Rattray - Brown Clunee pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Showing reviews 1 through 20 of 55 reviews of this tobacco NEXT >
Russell	04/21/2013	Extremely Mild	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Strong
Nicotine free, but good tasting tobacco. It smells very strongly of fermented fruit in the tin, and perhaps an extremely light casing of some kind. It smelled quite good and I expected something with more body to it. After lightning up, it tasted fair. It does not give any kind of nicotine buzz, and the volumes of white smoke it produces, have a somewhat putrid room note that drove off everyone nearby. It's really quite boring aside from various flavors that poke in and out (all are mild except the occasional spice note), ranging from spicy to sweet and mild. It might be what you need if you want something in the ultra-light category. I will smoke the rest of the tin but not be buying any more.
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JimInks	01/04/2013	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
It's not as strong as some of the other Rattray blends, but sometimes, I need a lighter fix, and this is good for that. The perique is lightly noted as is the Kentucky. The Virginia dominates the flavor; hay-like, grassy, with not a lot of sweetness. It burns well, but will bite or be harsh if you puff hard. Three stars may be pushing it a little, but it's good for what it's supposed to be, and the quality of the tobacco is typical for this company.
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Philo Beddoe	10/06/2012	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild	Tolerable
I found Brown Clunee rather bland, especially compared to the other great Virginias from Rattray's. I could agree with others that this is akin to HOTW light, it lacks the heft and complexity of HOTW as well as the nicotine hit. Not much else to say, it isn't really remarkable in any way, just a basic flat Virginia flavor.
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JustOneforMe	05/08/2012	Mild	None detected	Very Mild	Pleasant
Objective: Nicely rubbed out tobacco. Moderate moisture content. Good amount of tobacco for the price. Mild to moderate amount of smoke yielded after some drying time, not a good thing for me since I like to a good deal of smoke. Subjective: This was a very mild tasting tobacco, almost flat. The perique was barely noticeable. The weed packed well and stayed lit with just a few relights. The aroma was that of hay and to some extent a little nutty. I prefer stronger blends, but am glad I got to try this one. HOTW would be my choice of a VaPer from this line.
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Wibblefishofdoom	03/31/2012	Medium	Mild	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable
Not having tried any Rattray's before, I bought this one just to try something completely out of my comfort zone. The size of the tin too was something of a change, so I gave it a try. The aroma on opening was nothing special, a little leafy and oaky. The packing and lighting, despite it being broken flake as observed by previous reviews, is easy enough, much like a good ready rubbed. The smoke, though, doesn't thrill. I find it a little reminiscent of Condor Ready Rubbed, not in a bad way, but not as good as the original. It's a little like the girl next door who looks a little like Natalie Portman, a bonny enough lass, but won't be replacing the aforementioned starlet in Black Swan 2. The last third, however, does strangely, but pleasantly, add a hint of cream and become mellower. The room note at point of smoking is okay, nothing to write home about, though does have a habit of popping up hours later in far pleasanter fashion, pleasantly reminiscent of that left by Gold Block. The tongue bite does kick in early but fades quickly, and after a few smokes, doesn't rear it's ugly head again. The major downside to this is the hacky, awful taste left in the mouth, not sure I can pin it down exactly, but it's like leaves, happy to smell them, wouldn't want to taste them though. On the whole, not a bad smoke actually, just not too thrilling really. There is a certain blandness to this that is quickly overawed by that hacky mouth taste. That creamyness in the last third though, is a plus. Also, a 100 gram tin is just way too much, I now find myself smoking it just to get my moneys worth. Would I buy it again? Not in a 100g packet, but maybe in 25g or 50g rounds instead. On the whole I think two and a half stars would be fair.
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GSTQ	12/13/2011	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
Appearance is a medium brown broken flake. Tin smells akin to a quality fruited cake with slight grassy notes. Tastes lightly sweet with light bakery notes. Brown Clunee is the all-day Hal O' the Wynd. Old Gowrie lacks the grassy and bakery flavours of HOTW, but Brown Clunee has them, albeit much more lightly. Very nice, and a favourite when I want something milder. Brown Clunee does not bite. I much prefer this to Old Gowrie. All Rattray's, like fine wine, benefit from some airing.
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SteelCowboy	09/26/2011	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
My major issue with this tobacco is that it lacks depth that I am seeking. The Kentucky doesn't add the body that I'm looking for. The quality of the tobacco is good and it ages well and there is a small amount of sweetness that I do enjoy. I just don't know if its worth the cost of cellaring tins when there are so many other brands in this niche. This blend is worth a taste if you are a fan of similar blends, but for me, I'm on to new ventures.
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Wood Chuck Gardner	08/25/2011	Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Medium	Unnoticeable
Smoke it slow and whispy and you will be rewarded with a semi-sweet, spicy and toasty smoke. Puff too hard and it will get bitter and nip your tongue. Setting : Pre-dawn hour with strong black coffee while reading tobacco reviews.
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Mesh	08/20/2011	Mild	None detected	Mild	Tolerable
Edit: I was a bit harsh with this one. More than half-way down the 100g tin, it's grown on me and there's definitely a nice sweetness in the smoke. Don't expect a VA with body, but this is a quality tobacco in its own category (light VA). --------- Disappointing. Has basically the same tin aroma as Hal of the Wynd, but the similarities end there. Lacks body, flavour, depth and complexity. Almost becomes a chore to smoke. I hoped it might be a decent morning Virginia, but it isn't. Golden Glow by Samuel Gawith or Golden Sliced by Orlik are far better examples of a Virginia-based tobacco that is both mild in nicotine and flavourful.
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Davie Jones	05/29/2011	Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
With Brown Clunee, I finally found a Rattray's that I love. BC is in between Old Gowrie and Hal O' The wynd both in terms of strenght and richness/taste. The tin aroma makes it a lot closer to HOTW, it is also similar in taste, but not as harsh as I found HOTW to be. The perique was quite present starting at half bowl, perking things up, marking a nice combinaison with the sweetness of the matured Vas ans spiciness of the DFK. An excellent offering from Rattray's, I will regularly stick to that one. If you are a fan of VA/Per with some Kentcuky, you must try this wonderful partially rubbed - out flake. It is simply delicious!
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Mr. Big	03/30/2011	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild	Pleasant
Just popped open a new tin of BC. The tin has a faint scent of that McClelland's vinegar. I removed a bowl full from the tin and set aside to air. In about 5 minutes the vinegar was gone but the tobacco still felt damp, I allowed about 20 minutes before I loaded a pot. My initial light gave off a nice Virginia scent as I began to sloooow sip the BC. Even with this technique I felt all along that I was in for some tongue bite. The first 1/4 bowl was a nice sweet Virginia with the feeling of an increasing bite. Then the tobacco smoothed out , the bite was gone and the sweet Virginia was the main player. The Kentucky must be adding significant spice even while slow sipping. This tobacco required concentration although it remained lit trough the whole pipe. It was only near the last 1/4 of the bowl that could I distinguish any Perique and that was minimal. BC is very one dimensional, I hope that some additional cellaring will develop this tobacco because I think it has real potential. I like Marlin flake better, only because I don't remember it smoking as hot. Updated 2/2/12- Well I've had this cellared for almost a year and it still bites bad. I tried it with and without moisture, in various pipes and sipped slow. I can only get to 4 puffs, it has got to be my chemistry. This is unsmokable to me Updated 2/14/12 Well hating to throw out tobacco , I decided to home stove this . I placed this in a mason jar and stoved it in the convection oven at 175 degrees for 2 hours. Hey , I got to 10 puffs before it bit. I'll be giving this away! Got to be my chemistry Updated 4/22/12 Did I mention how I hate to throw out tobacco ? I just Re-Stoved this at 195 degrees for an additional 2 hours. I think this has helped but not cured my bite problem. The first 1/4 bowl is fine, but the second quarter is hard on my tongue, and the last half is fine. The taste is good , sweet bread. I think I could smoke this once a day but I'll probably just give it away
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Tiepolo	02/28/2011	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
Another nice blend from Rattrays. "Lighter" in all departments than Marlin or Old Gowrie and thus an easier puff away smoke. Needs a biggish bowl and I pack it without rubbing out. Easy to light provided it has been well aired and one match light possible. Here comes my permanent objection to the practice of Rattrays: this blend as well, has way too much humectants, it can be actually moist even if it is open for a year! I don't get tongue bite from it, but then I smoke Virginias all the time so probably have my way to tackle this. As for the Perique, there must be very little in there, its probably the "strength" one feels toward the end of the bowl.
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Taste Buds	02/01/2011	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
This is a beautiful smoke that needs some preparation in order to bring out it's wonderful qualities. I loaded a bowl directly from a freshly opened tin and paid the consequences with a taste that was one dimensional and bland. Then I took enough for a bowl and rubbed it out and left it to dry for half an hour. The difference was amazing. The flavor was nuanced and delicious. The virginia was in the forground with the burley there for support and coolness. The perique peaked out with frequent little bursts of subdued spiciness. This is a beauty that can only get better and better. Light nicotine and almost no aftertaste. 3 stars for now, but who knows. Love those Rattray virginias. Intoxicating in the tin. Delicious in the bowl. Update: I've found that the flavor is best unrubbed, dried out and packed loosely. I love the way this tobacco burns: just smoldering, without large plumes of smoke. Providing the tastiest experience I've ever had from a predominately virginia blend. This is a 4 star blend and one of my top 5. I love puffing on this while at my computer. I find it calming. What a gem for those of us who still believe that less is more. Update: After smoking at least six 100g tins of this blend my taste for it has waned. I'm dropping a star.
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John Offerdahl	01/08/2011	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
Brown Clunee comes in ready-rubbed form, though there are going to be some larger pieces of broken flake in the tin. In appearance, the tobacco is a fairly uniform medium brown color, with a slightly acetic aroma usual for a Rattray Virginia, and only a slight bit high on moisture content. I found that with about 20 minutes of drying time the tobacco could be rubbed out a bit more, and had reached a very satisfactory moisture level. The charring light reveals the excellent quality of the blend. Once lit, the flavor is light and relatively mild – especially when one is used to Hal O’The Wynd – but also very satisfying. Though not as sweet as some Virginia blends, the flavor is rich, a surprise given the description of “mild” for this tobacco. Easy puffing is advised early in the bowl to guard against bite, but otherwise, this is a tobacco to sip and savor, like a fine whiskey. By mid-bowl the flavor deepens a bit. The level of sweetness rises even though the likelihood of tongue bite seems, to my palate, to lessen. The complexity of flavor also increases, with a creamy undertone to match the sweet overtone, both going with a fine, earthy Virginia flavor. Toward the last third of the bowl a lot of nuance develops, making this a tobacco worth savoring to the very bottom. The taste becomes a mingling of fresh grass, raisins, and creamy hints of vanilla. The original sweetness remains, and the level of nicotine asserts itself at this point; some smokers may experience a bit of nicotine head at the end of the smoke. I would recommend Brown Clunee enthusiastically to those new to Virginia tobaccos, and happily to those who have already discovered the pleasures of Virginias.
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RMBittner	11/12/2010	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
My tin -- from 2003 -- had six years of age on it when I tried it. (I'm just delinquent in writing it up here.) For me, this was a fine soft Virginia, with distinctive lemony/citrus undertones. It seems to be weighted strength-wise (i.e., nicotine-wise) between Old Gowrie and Hal o' the Wynd (to keep things in the Rattray family). Hal o' the Wynd has a distinctive sweetness and a just-as-much-as-I-want nicotine level, but could I distinguish Brown Clunee from Old Gowrie in a blind tasting? I don't know. Brown Clunee might be softer, rounder, smoother; it might be more nuanced. (I know how vague all of this sounds.) What I do know for sure, though, is that it's a highly enjoyable smoking experience. NOTE: I'm extremely sensitive to perique (in a bad way). If there is perique in this blend -- and I'm not sure there is -- it is present in near-microscopic quantities.
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Duke	05/04/2010	Medium	Medium	Medium	Very Pleasant
On Sunday I fretted over what I may smoke for my morning hike. See, on Saturday I smoked, all day, Brown Clunee in a Vollmer & Nilsson Apple with delight. When the BC is dry to my liking in this light-weight, open-draw pipe I enjoyed what is nothing less than pure tobacco pleasure. I know that Sunday is a day of rest but not for the BC and V&N. I again hit a cadence, a rhythm, with this tobacco and pipe much like yesterday. The afternoon brought a round golf with more BC in the V&N. The evening included a lecture and more of the same tobacco pleasure. Brown Clunee is a fine blend that I can smoke all day. A blend of Virginian, Perique and Burly (Ky) in varying degrees. The flavor strengthens throughout the bowl and never fatigues my palate. The side stream and room note have a sweet spicy note that pleases me. And it has enough nicotine to satisfy. I certainly enjoy the other Rattray Virginians; Brown Clunee just works best for and with me- day in and day out.
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bryantm3	02/20/2010	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable
I tried this tobacco after hearing a little bit about its namesake. Brown Clunee was named in 1952, after Rosemary Clooney had a torrid love affair with Sidney Poitier, resulting in a child being born that would be George Clooney's half brother in 1948. His name was Samuel L. Jackson. Charles Rattray, being Sidney Poitier's cousin, and one of the only ones privy to the truth about his and Miss Clooney's love child, jokingly called the young Samuel Jackson the only 'Brown Clooney'. This eventually led Mr. Rattray to name his tobacco after Jackson in 1952, changing the name slightly to avoid suspicion, to 'Brown Clunee'. Unfortunately, I have to say that when Charles Rattray first blended Brown Clunee, he must not have had an inkling of a notion of what Samuel L. Jackson would be like as an adult. His hardline acting style, often associated with tough heroes or cold-hearted villans, is not found here at all. Instead, Brown Clunee is a mild tobacco that offers little taste unless coaxed along. When right out of the tin, this tobacco smokes best, with a mild golden Virginia taste that eventually evolves into a citrus taste, with a mild taste of orange peel or lemon juice slowly grazing over the tongue. When smoked slowly and deliberately, this will last the entire bowl and be very enjoyable. However, when the tobacco is dried out, it loses this interesting citrus taste and becomes a quite boring, bland tobacco. Because of its difficulty to coax flavour, this blend can only deserve 3/5 stars, or 2 stars. Needless to say, if Charles Rattray had seen into the future, he would've made 'Brown Clunee' a nicotine-heavy, dark dark virginia blend with plenty of punch as a tribute to Jackson, but alas, hindsight is always 20/20.
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dogwood	12/18/2009	Mild	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
I tried BC as an alternative to Hal of the Wynd which is one of my favorites but sometimes has too much nicotine for me. BC is a little bit spicier and less sweet than Hal. BC is very good but lacks the same sweet balanced complexity of Hal. It is an excellent example of a brown flake. 3.5 stars.
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DK	08/03/2009	Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
Brown Clunee was the first straight virginia I ever smoked - waaaay back around 1984 or so. It was good enough then that I began smoking straight virginias almost exclusively, and it has a special place in my heart as a result. After years of smoking other, more developed virginias and Vapers, this one is best reminisced about rather than smoked. I found its sweet/sour taste offputting and bland in comparison to its stablemates Hal O' The Wynd, Marlin Flake and Old Gowrie, as well as other blends from different blending houses. Aging does not seem to serve this blend well, either, as a 14 year old version added a bit of of a soapy taste - kind of like sucking on a dryer sheet. I am mixing this with straight perique to see if I can spice it up a bit and tame that sourness. Not recommended for my own smoking but somewhat recommended for those who like a very mild smoke and one that has no pretensions of depth or complexity. Good for those starting out on virginias as a teaser to show them what lies ahead.
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Steden	07/22/2009	Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
Opening the tin B.C. has the tipical smell of Va: dried fruits and dried Medicago Sativa, it smoke easy with a smooth flavour, the taste is naturally sweet with a slight bitter note that probably derives from Ky leaf. I can't detect any Perique as K&K declear on official website. Nothing bad about this blend but.... for me is boring.
Showing reviews 1 through 20 of 55 reviews of this tobacco NEXT >