McClelland - Christmas Cheer 2003 pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Showing reviews 1 through 10 of 10 reviews of this tobacco
Spike	12/28/2008	Medium	None detected	Medium	Tolerable
A fine quality Virginia. Fairly coarse and quite dry for a McClelland tobac. For devoted Viginnia fans only. Update: 12/28/08 Tried some very dry 2003 Christmas Cheer. Still a fine Virginia flake. Although bone dry, it smoked very nicely in a medium apple.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Pipestud	10/09/2005	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
I have tried just about every Christmas Cheer that McClelland's has offered (except the 1992 and 1993 editions) and this 2003 version was typically sweet and airy. Not a bell ringer as far as matured Virginia cakes go, but I did enjoy going through the tin. I smoked Christmas Cheer 2003 mostly in the evenings. It didn't produce enough kick to get my day started. Typical of McClelland's Christmas Cheer tobaccos, this one was at a good moisture level and smoked clean and dry.
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Ian Weeks	07/23/2005	Mild	None detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
Christmas Cheer is a regular for me. I usually smoke whatever is 3 to 4 years old. That being said I can't tell one bit of difference between 2001, 2002, and 2003. It comes ready rubbed and is easy to further rub out and pack. I do not practice drying out my tobaccos and in fact upon opening tins I transfer the remaining tobacco to canning jars and lable them appropriatly. I smoke Christmas Cheer in pipes that are dedicated exclusively to this particular series, not per year. Nothing else is smoked in these pipes. I taste no casing or topping, and there is an absence of the spiceyness that I find in McClellands Blackwoods, or #27. It exhibits the usual Virginia Profile that I look for and the last half of the bowl is as usual with VA's stoved and much more flavorful than the first. I highly recommend the Christmas Cheer Series for a smoker that enjoys VA rubbed flake and is not looking for the pizzaze of a more complex Dark Stoved blend such as McClelland Dark Star or #2035
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Beer	07/01/2005	Medium	None detected	Medium	Tolerable
A nice flake in the usual McClelland tradition: sweet and sour, slightly tart, fruity and flavorful, slighly grassy and very American. It is definitely better and tastier than the 2002 edition, although similar in appearance (maybe slightly darker). The ketchup smell is a bit more subdued than in other McC offerings, and as usual it doesn't translate to a ketchupy taste. My only "complaint" is that other "ordinary" McC blends like Virginia 27 and Blackwoods Flake are even better, richer and tastier than this "special edition" (which is supposed to be great and unique)... but this doesn't make Christmas Cheer 2003 any less delicious for lovers of the typical Virginia taste of this legendary brand. I am happy to have some more tins of this in the cellar, which should age wonderfully: you can't go wrong with a McClelland flake!
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alfredo_buscatti	05/21/2005	Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant
This review will discuss McClelland's Christmas Cheer 2003, McCranie's Red Flake and Wessex Classic Virginia. Christmas Cheer 2003 (CC) is a red Virginia made from a 1998 Old Belt crop while McCranie?s Red Flake (RF) was made from a 1996 North Carolina crop. CC and RF are both medium-to-full-bodied. CC fails to deliver the consistently deeper red Virginia flavor that RF offers. While CC has bursts of RF?s consistently dusky red Virginia flavor-a flavor that in comparison is both darker and deeper than a signature brown Virginia, Rattrays Brown Clunee-such bursts are more atypical than constant. This is not to say that CC is not an enjoyable tobacco but simply that in the realm of red Virginia, RF is the winner. RF?s tin notes state that softness is this tobacco?s chief characteristic. While I don?t disagree with this statement, I would add that RF?s deeper, richer flavor outdoes the competition. One wonders how the considerable tobacco wisdom of McClelland, whose most notable entry in the Virginia arena, its Christmas Cheer series, allowed itself to be content with anything less than a product just shy of perfection. Yet perhaps this has something to due with the time constraints of finding fine leaf in time to process it and still meet Christmas Cheer?s traditional release at the RTDA show. We then come to Wessex Classic Virginia (CV), medium-to-full bodied, blended by Kohlhase, Kopp und Co. It has more in common with RF than CC and is comprised solely of mature Red Virginia. It has less flavor than RF but I tend to believe this a choice of the blender, not a flaw. It throbs with the rich, basal note of a curing process designed to produce a no-nonsense, straightforward, aged tobacco. Little complexity in comparison to CC, the most complex of these three tobaccos-if any Virginia can be called complex-just a delicious, singular, deep, red Virginia flavor. In comparison to CC, it has little of that tobacco?s grassy, reedy flavor components. Ranking, in descending order: RF, CV, CC.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Jakob Kiilerich	03/23/2005	Medium	Very Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
This quite a nice blend. Upon opening the tin I detected notes of clove; yes I am almost certain that McClelland have added some of this christmas-like spice. It is not detectable when lit. The vinegar smell is not as pervasive as in other blends from this company, and the moisture level is a bit on the dry side compared to most McClellands. My tin is two years old, and I think the ageing has mellowed it out a bit, because this one do not bite at all. CC2003 produces thick clouds of smooth and rich smoke, and there are many notes through the bowl. It is probably the best American pure VA I have ever had, and it makes me want to explore more from this company. A fine product, recommended to every VA fan. Jakob Kiilerich, Denmark.
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BostonPipe	10/12/2004	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
Overall a nice example of their Christmas Blend series. A steady, rich, Virginia that runs consistent the length of the bowl. As nice as it is, I feel confident that with aging, it will take on an even more characteristics and nuances to increase it to a mezmerising experience. A fine example of the broken flake genre.
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LoisKelly	10/04/2004	Medium	None detected	Medium	Tolerable
Every year Charlie Brown goes flying when Lucy pulls the football away at the last second. Every year I pop open a tin of the current year's iteration of Xmas Cheer on release, only to ask myself why on Earth did I waste another tin of a tobacco that I know will not be ready for another five years. So this time, for a change, I decided to wait a whole year before opening a tin of MCC '03. Verdict- only four years too soon. I'm getting better, I suppose. Tomorrow I will punish myself further by attempting to sample the '04 version. Some guys never learn.
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Joe Patterson	06/25/2004	Mild to Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant
This is a nice straight VA flake -- not overpowering or underwhelming. It needs a bit of time to dry before smoking. (I typically rub it out and let it sit on a paper plate or napkin for an hour or so before loading. I usually buy 4 or 6 cans to store each year, and aging does mellow this blend nicely. Enjoy. As a side note, it is interesting how different degrees of rubbing this blend out treat the flavor and burn quailities. Experiment for yourself.
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Mephisto	01/19/2004	Medium	None detected	Medium	Tolerable
A limited tobacco and different every year...this year is rich and more in the traditional virginia tast than the last 2 years all of them however tend to the richer veriginias. A worth while treat and since it is limited you may not be ble to find this in the future however do give it a try and you will be pleasently rewarded. Smooth and slow with unique sweetness. The tobacco used is of great quality and produces unique taste. Mery Christmas!
Showing reviews 1 through 10 of 10 reviews of this tobacco