A classic for kings and shopkeepers !
The history of Mac Baren tobacco goes back over 115 years to a day in 1887, when my great grandfather Harald Halberg, the son of a ship's captain, made the decision not to follow in his father's footsteps. Instead he decided to become part of the illustrious Danish tobacco industry.
Pipe smoking is part and parcel of Danish culture, and has been so for a very long time, even outdating the work of the legendary writer Hans Christian Andersen. In fact pipe smoking was already extremely popular in Denmark by the time H. C. Andersen penned his first fairy-tale The Tinder Box in 1835. Nowadays, Denmark boasts the largest pipe-smoking population in the world, and this has largely been attributed to the decision of my great grandfather Harald Halberg not to take up his father's profession as a sailor.
My great grandfather's first move was to purchase S. Bønnelycke's Factories in Svendborg, a company that was established in 1826. Harald Halberg Tobacco Factories, as the company was renamed, became one of Denmark's premier tobacco manufacturers and was passed on Harald's sons Otto and Einar - my grandfather - who continued to produce high-quality blends acclaimed by the gentry and seamen alike.
In 1939, my father Jørgen Halberg made a decision that was to have a tremendous impact on pipe tobacco, not just in Denmark but world-wide. This was 52 years after my great grandfather Harald had opted to keep his feet on dry land, and proved to be even more significant in the history of pipe tobacco.
My father wanted to see more of the world and was lucky enough to land a job working at the World Exhibition in New York. As fate would have it, he was prevented from returning home to Denmark by the outbreak of the Second World War. So after the World Exhibition ended, he began to take various jobs at tobacco factories around the US, gaining invaluable experience to take home to the family business at Svendborg.
By the time my father was able to travel back across the Atlantic, he had become determined to make his mark on the Danish tobacco industry, using the experience he had gained to his advantage. My father considered the tobacco being produced by his Danish competitors vastly inferior to the American blends. So in 1950, he launched his own superior blends of pipe tobacco under the name Mac Baren.
‘Golden Blend' was one of his American-influenced blends that achieved immediate
success, and was followed up in 1958 with Mixture - a unique blend of 30 different types of tobacco. The chief ingredients, Virginia and Burley, are complemented by our Cavendish tobacco to give the delicate taste a fuller flavour.
Virginia tobacco is characterised by a high natural sugar content that gives it a distinctly sweet taste, while Burley is strong, full-bodied and fairly dry with a slight chocolatey taste. Together the two create a unique aroma and taste that has made Mixture the most popular pipe tobacco in Denmark within only a few years.
A surprising 4o years after its introduction, Mixture is still one of the world's best-selling pipe tobacco brands, is considered a genuine classic and enjoyed across the globe by connoisseurs and novices alike.
I am very careful not to disrupt the unique characteristics of Mixture, and have done everything possible to ensure the blend smokes and tastes exactly the way it did back in 1958. It remains Denmark's most popular blend of pipe tobacco and has the prestigious reputation of being the most widely distributed pipe tobacco in the world.
Never has a tobacco blend occupied such a special place in the hearts of pipe smokers. I am immensely proud of the Mixture blend and the success it has achieved over the years, making the Mac Baren name a favourite in all corners of the world. This is the reason I have chosen to release a special edition of the Mixture blend.
The package is inspired by the style of tobacco packages produced by our factory fifty years ago. It captures the feeling of pipe smoking in the 1950s and celebrates a real pipe tobacco hero.
I hope you enjoy this special edition of Mixture, and on behalf of everyone at Mac Baren, I wish you happy smoking!
Henrik Halberg |
