McClelland - Craftsbury Series: Deep Hollow pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
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The Dead Mule	09/09/2009	Mild	Medium	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant
I sampled some of this on the recommendation of my local tobacconist. The tin from which he drew my sample had been, in his words, "open awhile", and the tobacco was dry, but not to the point of being dusty. This was my first smoke in a new Cavicchi, and I was very impressed. As other reviewers have noted, like most McClelland Virginias, it appears to be good for building a dependable cake (however slowly). This sample from my tobacconist had that nice meaty McClelland character, with a pleasant and light sugary foretaste before the trademark McClelland flavor. It was essentially a straight Virginia with a slight, nearly undetectable, topping. Excited, I bought a 100g tin and opened it to find...a very heavy aromatic. 'Twas sticky and overpowering and not at all like the sample I had originally had. Cautious, I set down my Cavicchi and reached for a Peterson System, and I am glad I did. This burned well almost to the end, but eventually ended up with the inevitable & unlightable aromatic goop at the bottom. The flavoring was pleasant (but nevertheless over the top) if you are expecting an aromatic, but quite a surprise if you intended to taste a straight Virginia. I have seen two camps of reviewers for this tobacco: those that call it an aromatic and those who proclaim it is a Virginia with no/little topping. I have seen both sides in just two tins. I have not given up hope in this blend, and have set the tin topless in my bookcase until such time I think it can behave itself. If I can dry or age it long enough to recreate my original experience I will upgrade this review and detail what I had to do. Until then, this is a two star, fairly average, overly cased tobacco. If you are looking for a straight Virginia, get a McClelland flake (Blackwoods, for instance, is an ethereal smoke). If you are actually looking for an aromatic, this might be good right out of the tin, so long as you don't need to taste the Virginias beneath the surface.
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CPT/VSG	09/06/2009	Mild	Medium	Mild	Pleasant
Deep Hollow is just not my cup of tea. I just finished an '03 tin which has been open for about 18 months but the tobacco is still sticky to the touch, which, I have to admit, puts me off. While the tin note is pleasing, DH smokes with a sense of the casing that subtracts from the fine Virginians used. Despite the stickiness, it does burn well and to a clean gray ash. It also does not smoke particularly hot. Despite those positives, for Virginia flavor, I'd go with Christmas Cheer or one of MeCelland's straight Virginias such as #27.
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Bob Smith	07/01/2009	Mild	None detected	Medium	Very Pleasant
Deep Hollow, like all the McClelland Virginias, is an extraordinary tobacco. It is as sweet as honey, and has a bold, spicy flavor. By spicy I don't mean peppery, like Perique, but like the brown spices: cloves, allspice and cinnamon. Its sweetness comes from the natural sugars in the leaf, not from any top flavoring or casing. I like its soft, fluffy texture. It also ages wonderfully. Besides enjoying it on its own, I use it as a blending tobacco. I like English blends, but I prefer those with a bit of sweetness. If I try a new English blend and I like it, but it isn't at all sweet, I can usually make it more to my liking by adding a little Deep Hollow. I also use it whenever I break in a new pipe. The sugars really season the briar quickly. The only negative for me about this blend is the same drawback I find with all straight Virginias: they don't have the richness or body of a good English blend. They're like eating sorbet instead of ice cream. I have posted the identical review for Virginia Woods. To me, Virginia Woods and Deep Hollow taste almost exactly the same. Both are great, but virtually indistinguishable from each other.
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AI	01/16/2009	Mild	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Very Pleasant
I found Deep Hollow a great blend. It taste great, smokes cool and has room note that is enjoyed even by the nonsmokers. In some ways the taste and aroma reminds me of a blend I used to smoke called Black and Gold, but the tobacco blend in Deep Hollow is quite different. The red and black stoved Virginias in Deep Hollow are of the highest quality. Great job McClelland!
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northernsmoke	11/15/2008	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
Red and black VAs with a initial smell of cinnamon apples. Although the smell is quite sweet I found with a bit of time, just like with all VA blends, this became mellow and creamy. If you get flare-ups, tongue bite, etc try stopping the process and try again later. If by quarter bowl the pack is roasting hot chances are it will be hard to salvage the experience. Roll slow on this one. I'm tasting apple but the overall impression is a sturdy sweet smoke with out the syrupy build-up on the tongue which usually accompanies aromatics with the same flavor. Just take care not to burn the heck out of it and this one should treat you nice.
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Pipemanuk	06/13/2008	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
This was a revelation to me and so far its a bit unique. I am an english smoker, as you probably guessed from the name :-), and this tobacco makes such a nice change from almost everything else I smoke. I only came across it because of good old Ebay but I am so glad I went out and grabbed a completely unknown, to me, tobacco. Like others, I regret that its only available in tins and not bulk. Maybe McClelland will reconsider their policy if enough ask. Why do i like this so much? Well, its gentle sweet taste is a perfect change from the eternal english varieties that are everywhere these days...don't get me wrong, I love Westminster, but I need a complete change from time to time and this is what I find myself returning to. Its such an american blend that it's completely different from all the tobacco's I have been used to for years. I think of Mick McQuaid, FVF, 1792, Brown Rope, Westminster, etc etc and Deep Hollow is so far apart from them. I would love to find something similar to it, to be honest, just to give it a fair trial.....but,as it stands, this deserves 4 stars in my book. Update May 2008 Just got hold of some 1991 Deep Hollow in one of the old style tins. Interestingly this was marketed as one of the Personal Reserve Oriental series! This is so changed from modern Deep Hollow as to be an utterly different tobacco. Maybe they changed the recipe some time? Modern DH contains what looks like 3 individual tobacco's; a mixture of light, medium and dark brown strands. The 1991 has just dark brown and black strands: the sweetness that you can smell in the modern tin has vanished and the aroma is earthy, pungent and strong. By contrast, it smokes smooth with all the high notes of modern DH missing. Its almost smoky, utterly delicious, no tongue bite and absolutely nothing like modern day Deep Hollow. In the spirit of true tobacco geekery I have just cracked open a 1995 tin, the earliest year that I have which has a label similar to, but not exactly the same as, the modern tins. The 1995 version has the same mix of tobacco as the modern tins though obviously with 13 years aging it smokes differently. If you can lay your hands on any well aged Deep Hollow I do strongly recommend you try it even if you think that you are not a fan of DH:-)
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Big bad Jon	04/11/2008	Mild	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
This blend is the best of the crossover blends I have tried. It has all the delicious attributes of VA tobacco, but the black Cavendish adds a cooling effect to the blend. The tin note is very reserved, what you do get is the typical McClelland vinegar smell. I mostly smoke English tobacco and find when I get careless I smoke VA's too hot. This is not a problem with this blend. I would say that the Cavendish does not add much to the blend in the taste department. The Va's are naturally sweet, complex and delicate. What the Cavendish does offer is a safety net to puff without paying as close attention to your speed.
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Glorfindel	04/04/2008	Mild	Extremely Mild	Very Mild	Pleasant
UPDATE: Upgrading to 3 stars, this ages well with oxygen exposure become a little stronger and more flavorful. Also, this is NOT and aromatic. It IS a light straight VA with an almost non-existant topping. This is a great all day smoke for the lighter VA crowd (me:). If you have this blend and didn't care for it, give it some time I have smoked a LOT worse ORIGINAL: 3-14-2008 Light carmel notes, maybe imagination or not, but it's very light. The VAs used here are mild to almost tasteless, but I can't say I didn't like this blend, I liked it more than I disliked it. It will perform as a dependable, very average smoke. Whips the pants off any drugstore blend that I can think of, just not enough zing for me. I can imagine that anyone who keeps the McC blending stocks could create something neat and tastey with this mix. I'd say a dash of oriental and latakia might make some magic here. This is not a heavily cased aromatic, just a lightly topped VA in the mild dept. Not bad but not great, definitley has potential. I think I just talked myself into buying the full compliment of McC's blending varieties. :) Good Draw to You, Sincerely Ethan "Glorfindel" Dickey
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herfinmickey	03/19/2008	Mild	Very Strong	Extremely Mild (Flat)	Strong
I have to start off by saying that I purchased this product by accident, mistakenly thinking it to be something else. I usually enjoy English blends but went to my local Tobacconist looking to try a straight unflavored Virginia blend. Somehow I ended up with this. On arriving home I popped the top of the can (you wouldn't use the term "tin" for this stuff) and found that I had actually pulled the pin on a live noxious vanilla potpourri grenade. Inside the can I found a darkly colored salad of goopy "tobacco". The sickening aroma emanating from the can was like Captain Black on steroids. I quickly replaced the cover extinguishing the emanating fumes. Later feeling braver I decided that I may as well give it a try. I decided to sacrifice an old, worn, seldom used Jobey once purchased on Ebay for this effort. Upon lighting I was transported in something of a time traveling experience to an earlier unenlightened period of immature drug store blend pipe smoking. The taste was bland, somewhat pleasant, without the slightest hint of tobacco flavor. Soon however the evil gnomes that dwell in this blend became angry and began to pour their boiling kettle of sugar syrup and tar on my unprotected tongue. I quickly terminated smoking and placed the now befouled pipe on the table. This is an experience that I do not intend to repeat.
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imago	02/26/2008	Medium	Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
Revision 02/26/2008: This remains a pleasant tobacco, IMO; however, I have apparently exposed myself to too many much more substantial tobaccos which leave me finding Deep Hollow just a bit too light. McCranie's Red Flake gives me the tang and sparkle that I used to enjoy in Deep Hollow whilst also giving me real tobacco flavour. Original review: I first reviewed this tobacco a few years ago and, although I had smoked many tobaccos before then and have smoked quite a few since, THIS is the blend to which I keep returning. Other favourites have come and gone from my cellar, but this is the only one (aside from Balkan Sasieni and McClelland's 5100) that I keep in constant supply. A slightly sweet, woodsy aroma is left behind in the room, and it burns to a fine grey ash. I have searched unsuccessfully for a reasonable facsimile of this blend that can be purchased in bulk. I have resigned myself to purchasing multiple tins of this blend each month just to make sure that I will never have to go without.
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DoctorThoss	09/30/2007	Mild to Medium	Medium	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
This isn't a terribly bad blend, it's just not a terribly good one, either. If I'm in the mood for an aromatic I can think of several that are better, but this one nonetheless has a distinctive taste and aroma that sets it apart from others (apple, maybe, or fig?). When you get halfway down the bowl you're mainly tasting the classic McClelland flavor -- dark Virginia with some kind of weird ketchup overtones. Anyway, this isn't terrible enough to warrant a single star but definitely not good enough to merit more than two. If you like Va-based aromatics, give it a whirl -- you might just enjoy it.
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miracleman83	08/30/2007	Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
Of what I understand to be "crossover blends", this is my favorite. Not as good as a straight english or vaper, but a nice changeup.
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indyf1	05/27/2007	Very Mild	Medium	Mild	Pleasant
Deep Hollow is not a bad blend, although I really can't say it is a good one either. It has a very simple taste -- no real depth and no real "tobacco" taste. However, neither is the casing overwhelming -- it's there, but is simply not accompanied by a good tobacco taste. The flavor is light vanilla with a tangy finish. That aftertaste was very familiar. At first, I thought of an apple spice cake, but then it hit me -- it's a subdued version of that characteristic McClelland "ketchupy" flavor. All in all, this is not too bad of a smoke, but not one I'll purchase a second time. While smoking Deep Hollow, I can see myself at a company picnic. It is July -- hot, humid -- and the barbecue grill is smoking under the pavilion with hamburgers and hot dogs roasting away. I'm sweating, but not as much as the poor bastards playing in the softball game pitting the second floor workers against the third floor suits. My straight briar billows regularly with the sweet, inoffensive smoke of this McClelland blend.
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Ewoth	01/02/2007	Mild	Very Mild	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable
I enjoy this blend, it reminds me of being out in the woods, just like the packaging says. I find little to be more enjoying than smoking this alone at night, outside, just sitting and watching the smoke rise to the tree branches above. I find this to be moist, but not to the point where it'll fill your bowl with goo, making it hard to draw in the smoke.
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romaso	06/21/2006	Mild	Medium to Strong	Medium	Pleasant
I'm a vanilla aromatic guy, but this one's not for me. The flavor was predominantly sweet apple, and alot of it, and any vanilla was overwhelmed by it. If you have a sweet tooth and like apple, this is for you, as the tobacco is good quality also. Still, too sweet for me!
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OPCguy	02/21/2006	Very Mild	Mild	Very Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable
Deep Hollow is a nice blend to turn to if you want something a little sweet. There is a faint hint of vanilla here and the Virginias mask it well, allowing the creamy vanilla to trickle through ever so slightly. Deep Hollow is a nice and decent smoke. However, I am on a quest to find a few good blends to stick with and DH just doesn't have enough interests for me to keep around...glad I tried it though. I prefer Frog Morton On The Town by same blender. Enjoy!
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Cactus John	11/28/2005	Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Tolerable
This is a nice tobacco very similar to Virginia Woods but not quite as good. It will improve a great deal with age. The more age the better. When what I have of this is gone I wont be getting any more just because I'm going over to Virginia Woods for what I keep this around fore.
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thedstnguishdgntlmn	06/30/2005	Medium to Strong	Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant
A very good blend for McClelland. I personally am a Cornell&Diehl man and am not in love with most McClelland Products,but this is actually quite good. A very good Virginia flavor with some type of casing that lends a slightly sweet note to the blend. Not really a straight Virginia,nor an aromatic. It is what I would call an "in betweener".A good change of pace blend-kind of like "Valle Crucis"My big problem with this was it gets you in the back of the throat.You will need a lot of water to rehydrate after this one. Almost 3 stars.
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DUPE.1512	06/29/2005	Mild	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
If you like red and black VA's which are flavorful this is the one. The strength of this weed is it's ability to keep the tastebuds interested and happy while engaged in another activity and in such, are smoking in auto mode. Packs, lights and burns easy with no tounge bite. I wish this came in bulk.
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memlapse	05/09/2005	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant
With the mixed bag of ratings, I was slow to try this blend. I can't say that I was necessarily missing out with there being so many other blends that I have tried and enjoyed. This blend just happened to work with my chemistry. I found it very flavorful and with just enough sweetness to satisfy that occasional craving. What I found more interesting was that over a period of a month, I managed to smoke a 100gm tin without realizing it. So much for the occasional craving. I think what I liked about it, was that it kept my taste buds happy during those times when I was in "auto-puff" mode. I have to be careful when I do that with some blends as I can either fry my tongue or miss the subtle nuances of more complex blends. It's a non-thinking smoke, and there are times when my subconcious likes to enjoy a pipe, while the rest of the brain is balancing the checkbook. While this may not be a hallmark tobacco, is has it's place.
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