McClelland Blending Latakia

Naturally, a blending tobacco is not normally smoked "straight". I make a lot of different original blends and I use this particular Latakia exclusively.

Ease of use is great, it remains at the right moisture content in the tin, is not too sticky when handling and gives a nice cool smokey flavor to any blend you can create.

Whenever I design a blend containing a lot of hotter-burning leaves I add a certain amount of this to ease the "bite-and-burn" affect.

If you feel like creating your own custom blend or just want to boost the Latakia content in your favorite blend, this stuff is great to have on hand.

This is Cyprian Latakia by McClelland. It is used in many of their blends. I love latakia but I believe that the Syrian is far superior to its Cyprian cousin. The difference between the two is supposed to be derived from the materials used to stove the curing fires. With this blending Cyprian, you get decent latakia textures but, it does little more than pass the grade of "generic." For those of you who love latakia, go with Gawith & Hoggart's straight blending Syrian Latakia. I have a really awesome old-time tobacco shop that I get all my stuff from. This latakia from G&H is not listed in the reviews but, will blow your socks off.

October-2003. Blending Latakia. For blending this is great for adding more punch to various tobacco's. Good pure latakia flavour,but a little to strong to smoke straight.Honest in everyway.

I purchased a tin of this to try as a blender for my various concoctions. Upon opening the tin, you are greeted by medium length, broad-cut dark leaf. The tin aroma is of musty, leathery straight latakia. Packing is easy, but I only pack half a bowl of this leaf at a time. It tastes sweet, leathery and smooth. Don't be decieved, it is full rich latakia and you won't be able to taste much else the rest of the day after smoking this. As a blender, I have found it wonderful. I have mixed it with various other tobacs and the interplay is wonderful. It mixes well with syrian latakia as well. Here is a blend you may want to try: 30% of this, 20% of syrian latakia, 10% burley ribbon, 40% "cumberland". Rating: for blending 5 out of 5 points. Enjoy...

Jar note of tart, mildly sweet, smoky, and a mild pungent sour. The black short medium with ribbon that it seems to have been a cake that was sliced and tumbled out. Tobacco is fairly dry and needs no prep. Burns slow with a few relights. The strength is medium to strong and nic is mild. No flavoring detected. Taste is medium to full and consistent, with notes of very woody, very earthy, very floral, tart sweetness, smoky pine, leather, herbal, mildly spicy, a juniper or gin background note, and a smooth retro. Room note is strong, and aftertaste is awesome.

I have a few old tins of true Syrian Latakia that is going the way of the Dodo bird. I opened a new tin which is now all Cypress blend of several I purchased recently. I tried it out straight to compare to my Syrian blends. The tin note is about the same as the old Syrian blend. That wonderful smoky smell that I love so well. Burns really nice but there is a real taste difference between Syrian and Cypress in this blend. While I get that baked bread and sweet smoky flavor with Syrian the Cyprian blend is less sweet and a smoky licorice flavor with hints of pepper. Room note is almost non exsistent except for a very light smoky aroma. These are certainly two different animals but both are nice in their own way. I still lean toward Syrian but since that may not be available again in my lifetime I need to learn to like Cypress Latakia. I can smoke Syrian straight but the Cypress blend is not near as sweet or had the great flavor I get from Syrian and I would not want to smoke Cyprian straight again. I will use for mixing. I am going to try some with some Peterson Nutty Cut to see how it mixes. If you have any pure Syrian Latakia lock it in a safe. You won't see any more for some time to come.

First, and foremost, I absolutely love Latakia. I adore it in my English, enhance my VaPer"s with it, and lace my aero's with it (well some at least). Sadly, too often the Latakia is far to little or totally absent from many blends. What to do??? McClelland Blending Latakia. A superb blend of Cyprian Latakia with that lovely smokey essence and full body smoke we lovers of Latakia crave. A 10% addition for a light to medium enhancement. A 20% for a real head spinner. If you crave more than this, well let's leave it at that. Cheers

Wonderfully smoky leaf. Blends well and not too moist, perfect smoking humidity. Can try sprinkling a little on top for a strong beginning to a bowl of sweet VA or mix it throughout for a nice top to bottom experience. Mellow and easy to use.

Although having smoked a great variety of Latakia blends throughout the years smoking straight Latakia was still educational. This tobacco is not meant to be smoked straight but as a condiment. Nevertheless I did enjoy this mono-dimensional but very clean and straightforward smoke. The tobacco burns very easily, the smoke is super cool and it has a low Nicotine content. I've successfully enhanced a bit uninspiring blend with this Latakia. But I'm also sure that this was not the last time I smoked this Latakia straight.