McClelland Acadian Ribbon

Nice Vaper with a little something extra. The Virginias, as usual with McClelland, are superbly sweet and delicious. The Perique is moderately spicy and very fruity. The toasty note is what I really like in this blend. It's a very nice touch. A great smoke all the way around.

Mild to medium in body. Medium in flavor. Burns very well.

I have a theory that VaPer blends work best and taste best when they are in flake or broken flake form, rather than ribbon cut. This theory has no basis in actual fact so far as I know, but this blend lends credence to the theory. It's most likely comparison in the flavor department is McClellands Bayou Slices, another of Blakeney's Best. Both blends work well and taste good but the Bayou goes beyond that into a realm of depth of flavor that this one can't quite match. As usual, I find that ribbon VaPers cannot touch blends like Escudo, McClellands St James or #2015 and several others I prefer.

That said, this is a fully serviceable smoke. It is quite tasty and more than just reasonably satisfying. The cut ensures an easy load into the pipe and negates the need for relights. If you like the taste of perique, this blend won't steer you wrong. If it weren't for the existence of VaPer flakes, I could live quite comfortably with this one. Compared to those, this just barely misses the mark. It just doesn't possess the complexity of a flake, in my humble opinion. But those who don't want to mess with flakes will be very pleased with this. It's a nice flavorful smoke.

The very tangy dark fruit, sugar and earth from the matured Virginias sport a light fermentation, vinegar and stewed fruit as the lead components. In an important support role is the mildly spicy, raisiny, plumy, perique, which also has a stewed fruit quality to it. The nic-hit is just past the mild threshold. No chance of bite or harshness, and has no dull moments. Burns cool, clean, and a tad slow with a deep, consistent flavor. Has a little more smoothness than your usual VaPer. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and requires a few relights. Has a very pleasant, lightly lingering after taste, and stronger room note. Can be an all day smoke.

-JimInks

Very nice va/per.. It is a bit of a rough rider, however, so if you prefer a less refined more in your face perique blast - this is for you. I like it. the mccleland signature ketchup thing is there in full force, but the character of the tobacco pulls through in a way that 2015 didnt for me.. Plenty of flavor, very satisfying, decent nicotine.. its a winner.. It does kind of dry out your mouth a little, but well worth it

I picked up a tin of this at my B&M several months ago, maybe 6 or 8. It was on a close-out special and I just added a tin to a multiple blend purchase at the time as an afterthought. Tossing it into my tobacco cabinet and forgetting about it, it languished away, ignored for months, until I ran out of C&D Bayou Morning, my usual morning smoke. Not wanting to smoke a flake in the very early AM I finally opened this. What a waste of time. NO! Not the blend, but my waste of sheer enjoyment. Now I'm kicking myself not buying several tins of this when I could get it for cheap. Cracking the tin I found, thankfully, no McClelland ketchup, if you know what I mean. Instead the tin aroma recalled fruit - and not the usual raisin, plum, fig fruits one usually reads in descriptions, but one of my favorites -sweet pineapple. The ribbon cut appeared to be heavier in Perique over the VAs. At first light, however, that impression did not follow through. The sweet VA's play first chair with the perique second. Still spicy enough though and the pineapply impression upon firing yields to a toasty almond note and ample nicotine to jump start the day.

Absolutely divine. A blend I must have more of. 4 Stars.

McClelland - Arcadian Ribbon (Blakeney's Best).

It's a fairly coarse, medium and dark brown blend that has the usual McClelland ketchup smell. I smoke a lot of VaPers, usually as a morning smoke (loads of G.H. Louisiana Flake) and I can see this making my rotation.

The smoke is different to the usual VaPers. At first the Virginia and Perique are equal in weight. The flavour from them isn't the usual VaPer affair though, I don't get grass and spice, but much more sweet, dark fruit. There's also a subtle doughy top-note to the smoke. Towards the end the Perique dominates, without being vinegary, or too sharp. The toasting process is what separates this completely from your bog-standard VaPer, giving the smoke a pleasantly toasty edge. I've smoked four bowls of this this morning and every one has burned well without any tongue bite.

Nicotine: above medium. Room-note: pleasant.

Highly recommended:

Four stars.

This blend for me was just okay. I used to buy a pack of Lucky Strikes from time to time and thought, hmm toasted, that could be interesting... For me though, I just didn't get what I was expecting, and I can't say I really cared for this one at the time when I tried it. As the description says, it was easy to pack and burned quite well, wouldn't mind revisiting it at some point, but at the time it just wasn't for me. With that said, the tin note was very toasty smelling, you could also pick up the perique with a trained nose I think. To me the mix of perique and Va just didn't jive right, but who knows maybe if I have the opportunity to smoke it again I'll have a different experience. I did smoke an entire tin of it through though, so I can't say it was terrible or anything, just didn't stick out as a blend I would go back to. I seem to remember the perique was very present in the blend, but it had a much different taste to it from the perique blends I had tasted before. Unique, but not my cup of tea.

This blend was shared at the tobacco bar of my most recent pipe club meeting and I liked it so much that the fellow who brought it gifted me the tin and there were actually several bowls left after everyone had plowed through it.

The nicotine and Perique presence both get stronger on down the bowl, and the new "toasting" method used sure eliminated any bite. I did catch the typical "McClelland's ketchup smell in the tin, but it was quite subdued. I normally do not care for blends with Perique. But, this stuff was an exception. The Virginia base was sweet and not at all grassy. BTW, from what I understand, McClelland's may be the only pipe tobacco company with a large remaining stash of St. James Parish Perique. I have heard there is a cigarette company that pays high dollar for the stuff to put in their particular brand of weed. St. James Parish, Louisiana (the only place in the world where true Perique is grown) was not affected by Hurricane Katrina and future crops have not been compromised.

Finally, it says on the tin, "...rich ribbon blend, smoothed by the Blakeney exclusive toasting process." So, what is the Blakeney exclusive toasting process? Inquiring minds want to know.

Update: Hmmm, I really enjoyed this, but other VAPER ribbon mixtures are stocked in my cellar, but not this blend.

August 2005: This is a Perique blend. If you do not like Perique, do not want to notice its presence, or have a physiological reaction to it (as does RCUSElder with his allergy), do not bother with this blend.

On the other hand, if you like a stout measure of Perique without the overwhelming whammy delivered by Mississippi Mud, Escudo or Haddo's Delight, try this blend.

It seems that it cannot bite the tongue. It burns cleanly and completely, with little moisture in the tin or at the end of a bowl. You might catch yourself capturing the side stream smoke because it is delicious to a pipe smoker (the Perique might chase away all but your most faithful companions).

There is something to the toasting process that is reminiscent of cocoa, but I do not think this blend is flavored- it simply married well. There is natural sweetness present that all Virginia blends have, but within the genre, it is not very sweet.

I smoked this the month it was tinned and can only expect that putting six months and more age in unopened, cellared tins will deliver a smoother smoke without some of the "catches" noted. Still, BBAR is a winner.

Try thoroughly cleaning a pipe or two and dedicating briar to this blend. Small to medium sized bowls worked best for me, and a large bowl increased the impact of the hearty Virginias and generous Perique.

It was not at all difficult packing the bowl. My observation is that the newer the tin, the lighter the pack- but Acadian Ribbon can be loaded absentmindedly into a pipe. The ribbons are quite short, not a shag, but nothing approaching a Germain's idea of ribbon (angel hair?).

I suppose the best way to sum BB Acadian Ribbon up, would be the word satisfying. There are Va/Per.’s with more peppery tang and some with more deep dark fruit flavor. There are also Va/Per.’s out there with more nicotine, but BB Acadian Ribbon seems to hit everything at about a grade B level. Escudo and Dunhill DNR give me a stronger Va/Per. experience, but I wouldn’t want to smoke those all day long, BB Acadian Ribbon is similar to Elizabethan in this regard, as I can smoke multiple bowls in a day without palate fatigue. If this were still readily available, I would cellar it, but alas it’s ship has sailed and this tin will likely be my last.