The tin aroma is wonderful, and only improves with age. A slightly choclately sweet, earthy/smoky aroma characterizes this refined blend. British Woods is composed of Virginia, Oriental, Latakia, and Macedonian tobaccos. This mixture of tobaccos yields a dark color of lavender/brown interspersed with small cuts of orange. A very slight topping is added if any.

This blend has a slightly rough ribbon cut and requires no rubbing. Packing of this blend is accomplished without any inconveniences. The initial moisture is on the high end but an hour or two of drying will place this tobacco within the ideal moisture level. Removing the excess moisture of this blend is essential for an optimal smoke.

Lighting occurs fairly easily and the burning is consistent and quite complete. A lovely full white and very much tangible smoke is produced by this blend. Being a more full Latakia blend, the room note of this tobacco is certainly not an aromatic, as one would expect, yet it is by no means offensive.

A very harmonious English taste dominates this tobacco. In no manner does it ever seem harsh. Although being comprised of a great deal of Latakia tobacco, British Woods is never over bearing, but rather has a well-proportioned smoothness. About half way through the smoke, a slightly spicy, medium strength taste announces itself. Hardly any tongue bite occurs during the smoking of this blend.

British Woods? silky smooth balance of sweetness, spice, and smokiness is worth great praise. This tobacco blend is certainly an autumn day?s true counterpart. British Woods would probably benefit greatly from some aging. Recommended highly.

Out of the tin, the stuff is almost watery, no surprise here. Some serious drying is needed. The smell, with just a hint of McC, is very rich, leathery and dark- in other words delicious.

I would classify this as a medium English. Not killer latakia, but definitely there. A good dose of orientals, which makes this blend special for me.

I find that BW starts out kind of thin, almost anemic. This may be due to the moisture issue, though I promise, Dad, I did give it a good drying period. If I just had the first half over several bowls full, I would give this a "not my style" rating.

Ah, but the second half! The flavors all come on strong, with a good dark English taste. The latakia and orientals balance oh so well. This all builds to a wonderful climax... and then the bowl is done, making me want to have another.

A solid English entry from McClellands.

Now, onto the review:

Pipe: Brookfield quarter-bent 9mm filter, Apple-shaped bowl.

Weather-A fine sunny day. Avg. temp 73F. Pleasant humidity. Slight breeze.

Modifications- Denicool crystals in lower third of bowl, 9mm Bari Katalyzator filters as needed.

Packaging- 50g tin, Personal Reserve on label.

Initial Impressions- A dark blend of black and dark tan tobaccos. Moisture level is good for a McClelland. Tin aroma is potent and slightly acrid, with a woodsy, earthen scent underlying the overall smell. Packs well and is springy and fresh.

Lighting- Lights immediately with no initial hits of acrid odor. No tamp needed. Only a couple of relights needed and those are optional. The tobacco burns well and cleanly.

Smoking (First Third)- The taste is almost completely different from the tin aroma. The smoke is rich, full and creamy. There are woodsy aromas and smooth highlights of good tobacco flavor. No tongue bite. Lends well to medium puffing pace. The Virginias come up with a caramelly sweetness, but it's subtle, and not overpowering.

Smoking (Second Third)- The taste seems to mature and increase in volume, with a spicier forefront and an almost bitter chocolate hint overlaying a solid palette of warm tobacco flavor. This is a cool blend, but the "taste" is a warmer taste (as opposed to a menthol) and the smoothness never lets up. This part of the smoke is so rich and satisfying, I want to chew the smoke. Fortunately, the label is a bit misleading and this does NOT have the donkey kick of a strong, packed English blend. It's more of a medium to slightly full strength and doesn't seem to pack a giant nicotine wallop.

Smoking (Last Third)-Denicool crystals simply absorb nicotine, but I'm sure there are people out there that would smoke them if they could figure out a way to do it...

Aftereffects- The room note was wonderful throughout and continued to be so, even as the breeze blew the scents around and mixed with the cooling Fall air. No moisture present at bowl bottom. Crystals were dark brown color. No pipe fouling. Ash was clean, dry and grayish-black. No foul mouth taste present. No numb tongue, either.

Overall Recommendation: For the aromatic afficionado, this is a MUST BUY. For the English smoker, this is a MUST BUY. For the Virginia nut, this is a MUST BUY. This is a good tobacco to break in a pipe with and a wonderful tobacco to smoke on cool Fall nights. It's probably too strong in taste to be an all-day smoke, but I'd definitely recommend it as a nightcap or as a third companion on a walk in the autumn leaves with someone that you love. This is a classy tobacco; it's the witty Englishman with the smoking jacket and a roaring fire on a wintry day, not a 300-lb. bruiser spoiling for a fight.

I am reviewing a can that aged for over seven years prior to opening. I have not smoked a newer tin, but plan on getting more.

Immediately upon opening, the tobacco has the characteristic McClelland scent, which dissipates after being open for a few weeks. The tobacco itself is very dark, with a sprinkling of lighter colored leaves. The size of the tobacco is rather large, which forced me to work at the packing density a bit in order to get a good smoke to the bottom of the bowl. The effort is well worth it. My aged can showed a high level of crystal formation on the leaves. As usual, I let this sit for about a week after opening before smoking.

The initial taste is smoky and sweet, which settles into a dark, full flavor at the lower end of the spectrum, which may be what the tin notes refer to as heavy. The taste is consistent through the bottom two-thirds of the bowl, deepening a bit, and complex enough so as not to become boring. Occasionally increasing the smoking speed will bring the very pleasant sweet notes to the forefront quickly, adding an element of playfulness to the bowl.

Once I got past the packing issue by packing the bottom of the bowl a bit tighter than usual, this smokes cleanly to the bottom of the bowl and leaves you wishing it wasn?t over.

Highly recommended. 3/2002.

A extremely well balanced english blend from McClelland. The prose on the tin is quite misleading, I don't find this to be a "dark" or "heavy" blend at all, on the contrary it is a wonderful medium blend with a fairly bright, almost fruity taste and cleanly smoky aroma. It is fairly sweet blend (nearly as sweet as FrogMorton IMO), but the orientals help prevent it from cloying while the virginias cut the bitterness of the orientals. The Latakia is surprisingly moderate, but plays nicely around the edges of the mouth and adds more spice than smoke to the taste.