Robert McConnell Old London Pebble Cut

Appearance: The excise stamp on the can indicated the 1st quarter of 2017, but the warning inscriptions about the harms of smoking were already new, sample 2018. So the tobacco involved in today's review is about five years old. The tall, narrow tin contains 100 grams of originally cut flake. The long strips cut from the already dark baked plug have become almost a shade of wenge over five years, so it's hard to understand what varieties the tobacco is made up of without knowing the composition. But even against the background of dark baked virginia even darker cavendish and a small amount of perique. The manufacturer didn't skimp on glycerin, and that's why the tobacco humidity is a bit excessive, it should be dried up a bit, perhaps by force, considering the fact that the mixture of glycerin and propylene glycol absorbs water from the air well. A pleasant addition is the fact that from a long strip of flake you can always tear off the necessary amount if you want to roll it into a bowl without having to grind it into separate fibers.

Flavor: dense, a little heavy, but not too intense. Notes of dried apricots, figs, dark raisins lead the way, followed by a woody note, a touch of walnut, a small amount of yeast dough, barely noticeable behind the fruity notes. A small amount of honey sauce is present to lighten up the cavendish a bit more, but it doesn't ruin the finished tobacco.

Taste: smooth, mild, moderately bright and just as moderately dense. Notes of prunes and honey stand out a bit, but almost in line with them are woody notes supported by figs and spices. The scant amount of perique, as Germans usually do, is nevertheless enough to give some peppery note on the retrohale. The sweetness is medium in the beginning, but drops to moderate during the smoking process, so it confirms that part of it is of artificial origin. The taste of the tobacco does not change during the smoking process, but becomes much more monolithic. In my bents woody notes were slightly more pronounced. The tobacco is very sensitive to overheating, and does not tolerate rushing. It almost immediately begins to warm the pipe, becoming bitter and giving water, which makes the smoke moist and biting. If you smoke it very slowly, on the verge of fading, it does not even think of biting, burning evenly, but trying to fade because of its moisture. The strength of the blend is medium - 20x40 pipe went on the edge of a slight nicotine hit. Tobacco burns into gray ash without lumps, leaving some moisture in the pipe. The aftertaste is woody, extremely unstable.

Taking very slow temp of smoking, the smoke in the room is hardly noticeable, having only a hint of woody-fruity odor with a hint of plum.

The bottom line. This is one of the few "old-school" tobaccos left on the market that still gives some imagination of how blends were made half a century ago. Unfortunately, the hand of the market has touched it too - the Orientals are gone, replaced by Cavendish, the amount of glycerin has increased, rounding out the taste to reduce the difference in Virginia of different harvests. Nevertheless, its extremely smooth and mild flavor is the benchmark to which many producers aspire. This tobacco is certainly worth a try if you have the opportunity, although it may cause some difficulty for the beginner in terms of smoking pace.

deeply sweet tasting blend. not everyday smoke for me but it is a welcome desert blend from time to time. the cut looks like extremly long flake to me.

Very good tasting tobacco. I smoked it after rubbing it intensively otherwise it lights hard. Do not let it dry it loses it's quality.

The following review is for the European-market version (made by Kohlhase- Kopp instead of McClelland, I believe). Old London is a good vaper/oriental blend. Its a little bitey and sour but if smoked slowly yields a really nice, robust flavor. The VA's are definitely in charge but the orientals round it out and the perique adds spice. I'm a fan of Kohlhase-Kopp's work on this and especially the Rattray's VA line, and I'm looking forward to trying more of their Ashton blends. I'd recommend OLPC as an occasional change of pace for VA fans.

If you try this blend, bring along a welding torch as it is the devil's own business to light. Upon lighting it, you will find it spicy and a little bitey , like many other rude boy Virginias. It's worth patiently puffing your way through this smoke's nasty little adolesence, though, since as you smoke your way down the bowl, you'll find that it smokes nice and cool for a flake. The taste alternates between a slight sweetness, a light natural taste, and neutral. A load in a little Prince lasts me well over an hour. On the whole, a nice smoke, but I can't find anything hugely special about it.

A year later: I find that smoking this tobacco quite dry, not rubbed out, in a small-bore pipe leads to a much better smoking experience. It is good, and I enjoy smoking it, but it won't make my flake rotation. Rating upgraded to ***.

This is definitely a McClelland blend; it bears all the hallmarks of their Virginia flakes (thick cut, tart tin odor) yet proves to be an interesting variant, due to the presence of the Carolinas and Orientals. While the classic McC sharp smokiness is present from the first puff, it is matched by a very noticeable sourness, round and full and pungent, and a sweetness almost like ripe figs. This little flake carries a big load of flavor that remains complex and interesting to the bottom of the bowl. It also seems to carry less threat of tongue bite than your average McClelland, probably due to the VAs being "cut" by the other tobaccos. Good stuff.