This blend would be perfect for a pipe smoker desiring a more refined tobacco but also spends time smoking in public settings. It won't turn people off but will satisfy a palette seeking fuller flavors.

Parts of the room note and taste exhibit hints of chocolate to keep an aro fan happy but there is also the underlying tobacco flavor that English lovers crave.

The more I find myself smoking maduro cigars, the more I find myself seeking out quality English blends. This has found a permanent place in my tobacco cabinet.

The tin aroma was simply intoxicating. It displays a very rich, sweet and delicious taste.

My wife complained about the room note. So I have to smoke it when she is not around.

I will rebuy. The Basma is top of the notch!

I bought this tin in September of 2004 but neglected to review it at the time. I smoked about half the tin, and then put it in the humidor and did not open it again until May 2010. At that point it had dried out appreciably, so I rehumidified it by spreading it out on one of my wife's prized antique service trays and placing a damp paper towel over the whole shebang for about two hours before returning it to the tin.

Tonight, I loaded a bowlful into my pre-republic Peterson Killarney bulldog. Magnificent! This is a perfect blend for someone who likes the flavor of Latakia but does not want it in their face. Smooth, mellow and complex, I highly recommend this blend, especially after a few years of aging!

To allow the mild basma to be tasted, the rest of the blend is mild, smooth, and silky. Vit N is mild.

As with all McClelland blends I have tried, the predominate player is the virginia. Sometimes that is perfect (Anniversary), sometimes the virginia overpowers any condiments used and the flavors seem not to blend well (2105). In any case the star is the virginia.

Here, the sweet taste of the basma is refreshing, tasty and blends smoothly with the virginia base tobacco. The blend does lack a full bottom and seems a bit week because of it. The aftertaste is very bitter, as you would expect from a product labeled "On the Town".

In order to round the bottom I mixed it with Anniversary, that increased the latakia content, rounded the flavor profile and increased the strength. The basma was still evident, while the bitter aftertaste is replaced with the fuller taste of a sweeter virginia.

I will not buy it again to smoke alone, but will use it to blend with Anniversary, hence the 3 star rating, 4 as a blender.

Lately I find myself only enjoying the blends with the finest particular tobacco (Anniversary), the smooth quality blends of the old world (Squadron Leader), a unique flavor like tonquin bean (Westmoreland) or the outrageous one of a kind fun blend (Voodoo Queen). The rest do not interest me anymore.

A very smooth and mellow blend (are you still allowed to call a tobacco smooth?). Stays lit easily, kept moist in the tin, and the flavours haven't diminished.

The scent out of the tin is a mix of the ever present 'marshmellow' (see what I did there) scent and the smoky, bonfire smell of latakia. It's an odd mix that reminds me of campfires or prehaps some sort of horrific confectionery factory inferno. Either way its nice, sweet and smoky.

The taste is more towards the 'marshmellow' end though with only the lightest hint of latakia at the beginning and end of the draw. Now this flavour for those who havent tried it isn't as dominating as it seems, it is a lot more present than the latakia but it doesn't drown it out. A taste that is pleasant but annoying as you can't quite place it. Is it marshmallow is it vanilla, I even get a Horlicks like note every now and again.

A really nice blend that is from some sort of twilight zone of tobacco, that is a cross between an aromatic, an English blend and Mr Stay Puft. A halfway house if you will for those making the journey from aromatic to English and vice versa.

Some have defined this dominating flavor as marshmallow or maybe some kind of chocolate. I suppose that is sort of what it tastes like. No matter, the point is that after the first couple of puffs, whatever that flavor is, it dominates. It is a very pleasant flavor, but it begins to "fatigue" my tastebuds about halfway through. Kind of like really rich food. After that fourth bite, you're done.

If you decide to give this a try, dedicate one pipe to it. I found out the hard way that FMOTT leaves a big fat ghost behind. Anything you smoke in that pipe will taste like FMOTT for about 5 or 6 bowls. I guess you should treat it like a heavily cased aromatic in that sense even though it is not.

No tongue bite. Stays lit. Stays moist in the tin.

This is a well-crafted blend and I can see where it would cultivate a following. I would recommend this to anyone who favors aromatics, likes the idea of Latakia, but doesn't like it in the typical doses that are prevalent in most blends. In that case, I think FMOTT would really knock that persons socks off because their sensitivity to Latakia's particular flavor would be high. They would be able to easily define the Latakia in the background and really appreciate it as a seasoning.

**Update** Taking away a star. FMOTT makes any pipe it's smoked in taste like FMOTT. I loaded up some Captain Earle Ten Russians in a Savinelli Poker that I had only smoked one bowl of FMOTT in. It made Ten Russians taste like FMOTT. Ten Russians is not supposed to taste like a toasted marshmallow!

If you ware interested I would buy it online. I like to support local retailers but I was a little dismayed at how much more I spent. It is much cheaper online.

Not an everyday smoke for me, and not my kind of favorite english blend, but a nice change of pace. I don´t recommend it for a long smoke after a great dinner, but it works very well as an afternoon or morning english.

UPDATE: I've finished my tin. See Beeftip's review, some posts above... it's spot on. FMOOT will seriously ghost your latakia pipes. For a few bowls every english blend you smoke in them will taste sweeter then ever. If you intend to introduce this in your permanent rotation, dedicate a pipe(s) to it.

What struck me is the smoothness of this blend, all the way to the bottom of the bowl. It is very flavorful and very satisfying. I could easily say this is one of the best blends containing Latakia that I have ever smoked.

I would not hesitate to acquire more of it.

Since I'd characterize this one as being better than Across the Pond (2 stars) and Frog Morton (4 stars), it must be a 3 star tobacco to me.

Not the philly in the stable but more like a good reliable work horse.

All in all it's a good smoke that just falls short of four stars for me. I keep it around for it's ability to be unpretentious.