Tobaccos McClelland - Pal O' Mine (Premium Aromatic)

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	JimInks (3046)	2016-07-28		Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild	Pleasant

The Virginia has a little grass and citrus. The burley is nutty with a little toast and molasses, and shows itself a little more toward the last quarter. The black cavendish offers brown sugar in the background. The creamy smooth mild to medium peach topping sublimates the tobaccos to a fair extent, but it does sport a very mild artificial note. I didn’t find it distracting, though. The nic-hit is extremely mild. Won’t or get harsh. Just a little moist in the tin, but needs no dry time. Burns well and cool with a mostly consistent flavor. Requires a few relights, but not enough to bug you. Leaves a little moisture in the bowl, but no goop or dottle. The sweet after taste lingers a little. A fairly easy going all day smoke. Two and a half stars.

-JimInks

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	SmokeKing David (134)	2014-01-20		Mild	Medium	Medium	Pleasant

The best peach blend I have had to date. I smoke a wide variety of tobaccos, from English to Virginia to Aromatics. I like how the topping is not totally overdone, but the peach taste remains steady throughout the bowl. DGT's pretty well, too.

Govern Yourself Accordingly!

Pipe Used: Peterson Pipe of the Year

Age When Smoked: 1 year

Purchased From: Iwan Ries

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	russ (27)	2013-03-03		Mild	Medium	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

In opening the tin I found the peach aroma nice-not too heavy. The moisture content was also just right. Loaded the pipe, and began. As I smoked the entire bowl--from top, mid down to the bottom I detected all the way through a nice melding of the fruity, and burleys going on. It did not bite, and as I kepte smoking I had thought my pipe had went out. In fact I was through the entire bowl, and it burned down to a nice white ash. I found it NOT to be clowing, or goopy. In fact it is one of the few aromatics I have tried that is not goopy. If you like aromatics I suggest this for a nice break from from some of the other vanilla, chocolate etc. stuff. One other reviewer had noted they thought perhaps this blend is made in a way that has the casing infused. I can say I agree. For me the peachy taste was always going on along with a nice burly flavor coming through also. Over all I can say I liked it. I would purchase this again if someone asked whether, or not I would.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2010-04-10		Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild	Very Pleasant

I must say after reviewing this site I am thrilled to be a reviewer. Before I review this brand, I want to express that I have no bias towards the reviews of others. As we all know a good smoke is the one YOU enjoy, though it may not favor all, it favors you, and thats what makes us united. The pleasure of pipe smoking,... Okay, enough of self introduction. Pal o'Mine is an exceptional all day smoke, one you can smoke for days before rotation. Im impressed with this blend, and confess that it is a blend with one desiginated pipe, " a corn cob". you can sip this and lower your blood pressure very quickly, the aroma is wonderfull, there is a hint of fresh fruit and pure tobacco, how wonderfull McClelland is at blending, after a good light a few puffs and a gentile tamp, I rarely ever have to relight, I enjoy this riding home from work. just because it is mild do's not mean it's not tasty, there is no dottle or bite, even when your puffing away, my pipe never over heats, and I think the cob gives this blend justice, never under estimate simplicity, 3 stars for sure, I love McClelland blends, and will be partial to many of there tobaccos. Happy Jack

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pipestud (1829)	2003-05-21		Mild	Medium	Very Mild	Pleasant

Nope. This isn't any Pal 'O Mine only because I never liked peaches, in a pipe, in my cereal or even in my cobbler.

Still, it is quality and you can taste tobacco, too. It is also biteless. So, for the peach loving crowd out there, this may be perfection in a can.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2010-01-08		Very Mild	Medium	Very Mild	Very Pleasant

McClellands tinned aromatics seem to occupy shades of a grey area for me. They're not "hit or miss" - they're more "just good enough or not quite good enough". This falls into the latter category.

This didn't have the mouth-tingling flavor of Tastemaster, nor the intoxicating tin aroma of Best of Show nor the quiet whisper of added flavor in Easy Street. The peach flavor was a little more notable than I cared for but it wasn't unpleasant. In fact, if you like artificially flavored fruity tobacco, this is probably one of the best. To that end, it achieves what I believe McClellands set out to do. My personal bias is away from cherries and peaches in tobacco; but I intended to try all the McC's tinned aros and I think this is a good one for those of you without my personal bias. It's a high quality American-style aromatic from a high quality American blender. If you like peaches in your smoke, don't wait.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Oldbelt (10)	2016-07-12		Extremely Mild	Medium	Extremely Mild (Flat)	Very Pleasant

Looking for something to enjoy in the warmer season I decided to give this a go. As I have found with all McClelland blends, quality tobacco was employed here. Peach flavor is evident from tin to ash. Light, easy and one dimensional all through the bowl. After a few bowls I decided to throw some Virginia in the mix to add some character. I normally don't smoke aromatics, but on the front porch this does well with mixed company. Without the addition of some Virginia I would have found this boring and almost not worth loading in the pipe.

Pipe Used: Stanwell Vario freehand

Age When Smoked: Tin

Purchased From: McCrannies

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	SSNVet (1)	2014-03-03		Medium	Medium to Strong	Full	Pleasant

This is absolutely the best peach blend that exists. The fruity smell in the tin translates directly to the smoke. When smoked in a leisurely fashion, I find that the taste lasts the entire bowl. There is also a fair amount of nicotine in this tobacco, which makes it quite satisfying. Love it!

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Capt (339)	2011-07-17		Very Mild	Medium	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

If you are searching for a non-cloying peach aromatic, this is it. McClelland's aromatics are some of the best, and this is an example why.

There will always be a tin of this in my cabinet.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Philo Beddoe (221)	2018-06-02		Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

Due to my inability to acquire more of this blend I suppose it’s a good thing I don’t care for its flavor. In the tin it smells as advertised, like peach cobbler. Once lit, the story changed, I tasted mostly a sort of zwieback toast kind of flavor, with the peach as a mild topping. I don’t know if this is coming from perhaps the Burley or possibly some supporting topping that was put on the blend, but it is very distracting and rather unpleasant. Those who are searching this out will get no competition from me.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	DrT999 (318)	2016-07-20		Mild	Medium	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

Rather out of my interests (ok, very much so), but judged on its own merits rather than my preferences, an interesting aromatic. I'm sure there's some burley in here somewhere, but I couldn't really find it. This is a just a moderate peach flavor-over-Cavendish as far as I could tell, and any complexity eluded me. The peach is very much there from first puff through the end, but it wasn't drenched in casing. Unlike my reactions to most Cavendish and many burley-based blends, not a hint of bite and it also burns fairly cool and not too fast. If you like fruit-flavored Cavendish blends, give it a chance. I generally dislike them, and think it was well-worth trying, but I probably won't rebuy it.

Pipe Used: briars

Age When Smoked: 17 months

Purchased From: 4 noggins

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	FlatCapMatt (59)	2014-01-30		Mild	Medium	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

I had never had a peach tobacco before, so I jumped at the chance to try this one. I'm not disappointed. The smell from the tin is pleasant. It reminded me of some peaches and cream flavoured oatmeal I used to eat as a kid. It does have an artificial peach smell to it which can be good or bad, depending on your own experiences with peach flavoured foods/tobaccos.

It smokes well in my pipes. I don't recall having to relight my pipe an excessive amount of times. The taste is nice, but not overpowering. Pipe stem tends to get a bit wet though.

My wife likes the room note, so it passes that test.

Overall I like this blend and would purchase it again.

Pipe Used: Stanwell Bjarne Nielsen, Missouri Meerschaum

Age When Smoked: Only a few months old, fresh tin.

Purchased From: http://www.tobaccoblends.com.au/en/

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2009-07-03		Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild (Flat)	Pleasant to Tolerable

Oh well, I must admit, when I first lit my pipe with this "Pal o' Mine" I was immediately brought back 20 years prior to my days of Captain Black.

Yes, this smells like CB, tastes lke CB and even looks like Captain Black... what is going on here.I know, how dare I compare a McClelland to the drugstore variants. I feel I just had to, since I could not stop feeling I had smoked this (and not liked it) so very long ago.

Perhaps, it is because a small tin had cost me 25$ Canadian (24US) that I felt I was missing something here. There was no richness, no flavor that would envelop my senses, and even the blandness seemed a trifle "bland"!

My wife, the "note" expert, seemed disinterested and I felt I had smelled this somewhere before. It was a very unexciting and uneventful (not to mention uninspiring) tin that bade me no pleasure. I am still smoking it, 4 mos after my purchase (very rare for me), and am looking forward to being able to store my paperclips in it.

I do love a good aromatic, really I do. It's just that this tobacco, at least to me., is just not very good. Maybe I felt let down by the inflated prose that led me to think this was something to be cherished. I however admonish all aromatic connoisseurs to heed my advice and let this Pal o' Mine go astray into the night and consider your good fortune on not having wasted your time and hard earned greenbacks on such an uninspiring tobacco.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Glorfindel (86)	2008-02-16		Very Mild	Medium to Strong	Very Mild	Very Pleasant

UPDATE: this is a 4 star aromatic. one of my "permanent rotation"

Original: 4-07

Lights well and stays lit when packed properly. Great room aroma. I can detect the peach cobbler note as the description says - interesting, how do they do that? :)

The burley makes this blend a success. If it were pure Cavendish with this heavy a casing, it would be YUCK!! - and I'm a Cavendish fan! But, the burley saves the day.

For aromatic fans a must try!

UPDATE: 5-10-2007

I may dedicate a pipe to this blend as it has become one of my regular rotation.

I will buy this again in the future, a definite crowd pleaser and it will not bite. Three lovely young ladies at a recent party asked if they could smoke my pipe after enjoying the Pal-o-mine aroma for about 2 hrs. Simply astonishing.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Briar Piper (89)	2018-12-04		Very Mild	Strong	Full	Very Pleasant

This was one of the very best peach aros money could buy. A lot like peaches and cream by peter stokkebye, minus the "cream" (vanilla). It left a very fragrant room note in the air, and would ghost even a meer for several bowls to follow.

It had a slight caramel note behind the peach, and plenty of cavendish taste.

A solid 4 star aromatic. Like the other premium aromatic series, was nigh near impossible to dry out.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Andersson (9)	2016-05-05		Very Mild	Very Mild	Very Mild	Pleasant

​The pros of this one is in his very mildness. But the same is his flaw - he’s too loyal to you so you cant really remember what music is he into. Actually, a true pal should be harsh sometimes.

Pipe Used: Dunhill Country

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Fred T (67)	2015-02-06		Medium	Medium to Strong	Medium	Pleasant

If you like peaches, this is the one for you. It's basically a cavendish blend covered with peach juice (my interpretation). I like McClelland tobaccos, especially the cavendish blends with vanilla and chocolate, and now this one with peaches. Upon opening the tin you'll experience a wonderful peachy aroma. It can burn a little hot, but I think that's unique to me, because I puff like crazy. Probably, great for dessert on ice cream, I speculate.

Pipe Used: Dunhill Billiard

Age When Smoked: Several months

Purchased From: Smokingpipes

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	wolfdreamer (25)	2012-06-18		Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable

I don't smell peach to me this brand smells like wine flavouring. It's mild but yet more tasteful than some aromatics. It's not sweet enough or creamy for my taste but I can see why people like it. I think it's worth a try. If you are into say chocolate or more dessert type flavours then you may not like it. Again I didn't pick out the peach but it could be just the batch I received.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	ELF (40)	2010-02-22		Very Mild	Medium	Mild	Very Pleasant

Very nice Tobacco/Pleasant,Mild,Room note Outstanding!!!Not like most aromatics;Flavoring is well-infused into Mix.GOOD BALANCE... I have a suspicion Mcld's,have steam-pressed this Mix...I find no tongue bite,and doesn't Bowl Me over.....When i had 1/2 left of my 50g tin...I filled the tin to the top with Mcld's Red Virginian...dumped mix in2mix'g-bowl...Filled my Pipe,,WOW,,i think this is going 2b my new"Going-To-Pub-Mix." :+)

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Dov of the Galilee (32)	2010-02-22		Mild	Mild	Mild	Very Pleasant

I'm impressed! When I read the label that it had the "vaguely reminiscent of grandma's peach cobbler" I just wondered what I was in for. I lit the bowl got absorbed in some work and it dawned on me that my mouth tasted like peaches. Initially I had no association with the tobacco instead I was wondering what I ate that left me thinking of peaches. Well it's a good job. For me this blend is like a liqueur and it's to be enjoyed infrequently but not to be forgotten. I think in today's market it has a limited existence so if you like it stock up before the discontinuation.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2009-08-14		Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Pleasant

This blend i was very impressed with as a peaches and cream flavor throughout. I enjoyed this blend as i puffed all the bowlful down to the nice white ash in my bulldog!! This is a highly reccomended blend if you want the complements of the ladies! One ladie i was smoking next waiting for the bus asked me if i was actually smoking fuzzy navel tobacco. Try this blend and you will not be disappointed!!!

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2009-02-24		Mild	Medium	Mild	Very Pleasant

I've never met a McClelland I didn't like, and the 2 stars doesn't mean I don't like Pal o'Mine, it just means what it says - "Somewhat Recommended." McC aromatics certainly fill an important niche: if nothing else, they are indispensable for introducing our gentle art to the novitiate; they are tasty and fragrant, they are quality tobacco, and they are nigh-ubiquitous. E.g., I have a friend who had been turned off by the nasty experience of trying the Cheapest Aromatic Possible in a lousy pipe, who has been steered back onto the True Path by convincing him to spend a little extra on a tin of McC aromatic and a Bjarne.

Pal o'Mine here is a solid blend tasting of creamy peach and nutty burley. It burns relatively clean and dry. Still it leaves me kind of - "enh" (actual technical term). I whittled away at my tin little by little for more than a year, and then, well... aromatics don't keep well, do they? Whenever I get that hankerin' for aromatic I find myself preferring Trout Stream or Solani Sweet Mystery (cf my other reviews). So, Pal o'Mine, I must only Somewhat Recommend you.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2008-05-02		Mild	Medium to Strong	Mild	Very Pleasant

100 % of aromatic peach. He is the one. It will leave his flavor on the used pipe, since its perfume of peaches is very strong. A beautiful perfume, also for those around the smoker. Burley makes this mix, a success. It also contains Cavendish. It is difficult to smoke only him, but you can smoke it when you want something light but surely it gives to the blend, a very special sweet taste.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2008-01-03		Mild	Medium	Medium	Very Pleasant

If you like mild aromatic blends then you will love this one. This is one that I can smoke in the house with the approval of my wife and son. It has a satisfying sweet taste and isn't too goopy. It burns smooth and cool.

But it is rather mild which I like for after dinner but not all the time. I will likely keep a tin of this around to please friends and family.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2007-05-04		Very Mild	Medium	Mild	Very Pleasant

I tought this was a very good aromatic. The first few bowls were only so-so, but after the tin had been open for a couple weeks I really started to like it. By the end of the tin I can say this is an aromatic I'd buy again. It burned fairly cool, had a mild, pleasing taste, and left no goop in the bottom of my pipes.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Spike (296)	2005-10-07		Mild	Medium to Strong	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

Four stars for fans of Aromatics, Two stars for the rest of us. That is why I put three stars on the rating. Smells excellent! Not a tobacco in my top twenty, maybe in the top ten American Aromatic category.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Beer (345)	2004-09-01		Mild	Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Pleasant

After Mellow Mack and Captain Cool, this was the last one of the line to try: most of what was said for the other two is still valid, but Mellow Mack remains the winner thanks to its biscuity taste. This one, peach-flavored, is not as tasty as I would have hoped: not bad, but not memorable either. Flavoring goes away quite a bit during the bowl, and there is not enough tobacco taste to support it.

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	RCUSElder (244)	2003-04-06		Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild	Very Pleasant

I like to try this type of aromatic so I know what to recommend to a beginning pipe smoker. As its name states, it is a pal-o-mine. The room note is very sweet and unobtrusive. There is no tongue-bite and for me it was so mild I had to check my pipe to see if it was really lit. I definitely will use this for apprentices....

Nobody has rated this review yet.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30167)	2003-04-05		Mild	Mild	Mild	Very Pleasant

I haven't tried this yet, but P&T said: "Well, this is a cherry blend that is respectable...the smell is cherry, but a dark and rich cherry, nothing like hard cnady here, nor maraschino, more like the aroma from a dark-chocolate-covered cherry. This lights easily, burns coolly and with ease, and is exceptional for its genre. If you are searching for the perfect cherry aromatic, give this a try. Highly recommended for seekers of this sort."

Nobody has rated this review yet.