McClelland - Virginia No.22 pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Requiem	11/07/2009	Medium	None detected	Medium	Tolerable
This Virginia is a tasty, zesty one. It has an acidic, fresh note. Problem here is the high maintenance it demands. If really dried out it takes light well, but looses some flavour. If not completely dry, it tastes great but is very hard to keep burning.
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DK	08/10/2009	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant
Nice looking mottled flake. This one combines natural VA sweetness with some mild zestiness. As mentioned by others, hard to get lit and needs some drying time. This one worked best for me with a decent amount of moisture content left - not dried to tinder. I preferred its taste that way, even though it didn't take a light as easily as I'd like. Great flavor development down the bowl! This has a nice combination of high and low notes, whereas I found #27 to excel at high notes and #24 to excel at low notes. I suppose my taste must be in the lower, darker notes as I prefer #24 and Navy Cavendish to this, and this to #27. I haven't smoked #25 in years so I can't comment on that one yet, although I have a tin simmering. Of the ones mentioned above, this one might be the best at the balancing act. It's a no-nonsense virginia that does everything right in the flavor department, not trying to do too much or too little. It's just right! I like this one but I prefer a little more "naughtiness", which is what I get from #24 and Navy Cav. Still, this is a high quality, good tasting straight VA and deserves a try.
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al1	12/13/2008	Mild	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
This one is good if you are looking for straight va taste without much else but good high end flavor. I like the flavor. I do find it more enjoyable outdoors. I agree with another reviewer it needs drying as do all the tobaccos in this series. When properly rubbed and dried it lights and burns ok but harder to light than average. Not as memorable as #27 but a good smoke for those prefering the high clean end of va flavor spectrum. A good one for those new to the flakes I think. It is nowhere near as touchy as #27 but it has nowhere the flavor or kick either. Not for me too often but it is good for those liking this sort of flake. Room note was commented to me to smell good, something like pastry in the oven or toaster. This was said by someone who is sensitive to stinky blends. Update: I am turning to this and #24 much more often lately. I love #27 but I disagree with the tin label that #27 is a great all day smoke. This blend is much more tameable and less quick to hurt your tongue. #27 is so good but it requires too much pampering to get a great smoke. I got sent a savinelli 804 canadian instead of the pipe I ordered from the store and that by chance was one of the best mistakes ever made. That pipe is proving itself to be a great smoker- one of the best ever up there with my ardors. This blend and other va's are sublime out of this pipe. In fact it is one of those that I think would smoke anything well. My point- this blend shines in a pipe that suits it. Second update: This lost it's 4th star after I found the wonderful world of Greg Pease tobacco's.
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cell biologist	02/18/2008	Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant
This is a reference tobacco. It is coarsely cut and pressed into flakes that can be rubbed out or simply wadded up in a Frank-type side-pressure spin into the bowl. This tobacco is very similar to 2010, perhaps it is a longer aged version as some have suggested, but I detect richer notes from this than 2010. Both are very lemony with bright citrus notes - but only in the right pipe and at the right burn rate. When it burns too hot (and it can if you?re not careful!) burnt rubber notes can be gleaned, which I find to be generally true of the lemon virginias. No one likes that! But carefully smoked, this stuff is just marvelous, rich mahogany malty bass notes with a citrus top end. It took me awhile to notice and appreciate the citrus notes, in part because only a few pipes bring it out, in part because I wasn?t tuned in to the flavor. It?s best for me in a tall somewhat narrow bowl with a long draw or cooling stem of some kind (I just made a pipe of pyrolytic graphite that works very well with this). I call it a reference tobacco because it is the old style, old breed, simply prepared without additives, of very high quality.
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fourshephards	09/19/2006	Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
I am going to keep this brief. #22 has everything I look for in a Virginia tobacco. It lights well, when allowed to dry a bit, and stays lit. The flavor at the match is a little sweet and grassy but this develops beautifully as the bowl is consumed. After about 1/2 bowl, #22 becomes rich and sweet with a little spiciness that plays in and out. The only thing left at the bottom of the bowl is a grey/white ash with absolutely no goop. I love this blend. Jay
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Mr. Dottle	10/31/2005	Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
This is the least favorite of the McClelland matured VAs I have tried to date. The distinct vinegar smell was overwhelming in my tin. Despite letting it air out and ?re-age? for another several weeks, it didn?t mitigate the vinegar smell. A little harsh at first light, it settles down into a decent VA smoke for a while then ?turns south.? The flavor seems to dissipate, it loses ?punch,? and becomes moderately harsh. And unlike some other reviewers here, I thought its burning qualities were marginal. A cigarette is to be smoked. A cigar is to be enjoyed. A pipe is to be savored. I rate this tobacco 6.5 out of 10.
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Semois	06/23/2005	Medium	Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant
Opening the tin, a smell of fermentation and dried apricots. None of them detected while smoking it. On his best in the first half of the bowl (then a little hint of the fermentation). I prefer it otherwise. At the end the spiceness dominates too much. Is it a bad-tasting tobacco ? Not really. But as I use the star-qualification very strict, I can't say that I recommend it.
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Spike	03/12/2005	Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable to Strong
A smooth and flavorful straight Virginia. This is from a three year old tin so a new one may not be as tasty and bite-free. The spousal unit was especially critical of the after-smell of my clothing. I on the other hand enjoyed it thoroughly. Highly recommended.
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Beer	09/01/2004	Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Tolerable
Smell of sour prune jam and pear, very yummy. Broken flakes, very easy to load, maybe a little rubbed out. Lights and smokes very easily and dry. A very good tobacco, tasty (sweet, sour and spicy) and not bitey (though my tin was 3 years old, so YMMV). Not as distinctive and memorable as 27, but solid and reliable.
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The Keeper	07/27/2004	Medium to Strong	None detected	Full	Tolerable
I'm not a connoisseur of straight VA blends. I've only tasted a few and they keep my interest less than VA/P and Latakia blends. This leaf is quite nice. More solid and varied flavor at the top of the bowl...a bit... coarse through out the later portions. Towards the end a little bland. I found it pretty well behaved, but my sample is quite (nicely) dry. Burns very evenly and good thick cut.
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Blackhorse	11/04/2003	Medium	None detected	Medium	Tolerable
I plan to come back and fill in a bit more when I have more of the tin finished but thought I might note here that I had stumbled on a six year-old tin of No. 22 in a local shop. Opening revealed the flakes to be in excellent condition...many coated with a fine sugar dusting...or might this be bloom? At any rate it was easily rubbed to a coarse texture, put into a handy 2001 Peterson's 4th of July Dublin A4...and the result was close to heaven. Smooth, sweet, spicy, just a delight! It burned well with only a few re-lights to the bottom of the bowl...the flavor deepening as the bowl progressed. I need to go back and rummage around that shop more often!
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prison chaplain	10/12/2003	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
After reading several favorable reviews of #22 and 2010, I bought a tin of #22. I enjoyed it a great deal, enough to buy a pound of 2010, to which #22 is often compared. Having compared the two, #22 is a smoother, more refined smoke. My tongue starts to warm up quicker with the 2010. Room note is always a tricky one. I find the smoke from a good Virginia or Virginia/Perique very pleasant and satisfying. No. 22 also reminds me of a new blend from Bufflehead, Virginia Ruddy Duck. I like #22 enough to buy another tin in the future. With 2015 and 2010 available in bulk, those are my default tobaccos.
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Pipestud	06/19/2003	Medium	None detected	Medium	Tolerable
Nimrod nailed it for me. Stinky, nasty stuff. And stogie is more of a man than I am for having gulped down a whole tin. One bowl was all I could manage, and that was a struggle. Hot, smelly, rough and steamy. What's to like here? Well, it did burn well.
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Stogie	06/18/2003	Mild to Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
As I load up my last remaining bowl of VA No.22 from McClelland, I feel I have done this tobacco proper service by smoking an entire tin before reviewing. (As I always do!). As a self-professed lover of VA Flakes, and one that finds most of the McClelland product divine, I was not nearly as impressed with this tobacco as I had hoped to be, or as most of the previous reviewers were. I purchased VA No. 22 along with tins of VA No. 24, St. James Woods and Dark Star, of which I will have reviews posted soon. This was my least favorite of the four. Visual: A dark brown flake, with lots of yellow and gold streaks throughout. My tin contained mainly broken flake, no full "sheets". Texture: As with most McClelland flakes, this one was just a little moist upon opening, but I like it that way. I let this tin get fairly dry over the three months that I took to get through it, and as it became dryer it lost that VA tang to a large extent. Even upon proper rehydration, the wonderful tanginess of VA never returned. Pack/Pipe: I smoke this both partially rubbed and fully rubbed. Usually I preferred the latter. Gravity fed into a number of my VA pipes, (Ashton XX oldchurch and Pebblegrain pots, Nording freehands, Dunhill Redbark Poker etc...) This seemed to burn best with a light hand.No problems smoking this to bottom of the bowl with minimal relights. Lighting/Burn: Two matches to char, one to light. Without fail, this tobacco needed a relight within the first third of the bowl, but then makes it almost to the bottom. Burns to bottom and leaves a white/grey ash with a few bits of charred tobacco. 1st 3rd: This tobacco is definitely most flavorful in this portion of the bowl. VA tang is here as well as a nice earthy sweetness. Smokes through this portion quickly and with nice mouthfuls of white smoke. 2nd 3rd: Burn rate slows down here. Smoke becomes a little cooler and flavor evens out to a natural VA taste with just a little tang. If it had more zip here I would rate this higher. Never needed additional matches in this portion. Final 3rd: Have lost a lot of flavor here. Almost no VA tang at all, minimum smoke generation, and need stirred and relit with some frequency. Maybe I am tamping this too firmly, but evidently my consistency is amazing, because it happens every time! Notes: Like all McClelland flakes, I have no issues with the quality. This just did not stack up to the benchmark set by St. James Woods and VA No.24 in my opinion. Stogie rating of: 5 Fair Fonsecas
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Nimrod	06/18/2003	Medium	None detected	Medium
This is the second McC VA I have tried, and like the first one (Dark Star) this one annoys the hell out of me. Like Dark Star, opening the tin is like opening a bottle of 99% acetic acid. The vinegar fumes are so strong they need to put a label on this warning you that it should only be opened in a chemlab inside a fume hood. This is just nuts... what the heck are they putting on this? I let this thing dry out for several weeks with the top on and it still didn't loose enough of this vinegar smell/flavor. So finally I rubbed it all out to a broken flake consistency and let it dry for a few days with the top completely off. Finally it became smokable. However to be smokable this stuff needs to be bone dry. I don't like tobacco that has to be crispy-dry in order to be smokable and this whole vinegar issue really bugs me. After all this trouble I'm rewarded with a mediocre virginia at best. A little sweet, a bit of spice, but I'd much rather have a tin of Patriot Flake than this
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SlowDraw	02/19/2003	Medium	None detected	Medium	Tolerable
Overall & after smoking quite a few ounces of this stuff I would say that this & 2015 are my favourite Va flakes, 22 has that McClelland Venom & zest which splits pipesmokers in half- into love it or hate it camps that is. 22 has as much bite as the best of 'em, having it's share of yellow leaf- But if appreciated slowly you won't harm yourself( I've got a sensitive tongue but it won't bite me with proper technique) . Another thing about this blend is it's High range sweetness, you can't even detect it some smokes, other times you can. BUT when the moon is full.... ( joke..sorta) never boring though & as said before - outstanding with a few beers. * I've recently opened a 3 year old tin & in comparison to a younger tin there is more sweetness & toastiness but the bite-threshold seems about the same. disclaimer: review updated & some liberties taken .
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pittacus	04/03/2002	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
For the lovers of VA's-- myself included-- a 'must try' blend as we make our way through the taste-gauntlet of the world's innumerable tobaks. This is a good day starter, no shock to the system, no real surprises. It is the lack of that certain something else that keeps this blend from receiving a higher rating.
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Noorrmm	02/01/2002	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
Nicely cut orange-red flakes, neither too thin nor too heavy. Easy to rub out to any degree. Initial aroma is usual vinegar, but airing it out solves his, and allows thee tobacco to burn cooler and drier. The initial taste is a good sweet basic Va., with not much complexity. As it settles down, there are layers of flavor developing and playing with your palate. An excellent choice for an all-day virginia.
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Cooksmoke	01/19/2002	Mild to Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
This is my first posted review. It is by no means my first tobacco, I just happen to be smoking it right now. Virginia # 22 is typical of McClelland Virginias, full of red and dark stoved tobbaccos with small streaks of yellows. The tin smell is that strange McClelland only aroma so often read of. But as time passes after the tin is opened, the zesty Virginia aroma shines through. This tobacco, because of its flake cut, is ideal for a multipurpose tobacco. It is easily rubbed out for indoors smoking. It is equally up to the task of outdoor smoking. The taste is one of spice and sweet. As I am a barbeque cook and cook alot outside with wood, I am most reminded of that aroma with this tobacco. Its taste is like the smell of good sauce on the coals, sweet yet tangy. I recommend this for anyone who has a taste for the outdoors, spicy foods and honest Virginia
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sethg	09/20/2001	Medium	None detected	Medium	Very Pleasant
Virginia #22 arrives in 2-3 inch flakes, medium to dark brown, with lighter golden striping. As expected, the McClelland 'Heinz ketchup' odor is in full effect, though I don't find this off-putting. As of this review, I have smoked it fully rubbed-out, 'sausage-rolled', and cut, against the grain, into small squares. I have found the last to be the best preparation in terms of ease of lighting and coolness in smoking. (Occasionally, I use some aged 5100 as kindling to aid in lighting as well.) The flavor alternates between a subdued, toasted sweetness and a more astringent 'tobacco' flavor. I never find the nicotine presence to be overwhelming, but often notice it once I have finished the bowl. As others have noted, #22 has a tendency to bite enthusiastic puffers; some aging is sure to take care of such concerns.
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Inquisitor	04/06/2001	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
Similar to, but more full-bodied than, McClelland #2010, this is a very unique, very American (in the good sense)bright Virginia blend. It is a pure-form tobacco, without flavoring, steaming, maturing, stoving, pressing or anything else that I could detect. It doesn't get fancy with red and black Virginias. It is simply a delicious, naturally sweet, zesty, tangy, toasty, refreshing, yellow/bright Virginia. It carries McClelland's signature ketchup/vinegar tin aroma proudly, plus a grassy, hay-like undercurrent. The room aroma is rich without being heavy or dark, lively but with substance. It goes without saying that something this bright and sweet can smoke hot unless slowly drawn, but for those who keep the rate down (or especially those who use the "Breath Smoking Technique"), the smoking experience is magical. The lemon-y zest keeps you honest! Only #2010 comes close in character (I find the often-compared Ashton Brindle Flake to be distinct from #22). In summary, the top range is the distinguishing feature of this blend, but is nicely supported by a toasty mid-range that grows richer and more predominant as the bowl progresses, in a wonderful way. The bass range exists more as a side-effect of the mid-range, and some might find this to be a distinct disadvantage. I don't, because the rest of the blend was so engrossing that I didn't notice the lack of lower tones until I actively began to look for them. If you are in the mood for a snappy, flavorful, tantalizing smoke, McClelland #22 is for you. (PS - A year of aging puts this into another universe, increasing the rich, smooth & sweet elements while decreasing the bite danger.)
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Sceny	03/26/2001	Medium	Mild	Medium to Full	Tolerable
Vinegar, anyone? This being the first McClelland Virginia I ever tried, I was somewhat surprised at the odor that greeted me when I popped the top of the can. As another reviewer has mentioned, it's an odor that one either loves or hates. Some say it smells like ketchup; have any of you eaten any recently? Exactly what have you been smoking?? Ketchup isn't even close! Oh well, each person's tastes are different; that's what makes life interesting :-). Personally, I like the smell, and it doesn't come through in the tobacco's flavor at all. This blend comes in medium to large flakes, dark brown with veins of lighter, yellowish-brown running through them. They are a little moist, but rub out easily and pack well. Once rubbed out, they light easily, though this blend seems to require more relights then average once into the bowl. I usually smoke this blend in a very large-bowled Savinelli estate billiard, with a tobacco chamber diameter of about 1.5 inches. If I need to stop partway through the bowl due to tongue bite, I can rest and pick up the pipe again with no loss of flavor. The first third of the bowl is sweet, especially if smoked slowly. Actually, slowly is the only way you CAN smoke this tobacco, unless you enjoy crisped tongue and mouth. To avoid the bite, I find I need to puff carefully, barely getting anything from the stem at all. This certainly contributes to multiple relights, but it also is where this blend shines. The light puffs deliver a sweet, flavorful smoke that makes the effort worthwhile. As the bowl moves into its second 1/3, the flavor becomes more rich and complex, though the sweetness stays present. Toward the last third, the sweetness and richness merge somewhat, forming a complex and satisfying flavor that has an even greater tendency to bite. Care is needed! Also toward the end, some moisture is present, and it may be necessary to run a pipe cleaner down the stem of the pipe. Unlike Latakia mixes, going back to a bowl later on does not adversely effect the tobacco's taste. This is fortunate, because frequently it will take three sessions to smoke a large bowl of this blend. Overall, this is a pleasant smoke that requires time for careful concentration for full enjoyment. While not my favorite McClelland Virginia, it is nice as a change of pace, when I'm in a sweet Virginia mood. In addition, I believe that leaving the tin open for a couple weeks may help to solve the moisture problem; more results to come.