor with a hint of sweetness. So far it's very pleasant, no bite so far. And pretty mild. I'll report back once I get farther down the bowl.

For those who have tried this blend what do you think about it? So far is pretty good so now I'm wondering, what's the situation with Mac Baren's syrian latakia supply? or I might have to go buy all that my B&M has since it seems to be sold out everywhere online.

 

[ZeroContent]

Ok, so I'm about an hour into this bowl, probably a little over halfway to the bottom. The pine flavor has picked up quite a bit now and the sweetness has fallen back. I have a slight black coffee and a hint of coco thing going on and have picked up a little spice in the back of the mouth. All in all this thing has picked up into a power house. I started to puff a little too fast and it started to bite a little so I've backed off and am keeping it just barely on this side of lit, seems to be where this thing likes it.

While making this post I set the pipe down and it went out so I tipped out the ash on the top. Ash is fine and slightly gray, a pile dumped out without help. What I wasn't expecting was the quick flavor change when I re-lit it just now. I'm running in a nice coffee and coco town right now, with a hint of spice and the pine smoke has taken a backseat for a moment.

This would probably be a great morning smoke with coffee. Right now I'm just drinking water and the water it tasting really sweet. Could only imagine was a nice cup of black coffee would be like. I could see this as a pretty good any time smoke, good stress relieve.

 

[Grayhackel]

Interesting posts. HH Vintage Syrian has become my staple tobacco. You are right, its good in the morning with a cup of coffee, but I smoke it all day. It gives me my Latakia fix, doesn't bite, burns cools. It isn't a "complex" tobacco, but it has most of what I like and none of the traits I dislike. I smoke a lot of different tobaccos, but HH vintage syrian and Margate are the only ones I buy by the pound.

 

[cigarsarge]

I just picked up a tin...Sounds like I did OK.

 

[onabullit]

Not my favorite tobacco but not the worst either. I bought this and HH Matured virginia and went through them pretty quicl=k, but dont really remember anything remarkable about it but its a good value

 

[gandalfpc]

In most pipes this blend leaves me flat, but it produces an abundance of flavor in a decent size pot and has become one of my favorites.

 

[Vito]

HHVS is horrible, wicked, evil stuff. It sorely grieves me to think that any of my weed brothahs should ever be afflicted by so horrendous a weedage.

And so, as a purely selfless act of civic duty, I hereby volunteer my services to take all of it off yer hands. Simply sent all your HHVS to me, and I'll see to it that the stuff is disposed of properly in a series of ritual burnings. :twisted:

:joker:

 

[ZeroContent]

Yeah, had another bowl of it last night and my opinion slightly changed, it's f-ing great. I think I'm gonna have to go buy the three one pound bags that I left behind

 

[Vito]

Yeah, had another bowl of it last night and my opinion slightly changed, it's f-ing great. I think I'm gonna have to go buy the three one pound bags that I left behind

Esteemed Brother ZC:

Hmmm...I see that I have no takers on my selfless offer...

Hey, wait—I know what to do... :!:

OK...new strategy, inspired by the example of your own noble sacrifice. Why wait for the brethren to fall prey to the evil weed? Instead, I will join you in implementing a proactive, pre-emptive program of buying up all the 1-pound bags I can find...er, to save mah weed brothahs from the terrible scourge of this wicked weedage. Then, I will faithfully and fittingly dispatch the stuff in any number of sacrificial Erica arborea crucibles...all for the sake of my weedular compatriots, you understand.

It's up to us, amigo. It's a dirty, thankless job, but someone has to do it.

Devotedly,

Vito Claus

 

[*camoham]

havent tried that one yet, but im intrigued by the 'syrian'.

i absolutely love latakia, who would have thought that? i wouldnt have half a year ago.

the smell of a room afterwards is wonderful to me.

someone really needs to come out with a latakia incense, because i cant smoke that much!

camo

 

[Vito]

*camoham:

If you aren't already familiar with the difference between Syrian and Cyprian Latweeds, be advised that they're very different beasts. Because of the Syrian, HHVS has an altogether different flavor and aroma compared to any Cyprian Latakia blend. There are some folks who love Latakia (by which they mean Cyprian Latakia) and don't like HHVS. That's for starters. Then too, there's the way the SyriLat shows up in HHVS, which is quite unlike any other Syrian Latakia blend that immediately comes to mind.

For those reasons, you might want to try a tin of HHVS before you jump into actual poundage.

Of course, if you already are familiar with the difference between Syrian and Cyprian, then never mind.

:joker:

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

What would be your recommendation for the best Syrian blend that is available in 1 pound bulk? Mars has MB HH Syrian pounds for $34.75. Also Blatter and Blatter carry a blend made for McLintock of Germany called "Syrian Latakia Blend" that is supposed to be available in bulk and very good according to the 12 reviews on TobaccoReviews. Anyone ever tried that?

I'd rather that it is expensive and a truly premium blend than mediocre and cheap.

And nothing that bites. I smoked a Heinrich blend that was fantastic but it bit me.

Thanks!!!

 

[Vito]

What would be your recommendation for the best Syrian blend that is available in 1 pound bulk?...Also Blatter and Blatter carry a blend made for McLintock of Germany called "Syrian Latakia Blend"...Anyone ever tried that?

I'd rather that it is expensive and a truly premium blend than mediocre and cheap.

And nothing that bites. I smoked a Heinrich blend that was fantastic but it bit me.

Thanks!!!

Signore Alfredo:

I know what you mean about the Heinrich blends. When they're young, they're unfocused and tongularly rambunctious. I’ve been able to get one of them (No. 169) to yield sublime smokes in a vintage Peterson Oom Paul graciously gifted to me by Esteemed Brothah Yak, but I have to smoke it with great presence of mind (meaning sslloooowwwlllyyy) in order to avoid Poach-Mouth Syndrome. I ended up jarring the rest of them in the hope that time will mellow them.
________________

Alas, your requirement that a SyriLat blend must be available in bulk greatly narrows your available choices. McLintock's Syrian Latakia Blend is not available from any U.S. vendor as far as I can tell. Blatter & Blatter might sell you some, but you'll have to contact them by phone or email. The idiotic Quebec laws prohibit them from displaying any tobacco information on their website. (Just another example of the state "protecting" your interests. Sieg Heil! :evil: ) Anyhow, I'm sure you don't need me to recommend that you try some before you commit to a bulk purchase...assuming B&B will even sell you any.

At any rate, if you only want bulk, the only blend I can recommend is Mac Baren's H&H Vintage Syrian (HHVS). I have found that it is superb in almost any pipe, but like any tobacco, it's best in pipes that are dedicated to it.

My first tin of HHVS was generously gifted to me by Brothah Puff Daddy some years ago at TJ's Sonora Smoker. I must admit that I wasn't especially impressed with it the first couple of times I smoked it. I found that it shared a common characteristic of all Mac Baren weedages—namely, it MUST be smoked slowly to avoid the Fire Needle Dance Of Death<img class="emojione" alt="" title=":tm:" title=":tm:" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/emojione/assets/png/2122.png?v=2.2.7"/> on your tongue. Greedy puffing will avail you naught but shadow and flame. I'm glad I persisted. Sipping it is the doorway to SyriLat bliss.

Well...a form of SyriLat bliss, at least. If, like me, you have an insatiable lust for the toasted oak and leather notes that are only found in Syrian Latakia, there are few blends that deliver it in anywhere near the luxurious quantity found in HHVS. Not that it's in any way comparable to those great SyriLat blends that are now extinct (e.g., GLP's Bohemian Scandal, C&D's Syrian Trawler, and innumerable others it pains me to mention), but it does satisfy the craving for Syrian.

And please don't take that as a case of damning with faint praise. HHVS is a fine blend of quality tobaccos, and the quality is consistent. I have more of it in my cellar than any other weedage, and I wouldn't have made that commitment of my hard-earned bux if it weren't quality tobacco. But it does demand that you smoke it thoughtfully.

I wouldn't characterize HHVS as high-octane pipeweed by any stretch of the imagination; so, being the lover of HO weedage that I know you are, I would recommend that you smoke it in a pipe with a large diameter bowl. In that way, you’ll greatly increase the cross-sectional area of burning weed, thereby delivering more smokage per puff, without taking a trip down Zorchtongue Lane.

If you haven’t tried HHVS, shoot me a PM with your current snail mail addy and I’ll send a bunch your way.

There are other Syrian Latakia blends I can recommend, but none of them are available in bulk as far as I know. If you’re willing to buy tins, I can give you some recommendations. There are a couple of great ones, and at least one that (with some age) is well above the quality of the others. But the sad truth is that, regardless of whether you buy in bulk or tins, there simply aren't many high-quality SyriLat choices available any more, and that condition won't change unless the Syrians allow large-scale production and export to resume.

:joker:

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

Hey Vito,

What a pleasure to read your post about HH Syrian, evolved from Vitospace in your grand manner!

PM sent.

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

Although I prefer to get bulk, I'm hearing that the good Syrian blends are more readily available in tins; tin recommendations welcome.

 

[gandalfpc]

Brebbia Latakia Flake #9

 

[Vito]

Although I prefer to get bulk, I'm hearing that the good Syrian blends are more readily available in tins; tin recommendations welcome.

Signore Alfredo:

Thanks for your kind appreciation. It's always a pleasure to share some weedic knowledge with a true aficionado of the Sacred Weed.
________

Brothah gandalfpc nailed my first recommendation for tinned Syrian blends—Brebbia's Latakia Flake No. 9—and by "first" I mean the one I like best of all the others.

There's another Brebbia blend called Balkan that might be more to your liking, given your fondness for HO weedage. It has plenty of SyriLat (40%), but it also is fortified with a goodly amount of dark-fired Kentucky, in addition to some Orientals and Perique. For me, it's a close second to Latakia Flake No. 9.

After that, the field thins rapidly. McClelland produces a horde of SyriLat blends, but there's only one I can recommend to anyone who craves the explicit taste of Syrian—namely Rose of Latakia...and even then it's not in the same league with HHVS or the two Brebbia blends mentioned above in the amount of SyriLat it contains. Nevertheless, it's a fine blend in its own right. It's somewhat dry (i.e., not sweet) and unfocused when young, but with a couple of years of tin time it becomes transformed into a smoke any SyriLat lover can appreciate.

• Caveat: I'm a Syrian junkie; it's prolly a birth defect...or an idiosyncrasy of my factory wiring, or my olfactory chemistry, or the tenor of my tasticles...or something. So take that into account in the rant that follows.

The rest of the McClelland Syrian blends are variably disappointing. They contain so little SyriLat as to make one wonder what is the point. What's more, the Syrian Latakia used by McClelland is the same sublime stuff that Greg Pease used in Bohemian Scandal...the entire supply of which (for GLP and Cornell & Diehl) perished in the Great Warehouse Fire of 2004. McClelland had already taken their portion of that weed, so it was spared the same hellish fate. But in my opinion, McClelland is not using that glorious weed in a way that exemplifies its best virtues.

I do not disparage the taste of any Brothah who finds joy in McClelland's SyriLat blends. Indeed, I have found some of them to be worthy blends in their own right (Three Oaks Syrian and Tudor Castle Arcade are very good), but for my part I can't describe them using any of the superlatives they otherwise might deserve if McClelland were using that magical Syrian stash differently...by which I mean, as a major player, rather than as a bit-part performer. You can tell there's some Latweed in there, but it doesn't shine. And even the best of them won't satisfy the cravings of an unreconstructed SyriLataholic.

Of similar character is CAO's Gordon Pym. It contains some Syrian, and it's a decent smoke, but as SyriLat blends go, it's not a shining example of the genre at its best.

:joker:

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

My B&M recommends two Brebbia Syrian Latakia blends, and I bet they are the Latakia Flake #9 and the Balkan! I've just yet to make the two-hour round trip drive to get them.
Now I certainly will.

Thank you gentlemen for your picks, and not-picks. I've been looking at a number of tins that you say aren't robust Syrian blends; you saved me time and money.

 

[Vito]

...I've just yet to make the two-hour round trip drive to get them.
...you saved me time and money.

Yikes, Mike!! With the price of petrol these days, it seems you might save yourself BOTH time and money by ordering those Brebbia weedages online:

• Brebbia Balkan
• Brebbia Latakia Flake No. 9

...er, unless you enjoy the drive.

:joker:

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

The B&M that I'd drive to is one that I've been going to for 9 years; although there are some very good? excellent? cigar shops downtown, they are almost as far away; this B&M is the only quality pipe and cigar shop in the area. So there are reasons for the drive. But to be sure, I only go there a couple of times a year, given the time and gas.

And over the years I've directed my non-forum questions to him; but that knowledge costs patronage. I'm trying to not call them anymore so as not to incur that obligation.

Still the owner is a fine gentleman in every respect of the word; if I ask his opinion I can count on insight and truthfulness. For years his great affability and tendency to bend on his shop's financial decisions made many good deals for his clientele. He has since stopped hurting himself. He has my loyalty if not my business, but for now online prices rule; I wish it were otherwise and that he was nearby.