McClelland - Christmas Cheer 2005 pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Showing reviews 1 through 20 of 25 reviews of this tobacco NEXT >
Capt	07/27/2011	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
I purchased a tin of this back in 08. I refrained from leaving a review after the first few bowls, as I was just not that impressed, but I could see this gaining quite a bit with some age. I would smoke a bowl every 5-6 months, and see how the aging process had progressed. The first few years left an ashy-cigarette coating in the mouth, along with unbearable tongue bite. The flavors were getting there, but the tongue bite had restrained any definite flavor profiles. I smoked a bowl of this today 7-27-11 and I must say, these tins are now ready. I have every single year starting from 1999 cellared, and plan on smoking a tin, and keeping a tin. With today's economy, you never know when you may have to sell off your prized collection to pay the bills. hahaha Pairs well with bourbon and Tanzanian Peaberry coffee.
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Kilmarnock Piper	10/04/2009	Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant
Well, could be four stars but I can't give everything four and there are some McClellands I like better. Just seemed to have slightly less character (only slightly) than Blackwoods, Brindle Flake (Ashton), or Dominican Glory Maduro. No one else detected the aroma in the tin of nutmeg, so maybe it's just an overtone of the aged Virginia. This is the only Christmas Cheer I have tried, so I'll try to find some more, especially the older ones.
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Duke	01/20/2009	Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant
I picked up a couple of tins at the 0808 NASPC and boy oh boy am I glad. It is a great looking dark red and brown broken flake Virginian. It looked overly moist straight from the tin. I found that if I place tobacco on the back of my hand I judge the moister content better; think of checking the baby?s bottle for excessive heat. So I rubbed the flake first then aired it for 30 minutes. Vinegar schminegar who the heck cares how the pouch aroma smells, it is when oxidation occurs we are rewarded. There is no doubt that this is prime leaf and not over-burdened by excessive topping. If McClelland said it used Hawaiian Punch for topping I say, bravo, because I don?t taste the Punch just great tobacco. This leaf is simple and subtle in that it?s only Virginian leaf, yet sweet and spicy. Its flavors magnify as I advance down the bowl-Oh yeh! At different smokes I?ve noticed various waves of nicotine, and each were quite pleasant. The room note is exquisitely Virginian. I spent a long weekend comparing CC 05 with Dunhill Lt Flake and McB?s Virginian #1 with Lt. Flake my overall favorite. See, for years I?ve reached for Lt Flake when wanting a Virginian smoke. Christmas Cheer 05 though is one superb tobacco and I highly recommend it to all Virginian tobacco lovers. For me to understand and appreciate and choose a tobacco I must smoke it exclusively over a period of time, such as a week or two. So prior to the weekend of multi sampling, as mentioned above, each of those tobaccos was smoked exclusively. I simply cannot smoke multiple tobaccos one after another and form an opinion on one, let alone all. I simply get sensory overload. Anyhow, McClelland makes some fine Virginians.
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Tiepolo	01/10/2009	Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
Popped a 3 year old tin some days ago. I have a little stock of this, bought at Iwan Ries 3 years ago and open a tin around this time of year. There is enough good things said about this tobacco here and they are all true. It's excellent, very smooth, no bite, lots of nuances to contemplate on. A solid 4 stars VA IMO. I personally don't mind the "vinegar" smell in MC tins. When I was young, living in Greece, someone would bring sometimes a carton of US made Marlboros. That was the smell you got back then opening a packet, a smell associated with quality, real American VA, long gone of course in the chemical processes of cigarette manufacture today.
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wildebeest	09/11/2008	Medium to Strong	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
I smoke mostly English, Balkan, and VA/per blends, but whenever I get a brand new pipe, I like to use a straight VA to break it in. Cut Virginia Plug, Marlin Flake, and Full Virginia Flake, for example, are three very tasty blends that have done a wonderful job of breaking in some of the best pipes in my collection. But despite how tasty those blends can be, I eventually end up dedicating each pipe to something else. I'm afraid the same will be true this time around, but not for the same reason. This is the first pure VA that has ever captivated me from the beginning to the end of each bowl. It is nothing short of spectacular. Simultaneously spicy, sweet, and earthy, it manages to impress me equally with its first sweet puff and with every puff thereafter, as the flavor becomes progressively darker and deeper. Alas, I am almost done with the only tin I've got, so this Castello is likely to see nothing but Fillmore or Embarcadero soon. (Not that I mind Fillmore and Embarcadero, but I already have multiple pipes devoted to each.)
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DoctorThoss	03/03/2008	Mild to Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable
I am giving this blend three stars although I can't personally stand the vinegar/ketchup taste that comes with it (and seems to be a feature of all McClelland's VAs).The quality of the leaf is first-rate and the flavor has a great many subtleties as you work your way through the bowl (including, as others have noted, the occasional hint of cinnamon). I used to smoke lots of McClelland VAs, but over the past few months the trademark McClelland flavor mentioned above started tasting horrible to me, and I can barely stomach any of this company's VAs nowadays -- I find myself smoking lots of VAs from C&D, GLP, and Rattrays instead. Nonetheless, I believe this is a matter of personal taste and would highly recommend this blend to anyone who likes quality VAs and isn't put off by the ketchup/vinegar taste that accompanies it. I'm aging three tins of this right now in the hopes that (a) the ketchupy taste will fade over time or (b) I'm once again able to stomach it.
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bent-1	01/09/2008	Mild	Very Mild	Mild	Pleasant
This blend is pipe picky. But, in the right pipe, it yields a sweet, warm citrus taste. I experienced no bite, burned cleanly down to the bowl's bottom. The first draw to the last was consistent. Rubbing out is recommended.
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Big bad Jon	12/22/2007	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
After being opened for about a month or so, this tobacco might be one of the best VA's around. The tobacco is absolutely a must try. It is a bit unique because it does not taste as sweet as I thought it would. I liked the fact that it burns a bit cooler than some of the Christmas Cheers do. It also burns down to the very last flake. It has some really nice subtle earthy notes and has a delicious tin note. I think this one might be it, I will gladly buy the rest of what the tobacco store has and keep it for a long time. I bet this will only get better with age.
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MikeA	12/22/2007	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
My tin has been open for 1 yr now (seal broken with top on). It's smoothed out now from what it tasted initially. small to medium broken flakes stay moist evan as I opened the can after a year. Date on can is 07/05. Love this tobacco. But not 4 stars worth. The taste is not as full as a FVF but more so than Rattrays OG. It's not as sweet or cool as FVF but is sweeter than OG. The strength is less than OG. I still need to be carefull and smoke slowly in order to minimize the chance of tonge bite. This is a very engoyable smoke
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Carlos Foot	12/07/2007	Medium	None detected	Very Full	Pleasant
I am a Virginia lover, yes I am, I loooove it, and I can say I just loved this tobacco!!! The tin aroma allready tells you that this is a special tobacco. It burns well, it stays lit all the way, it's just perfect. For your concern, in my modest opinion, this one is better than my Old Golrie and my Hal O' the Wynd. This one I'll take with me to the Heaven. THANK YOU LORD!!!! Best regards from BRAZIL!
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Xeneize	10/21/2007	Medium to Strong	Extremely Mild	Medium	Strong
Little I can add after many superb reviews, so I'll just stick to what I have not read below: The (in)famous vinegar/ketchup McClelland smell: it's there on every McClelland tobacco I have tried, but that never bothered me in the least. One of my favorite tobaccos is Bulk #2015, where I've found it to be very strong. Who cares, I'm in heaven when I smoke it. Now, when they actually make me taste vinegar, even in a subtle and inconstant way, I don't appreciate that. That only takes one star away. The second minor drawback is a sharp, almost tangy taste. Had I tried a well aged tin, this baccy would probably get that fourth star back. Aging should improve this enormously. Overall, a top quality Virginia.
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smokey	10/16/2007	Medium	Extremely Mild	Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
The following review is based on a tin of CC2005 that was allowed to age for two years. I did try one bowl before transferring it to a jelly jar and found it a little harsh and hard to keep lit. The broken flakes were lightly chopped in a coffee grinder to about 1/4 their original size just before smoking. The history of this tobacco has been pretty well covered so I will just give you my smoking impressions. First, the (in)famous McClelland tin odor, also known as the vinegar/ketchup smell. I have an idea this has something to do with a preservative McC uses on their tobaccos as they tend to hold their moisture pretty well over long periods of time. I don't spend much time sniffing tins so it doesn't bother me much. Lighting and burn are only OK with CC2005, I had to use several relights even after chopping the tobacco up. The reader should know that I am a wet smoker and have never mastered one match bowls, but this one seemed a little more troublesome than many others. YMMV. Taste is where this tobacco starts to shine. McClelland's real talent, IMHO, is in their VAs and this one upholds that tradition. It has a tangy VA sweetness that catches one's palate immediately upon lighting and remains pretty consistent to the end of the smoke. It does not have the tendency to bite that many VAs do, although the reader should also know I'm a pretty slow smoker. I buy almost all my tobacco on-line due to lack of local B&Ms and can find very reasonable prices on all McClelland blends. Scores; taste- 16 of 20; lighting and burn-6 of 10; value-8 of 10. 30 points equals ***. A good solid VA smoke.
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Cosmoline	02/08/2007	Medium to Strong	None detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable
I followed the advice here and stowed this one for a year. I opened it again today and I find it's improved quite a bit. It will burn you, and still needs to dry out a bit to stay lit, but the taste is worth it. My bet is another year or two or ten and this will get even better. What would happen if you mixed in some perique, I wonder.
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obxemt	12/26/2006	Strong	None detected	Medium	Strong
I read these reviews and bought a tin with high expectations. I smoke McClelland and McCranie's almost exclusively, and find many of their VA offerings to be sublime. I smoked several bowls of this and was horrified. It was putrid, difficult to light and keep lit, smelled like a car fire and tasted like I was smoking hay clippings and corn silk soaked in cat piss. After leaving the tin open for a total of about 48 hours it smelled EXACTLY like ginger snap cookies, so I was hoping it would get better. Unfortunately, no luck. The nastiest blend I've yet smoked and a huge disappointment.
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Meerschaum Man	12/25/2006	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant
Once again, another fine year's product for who can appreciate a long burning and multidimensional smoke. A year in the tin has been beneficial. Rich and satisfying, it can be smoked either rubbed out or (my preference) just stuffing the flakes into one's bowl. I leave the tin open for awhile, which helps to dry it out and let some of the McC's tin aroma dissipate. For years to come, I've cellared a few tins, which I hope I'll have the discipline to let age. Meerschaum Man Smoking a Ural 'Valiant' by Baki
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Beer	05/25/2006	Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
If you have tasted previous Christmas Cheer offerings, you know what to expect here... I will simply add that this edition is slightly smoother, rounder and tastier (and less grassy) than previous editions I had tried (2002 and 2003). A good solid Virginia tobacco, still not up to the best (#27 and Blackwoods Flake) but certainly consistent and recommendable.
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raadman	05/10/2006	Mild to Medium	Mild	Medium	Pleasant
Hey, I'm not stopping the four star parade here...just ordered six more tins! Update: The more I smoke this tobacco the more I'm convinced there is a cinnamin topping that is very evident in the tin aroma and flavor... that would explain the more than usual bite. I don't know why McC doesn't just admit it...the topping works real well with the sweet Va's and it is appropriate for the season. dunhill grp 4
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Pipestud	04/21/2006	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
Just finished one of my tins of Christmas Cheer 2005 after letting it age over a year in my cellar. This has to be as good as any, if not better than any Christmas Cheer McClelland's has produced. The pressed cake was simply delicious. Sweet, a bit of strength, and a complexity not found in other years. I think McClelland's tried their best to make Christmas Cheer 2005 a bell ringer, and they succeeded.
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Yorkie	03/05/2006	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
You need to be setting down in your favorite chair the lights low and quite all around to pickup all the flavors in this offering from McC. The flavors run from sweet and zesty then creamy back to zesty then just sweeet and other that I can not describe but feel. There is alot going on here and slow puffing is required because it can bite if pushed to hard. I found it smoked the best just rub out a little and on the dry side. I would put 2005 at the top of the Christmas Cheer line.
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jackhackett	02/05/2006	Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
Seems awfully complex in taste and scent for this to be a single kind of tobacco from a single crop; and also is there not some sort of very light casing used here to produce this holiday melange scent? As VA flakes go, CC'05 is relatively decent all round, and does indeed seem to have been imbued with Christmas spirit. Construction is sturdy flakes that seem to crumble more than rub out. CC '05 can be a bit bitey but not dramatically more so than any other VA; as always, puff patiently.
Showing reviews 1 through 20 of 25 reviews of this tobacco NEXT >