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I picked up a tin of this just to try something different. It was an expensive mistake, as it was purchased in Michigan, so between the federal, state and local taxes plus the shop's markup it was one of the most expensive tins of tobacco I've ever purchased.

I've tried every method to pack it: loose, tight, air-pocket method, layer method, Frank method. It fought to stay lit every step of the way; it didn't char light and had to be relit constantly, burned unevenly, tunneled down the middle of the bowl almost every time, and gurgled and smoked wet in a pipe that has never had a wet smoke issue. It left a heap of grey/black ash in the ashtray with plenty of blackend chunks of half-burned charcoal-like bits.

It bites back hard if you over-stoke, which you have to to get the wretched stuff to light and stay lit.

About the only positive things I can say is that the room note is pleasant enough and the flavor on the pallete, when not scorched, is sweet and pleasantly tangy, without the usual McCelland "hot ketchup" taste.

I think I'm going to cellar this tin for about a year and then come back to it to see if it improves with age. It was too costly a purchase to either throw away or put into a catch-all "Hoover blend" tin.

As its name implies, it is a dark shag cut tobacco. The black to light brown strands are nearly cut like cigarette tobacco, meaning that some measure of care needs be exercised when loading the pipe. I find that it smokes best in a medium sized dublin bowl, but will do fairly well in a group 4 size bull cap/ rhodesian. If you have cellared your tin so that it is 3-5 years old, then you have done all that is necessary to turn what ordinarily can be a fairly mundane blend into a spectacular tobacco. Time does wonders for this.

Getting past the charring light has always been a little problematic for me with this blend, perhaps due to my extra caution in trying to light a shag cut va. (a bowl of Cardiff, anyone?). But once lit, this blend burns pretty well. I notice ocassionally that it will require an additional relight halfway down if I'm smoking it in a deep bowl. But, it always burns down to a fine gray ash.

The flavors in Black Shag are petty simple, but then again, not always so. Sometimes, with the right measure of puffing, in the right weather, this blend develops a wonderfully complex body. The flavors range from a cinamon-like spiciness to a rich smoky caramel sweetness. Intermingled with this is a distinct background note of orientals, but done with a fairly light touch so as to provide only a slight lingering mustiness. I suspect there is some dark fired leaf in here somewhere. The flavor is similar to Bombay Court, but deeper, and with a less refined edge to it.

I like it; it's gentlemanly without being too genteel. This is for the guys who refuse to adorn themselves with colognes and hair gels; for the aqua velva crowd only. My wife comments on how 'strong' and 'overpowering' this tobacco smells, but I think she secretly likes it. She says it smells like man.

It just had that already burnt taste like when you smoke half a bowl and then let it sit all day and get back to it later to me off the start- probablly due to the dark va not being a good blender. I like dark va alone. Just not my cup of tea. By far I think Mclelland has better blends.

I could see some english smokers really liking this though, so I will say try it. Just don't order more than one tin till you see how it treats you is all I'm saying. I like the #25 va more than this. The cut is simillar but it is rich dark stoved va without the latakia. I'd rather see more latakia in the 221b honestly.

I like the honeydew in this series much better and that is on my "A" list.

I have occasionally found it sad that there are so few blends found today that employ black Virginia. It really is a wonderful tobacco providing such an interesting take on Virginia by right of such a simple process. It then donned on me that there is no real need for very many examples, as black Virginia is a tobacco best left by itself. It simply does not blend well. Its good, dry, toasted flavor is fine by itself, but will cause any other tobaccos it is blended with to taste bland, bitter, or already burnt. This is what has happened with Black Shag. Even something so endearing as McClelland's red Virginia is rendered very weak and flabby tasting in the combination affected. I even smoked this stuff on the streets of London and it didn't help. Rattray's Black Virginia, composed of 100% black Virginia, by contrast to Black Shag, realizes to unsociable nature of this type of Virginia, and that wonderful tobacco, for me, proves my point.

Regards,

A. Morley Jaques

The first blend in this series is ?Black Shag.? The tobacco is contained within a small tin containing 50grams of this wonderful blend. The covering of the tin makes anyone that is a Sherlock Holmes lover to tear right into it. On entering the store, I grabbed a tin, removed the plastic cover, and pulled back the seal. I loaded up my pipe and enjoyed a full bowl before even buying. On the cover is a picture of Holmes smoking a bent pipe staring into his magnifying glass. While the design is simple, it is nice to look at.

Upon opening the tin you are greeted with not only the aroma but fine cut strands of brown, red, and black delights. The tin has the slight hint of the famous McClelland ketchup, but very little. After smelling the tobacco for a while the ?ketchup? disappears and you are left with the real thing.

Load the pipe as you like, there is no science to smoking this blend. It lights right away and it stays lit. With the first puff you will be welcomed with a slight spice, very enjoyable.

One should make sure that they smoke this bowl at somewhat of a slow pace. You do not need to smoke extra slow, but tone it down a bit compared to your usual speed. If you go a bit fast you will be victim of tongue bite.

This tobacco remains the same throughout the entire bowl; this is a real pleasure to get your hands on. I recommend this to anyone that wants to smoke a good Virginia blend and one that will not hurt your wallet. I truly enjoyed it and this will be a continual line in my cellar. I can?t wait to tear into the other two blends which are seated right next to me.

Pipeing Joe ______(_)

EDIT: I let the tin dry for a few weeks and smoked another bowl in a church warden today. It's still not exactly good, but it's much better now that the leaf has dried out. I also packed it more loosely. It did not burn me this time, but the taste isn't really there. I'm going to stow it for a few months in a sealed container and see how it is after that.