Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) Clan Aromatic (Original)

I have to say, in an honest spirit, that there's never been anything wrong with this blend. Its been around in the UK for donkeys years and I guess is the European version of 'the drugstore blend'; light, flavoured, sweetened and mild. It smells like custard powder and thats how we used to refer to it. Clan was looked on by my contempories as a 'transition' tobacco...one for newbies to smoke till they graduated onto more solid manly pipe tobaccos, though my cousin always smoked it. It's not accurate to look at it as the euro version of the Carter Hall/Prince Albert tobaccos tho, in the sense that it wasn't a tobacco smoked by oldtimers. It was much more of a 1960's phenomenon. The oldtimers were more Players Navy Cut, Whisky Flake and heaven help us Erinmore pipe smokers. I must confess that we looked down on Clan, regarding it as so mild as to be wimpy. The only use it had was as a mix with a certain substance forbidden by law :-)...in that it was very useful being so mild it was easily inhaled and less harsh on the throat than cigarette tobacco. And the aroma of custard powder and biscuits went very well together! I remember sitting on the train coming back from Brighton one day and smelling that particular mix and us laughing about it, when a long haired brother lifted his head up from further down the carriage and put his finger to his lips, grinning from ear to ear! Happy days:-) Anyway...give me Carter Hall over Clan anyday. It's more honest tobacco. And at about $16 for 50g which is what pipe tobacco is like here my American friends; its better to give Clan a miss and buy some decent stuff.

This is a Dutch pouch tobacco that is very difficult to find in the US, but fairly common in Europe. I've heard it called the European answer to Captain Black. I had sent from a friend in France. The UK pipe smoker's group recommends this for beginning pipe smokers, and while it is not a favourite of mine, I tend to agree. It has a rather "natural" taste to it, although a little sweet. I find it a little too reminiscent of cigarette tobacco for my taste. Also, as it is cut in very fine, long ribbons, it makes pipe packing difficult. One has to either stuff it into the bowl or tear apart the strands before loading the pipe. This is a bit of a nuisance.

There are a lot of negative reviews on this tobacco, but I feel that (in my personal opinion) it may be a bit too harsh.
Cons- bit bland, and fast burning
Pros- widely stocked (even in the middle of nowhere Portugal), pleasant enough to smoke

While it's not going to knock your socks off with decadent flavours, it is a decent enough smoke, and if you prefer a quick smoke (as I do when I'm working) it's a good middle ground.
Personally I find it a large step up from the overly scented and sickening sweetness of the usual borkhum riff(raff).
It's not going to win any awards but it'll keep you going when your baccy bag is running low

Clan was my first ever pipe tobacco. The packet I received after asking for pipe tobacco at my local newspaper/lottery store. This was about the only pipe tobacco they had at the time. I bought this pouch a week before I got my first pipe. Couldn't wait to start my new smoking experience. I was around 24 yo at the moment of purchase. Right now, some 5 odd years later and still smoking the occasional pipe, I'm writing this review.

Clan was a great and affordable way to get into the hobby. The tobacco burned a little hot. Tongue bite was reasonable, but deffinitely an issue. The taste wasn't great and the smell was so and so. After a while my pipe started to gurgle to the point I needed pipe cleaners to absorb the moisture. But still, I would recommend this to every beginner if someone asked my advice. Sure, if you spend triple or quadruple on a better quality tobacco, you will certainly have an easier, better tasting and overall greater experience. My opinion however; if you get through the manageable issues Clan can present, and you still love smoking your pipe after learning to smoke it slowely, than your choices in tobacco can only go up dramatically. Say if you start smoking with Samuel Gawith - Full Virginia Flake and work your way down to Clan aromatic, the experience will not be better in my opinion.

So in short: Buy this tobacco to give away to a beginner, or buy it to start your own pipe smoking journey. But best to avoid it if you are looking for your ultimate smoke.

This was part of a Christmas gift of a bundle of tobaccos and it seemed unfair not to review it the same as others. The blend comes as a small brick of pressed easily broken into ribbon which is on the extreme end of dry. The seal of the pouch was definitely intact though I cannot discount a fault with the packaging resulting in such a dry example though this is by far the driest tobacco I have come across. The pouch note is not unpleasant though difficult to pinpoint exactly. Definitely not lakeland but not saccharine Vape style sweetness either. The topping seems to be on the lighter side however and the smell of tobacco is dominant.

Minimal rubbing out is required and the press holds its shape even after a week in a jar. Loading is simple and its easy to a good draw. Lighting is what you would expect given the moisture content with an even disk of white ash after the charring light. The dominant flavour from start to finish is a deep nutty taste with hints of fruit and coffee with a spicy sweetness. The added flavourings come through more so on the retrohale and not offensive.

With few relights required it is easy to finish a large bowl of Clan in a steady relaxed smoke. It is easy to build up heat and tongue bite is an ever present possibility if you're not careful. Sipping a hot drink as you go keeps that in check however. As OTC blends go this isn't the worst I've tried but it is a OTC blend and not worth getting too excited over. I'm going to keep it jarred and use it to break in new pipes given its great even burning characteristics.

Smells great in both pouch and pipe - burns hotter than the face of the sun when lit.

Difficult to enjoy no matter how it’s prepared - only veterans can claim this as “cool, slow smoke”.

Olive wood pipes seem to smooth the rough edges but why bother to go to those extremes when other baccy’s are available?

When you smoke an ounce or two a week, why not get something less harsh on the mouth?

As a pipe tobacco, very mediocre and an over perfumed super market blend. With an addition of ammonium chloride (salmiakki, popular flavouring of salty liquorice in northern Europe) which soothes your throat, and thus makes it easy to inhale. If you are only into just pipes pipes, I'd skip it, unless you have a memory of grandpa smoking it and breathing it all day in his only pipe, and you are looking for that sort of thing.

On the other hand, if you are into other herbs than tobacco mixed with tobacco in a European style of illegal cigarette, the amonium chloride and light Latakia and other subtle flavourings makes it a great mixer for that sort of thing.

I did try Clan decades ago and didn't care much for it. I decided that after a long time, it's appropriate to give it another try. Very mild smell from the pouch, absolutely perfect humidity so I simply tore a pipe-volume piece of the mixture that was compactly pressed in the pouch, rolled it slightly and just stuffed it into the pipe. Good initial ligting, well burning, absolutely no bite, no heat, no juice. I read about napalm like quick burn, but to me it was just the opposite. Really nice burn, I'd admit it goes somewhat fast, but nothing out of ordinary. Just puff slowly and it's ok. Very nutty, full, but mild smoke with a ful aroma of claimed mixture of many sorts of tobacco. I do sense oriental notes. It does feel slightly zesty or sharp at moments, but it just proves it does have a body, perhaps with earthy leathery undertones. I usually jump from full fruity aromatics to serious latakia blends, so Clan does come out as a unique mixture, quite different from popular hype names. Good or bad is not the right way to describe it. It's a special story. I'm personally not a fan of Clan, but after many tobacco mixtures that I have tried, this one comes as a reference to help me sort out other tobacco in comparison, if you know what I mean. It's something useful to have in the collection and smoke it from time to time just to break the usual routine. Update July 2023 Again at it, nice and smooth smoke, it became one of rotation blends. Quite satisfactory as no aroma prevails but it's overall a decent aromatic mixture. Probably one of most underrated tobacco, unjustly so.

I'm reviewing a 20 year old Clan made in Holland. I bought the 50g pouch with a pipe in the late 90s and since back then I was in cigarette smoking, I smoked the pipe like a cigarette. So, my pipe journey lasted about 2 days and 48g in the pouch. Now I'm doing a little better with the pipes and I humidified this tobacco and find not too bad. In the jar and during the smoke I only get a floral note, nothing more. Smoked at a medium pass and using a pipe cleaner for moisture the taste was floral from begining to end. I'll dedicate my first pipe to this Aromatic