McClelland - Personal Reserve: Bombay Court pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Showing reviews 1 through 20 of 31 reviews of this tobacco NEXT >
bem77	11/03/2012	Mild	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
This was my first Latakia. If all Latakia are like this, I am hooked. I am not an experienced smoker, this isn't going to be some profound review that compares this to a wide range of tobaccos. To date, I have smoked mostly aromatic tobaccos. Today I found out what I missing out on by not expanding beyond my comfort zone. The first thing I notice upon opening tin is that this smells nothing like what I have tried to date. It smells of wood smoke and cedar to me, an almost black pepper spice to it. I find this intriguing. On the first light, it is again the smell that hits me. More spice and wood smoke roll over me, the faint memory of BBQ smoke comes to mind. Being a huge fan of BBQ, I begin to salivate just a little. Second light and now my first real taste. The taste lives up to the promise of the smell. So much flavor and somehow the smell just enhances it all. Again I feel like I am tasting hickory smoke and spice, with just a touch of sourness to it all. Some how this vinegar background note unifies the whole taste experience for me. The taste is smooth and even throughout the whole smoke, unlike a lot of the other aromatics I have tried. I get to the end of the bowl and keep re-lighting that last little bit hoping to prolong the experience just a little bit longer. I think I might be in love. I will definitely be stocking up on this tobacco.
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LightenUp-mypipe	02/17/2012	Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Tolerable
Bombay Court amazes me every time I smoke it. Deftly blended and beautifully balanced creating a rich and creamy flavorful smoke. First light you get cool smoky latakia and that is the last time you will taste it so fully. The Turkish/Orientals are forward but nothing dominates. Pull a little harder and you get some fine Virginias. Sip and some cool Lat comes in. It's all almost perfectly integrated. The last third melds together into something singular and fantastic with a slightly salty beef jerky flavor that can linger on the tongue for quite some time. I love this stuff. Have to mention that weird ketchup tin aroma. With the smokey background maybe something closer to an aged chipotle sauce? What's more strange is I've come to love that smell, and when I catch a whiff of it I salivate in anticipation of the next bowl. This is a great smoke and a real favorite. Also a really nice counterpart to London Mixture.
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oregonpipe	05/27/2011	Mild to Medium	None detected	Medium	Tolerable
I picked up a 50g. tin of this at a tobacco shop the last time I visited the "big city" simply on impulse. And I'm glad I did. I am a big fan of VAs and VA/pers, as well as English/Balkan blends. The first impression on opening the tin was a soft cushion of ribbon cut VAs, some brown and black striping, and not a whole lot of McC ketchup. Very smokey. Smokes like a dream with a little dry time. And it DGTs very nicely. This was my first light Balkan/English blend and it is a treat. Just enough latakia to take you into the "realm", plenty of VA sweets to remind you what this is based on, and the orientals take off to the east every now and then. This would be a great first trip to England for VA, VA/per groupies and a nice change-up for the heavy English/Balkan fans. I really enjoy this smoke at mid day before gearing up for a latakia hit in the evening. THis one stays on my shelf 'til something better comes along.
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Fellow traveler	02/07/2011	Medium	None detected	Medium	Very Pleasant
Just popped an 05 tin I caught on eBay. Now I know why people chase old tins of tobacco. This blend is lovely, mild/medium, smooth as a babies bottom. Slightly sweet with chocolate overtones and a hint of latakia. A truly elegant refined blend for the quite moments of your life. And it leaves a fine tobacco aftertaste. Perfect moisture and burn direct from the tin. For me this is a relaxing morning pleasure. Light ,lively and engaging. Perfect with a cappuccino. As with all McClelland blends it has a unique aroma in the tin, I love it, some do not. Bombay Court burns slow and cool, will not bite, and displays a variety of flavors. McClelland blends are a tremendous value for the money because most are dry in the tin and smoke slow. You do not pay for moisture or PG. As a result a pipe can last a long time. This is great smoke to DGT since each time you put a match to it the flavors explode with billows of sweet smoke. Use a clean pipe, you want to enjoy the subtle flavors without ghosts of the past intruding. I have not tried a new tin, but will give you a run for the old ones.
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pipe row19	01/04/2011	Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
Im not much of an english smoker i always thought English blends we harsh and storng. This blend changed my mind its mild and smooth with a suttle sweetness. If your an English smoker this is a must try.
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AbeCox	05/09/2010	Medium	Medium	Medium to Full	Tolerable
A delicious blend. The VA's really come to be a great starter, when the blend then meanders into the Turkish and sparks the Latakia. The blend was a perfect balance in my opinion, and I can't imagine it will last very long unsmoked. The tin is from 2003, and it has been aged to perfection. It has the potential to be an all day, as its mildness doesn't leave the pallate wanting rest while it has enough flavor and depth to stay fresh and with depth. Yummy.
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RMBittner	11/04/2009	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
My review is based on a 2005 tin, opened and smoked (very quickly) in 2009. I'll keep this brief. As others have noted, this is a delicious English blend with a decided emphasis on the Turkish. The McClelland Virginias provide a rich and flavorful foundation, and there's just the right balance of latakia in the blend. This is an excellent smoke that comes very close to being "highly recommended." I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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mel51us	06/13/2009	Mild to Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant
This is a very flavorful English blend. Good moisture content from the tin, was easy to load and light. Only needed a minimum of attention while smoking. Left a salt and pepper ash and a dry pipe. The Latakia is very noticeable in the tin aroma, but none of the components dominate the flavor. Could easily be an all day smoke. Possibly too intense for a new pipester but the aromatic smoker and the seasoned pipester of "non-flavored" blends just may enjoy this, even if only on an occasion.
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Rusty	09/13/2008	Mild to Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant
These notes are based on a tin of Bombay Court originally packed in 1999. If I had written a review based on the first few pipefuls after opening the tin, I would have rated this blend as "ho-hum". But I put the tin away and actually forgot about it for about six months. When I rediscovered it, and loaded a pipe...Wow! The idle time made a world of difference. It was a little drier in the tin, and the flavors of the virginias, turkish and latakia now seemed to be in perfect balance. A classic recipe, beautifully executed. This has quickly become a favorite of mine.
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WillardFan	06/08/2008	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant
Move over you Frogs. Now this stuff is, oh so yummy, it's almost too hard to describe. I've tried this in three different pipes, the last one being a Ceramic Bowled Calabash. Being a glazed bowl and kept quite clean, it doesn't have the ghosts' of a 100 different tobaccos. The flavors of Bombay Court came through in waves, and it only got better down to the last snippet of tobacco. The Virginias IMHO were the most predominant, with the remaining tobaccos appearing in the background where they added some very tasty additions to this amazing smoke. This is my first venture into a McClelland Tobacco, and I wasn't disapointed. 4 Stars and a Plus! Randy W...
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renaissance man	07/13/2007	Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
This is one of my first ventures out of the aromatic category so keep that in mind while reading my review. I found the Latakia to be a dominant flavor in the first half of the bowl which I like but not quite as strong as is in this blend. Several of the other reviews say that the Latakia is very much on the back burner so that tells you that I don't mix much of it in my home blends. I do enjoy the last half of the bowl more than the first half as the sweetness marries with the other flavors more. I find this blend a little harder to light than other tobaccos I am used to smoking but I did purchase the tin and haven't allowed it to sit uncovered for any length of time. I smoke this blend in a Danish Freehand that I made myself out of plateau briar. I can tell you that even after saying what I didn't prefer in this tobacco that it is extremely clean tasting, even and cool burning and that it does not bite. I have also smoked it exclusively since I purchased it 4 days ago which says a lot for it's ability to please the smoker. I will surely be looking into more of this company's blends. Oh and the wife who is used to a Peter Stokkebye Black Cavendish or Blue Note fragrance said this one could be smoked in the house. WOW!!!
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Desertrat	05/28/2006	Medium	Very Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
This has become one of my favorite tinned blends. I purchase mostly bulk, so I only keep a half dozen or so tins around at any given time. This has an initial sweetness and somewhat smoky flavored charring light, and after a tamping and another light, burns readily. I like the way the flavors express themselves, one by one as the smoke progresses. The latakia is always present, but stays in the background and the sweetness of the Virginias and orientals sort of ebb and flow thru the bowl. I will always keep this in the rotation, and I really have not found if aging will improve this or not. I enjoy it just like it is, no drying required.
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drwatson53	04/29/2006	Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
While my tastes in tobacco are wide, usually Oriental blends are not my first choice. But from time to time I find their character exciting and necessary to have in the tobacco bar. Usually the problem I find is they are rich and heavy after awhile. But Bombay Court was like a fine dry gin. Very dry, balanced, nice flavor and pleasant room note. This would be the one Oriental that I could smoke every day for an extended period of time. I smoked it in a Peterson rustic dry system. It packed easily. Lit easily and stayed lit to the bottom of the bowl. Burned down to a fine white ash and left the pipe very clean. Would reccomend it to English blend smokers wanting a break from their usual blends.. This was very balanced and unobtrusive..Will keep a steady supply around.
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Black Seamus	11/27/2005	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
I got a tin of this put up in 1999 from the estate of my departed friend, Luke Lofton, as fine a pipeman as ever to share a bowl with. As such, and being a big fan of the Turkish leaf, I wanted to love it. Sad to say, I don't. Oh, I like it just fine, but I don't love it. The first flavor to come through upon lighting is the trademark McClelland's ketchup-topped Virginia, but that settles down fairly quickly To become a rather delicate and well-mannered flavor. The Turkish really doesn't come into its own until mid-bowl. It plays well with the Virginia. I believe that the Latakia used in this blend is Syrian, providing a sour/salty/smokey thread that weaves throughout the smoke, staying at the edges. If you're a fan of Virginia's in general, or of McClelland's Virginias in particular, you'll probably really enjoy this blend. Likewise if you're a fan of Syrian Latakia. (I prefer the Cyprian.) If you're a fan of Turkish, I believe you'll find a much better experience with Dunhill's London Mixture. In the McClelland line, I much prefer British Woods. I'll finish this tin without complaint, and think about Luke as I do, but I won't be buying Bombay Court again.
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NapaWineLover	09/18/2005	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
This is a very balanced tobacco and highly pleasurable. It had a enough smoky latakia to be interesting and not too much to be afraid of offending the unenlightened. It reminds me of a blend that I used to buy years ago close by to Wall St at a tobacconist on Maiden Lane, although this is far superior, the balance is what they share. The ash is light and it burns clean to the bottom of the bowl. If you accidently puff on this a little to aggressively and heat it up ... it will forgive you and settle down as you do. (Or as I did, as it were) Very nice stuff! VC
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Wartooth	07/11/2005	Mild to Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
This is one of my top 5 all-time favorite blends. The closest thing I have as a "go to" blend. Typical McClelland tangy broken virginia flake with a nice amount of oriental leave to add a bit of sourness and spice. The latakia peeks its head out once in a while but certainly never comes to the forefront. This could be a great intro to oriental blends for those wishing to venture out of the realm of virginia flakes.
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Professor	05/15/2005	Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Strong
McClelland's Bombay Court is surprisingly unpleasant. This 'Personal Reserve' looks good and smells great in the tin. Unfortunately, there the positive notes end. This is a 'taste like something smells' weed and in this case it is a mixture of new vinyl and a well-used kitty litter box. However crude that reads, it is truth that is not helped by the fact that this tobacco also burns very hot. The kind people of Mumbai would be insulted by such a namesake and with good reason.
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thedstnguishdgntlmn	02/05/2005	Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant
Truth be told I am not a devout McClelland fan, BUT this is the exception. I have been searching for a virginia flake that does not burn the tongue or make the belly queasy,and I believe I have found it.The dominant flavor of this blend is a rubbed out Virginia flake with just a dab of Latakia and a generous amt of Orientals and Turkish added.The blend defines what must have been an aromatic of yesteryear.It is sweet, mild, and bursting with flavor.My very good friend who loves McClelland said I would not like this blend so naturally I had to try it.Needless to say, a fair amt of his tin was left in my posession.When looking for a change from Latakia blends this is the ultimate in flavor!This is the best non-aromatic i have sampled from this company to date. I will make it part of my rotation. 3.5 0f 4 stars.
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emmbee	02/03/2005	Mild	Extremely Mild	Mild	Pleasant
An excellent offering in the Personal Reserve series by McClelland. This is a rich, dark blend of ribbon cut Virginias with Macedonians and a hint of Latakia. It has much of the same McClelland benchmarks: ketchupy tin aroma, thick, sugary cuts of tobacco and attention to quality with an emphasis on top grade stoved Virginia. This has much of the exotic charm of the British Woods with a bit of sweet piquancy ala Frog Morton. But it?s a more reserved version of each. Though it doesn?t rock my world like the two aforementioned, it?s a mixture worthy of merit. This could easily be an all day tobacco, as it doesn?t burn the tongue and no wet dottle is evident. Excellent, though I probably will stick with British Woods or one of the Frogs when I?m in the mood for a tobacco of this style. Three and a half of Five Stars
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RCUSElder	12/07/2004	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable to Strong
12-07-2004 A light oriental. Appearance and Tin Aroma: This doesn't smell swampy like Bombay Extra, just a typical light oriental. Very similar to Oriental #8 and #12. Leaf is light brown to dark brown. Packing and Lighting: Easy, but is very moist in the tin. 2-3 lights max. Initial Flavor: Nice burst of the turkish from the get go, some bright VA too. Mid-Bowl: Same round turkish dominated flavor, not too pungent, a little spicyness from the red VA noticable. Latakia is in the background. Bottom of Bowl: A slight build up of strength, gery mottled ash is left with some moisture in the heel and shank, 2-3 pipecleaners worth! Overall: This is a smooth oriental blend, but is just too bland for me. It might be a good intro to Turkish dominated blends though. Rating: 3 out of 5 points
Showing reviews 1 through 20 of 31 reviews of this tobacco NEXT >