McClelland Christmas Cheer 2001

(3.35)
Hand-blended, premium pressed Virginia flake tobaccos. A fine vintage, naturally sweet, in limited quantity.
Notes: Produced in 1992, 1994-present in limited quantities. Tinned in July of the respective year.

Details

Brand McClelland
Blended By McClelland Tobacco Company
Manufactured By McClelland Tobacco Company
Blend Type Straight Virginia
Contents Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Broken Flake
Packaging 50 grams or 100 grams tin
Country United States
Production No longer in production

Profile

Strength
Mild to Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
None Detected
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

3.35 / 4
9

6

1

1

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 17 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 17, 2013 Mild to Medium None Detected Medium to Full Pleasant
First I have to address the "ketchup smell". I can do that in two words - who cares! I had been smoking CC for years before I heard the term and I just assumed that is what tinned VA smelled like when opened.

I usually buy several tins and open one right away and let the others age at least a couple of years. I'm smoking the '01 now so it's twelve years old and wonderful. But then again the tin I smoked in '01 was wonderful.

I don't smoke too much other than CC. I guess my rotation consists of different years of CC with something else thrown in once in a while. Full tobacco taste and a very pleasant toasty room note (like toast in the toaster). I read a review that compared it to baking bread and I go along with that.

I don't detect much difference from year to year - I like them all. Each year does get better when aged however.

So, unless your enjoyment comes from sniffing the can when you open it, pick up a couple each year. One to smoke and one to age. I'd rate it five stars it they let me.
6 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 04, 2008 Medium to Strong None Detected Full Pleasant
UPDATE: 4-4-08

This stuff keeps getting better and better. I can't say enough about the entire Christmas Cheer series. Another HUGE bonus I want to share with you is that this blend will make your pipe smoke sweet. No, not like artificial sweet, I mean that thing we all call a "sweet smoke". No bitter charcoal or burnt briar taste. No matter the blend you like, smoke this stuff once and a while and your pipe will smoke noticeably better. It is doing wonders for breaking in my new meerschaum and making it taste great.

This series is KING of the unflavored VA flake genre - hands down no questions or excuses.

ORIGINAL: 4-1-08

A soft, round VA with plenty of tang - not weak mind you - and possesing that light sweet creaminess of a premium VA. A broken flake that does burn better when fully rubbed out.

I have tried many a straight VA and VA dominant blend (being a huge VA fan myself).

Again, a perfect VA flake, wouldn't change it if I could. I could smoke this stuff all year - and probably will no matter what year vintage I find to buy.

This entire series through 2007 is modern classic in the pipe tobacco world.

Thank you McClelland, you remind me frequently of why I love pipe smoking.

🙂
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 24, 2002 Extremely Mild None Detected Mild Very Pleasant
I really do not have a review of this blend. I did smoke it, but frankly, cannot remember much about it and I didn't log my impressions into my personal tobacco diary.

Just wanted to say Merry Christmas to all of my fellow reviewers and especially to Jon Tillman for the great job he does in making www.tobaccoreviews.com one of the hottest sites on the web for us pipe & tobacco freaks.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Pipestud
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 21, 2020 Medium None Detected Medium Tolerable
Christmas Cheer is always good, so this one is no exception. Most reviews capture the flavor and tin note profile very well so I will keep this short, with one minor addition.

I have noticed this with all McClelland tobacco's, but especially their VA's. No matter how old they get they do not show any bloom. This is a 19/20 year old tobacco, and I believe it is from a 1995 crop. High sugar tobacco with no bloom? Odd and I am sure it has to do with the use of vinegar in the processing which gives McClelland's tobacco's the famed aroma. I wish this was a site that had comments, if anyone else has seen it I'd love to know. The very best leaf and processing goes into this rich, complex, spicy smoke. I also notice a nuttiness after I fully expel the smoke from my mouth, which is a nice add. Great stuff. Merry Christmas!
Pipe Used: Briar's, meerschaum, clay's and cob's
Age When Smoked: 19 + years
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 21, 2020 Mild to Medium None Detected Mild to Medium Pleasant
Mostly chestnut brown, which is typical of this series once it ages for awhile, and this one is 19 years old. Very deep McClellands fermented Virginia smell in the tin, more than most other years. But fear not, you won't taste this if you dry it out sufficiently, and you'll get the added bonus of having a much better smoke overall.

This seemed to be one of the more complex in the series. Toasted elegance, along with multiple different spice flavors, this is a perfect Christmas blend. No artificial flavors that you normally see with Christmas blends, this is a natural version with more tobacco flavor. This is a very smooth yet punchy blend, something McClellands is very good at producing. Rich flavor but mellow. No overabundance of "grassy hay citrus" and in fact this is deeper and darker without going overboard. It doesn't match the 2005 version nor most of the 1990's blends but it is a cut above the norm to my tastebuds. If you're tasting ketchup or vinegar, you're doing it wrong! 😉 It tastes of good, un-fritzed with straight Virginia that only McClellands can (could) do. If you find a tin at a reasonable price, go for it. Or let me know and I'll take it!
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 10, 2017 Overwhelming None Detected Overwhelming Strong
This tobacco is not for me and let me till you why. The Virginia tobacco in this blend tastes like catsup and nothing else,well i don't there is anything else because after 15 minutes of smoking this my tongue was on fire and I had to stop smoking my pipe right then and there! I did try taking the tobacco still in the tin and ( here comes the wailing and gnashing of teeth of those who love this blend) broke it into smaller pieces and spread it around in many of my other tobacco blends just so I didn't waste what was an almost completely full tin of tobacco.

I had several more tins of this from a few different years and they were forgotten about after I got married in 2004 and found a box of old Cigar Aficionado and Pipes and Tobaccos magazines I started to re-read in 2015. I know someone did have a nice gift from a secret Santa in 2015!
Pipe Used: no name meer
Age When Smoked: fresh
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 25, 2014 Mild to Medium Extremely Mild Medium Very Pleasant
The vinegar/ketchup smell does appear in the taste of the tobacco, though it's much lesser than it smells. The Virginias offer a big burst of very ripe, fermented, tangy dried dark fruit, light tart and tangy citrus, plenty of earth and wood, light bread, a few blades of grass, some holiday spices (were they added by a human being?), and a small floral note. The actual taste of tobacco is sublimated by the fermented sweetness. The strength is a step short of medium, while the taste is medium. The nic-hit is a hair less potent than the strength level. No chance of bite or harshness, and has few rough, sharp edges. Needs a light dry time. Burns cool, clean, and a little slow with a very consistent sweet and lightly spicy flavor from top to bottom. Kind of seems a tad more fruit-cake like than the 2000 and 2002 versions, or some later ones as well. Requires some relights, and leaves a little moisture in the bowl. Has a pleasantly lingering after taste and room note. Can be an all day smoke. Three and a half stars.

-JimInks
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
MDP
Mar 17, 2012 Mild to Medium None Detected Medium Very Pleasant
2001 has turned out to be magical and yes, complex. The fermented aromas promise a smoothness and richness I have come to expect from aged McClelland Virginias. Gone are the thin, watery tang, grassiness, or sooty offense associated with young-ish straight Virginia tobacco.

What is left in CC 2001 after a decade of sealed aging are an amalgam of deep spice notes and refined, dark sweetness. The spice is not from chilis or salsa, but those old fashioned "back of the spice cabinet" containers that come out for baking on high holidays, along with subtle confiture flavors of liquored, preserved fruits, unlike bitter maraschino, candy corn or lollipops. There is flavor migration akin to having a dollop of fine confection melt on your tongue.

This rubs out, burns, and turns to dry ash effortlessly, leaving the walls of my pipes cleaner than before smoking CC 2001 and dry. Pipe puffing paradise.
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 07, 2003 Very Strong None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
This is one of the few McClellans that I will give high marks to. The aroma is not as objectionable as most from this company. The baccy is not too moist, but I did air it out for two days before smoking it. It crumbled nicely for packing. Very nice into a large mouthed bowl. Here's the best part. The flavor is wonderful. True Virginia with almost as much taste as the strong ones I prefer. This may be the nicest Virginia I have smoked coming from McClelland. Certainly smokers who like McClelland tobaccos will enjoy this one if they can find it. Cellering would be in order if several tins can be had.
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 14, 2008 Mild to Medium Very Mild Medium Pleasant
Tin: Initially mahogany; then dark brown and blonde mottled in a 7:3 ratio, pressed into a partly broken flake. Strong fruit, something akin to banana bread, sweet hay-oats smell; the typical McClelland ketchup/raisin odor is *not* present. After all these years sealed, it is still supple; it does not feel overly moist. Under sunlight, it sparkles with minute dots of sugar. The speckles of sugar were mistaken for mold until I read the reviews. Tin date: 072001.

Packing & Lighting: Takes 1 or 2 matches to get it lit, then it stayed all the way to the bottom. It really burns well. The only concern is the accumulation of condensate in the stem--the bowl remains absolutely dry--the stem has to off occasionally and condensate blown out. At one point, the unsealed tin, left in a room at 80 degrees, had light moisture on the inside of the lid.

Taste & Aroma: Light scented roasting fruit. It gets richer and deeper towards the bottom, adding a scented wood quallity. CC 2001 has quite a sweet taste. The aroma changes with the intensity at which it is smoked. Multiple bowls smoked back-to-back, does elicit minor bite or tongue tingle.

Nicotine: Between mild and medium

Room Note: A pleasant, mild, roasting fruit scent.

Overall: Now that's a sweet tobacco. I have to agree with Danno in the CC 1999 review concerning humectant and an unfamiliar flavor. I get get a consistent and disagreeable amount of tongue tingle(bite). Mparker, in their CC 94 review, lists a variety of flavors which I also found to be elicited, depending on the burn temp. of the tobacco. A leaflet inside the tin gives the rationale for the CC series and the method of making this 2001 blend, "...sun dappled Middle Belt orange leaf of the 1995 North Carolina crop..." 3.4 stars.
1 person found this review helpful.
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