As for tin aroma, it smells like all good English blends smell: bloody awful. I don't understand why anybody cares about tin aroma. In my experience, generally the worse a blend smells, the better it tastes, and vice versa. If I want tobacco that smells good, I'll buy an aromatic and use it as potpourri in my smoking room, while I smoke real tobacco. (I actually did that once. It was enjoyable, but expensive.)

I usually drink tea, but sometimes I'm in the mood for a double espresso. Likewise, I usually smoke medium English blends, but when I want a serious Latakia hit, I reach for Bombay Extra.

As I began to smoke Bombay Extra I detected all the noticeable McClelland qualities and almost concluded that there is nothing too special to note here...just an all round good smoke until I realized how all the leafs marry perfectly together and each can be detected and yet not one ever comes to the front to dominate...a perfect symphony. This symphony can be perceived as boring or bland but I think in reality it is a master blend. It just an all round decent smoke.

Bombay Extra should be sipped if you desire to maintain the balance...then she is perfect. Enjoy.

The smoke is cool. It is biteless. There is a perique peppery tingle, but it is not bite or burn.

I noticed that famous McClelland sweetness. It was hard to miss the sweet matured virginia. The room aroma is pungent. I was asked by the moaning of the kids, the whining of the dogs, and rhetoric of the wife to step outside.

This a worthy blend in the latakia-perique genre. I will seek out other blends in the gnere, but I will stock up on Bombay Extra.

I think it is fairly pipe picky. So far a deep 7/8ths dia. Karl Erik is working good for me. I also like it in my Pipa Croci, and Ardor fantasy volcano. Definitley better in mid size to larger, deeper bowls.

A bit of drying helps out a lot. About an hour on top of the tin is enough to dry out a bowlfull. I would not ever try to smoke this when the air was moist with humidity, it really does not seem like that more than other blends.

Stays rich and mellow as long as you pull slow. It will sweat a lot if you puff hard. I am finding a normal to slightly looser pack works well, be careful not to get it too tight. Can sometimes require a lot of relights, might just be the pipe though and the fact it is a sipper.

Good after a meal or especially late at night. Highly reccomended. I am going to switch from 5110 to tins of this simply because it is more refined and complex and also less candy like.

update: This is not bad but it is not doing much for me anymore- just too much trouble to get a good dry smoke.

I find this to be the most complex blend in the entire McClellands line of mixtures. One can taste all of the different tobaccos and none of them dominate the blend.

This is a tobacco to be sipped. It's not a full mixture though the label would have you believe that there's some strength in the mixture. The virginias are the base but the rest of the tobaccos come through nicely.

My advice is to buy a tin, pop the top and let it sit (with the plastic top on it) for a couple of weeks. There's something about letting certain tobaccos breathe and this is one of the mixtures that benefits from breathing.

Steady and complex to the bottom of the bowl, I prefer this in larger pipes. A very nice tobacco for the sippers among us. The oriental tobacco mixed with the perique really does the trick. Well done.

Aromatic-only fans will probably hate it, but for a palette slightly more experienced and ready for English as in my case, this was a great step "up" and an extremely enjoyable after-dinner smoke that left me quite satisfied.

Appearance and Tin Aroma: Medium to fine ribbon, mostly dark brown to black laef. Smells awful, reminds me of sea swamp! Very similar to Cornell and Diehl's Red Stag. My tin was dated from March of 2002 so it had sufficient aging.

Packing and Lighting: Easy and not quite as moist as other MC blends I have tried. Lit after 2-3 lights quite well.

Initial Flavor: Blegh! Same sea swamp!

Mid-Bowl: Sea Swamp odor settles down, but it still is not very tasty although the room note is pretty good to those who like Balkans or English blends (which I do, of course.)

Bottom of Bowl: A little build up of strength, a little tingle from the perique is noticable. Ash is fine and mottled grey. Heel is dry.

Overall: This blend did not work for me. I love Balkans and English blends, but the leaf components in this mix just did not taste well to me. After 6 bowls, gave the rest away. Thankfully, there are many other MC blends I do enjoy thoroughly.(British Woods, FMATP, X-mas Cheeer, Dark Star, 221b Honeydew, etc...

Rating: 2 out of 5 points