McClelland Anniversary 1977-2010

The Anniversary I'm smoking is the 1977-2010, brown wax seal. As others have noted the packaging is outstanding. The wax seal is a great touch. When smelling the tobacco in the tin I pick up both the spiciness of the Latakia and the sweetness of the Virginias. The tobacco packs nicely, but was a little difficult to light and keep lit. Just as a side note I'm reviewing this on a fresh tin. I'll come back and update once I've let it dry out a little. The tobacco gives a very sweet blueish smoke and produces a nice white and black ash. I get a bit of tongue bite, but this could be due to the wettness of the tobacco. As of now I'll give this tobacco a 3/4 and will update once it dries out.

I am a huge fan of Virginia Tobaccos. I am a true believer in aging and this can is already pre-aged. I love the fact that it is so mellow on the draw, and even if you over puff, the tongue bite is not unbearable. I would say this is a good smoke for someone who wants to try a Virginia Blend for the first time. McClelland has been making excellent Virginia tobacco for years. Good starter tobacco for people venturing off into another type of blend as well. This is a mild english with virginias mixed in. Starts off with a sweet and mellow taste and develops over the course of the bowl to become more sweet and more smokey. Great smoke for the money. I found a tin of this at a local tobacconist and was impressed with the packaging as well as the wax seal that holds the paper together at the top. Really an elegant tin design. Definitely an impulse buy for me but it was worth the $16 I paid for it. I will make sure I pick up another tin hopefully when I finish this tin if the tobacconist has not sold out of the 10 tins they had in stock. I hope this review was helpful and I look forward to seeing future reviews on this tobacco.

This review is from a sample of the 2005 edition and it was 5 years old before I smoked it.

It took me several bowls to get it. At first it seemed a bit too simple. Va. Latakia. I kept wanting to insert oriental flavors that are so often companion to the two main ingredients. The latakia is a good one and it is always pleasant. The Va. is the real show and the stuff is terrific. Very sweet and mellow. When I realized that the purpose of latakia in this blend is to throw the Va. into relief, I understood. The latakia is there to underline the Va. This truly is a Virginia blend supported as it may be the latakia. It really isn't missing anything if you enjoy a mild smoke of a flavorful Va. If you find yourself drawn to this blend, it is definitely worth a try.

I finally popped a can of this stuff and glad I did...yum yum. I have a bias going into any McClelland blend and that is I expect a lot which given that I am not neutral can hurt the review or help it. Because I have high expectations when trying a new blend by them I suppose I can be let down easily but not with the case of Anniversary...its pretty darn delightful!

I am a sucker for marketing so the packaging is top notch here, wax seal...common got to love it. Tin smell is a tangy mild ketchup not quite as ketchuppy as the Frog but noticeable. This is a well behaved smoke, packs well and burns consistently after initial scaring. On intake you get the mouth watering tangy Virginia and exhale the cool-smoking Cyprian Latakia which tames the Virginia quite nicely without destroying it. This is a one-two punch smoke and could be an all dayer no problem.

This a good smoke with virginias predominant and the latakia a background player. While the smell is sweet, the taste was less pronounced. While this does seem to be one of the drier blends from this company, for me it is also one of the harder ones to keep lit.I have two more tins which I will stash for quite a while to see if my impressions have changed. Overall, two and a half stars.

I can't say anything bad about this blend. It's a good smoke, but when the time comes to buy another baccy for my Ser Jacopo, I'm going to try something else. Anniversary is sweet with a hint of latakia. If you like virginias and latakia, but not too much of either, this is for you.

After being cellared for about one year I decided that it was time to enjoy this much discussed blend from our friends in Kansas City.

I choose a vintage Savinelli Capri for this tasting, The Savinelli Capris are some of the driest and coolest smokes that I own.

After opening the tin, the first thing I noticed was that this blend did not have any of the common "acetic acid" aroma that I have noticed in freshly opened tins of other McClelland products. This may be a factor of cellaring; I have noticed that aged bulk blends of this maker also loose this smell over time.

Even though it is not mentioned in the tobacco description above, I can not help but notice some ribbon cut flue cured tobacco in the blend. This is mixed with a fully rubbed out Virginia Flake and dark ribbon cut tobaccos, some of which may be fire cured virginias and of course Latakia.

The blend loaded easily into the pipe. It is one of the few tinned tobaccos that are dry enough for me to smoke directly. A charring light took well and I was in business with the second match. One of the first things noticed was that the Latakia tasted more like a Syrian variety than the more "sweet" Cyprian variety usually found in McClelland mixtures.

This tobacco has more of the characteristics found in an English blend of decades ago and is reminisent of the original Scottish Rattray's I have been privy to. The tobacco would be ideal for many smokers all day blends, I found it just a little lacking in body. The flavor did not change at all from the first to the last puff, a rarity these days. All that was left in the bowl was some white ash and pleasant memories!

For my first review, I'm going to review one of the first "real" tobaccos I've had the pleasure to enjoy. Previous to Anniversary, I'd tried a few aromatics, but I was interested in trying an uncased blend, and this was suggested to me.

I liked it from the first, and, several months on, I still smoke it fairly regularly. It has a nice sweet tone to it, which seems to be perfectly balanced (at least to my admittedly inexperienced palate) with the nuttier Latakia. It packs easily, even for me, and smokes well. In some ways, it is similar to Frog Morton, although, of course, with a much lighter Latakia content and a more pronounced VA taste. It has sharper 'teeth' than FM, but it doesn't bite hard or easily, with some care.

Unlike some of the other McC blends I've since tried, it isn't overly moist; in fact, it seems to be a bit on the dry side, which I like. It also doesn't have quite as strong of a tomato-vinegar smell as some of the other McC's do, either, which, imo, is a Good Thing.

While I certainly like the taste, and consider it well balanced, I would not say it's complex, like one of the Pease blends. That isn't bad; sometimes I want fine Indian food, and other times I want a nice, rare steak -- but that doesn't mean one is bad, and the other good. Still, I'm more likely, now, to go for Samarra or Raven's Wing, yet there are still times when Anniversary is a comfortable, pleasant, and delicious experience.

I love the way the tin is packaged and presented. I found that it packed and lit well right after opening. It was a wee bit stronger on the Cyprian Latakia opening scent than I was lead to believe based on opening. However, while smoking the Virginia really came to the front and the Latakia stayed nicely in the background. I personally tend to prefer blends heavy on the Latakia side, but have come to really appreciate the subtle nuances one can obtain from a good Virginia blend. I felt this blend married both in a wonderful way. At the end of the day, I would recommend this blend to anyone, but especially to those that would like to try a bit of latakia without fully committing themselves. I would add this to my regular rotation, and have several stored away, however I got the impression, (and this could just be marketing), that it would be limited, hence the only reason that I categorized it to only smoke occasionally. I highly recommend that you buy this while available, and hope that I am wrong and they continue to market this blend.