Actually, the first review of this product is very informative, now that I have read it, and answers a couple of my questions about this one. Called McClelland, good for you!

But not very often.

I wanted to revisit this review, having been away from the pipe for awhile and recently come back to it with a vengeance.

I recently picked up some blending tobaccos to experiment a little and see what sort of blend I could come up with for myself. Among these is a pound of this Perique, and though I've smoked it many times in the past, I think everybody's opinion of a tobacco changes over time.

I've read in many places that "Perique is used as a spice tobacco and is too strong to smoke by itself"...horsecrap. Is it a very strong tobacco? Yeppers. Too strong? Maybe if you're not a regular smoker, but if you pick up the pipe a few times a day the higher than normal nicotine shouldn't bother you. The flavor of Perique is stunning. You can smoke it several times in a row and still notice something new with each bowl. Yes, it will add spice and a beautiful, peppery, pungent depth to any blend, but this tobacco should never be regarded as something that can't be smoked alone. I thoroughly enjoy it (am doing so right now) and will for as long as I smoke a pipe. A word of warning, though: Do not try to smoke it as it arrives in the post. In the bag, it is literally sopping wet and had to be spread on a large stainless tray to be dried for almost a full day, and even then is just a tad more moist than I'd personally prefer. If you light the stuff up wet, it'll roast your tongue (like almost any tobacco would), is nearly impossible to keep lit, and will gunk up the bottom of your pipe bowl.

Not recommended for anyone brand new to the pipe, certainly.

After I dumped out the pipe, about two hours later, I got an entirely different pipe and lit up Cornell and Diehl's 'Opening Night'. Now I know what perique tastes like, I can detect it in various blends. As I got down the pipe, I noticed that there was apparently a ton of perique in 'Opening Night'... but there isn't. We are all familiar with certain things ghosting your pipe and marring the taste of later blends, but this stuff is so darned powerful it ghosted my mouth for the rest of the day. I had to wash my mouth out with listerine!

I'm sure that there are better blending periques out there, since I have had them in several different blends, but this does make a nice addition to a ribbon cut Virginia to offset some of the tongue bite and offer a unique taste.

But only use a tiny bit! I stuck about five ribbons in a relatively large bowl with some Embarcadero and it was a full-blown VaPer.

I managed about a dozen puffs of this straight before I was overwhelmed. Even that little bit ghosted my pipe to the point where I need to alcohol-cure it to get the taste out, to say nothing of how much my palate was ghosted. But I did get the gist of the tobacco. I found it both peppery and salty - almost briny. It's clear that a little goes a long way with this stuff. Smoking even 12 puffs of this straight is akin to eating a 12 oz bowl of mustard.

Case in point: I put about 3 grams of it in with 3 oz of Rattray's Black Virginia and the perique taste completed overwhelmed the BV's stoved virginia tang (which is very light, to be fair). Cutting back to 2 grams in 4 oz of BV proved to be the right mix, as the two jet black tobaccos then merged seamlessly after a week. I've also put a pinch in with a couple oz of Cornell & Diehl's Haunted Bookshop but it was pretty bad, which I think says more about the C&D than the perique. If you have a blend lying about that is dull and needs some spice, try this in a small batch. I'd experiment with 1/8 gram of this to 1/2 oz of other tobacco to start, and you can even break that down further. Maybe I'll never be a blender like McClellands but it's fun to experiment and sometimes it'll keep you from throwing those boring blends away... and sometimes it'll force you to throw 'em away sooner! If at first you don't succeed....

A wise man once counseled, "All things in moderation" but what we often forget is that he added, "Including moderation." In the spirit of that wise man, I occasionally load up a small bowl of the stuff on its own and puff away. It is, as others have said, a pain in the a$$ to keep lit, but it's a sure cure for tongue bite, depression, constipation, indigestion, butt zits and fungal nails. Really.

As a blending tobacco, I think it's a stupendous gift. I put it in all kinds of things, especially anything that I've had bite me in the past. It's the muzzle on the pit bulls of the tobacco world.

Even though I haven't gotten around to trying anyone else's pure Perique blender, and so I have no real frame of reference, I have to give this the highest recommendation. It's dark as a swamp night in the tin and tastes like two-hours-on-the-turlet-Teddy's prune breakfast, but it does amazing things in the mouth and in the mind.

Lighting & Nicotine: Took two matches to get it lit, then immediately produced moisture. Very difficult to keep lit. Took a relight every few puffs. This allowed me to take break and recover from the nicotine, before each relight. I got woosy after a few puffs, but it is still smokable by itself, if you are a hardened character and inured to nicotine poisoning(Nicotine is a rodenticide.). After 1/5 of a bowl, I got knocked to the floor by Nick O'Tine and made my nose run.

Taste & Aroma: Smoky, pungent, dried fruit; peppery, overpowering blast to the nostrum. Not sweet.

Overall: The subtler qualities of McClelland Latakia and Perique are not well-displayed when smoked straight. This Perique is way too frustratingly difficult to keep lit; heavy in nicotine; some wicked, wicked stuff.

To more serious things, this is great tobacco blended with other weaker English, Virgina, Balkan or anything that needs zing. One ounce of Perique is enough to change the entire nature of a pound of your favorite blend. Very nice way to spice up your boring blends.

I would not presume, however, to smoke it by itself. This stuff is just too powerful.

Highly Recommended