McClelland - Personal Reserve: Blackwoods Flake pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
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Tom Servo	03/29/2011	Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
The tin aroma of this Virginia flake is interesting. The red and black Virginias together give out a sort of melded aroma of the expected vinegar/ketchup McClelland VA scent and a sweet, Fig Newton, oatmeal with raisins scent like a Rattray VA. Sounds odd but they go together well. Once Virginia gets some age on it, it can smell quite different from maker to maker, but it always seems to smell edible - It always make me hungry. All well matured Virginia’s are also complex, if only subtly so. But this one is amazing. As I lit the bowl, I caught cool vegetal flavors, green hay, uncut grain, even a note like melon or cucumber. Charred, tamped, relit. Raw, green grains warm up into cocoa, malt flour, and dusty cellar aromas. Further in I get warm cookies, fresh bread, hot egg rolls, dried hay, feed oats, cake batter. In the second half add into the mix, dried flowers, lingering (almost faded) perfume and polished leather. This is an freakin’ amazing flake.
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rintrah	03/24/2011	Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant
Excellent leaf. Highly recommend it.
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pipelovingcalvinist	03/24/2011	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant
Though I primarily smoke english blends, I enjoy virginias to break up the monotony. Blackwoods Flake serves this purpose with flying colors. Blackwoods Flake is slightly sweet and tangy and never fails to keep my attention. A good virgina for sure. And yes, I do have pipes that are soley dedicated to virginias. soli Deo gloria
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HappyOne	02/22/2011	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
Wonderful stuff. Rub it out and give it a few minutes to dry before giving it a medium to loose pack then sip slowly. I have dedicated a couple of pipes to mature virginians and the subtle flavours tease out as you slowly sip away.
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TheSmokinDragon	01/27/2011	Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable
I'm in love with this flake! I will be adding many tins to the tobacco bar...don't miss this one...dry it out a bit from the tin and sip it slow. I use an air-pocket method which works best for me on this one, med or large pipe both work very nice as well for giving you max flavors on this one...ENJOY
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LV9	01/18/2011	Medium	None detected	Medium	Tolerable
This is probably one of the most underrated virginias out there this easy to pack it just take a little bit of rubbing out stuffed in a pipe light it and the magic happens the flavor is prettu sweet with a hint of spiciness for some reason the sweetness of this blends reminds me of dulce de leche dessert. The only times I've gotten tongue bite out of this blend is when I Have not rubbed it out, the nicotine level is in the low range for my taste but the flavor makes up for it. I've only wish that this was available in bulk. 3 out of 4 stars because of the lack of nicotine in this one.
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UncleGar	01/17/2011	Mild to Medium	Mild	Mild	Tolerable
I suppose there's little original insight to add at this point. McClelland has a wealth of VA choices, this is one of the better ones. I just finished a 7 year old tin and I'm not sure it was worth the wait, though. I used to prefer mild, now I prefer a bit more intensity. It's also a fine single note wanting to be a chord.
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John Offerdahl	01/08/2011	Mild to Medium	None detected	Medium	Tolerable
Blackwoods Flake is a mix of red Virginia with what McClelland calls stoved black Virginia, which is then pressed into a cake and aged. The flakes sliced from the cake are heavy, with a nice Virginia aroma but a somewhat high moisture content typical of McClelland blends. With a bit of drying they rub out fairly easily. To me, the blend is similar to a mixture of 2035 and 5100. The charring light brings the rich flavor of the constituent Virginias out. Once lit, that taste is quite smooth and easy. There are no real highs or lows to the blend’s taste, it is a fairly straightforward blend. The taste remains consistently sweet, with the red Virginia’s sweetness dominating while the stoved Virginia contributes a nice, darker tone to the overall taste. There isn’t a lot of variability through the bowl, but the taste never sours or gets ashy, even at the very end of the smoke. Blackwoods Flake is, in my opinion, a Virginia to enjoy. I think that smokers can get the same results, however, from creating their own mixture of either Dark Star or 2035 with 5100, and in doing so will get the results at a much lower price point.
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Darwin	12/27/2010	Medium	None detected	Medium	Tolerable
Smoking from a 19 year old tin, dated 1991. Label claims to be made for Levin Pipes International. Comes as a dark broken flake; the red Virginia are now almost as dark as the stoved Virginias, but are still detectable under bright light. The flakes were still wet upon opening and have been drying with the plastic lid on for about 4 months. No vinegar smell is present. Any potential for tongue bite that ever existed has vanished over the years. I can puff just about as hard as I want, but slow smoking is still required to tease the subtle flavors out of this mature, aged blend. Flavors are sweet, but not cloying. Smokey campfire notes overlay the sweetness. Some citrus flavors still remain, but most the flavor is deeper in the spectrum. The smoke is exceedingly rich, full and smooth. The smoking is effortless, requiring only the occasional tamp to keep things going. This high quality Virginia is probably capable of improving with age for as long as a patient pipe smoker can wait. I've got a tin of St. James Woods from the same year that I'll let go even longer. Most of this tin is still unsmoked; I'll put it in a Mason jar and smoke it on special occasions. I wish you were here to share it with me. It doesn't feel quite right smoking this all by my lonesome. I'm gonna have to call a meeting of the Sabbath Smokers (explained in my bio). Long live McClelland tobaccos!
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NA Morrison	12/17/2010	Mild	Mild	Mild	Pleasant
had a bowel of this with my brother and we both thought this was a good blend. a bit hard to keep lit but that was because it was a windy day. had a slight viniger catsup smell like most mcclland blends do but that wasnt a distraction. not a bad smoke for nice hike into the woods or just relaxing on the back porch. will by again if becomes available at my tobacco shop again.
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TK Pipe	12/14/2010	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
MC Blackwoods Flake... Simply the best all Va. Blend I have ever had the pleasure of smoking. These people really know what they are doing.
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Merven the Great	12/06/2010	Medium	Medium	Medium to Full	Tolerable
I can see how people like this blend, but it wasn't for me. Too saucy/sweet and can get quite bitter if not your not concentrating and lace the pipe for future tastes. I am still a fan of McClelland just not this one.
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thefoolish	11/25/2010	Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
A beauty. Masterful blending with a fantastic appreciation of the simple perfection of natural tobaccos.
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Mike4714	11/04/2010	Medium	Extremely Mild	Full	Tolerable to Strong
This is a great tobacco! i have smoked this one on many occasions and so far, it is my all time favorite. i highly recommend, at the very least, trying it. it does have a sort of ketchup smell when you first open the tin, but as time goes by, the smell disappears. not that it needs to, the tobacco tastes nothing like ketchup! Quite unpleasant room-note, but not extremely overwhelming. you will most certainly like this tobacco!
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yinyang	10/24/2010	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
I've only had one tin of Blackwoods Flake, and it was dated 2007. I therefore can't say whether it's the blend alone, or the age too, but, hot damn, it's good! Of all the American VA's I've smoked (admittedly, a meager number) this is the best so far. Sweet yet spicy, mild yet colourful on the palate, BF delivers the goods. Definitely one of those blends that gets even better as you go down the bowl. (Not that it needs to, it's all good.) The flakes aren't the easiest to fire up, but it's not impossible. I didn't catch much of the 'ketchup' nose McClelland gets bashed for, either. I believe the smoke on this one is the most pleasant I've smelled as well. I will eventually pick up more of this one...just as soon as I get my ADD driven 'Gotta try'm all' mentality under wraps.
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Unsal	10/11/2010	Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
Nice tobacco. Recommended.
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BigSwede	09/30/2010	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant
I've had this tin sitting in the drawer for months. When it first came in I tried it right away, smoked it a little on the moist side and thought it was "OK". Not bad but just "OK".I should know better! Now after resurrecting the tin and setting some flake out to dry for several hours I am finding this to be wonderful. Once dried the so called "ketchup" smell, while still present in the tin does not seem to pass through to the smoke. It takes a flame nicely and burns evenly. The flavor is that of a sweet/tart top drawer pure VA and I can't find any real "topping". I agree with the reviewer who said this rivals the FVF. I am not one for nuance but I can make out, if you will, several VA tastes, some sweet some more tart and the mixture is superb. Flavor holds all the way down and if anything gets fuller. Now I know what the VA smokers have been raving about. When aged a bit and properly prepared for smoking this stuff is excellent. WOW! My SO got a whiff of this stuff and offered a unsolicited, "that smells pretty good", something, alas, I don't always hear about my other smokes. If you like VA you have to try this one. Just remember to dry it well and smoke it slow. Definitely 4 stars.
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zulujerk	09/24/2010	Mild to Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable
I bought a tin of Blackwoods Flake along with Tudor Castle in a Virginia heavy order a few weeks ago. I found both similar, and would even say that Tudor Castle is just Blackwoods Flake with a little extra, not in truth but in semblance. They are both super sweet Virginia smokes that I had no trouble finishing and will certainly reorder. After experiencing the richness of Tudor Castle, I found myself applying Perique to Blackwoods at about twenty to thirty percent, both because I love a good VAPER and enjoy the added strength, always to delicious consequences. Sometimes I mixed it with equal portions of Latakia and Perique when I happened to be running short on English blends, in one instance swearing that the mighty concoction was the greatest smoke I ever had. Of course, I make that announcement quite often. I guess you can see where this is going--Blackwoods Flake is simply great, and I can only give it my highest recommendation, along with its cousin Tudor Castle. An entirely different animal than Full Virginia Flake and one that I will certainly enjoy with greater frequency in FVF's absence. Five of Five.
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SakamotoFan	08/21/2010	Mild to Medium	Medium	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
Yes, Blackwoods Flake does smell like ketchup but it tastes like vinegar. At first, I thought the smoke was unique but as time went by I started to realize that this "unique" taste was similar to the smell of heated vinegar. Now it's a tolerable smoke, and it's not horrible but once I started to notice this vinegar taste I dumped the bowl. No thanks.
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Claudius Stradivarius	07/25/2010	Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Medium	Pleasant
McClelland are the reference amonbg the American manufacturers for their Va flakes. This is one of the best flakes I have had the pleasure to smoke. The taste combines pure VA with something close to clove or nutmeg, which makes it delicious. It just lacks a bit on the nicotine side.
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