McClelland - Grand Orientals: Yenidje Highlander pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
< PREVIOUS Showing reviews 21 through 36 of 36 reviews of this tobacco
Stacey	05/29/2008	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant
For starters I didn't detect any of the ketchup/vinegar smell in the blend, not that that puts me off anyway. This is a very nice blend, occasionally the virginia dominates and that is unfortunate. I like this company's virginia, it just seems a tad out of place here. This blend really shines when you get that incense-like whiff, that I'm assuming is the Yenidje. I love Syrian and this doesn't seem to have much of that or else the Cyprian is interfering with it. All in all, when the bowl doesn't contain too much virginia, this hits its stride and is pretty good!
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EtOH	05/18/2008	Medium	None detected	Medium	Tolerable to Strong

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Beer	04/27/2008	Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
I really can't agree with most of the enthusiastic comments here... This is a good tobacco, but not that different from other McClelland Latakia offerings: that is, very "green", vegetal, lemony and not as full, leathery and nutty as other great latakia blends from the UK or the USA (such as GLPease's). Take any other Syrian Latakia blend by this brand (such as Rose of Latakia), add a little more Oriental fragrance and just pinch more Latakia... and that's it. Nowhere as classic English or Balkan as some reviews would suggest. It is less ketchupy than other older McC blends, and it actually has more Latakia flavor, but it's bland to the point of boredom. Not enough "juice", pals... Anyway, quite pleasant and well-behaved.
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Ben Rich	04/22/2008	Mild	None detected	Very Mild	Pleasant
I bought two tins of Yenidje Highlander; one to smoke immediately and one to cellar. Unfortunately my first several bowls of this have left me wondering what all the excitement is about. On initial opening of the tin, I was captivated by the fantastic smell of the Latakia and was anticipating the creamy smoothness typical to a good Balkan blend. Thus far the smokes have been "bitey", relatively flat and bland in taste and significantly nasty towards the bottom of the bowl. The tobacco packs very well, burns very well and otherwise exhibits respectable behavior in public. It also DGT's exceptionally well, in fact, I noticed with my third or fourth bowl of this that it actually tasted creamier and more Balkan if I let a pipeful sit for a few hours before finishing it off. I'll allow my second tin to age for several months, perhaps even a year, and will revisit it then. Yenidje Highlander has gained the appreciation of too many veteran pipesters for me to believe it is a bland, listless blend.
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Big bad Jon	02/28/2008	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
This is it, the tobacco of my dreams. The balance of tobaccos is impeccable. The tin note has the slight vinegar smell that McClelland is known for (I have finally gotten use to this) and small amounts of latakia. The blend has nice colors of med. brown and some dark latakia. There is also some red as well. The taste is beyond anything I expected, slightly sweet, and smoky and the Orientals are delicate and well wonderful. It stays lit well and never gets too hot. The tobacco burns cool, and tastes great. All I can say is this is one grand tobacco. I can not wait to try the rest of the series.
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SMOKETSES	02/13/2008	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable
Today I opened this box. Maybe this is the last McClelland that I smoke. I?m, honestly, very angry, with this ketchup flavor that is in all the McClelland. Is it still possible in an oriental tobacco with strong dose of Latakia from Cyprus and Syria, the flavor of ketchup Heinz to be stronger? What is this perfume finally? In a correct humidity, when you open it, it burns your throat enough, it can be set easily in the bowl, it burns well, it makes a relatively calm and soft smoking, BUT at the end, it gets mud. How is it possible for such a dry tobacco with oriental and Latakia to get so mud? I give him only two stars since I disagree with many of the reviewers, because of this ketchup flavor which bothers me a lot.
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churchwarden398	01/06/2008	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
Grand, indeed, is the word for this blend! This was my first experience with Yenidje. So I prepared myself to be cautious. Like some of the reviewers on this site, I was never blessed to have tried Balkan Sobranie. So I will not waste your time by guessing with imagination. However, if this blend is even half the blend Balkan Sobranie was in its heyday - what a treat that must have been!!! My pipe smoking, traveling friend used to smoke Balkan Sobranie as his regular blend. So the next time he and I travel, I will invite him to have a pipeful of YH and report back with his reactions. Knowing him, this might be a bit tame for him as presently he blends his own using a 60% latakia mix. Back to the task at hand. YH, imho, is well worth the extra money. Latakia is definitely present with its campfire- like smell. The Yenidje provides a good scent as well. The intro- duction of Maryland helped to calm down the Yenidje just a tad. Had it not done so, I imagine it could have been what those people on this list describe if one were to smoke a pipeful of only Perique. Do not get me wrong, I love perique! However, I am a bit skiddish about trying it as the main course. After my pipes cooled a bit they had the aroma of finding one of granddad's pipes years after he had last smoked. I tried this blend in two regular-gauge, chambered pipes and it was wonderful. Today, I got out my favorite, large-bowled, rusticated, Savinelli and the tobacco really seemed to sing. All in all, this was a WONDERFUL experience. To be sure, this will be a mainstay in my rotation.
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pipinNfishin	12/28/2007	Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Tolerable
Yenidje Highlander contains syrian and caprian latakia. This blend like Yenidje Supreme smokes cool and dry. Yenidje Highlander burns to a find ash. I have been smoking the Grand Oriental blends in narrow bowled pipes, but I prefer them in wide bowls. It may be just a personal preference, but I can detect more subleties of flavor. Because the blend contains latakia, Yenidje Highlander is not as subtle as the other Grand Oriental blends, but the Yenidje leaf is still subtle. The effect that latakia has on Yenidje leaf is amazing. It brought out incense like qualities. The nicotine strength is tad stronger, that Yenidje Supreme, but not by much. Yenidje Highlander is a very nice blend to smoke in the quiet of a evening.
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wosbald	12/20/2007	Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable to Strong
The tin aroma of this mixture of fine-cut ribbon and small, flakey chunks is dominated by musky yenidje with both latakia types chiming in distinctly though not overwhelmingly. The typical McClelland virginia aroma is present, though not dominant. The flavor is centered on the richness of the yenidje. The use of both cyprian and syrian latakia only augments this blend. The mellow maryland leaf slightly cuts the impact of the bolder matured red virginia. The use of dark-stoved VA and latakia is restrained. One of the finest of blends, Yenidje Highlander is remarkably delicious and nuanced, a light to medium english with memorable turkish character. It goes well in a chamber of any gauge.
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Philo Beddoe	12/16/2007	Mild to Medium	None detected	Medium	Tolerable
I must have gotten a bad tin, this blend seemed rather bland to me. For so many years, I have heard discussions about the Yenidje leaf and how it was the primary spice of Sobranie, this cannot be representative of that long hallowed leaf. I tasted a decent some Virginia with a slightly spicy Latakia afternote, there was some new flavor, which has to be the Yenidje, but it was so subtle as to be almost missed. I very much wanted to taste this magic leaf that I have heard so much about, but I can only assume that my can was lacking or that the current crop of Yenidje lacks the character of the leaf of 20+ years ago.
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Pipestud	11/15/2007	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant
Wow! This is a mega-winner from McClelland's and as fine an Oriental blend as I can remember ever smoking. The Virginia and Latakia components really meld into a rich, pure smoking experience that leaves me both satisfied and eager for another bowl. The cut, though a little coarse, packs very well and stays lit with no trouble. There is a bit more strength than is normally encountered with this type of blend, and the taste stays with you for awhile. I particularly enjoyed the way this tobacco presented its Virginia base up front, yet allowed me to taste the other components without being muffled. This one gets my nod, for sure.
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mparker	11/09/2007	Medium	None detected	Medium	Strong
Balkan Sobranie White was my primary blend for years; like many fans I was heartbroken when it was discontinued, and even more crushed a few months later when its fraternal twin Bengal Slices was discontinued. The two tobaccos that have given me some solace since then have been Butera Pelican and Esoterica's Penzance; though neither one makes any claims at Sobraniehood they each have similarities and nearly that level of greatness. I believe Pelican is an attempt at Sullivan's Gentleman's Mixture, a great blend in its own right and which Pelican admirably duplicates. Replicating Balkan Sobranie White has been a holy grail of the tobacco blenders ever since the great discontinuation, but no one has really succeeded (especially that excrebal Balkan Saseini). Unfortunately, McClelland now joins the list of failures. There are hints of greatness here; it has that clean smokiness, firm spicyiness, and a hint of saltiness that were characteristic of BS White, but unfortunately the McClelland Virginias are jarringly off-note; rather than a clean tart sweetness balancing the smoke, spice, and salt, McClelland gives us stewed-plums-and-ketchup. The result is good, but it's not "great", much less "Sobranie White Great". Oh well. Maybe one day Esoterica will do a Yenidje version of Penzance.
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sasha	09/18/2007	Medium	None detected	Medium	Very Pleasant
Though new, this blend belongs to the past: the leafs and the taste remind me of old Balkan, with a marvellous smoky flavour and deep oriental penetration. The cut is fine, so I expected a pretty fast burning: not at all, it burns slowly and dry, completely biteless. There are few words to describe the deepness and interplay between latakia and yenidje here, just perfect, Balkan at its best. The only little annoying thing is that I had to relight more than usual but, as the previous reviewer, I'm experiencing a definitely wet weather here, and that counts. For sure I will stock some tins in my cellar, I've very curious about how will this blend refine with some age. At McClelland they proved again that they're among the best blenders in the world.
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peacepipe	09/10/2007	Medium to Strong	None detected	Medium to Full	Very Pleasant
First off, I hope someday, somehow, to burst a major and irritating myth here. It's a little off-subject, but I can't resist the temptation any longer. Good Ladies and Gentlemen: McLelland flakes DO NOT SMELL LIKE KETCHUP, CATSUP, OR ANYTHING IN BETWEEN...A recent non-scientific study has revealed this very clearly to me, anyway. Similar to catsup? Maybe a little--McC offerings such as Dark Star or the annual Christmas flake can also be compared to certain types of chutney, fermenting hay bales ... but who started this ketchup thing? Anyway, it's only an opinion, but it feels good to get that out into the open! Yenjidje Highlander: ahh! It's Christmas in August! I love this blend -- smooth, inviting, prone toward meditative, relaxed reverie. Been having success with this fine blend mainly in my small collection of Dunhills--very satisfying in a clay-type Churchwarden, and I may even dedicate a group 3 tanshell lovat to this one. Less tame and a little bit harsher in a short, stubby Castello which has a lot of air flow. As others have noted, YH doesn't veer full-on into the territory of heavy Balkan blends, as there is indeed not enough Latakia for that to be the case, it seems to me. What is this--a 'Turkish' or 'Oriental' type blend? In my original review, I'd mentioned a touch of harshness at the charring light. I take that back--I may have been working it too hard or putting the flame directly to leaf, a surefire way to get a bit of bite. With easy puffing, small bowlfuls lasted a long while, up to an hour, for me. Not always staying lit easily but I've been enjoying this blend during one of the most humid summers in my memory (smoking outdoors 95% of the time), so that contributes I reckon. An instant favorite which will remain in my top rotation as long as it's available (hopefully for many years) and it was enjoyed/appreciated by my non-pipesmoker friends on a recent trip to the north woods of Maine (the mosquitoes did NOT enjoy it, fortunately).
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Lochinvar	09/08/2007	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
A great offering from McClelland and so totaly unlike their other Orientals, and by that I mean the insipid Green Line and Not the personnal reserve that was created by Barry Levin and stolen by McC. This is a blend of a bygone era. Wonderfull, campire smoky with a great edgy acidity from the yenidje, balanced by the sweet virginia component. The syrian really shines and masks the inherent problems with cyprian Latakia.Really loverly. This is a smooth blend, to me good any time of the day, but especially after dinner. Reminds me of the old Cotton and Rattrays offerings. There may be no finer line today than this new oriental line. Huzzzahhh!!!!
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RMBittner	08/09/2007	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
If you are a fan of -- or are curious about -- orientals, you must give this one a try. It's an outstanding blend that highlights the Yenidje while still giving the latakia room to make its presence known, and placing the Virginia and Maryland quietly in the background. Apart from my first tin of Odyssey, I can't recall the last time I smoked through a new mixture so quickly. Technically, I'm not sure this qualifies as a true Balkan; the latakia isn't quite as predominant as I would expect. (The Syrian lends it a bit of delicacy...and "delicacy" isn't something I typically associate with Balkans.) For that reason -- as well as the fact that the Virginia is subdued and the Yenidje itself is delightfully mellow (not acrid, as some other oriental varieties are) -- I wouldn't call this a "full" blend. To me, it's of light-to-medium strength and flavor. I smoke outdoors, usually, so I can't comment on the room note at all. I can say that the aroma for the smoker is enthralling. But how you categorize it is pretty much beside the point. It's definitely Balkan-ish, it's definitely of high quality, and it's definitely delicious.
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