Grey Havens is a dependable smoke that performs well with no bite no matter how you puff.

The extremely light topping burns off quickly and serves only to begin the smoke smoothly and quickly transition to the burley supported by perique. Essentially preventing "perique shock" which many of us (especially me) can get from time to time.

If nightcap is your regular (or similar) this blend was not designed for you, save your time and money and move on.

However, this is not what I consider an aromatic tobacco, it is simply a light burley/perique blend, and might appeal to English as well as aromatic folks looking for something on the edge of their normal taste profiles - at least that's what it does for me.

I liked Grey Havens, a good solid blend that can satisfy but likely won't make you turn flips.

Recommended,

3 stars,

Thanks,

Ethan

The tin aroma, devoid of any McClelland ketchup smell after the drying, comes across as smelling like a spiced fruit compote. At the match the flavor comes through fresh and sweet. Quite sweet, actually, with a light and pleasant room aroma. I don't notice much complexity of taste in this blend, and not much change from start to finish. Rather, it's just good burley, virginia, a touch of perique, and a casing I'm still trying to identify (honey, perhaps?)

A good change of pace smoke for me, and recommended.

Update 12/23/05. My last tin of GH was not quite as good as were the earlier ones. I mixed it with 2035 (50/50) and found it even better than my original experience with this blend.

Update 7/30/07. While never a great fan of aromatics, GH ranked near the to op the list. As I grow less enchanted with aromatics, so does my liking for this one.

Add a star if you like aromatics and two stars is aromatics are all you smoke.

Upon opening the tin the famous McClelland ketchup was not as overpowering as their other blends,a figgy note was prescent,like a fruity steak sauce.

The leaf itself is predominately leather brown with a sprinkling of dark leaf.Finely shredded it packs and lites easily in a medium Savinelli.Upon liting once burning billowy clouds of smoke erupt.

I would say this is better than Deep Hollow, not by much, but it seems to excel wherever Deep Hollow fails.

I can't seem to find anything bad to say about this blend! So far I would have to say that this is my favorite!

I put the tobacco in a mason jar and let it sit for about 3 weeks, and then tried it again. Wow! It tastes like a completelly different tobacco. The burley had a nice nutty flavor, good sweetness from the VA, and spice from the perique. I convinced, the longer this tobacco ages, the better it will get. As other reviewers noted, it is a good warm weatner smoke. If you like burly based tobaccos, give this one a try.

10/3/06 I'm going to have to downgrade my recommendation on this tobacco. The last couple of times I smoked it, it really started to bite. I thought it would mellow out in a couple of months, but that's not the case. Mc Clelland has much better tobaccos than this one.

Three and a half of five stars

That was the case with Grey Havens. I initially could taste nothing. I began drawing harder, attempting to capture what taste was there and the bowl and my mouth got a little hotter than I like.

I am going to put it up for a month and come back to it. For now, it has shown itself to be a bland, thin, vaporous thing. The "room note" was OK, but that is about it.

My own efforts have proven more satisying. I mixed a pouch of Revelation that had only a couple pipe fulls missing and an equal amount of MC 5100, added a measured teaspoon of MC blending Latakia and a measured tablespoon of MC blending Perique. I mixed it, let it sit overnight and on the way home tonight had a smoke that was much more satisfying that Grey Havens.

Just a hint of smokiness, just a hint of Perique and the 5100 sweetened and rounded out the Revelation. And it didn't cost me almost $9.00. Yes, I can be a tighwad. And sometimes it pays off.

This is in sharp contrast to my experience with other McC Craftsbury collection series. Frog Morton is, IMO, abysmally boring. Deep Hollow kind of like attempting to smoke a caramel apple (though quite tasty if you hit a sweet spot). But Gray Havens is to date the only one of the bunch I'd actually keep around. Though I have a feeling I should hunt down some old tins or else stow away a bunch for savoring later...

I will add that while topped, this seems to promote much more appeal in taste than to room note. While the perique and topping function well in the blend - the air left in the room is exceptionally acrid and stale.

-Not recommended

Hot, flat and 'blah'.

The tobacco was a bit damp, but a bit of time sitting out solved that.

The first 1/3 of the bowl was Burley all the way, until the Virginia got going well. The Va seemed to like to pop up boldly, then run back into the background. The topping was very mild, and the Perique? well, I had to double check when I first started smoking this blend. I was sure there was supposed to be some. It just stayed so far in the background that it was hard to tell if the taste I was getting hints of was Perique or the topping. McC says it?s a hint of Perique ? and they speak the truth.

Overall, this is an interesting smoke, and I enjoyed it. It smoked cool, and other than the finish which left a bit to be desired (bitter), I would not turn my nose up at it. But I doubt I would buy it again either.