MacBaren Rollcake Pipe Tobacco

Ordered from CI and shipped expedited free to me as a veteran (TY CI!). This tobacco is advertised as an aromatic blend of Virginia and Burley with some of Mac Baren's modern Cavendish thrown into the mix. This is a spun cut tobacco (meaning you have coins that must be rubbed out before smoking). Upon opening the tin you are hit with the strong odor of pure tobacco, mainly Virginia. My tin had a packing date of over a year ago, so I was very excited to dig in. I rubbed out 4 coins to fill the bowl, taking my time to rub them out as best I could as my experience is that spun cut tobaccos tend to burn hot. Packed well. Char light showed very good expansion and that pure tobacco flavor that promised a real tobacco smoking experience to come. Rollcake does burn hot. There is a slight bite to this tobacco so the idea is to sip it and enjoy the experience. The full Virginia flavor shines thru and is balanced nicely by the rest of the blend. This is smooth, rich and strong, with the classic leather with a slight spicy tingle that makes this tobacco such a treat. I deducted a half point on ratings only because of the bite. The room note is missing. This really isn't an aromatic in my opinion. This is a straight-up Mac Baren Classic and you are in for a thrill ride on a strong nicotine dose and very pleasant smoking experience. I think the room note (compared to real aromatics) would come up short for non-smoking anti-smoking Nazis. Bottom line: 4 to 4.5 star entry from Mac Baren. Priced attractive (but at the upper end of the Mac Baren line-up) this is a great treat tobacco. If you like non-aromatics and don't try this aromatic, you are missing the boat. This one needs even more aging and testing as I could tell from opening the tin this one had already aged well in a year