Robert McConnell Old London Pebble Cut

Comprised of ragged broken flakes, the tin nose is sharp with a strong aroma of fresh cut grapefruit. Sugar crystals are to be found here and the flakes tend to darken in color as the tin is allowed to breathe, turning from a deep mottled brown to a dark chocolate brown with streaks of chestnut and tan. Benefiting from the type of attention typically due such broken flake preparations, it can be rubbed to taste and does well in a variety of pipes.

Marked by a persisting high note which is alternately tart and sour, Pebblecut showcases an integrated combination of Macedonian Oriental and Louisiana Perique against a background of mellow, well-aged Carolina red Virginia. Mildly sweet, once comfortably settled in the bowl it offers a mélange of subtle flavors which range from mild citrus and sun tea to malt vinegar and old wood. On the light side of medium bodied, the finish is short and has a tendency to fall flat. The flavors are there, but the body to carry them is not.

Opened ten years after it was tinned by the good folks at McClelland, the sample on which this review is based clearly displays the effects of a decade at rest. Muted in parts and deepened in others, the Perique has been shorn of all but a modicum of the peppery spice of its youth and the fragrant pungency of the Oriental has mellowed considerably. While both appear well integrated into the mild Virginia base, to this reviewer's tastes the overall lack of body throws off what might otherwise have been quite a pleasant vintage smoke. While certainly known for its ability to play on the high end while young, in terms of aging potential the overall lack of a solid Virginia base makes its stunning looking tin label its most endearing characteristic. In this reviewer's opinion, the old McClelland made Ashton Pebblecut looks much better on the shelf than it tastes in the pipe and I for one do not lament its passing.

This tobacco presents a broken flake type of cut, mostly red and black in appearance, my tin if 2003, the scent coming out of the tin is of slight smell of fish food. The virginias and the orientals are the most noticeable ingredients I noticed the 6 bowls I have smoked so far which gives you a sort of sweet and sour taste during the whole smoke is a very monochromatic blend, the taste you get in the beginning is the same taste you get at the end, is easy to light, it's impossible to get this blend to bite, and the nicotine is about average, overall is great for the virginia smoker who wants a change of pace from smoking virginias all day, the biggest knockdown from me is that there's nothing here that challenges your palate, is this was bulk blend I would gave it 3 stars but being that is not it gets 2. Would i buy it again no, Ashton does not distribute it anymore, I have 2 tins from the McClellan re-issues that I'll be exploring in about 2 years; but for now this edition Pebblecut is just a bored.

I should start by saying that I have tried both, the McClelland version and one blended in Europe (it did not specify in which country it was blended in, but the parchment like label, very much like the ones in Rattray?s tins, said it to be blended by William Taylor). They are completely different. Whilst the McClelland rendering has virtually no distinctive trait other than that BBQ-Vinegar casing that, IMO, ruins the delicate diversity of tobacco flavours, the EU one is a subtle mixture of aromas and flavours producing a very singular smoke. I cannot say I completely enjoyed it. Perhaps the absence of Latakias made it different to what my palate was seeking, but it did have a very different taste from any other tobacco I have tried. Woodsy, slightly bitter and piquant, Old London Pebble Cut seems like a crossover blend: not entirely a Virginian, not entirely an Oriental tobacco. The tobacco presentation in the European version is very similar to that of Marlin flake: a long single flake-like strand of dark and mid brown tobacco coiled inside the tin. Breaking it up and filling it into the bowl were not a problem. Lighting was also easy (something which did not happen with the McClelland version, albeit it comes in a broken flake form). The initial flavour was that of Virginia and Perique, the latter being perhaps a little overwhelming. By mid bowl both predominant flavours had subsided, and a strange, slightly sweet and salty savour emerged, but it never really made a stand. I then sensed a mixture of indeterminate under tastes, dark and mushy, as if the whole thing had tangled up. By the end of the bowl the blend had shunned the best of both taste spheres, leaving a rather dry aftertaste, as if one had chewed on a piece of tree bark, and it was burning a little hot. The room aroma was quite strong and indefinable. I think it is a good tobacco, medium to strong, and would recommend it to any one who would like to try a strange, and slightly strong, variety of Virginia Perique.

Reading over the other reviews, I'm kind of confused. I am a McClelland Virginia enthusiast. Pebblecut, though, never ceases to confound me. For the record, I find it quite unlike any other McClelland Virginia that I have tried. I don't know the source, but there is a sharp edge, a harshness, in Pebblecut that both repels and attracts me. I find this same characteristic in GLP Barbary Coast. I'll smoke a bowl, say "hmm, that's kind of disconcerting", and I'll put it back on the shelf to get some more age. Then I'll find myself thinking "maybe I just misunderstood that flavor, maybe it is really, really interesting. I'll have to try that again."

My recommendation rating, therefore, is not necessarily permanent. But Pebblecut is a challenging, complex smoke, very unique - and therefore worthy of trying.