McClelland No. X-10 Unflavored Burley Ribbon

Definitely flavored with cocoa. Sticks out like a sore thumb, especially in the second half of the bowl. Doesn't matter to me though, I was just looking for a good VaBur to enjoy on occasion. This is a pretty good one. Some nuttiness and a little earthiness to go with the cocoa and the Virginia adds a little sweetness. I haven't gotten any bite from it like some others have. It's a very pleasant smoke.

Mild to medium in body and flavor. Flavoring is mild. Burns great.

The burley is nutty with a little molasses and some cocoa. In a support role, the Virginia is a little grassy with minor citrus notes. There’s a slight sharpness present, though I’m not entirely sure whether it’s from the burley or Virginia. I also get a very mild vanilla and at times, a hint of spice. They claim there is no topping here, but burley normally doesn’t have this rich of a cocoa taste. Has just a little nicotine. Won't bite. Burns smooth with a light creamy, consistent flavor at a moderate pace. Doesn’t need many relights, and leaves little moisture in the bowl as it will burn to ash. Has a pleasant after taste that lingers just a mite. An all day smoke or a mixer.

-JimInks

In the bag, X-10 is a soft brown ribbon, pliant but not sticky or wet, with an understated aroma of hot cocoa. The taste and aroma in the bowl is very faithful to the aroma in the bag - hot chocolate, chocolate wafer cookies, and hints of hazelnut. None of these are overtly artificial-tasting or overbearing.

X-10 is a nice, simple, velvety sweet smoke by itself and fun to blend with other tobaccos. I like to add a little to homemade VA blends to lend some extra suppleness and nuttiness. I added a pinch of Perique and chopped cigar to X-10 also, on a weird lark, and actually really liked that.

In the "Truth in Advertising" dept., though, as has been pointed out, I'm not too sure this is "Unflavored" as McC purports it to be. The suggestion of Swiss Miss seems to contraindicate that. Either way, I like it.

2.647 straight and 3.12 as a blender.

ADDENDUM: The philosopher said "You can never step into the same water once." That is true of tobacco as well. The very act of interacting with the world changes the world and the actor. I was so impressed with X-10 that I recently bought a pound. It was not the remarkable experience I first had. The tobacco was more moist and felt a little sticky. But the big disappointment was in the smoking. That wonderful toasty, nutty taste I first enjoyed was not there. Was it the weather? The time of year? My mental state? The state of my oral hygiene? The tobacco? It is unfortunate. Well, my first time with X-10 gave me a pleasant recollection of my father. That was worth it. I must moderate my initial appraisal, however.

This is a very nice tobacco, very enjoyable to smoke. "Naturally rich and nutty in flavor" describes the experience well. As I smoked this tobacco I began to think of my father. He was a child of the depression and served in WW II as an underwater demolition expert with the Naval Amphibious Forces in the Pacific.

He was a carpenter, building things until his death. He was a gentle man with an earthy, sometimes vulgar sense of humor. He once said that if he had been born a girl there would have been a whore in the family, as he just couldn't say no to anyone. He was generous to anyone who needed a hand.

This Burley ribbon is also generous, "easy" if you will. It is easy to pack in the pipe. It is easy to light. It is easy to keep burning. It is easy to like. The slightly sweet, nutty natural flavor are evident. And they remain there throughout the bowl. Like my father, it is straight forward, pleasant, good natured and easy to be around.

As I progressed through the bowl, the mild, light sweetness becomes darker, heavier, more like brown sugar. The sugars are no doubt carmelizing. All of this is the tobacco. No casing was detected. I smoke it to the bottom of the bowl and experience no bite.

I did not know what to expect with this tobacco. So, I purchased only 2 ounces. They are gone now. I am going back for more.

Before closing I would like to share a true story about my father. I grew up on a dairy farm. My father kept a bull, before going to a breeding service ("ABS the Champagne of bottled bull" was their motto for many years.).

One spring my father put the cows out in the barnyard with a new, young bull. The bull apparantly suffered from performance anxiety, forgot about the cows, put his head down and charged my dad, who was leaning beside the barn door.

He reached inside the barn door, grabbed a wiffle tree. (A wiffle tree is part of a horse harness, 3-4 feet of oak with steel rings and collars at each end.) Just as the bull was almost on my father, the wiffle tree came crashing down between his ears. The bull went down and laid at my father's feet, blood coming out of his mouth, nose and ears.

The bull finally got up and staggered off. My father laughted about the incident saying, "After that, if I'd told the s.o.b. to climb the ladder into the haymow he would have tried!" He was like that until his death. He was hospitalized, in a coma. We had come, expecting him to die, as did his doctor. I saw him open his eyes, look around and exclaim, "It almost had me that time, but I'm not done yet." He did die a few weeks later, my mother with him. She was concerned about his soul and he gently assured her that he was going to be alright. And he died. Gutsy, good humored and gentle. Kind of like this tobacco. That's why I'll buy some more.

Despite manufacture's description as stated by reviewer BurleyNut this is thoroughly cased burley. If it was straight pure leaf it would not be as soft, pliable and moist as it is. Plain unadulterated burley is paper-like and dry similiar to chopped up cigar leaf. Order some from Cornell & Diehl and you'll see. Burley has to be cased because it has almost no flavor and no positive character of its' own. This is somewhat moist and that translates into a little bite one gets from mass produced aromatics. The flavor is extremely light and unremarkable, being good for a mixer of aromatic, black cav. and even virginia tobaccos. The pouch aroma is different and somewhat cryptic. I can only describe like subdued cocoa, nutty Frangelico liqueur and perhaps coconut with some appreciable sweetness. This is not bad but not great. I wish McClelland would put forth the effort into a burley product likewise as they do with thier flakes. Perhaps the burley regime will think otherwise.

- Marginally Recommended

P.S.

There are many other similiar offerings in this burley line that seem identical with a few exceptions. So, I am not sure what the point is in having basically the same blend packaged under different names; maybe it's the cut. From what I can see there is hardly any difference there too.

McCelland Bulk No. X10 - Burley Ribbon - Unflavored

Star Rating = 2

Rating Scores - 10 is the Best and 0 is the Worst

Pouch Note = 7

Room Note = 7

Flavor = 7

Bite = 4

Burn = 6

After Taste = 7

Raw Score = 38

Rated Percentage = 63%

Comment = Has a Big Burley Bit, not nearly as good as Lane Limited BLWB

X-10 is a good tobacco to smoke if you just want to put something in your pipe that you don't have to think too much about. The Virginia adds a bit of sweetness that otherwise would not be present.I prefer my burley to be just that, burley. However, I can live with the added Virginia leaf in this one. All around a pretty decent smoke. The downside is that it bites....bad.

I don't see how this could be described as uncased, natural, or "no added aroma." In the bag, it smells just like sweet chocolate. It has a mahogany complexion and a very wide ribbon cut.

Taste: not much, very slight bite. It may be the VA or added sugar that seems to DGT towards the end of the bowl.

Aroma: light chocolate burley

Nicotine: mild to moderate

Overall: On its own merit, not much to it. It must be the VA mix that gives the small depth.

Easy to light and keep lit. At first light hints of cocoa please the senses. Don't fill the pipe to dense as it can at times bite, but very little so puff moderately. I like to mix two pinches of this with one pinch of McClellands 5105 Stoved Virginia. A simple blend where you are greeted at first with the hints of cocoa and towards the bottom of the bowl the toastyness of the stoved virginia. The tobacco is great alone but the palette should be alternated with a different tobacco to keep the flavor coming back. Devoted a pipe to this blend.

This is a soft, fragrant, naturally sweet burley mixture that demonstrates the variousness of burley blends. It has a natural sweetness that is very distinctive, overlying the familiar nutty spicy flavor. You might suspect it is cased, but the manufacturer says it isn't and I think what you're really tasting is just an aspect of the natural tobacco flavor that casing lesser grades seeks to imitate. There is surprising strength here, so it's not an all-day smoke, but it is a lovely item in the rotation.