McClelland 40th Anniversary

Yet another elegy for yet another tobacco from Christmas Past . . .

McClelland's 40th Anniversary (Limited Edition) Straight Virginia (Red Virginia Flake) is but another fine example of a uniquely classic McClelland blend, now lost forever.

I didn’t pick up the pipe until 2013. Initially, I didn't want anything to do with straight Virginias. I was naturally drawn to English blends, Balkans, Orientals – and even though those blends contained Virginias – I wanted something deeper, darker, fruitier, more leather and campfire and fig. To me – as a complete neophyte – the idea of smoking a straight Virginia, at that time -- well -- the first thing that came to my mind was a Marlboro cigarette. (Hay? Grass? Citrusy? Are you kidding me? If I wanted a chardonnay, I’d have asked for one – I wanted big, fat, chunky, chewy cabernets and Barolos).

So, by the time I first encountered this Straight Virginia blend back in the Spring of 2017, I was just learning how to really appreciate Virginia tobaccos, and I was naturally drawn to this particular Virginia blend. I don’t know if it was simply the name McClelland (the name that sort of gave it a “Ford Motors” of pipe tobaccos cachet) or whether it was simply that marvelous, marvelous ketchup smell when you popped the tin – I just thought to myself then that “this McClelland is the benchmark Virginia by which I will measure and evaluate any and all other Virginias by.”

Had I known then what I know now, I would have hoarded every little blue-and-white tin of this heavenly substance I could have laid my greedy little hands on. (Mike and Mary McNeil announced in a letter dated February 28th, 2018, that they were going to be shutting down, but, unfortunately, I didn’t get the memo until it was way, way too late).

I only have 400 grams of this stuff remaining, with perhaps another 75 grams in a jar. I’m going to let those four tins sit for a good long time before opening them (I’m thinking 2030 or so; I’m saving at least one for the launch of the first manned mission to Mars, currently planned for somewhere around 2034).

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UPDATE: June 4, 2019

I just discovered clay pipes, and what a difference they make -- all the difference in the world when it comes to straight Virginias. Smoking this McClelland VA out of a clay is like tasting the tobacco for the very first time. Indeed, the same can be said for EVERY Virginia I have smoked. The difference between a clay and a briar is simply ineffable. THIS is how Virginia's are to be enjoyed, in a clay pipe. All you get is the true taste of the tobacco, and nothing more. Cool, very dry smoke (no moisture at all). Started smoking pipes back in 2013, and have just now discovered I've been doing it all wrong when it comes to straight VAs. If you have never smoked Virginias out of a clay, spend the $14-$20 and check it out -- the results will be utterly priceless.