McClelland Blending Perique

To anyone who is capable of smoking a whole bowl of this: You are invincible. Join the elite special forces.

I don't know how high my stud rating is, but I gave this thirty puffs before I coughed, gagged, and lay there in a fetal position crying like a girly man with the hiccups.

Fell just short of crying for my mother. I had a TINY TINY TINY meerschaum bowl full of this stuff, and it took my breath away. This stuff is EXTREMELY spicy, and I think is more meant to be added to some other tobacco.

Come to think of it... When you look at the name: BLENDING PERIQUE, that's most likely what they meant!

This stuff makes seventeen ninety two look like gummi bears. Oh, Gosh, the inside of my mouth has a rough texture... The whole inside of my mouth...

To the guys with leather tongues... You must be immortal.

To bad this is not even real perique. If you want the real thing it can be had from the only one left farming it. Percy martin in Grand Pointe Ridge Louisiana. This stuff is actually whats known as green river burley. It's fermented in the same manner leading to perique like qualities, but it's not perique. In fact every blend on the market today claiming to have perique in it actually uses this stuff instead. That's right even the holy grail of vapers. Escudo. It's cheaper and far more abundant. Please do your research before you review.

I've actually smoked this one straight just for adventure. And it was an adventure; I darn near singed off my nose hairs when I exhaled (just once), through the snout. True St. James Parish Perique that is bold, dark, spicy and perks up just about any blend I want it to. Spice up some of your favorites with the real deal right here!

[EDITED]

I wanted to revisit this review, having been away from the pipe for awhile and recently come back to it with a vengeance.

I recently picked up some blending tobaccos to experiment a little and see what sort of blend I could come up with for myself. Among these is a pound of this Perique, and though I've smoked it many times in the past, I think everybody's opinion of a tobacco changes over time.

I've read in many places that "Perique is used as a spice tobacco and is too strong to smoke by itself"...horsecrap. Is it a very strong tobacco? Yeppers. Too strong? Maybe if you're not a regular smoker, but if you pick up the pipe a few times a day the higher than normal nicotine shouldn't bother you. The flavor of Perique is stunning. You can smoke it several times in a row and still notice something new with each bowl. Yes, it will add spice and a beautiful, peppery, pungent depth to any blend, but this tobacco should never be regarded as something that can't be smoked alone. I thoroughly enjoy it (am doing so right now) and will for as long as I smoke a pipe. A word of warning, though: Do not try to smoke it as it arrives in the post. In the bag, it is literally sopping wet and had to be spread on a large stainless tray to be dried for almost a full day, and even then is just a tad more moist than I'd personally prefer. If you light the stuff up wet, it'll roast your tongue (like almost any tobacco would), is nearly impossible to keep lit, and will gunk up the bottom of your pipe bowl.



Not recommended for anyone brand new to the pipe, certainly.

The recent review by "onetrackmind" cracked me up. OneTrack, surely you must be aware that 99 - point something % of the folks who read these reviews know all about "true" Perique, and how that what we can buy today isn't like it once was. But, Perique is as much about the fermentation process as it is about the leaf, if not more. Even the more jaded experts agree that the Green River Burley (or SJP) version is quite excellent, and likely the best we'll see again in our lifetime. And, every year, the quality is improving. McClelland's Blending Perique is good stuff. I have some pounds aging that begins with 10 ounces of their 5100, 4 ounces of 5105, and 2 ounces of this Perique. Sometimes I'll change the 5100 and 5105 amounts around a bit, but I always stick with 2 ounces of this. Pretty good stuff, I have to say. Even just one year of aging yields a nice mild VaPer. Having said this, yeah, I still long for the day when some more farmers down in St. James Parish decide to grow the real deal again, and sell it to PT manufacturers! Hope springs eternal.

Tin: Light black, ribbon cut. Sweet perfumy dried fruit smell. Slightly stickly.

Lighting & Nicotine: Took two matches to get it lit, then immediately produced moisture. Very difficult to keep lit. Took a relight every few puffs. This allowed me to take break and recover from the nicotine, before each relight. I got woosy after a few puffs, but it is still smokable by itself, if you are a hardened character and inured to nicotine poisoning(Nicotine is a rodenticide.). After 1/5 of a bowl, I got knocked to the floor by Nick O'Tine and made my nose run.

Taste & Aroma: Smoky, pungent, dried fruit; peppery, overpowering blast to the nostrum. Not sweet.

Overall: The subtler qualities of McClelland Latakia and Perique are not well-displayed when smoked straight. This Perique is way too frustratingly difficult to keep lit; heavy in nicotine; some wicked, wicked stuff.

I love the VaPers and found 15 per cent of this mixed with 85 per cent SG's Golden Glow (a low-nicotine, 'sipping' Virginia) to be right up my alley - robust, stout and bursting with flavour. A lot of the VaPer blends out on the market will have as little as five per cent perique, so one should initially proceed with caution.

While Percy Martin does still grow and supply perique, his entire production goes to the company making American Spirit cigarettes for their use. However, there is another SJP perique producer.

According to "Pipes and Tobaccos" magazine, there is a company (owned by Coley Ryan) producing 100% St. James Parish perique in limited supply. The limited supply of SJP for the open market requires combining the real deal with Green River burley processed ala perique. These two are blended into what is called perique today, in most cases.

Not sure if anyone is using 100% SJP perique, but several blenders say they are using SJP perique in their blends (meaning, there's some SJP perique in their blends, but not strictly SJP).

As for using MBP, try adding a few strands to a bowlful, smoke it and then smoke the blend again without the perique. Increase the perique and repeat. Such a process will help one learn to taste the leaf and even help you tell when a blender is using it, but not listing it as an ingredient.

For many, the magic of perique is in it's "there but not there" apparitional character, not in its flavor domination or fully constituting the blend. But when it comes to taste, to each his own.

The "stats" don't tell the story here, since this is not a tobacco to be smoked straight. I heartily concur with Paddy on adding this to McClelland 5100 Red Cake. By itself, I find the blend somewhat tasteless though sweet. The addition of this Perique (though I find 5 to 7% to be preferable) raises it to "very tasty" status. Other uses include boosting the tobacco flavor in flavor-challenged aromatics, adding variation to Latakia-overwhelmed brands, and cooling/darkening hot smoking bright Virginia blends. A must-have in the blend-perfection workshop.