McClelland Christmas Cheer 2002

Merry Christmas everyone for 2007! I like to open a tin of Christmas Cheer for this time of year although the series is usually best smoked during the hot summer months. This 5 1/2 year old tin has hit the spot this year. As always, the Christmas Cheer series never lets me down, and 2002 is wonderful. The aging has mellowed the virginia tobac somewhat but the sweetness has only increased. The golden/orange virginias usually age well. When smoking, the McClelland kethup taste is barely a hint and the sweet virginias are wonderful. I love this tobac and this series.

aj

This is a tale of two tobaccos from the same tin: Back in Dec. of 2002 I decided to buy a tin of Christmas Cheer. Everyone was singing it's praised, so it sounded like a sure thing. I paid $39.00 cdn for the 100 gr. tin. ( If it were still available today it would cost me twice that!) What a dissapointment. I tasted none of the flavours that people raved about. All I got was that ketchup taste and smell along with a mighty dose of throat burn. I tried different smoking techniques, different packing methods, and different pipes, but nothing worked. My only reward was a ketchupy sore throat. So I gave it up as a lost cause and stuffed it in the back of the tobacco cupboard. Fast forword to the winter of 2021 and the middle of the pandemic lock down. I was looking for things to do, so I started searching through my old tobacco tins for lost treasures. I found this fairly full tin of Christmas Cheer. The tin contained flakes of tobacco that were as dry as cardboard that had spent the winter on top of a wood stove. The flakes hadn't turned to dust, so I decided to try and rehydrate a few grams. When they were back to a reasonable moisture level, I rubbed them out and stuffed them in a small dublin. Lo and behold I was tasting all the flavours that people were raving about 18 years ago ... there was incense and cinamin and a wonderful round earthiness topped off by a natural sweetness. Some briars brought out the darker flavours and other pipes the sweetness. I know this is a straight Virginia, but it could just as easily be an aromatic. And there was no throat burn or ketchup taste! In this case it paid not to throw out tobacco that didn't work the first time. Would I buy this blend again if it were still in production? Probably not. To begin with it would undoubtedly cost me at least twice as much now. Secondly, I'm of an age where I don't expect to be around 18 years from now. But, I can hope that when I reach the pearly gates, St. Peter will be there and hand me a well aged tin of Christmas Cheer as he says, " Well done thou good and faithful piper."

I just finished off one of my two tins of the 2002 CC. After reviewing various versions of CC, it is hard to say anything new. I can't really differentiate between the various crops, mostly because I am only sampling one at a time and not side by side.

The only twist to this review would be that this is the oldest CC I have yet to try. I opened the tin at a get together at a friends house that included several pipe friends. A few things I recall from opening the tin. The leaf was dryer than the newer versions I have had. Also there was crystallization, but it was not as pervasive as one may expect. Finally, it was much darker than the newer versions.

Smoking the aged leaf was also different. Due to it's aridity, it lit up and smoked better than the newer versions. I wouldn't say it was much sweeter, but the sweetness was a little different. more of a preserved fruit type sweetness to it. It was a much smoother smoking experience as well; whereas, the newer versions can be more tangy and edgy.

I ended up popping this one with 13 yrs age on it. I have heard some speculate that Virginia begins to decline after 10 years and that 10 years is optimal. I have nearly every year of CC from 2000, so I am looking forward to experimenting with many different ages over the next several years.

As I have with all the CC's, I am giving this 4 stars as I just love the idea of CC and the fact that it is a flagship Virginia from the American master of the Virginia leaf. I have also heard it stated that it is the Single malt of the tobacco world. I think that it is an apt description. It is unfortunate that production will end this year on CC due to bureaucratic BS in the states. I am glad that I have had the opportunity to stockpile so much while I could.

Well I finally finished this tin that I had smoked part of years ago and revisited just lately.. and Oh how it pleases. I simply haven't had a a McC Christmas Cheer that wasn't a winner. They all need a bit of drying at first but so do many other quality blends.

The rich creamy, grassy-hay, pure tobacco flavor is there. I like aromatics and to me the CC series is "naturally aromatic" if that makes sense....????

The simply nature of premium tobacco like this gives it that aromatic (pleasing aroma) quality and McC knows how to do it.

Open it, dry it smoke it, enjoy it, store it,, days, weeks months years,, repeat,, you will not be disappointed.

McC,, Please! Don't EVER stop making Christmas Cheer,,,,,, !!!! 🙂

4 stars (5 if I could) 🙂

This is only the second Christmas Cheer vintage I have tried, after the 2005. You know, with all of the highly spiced Christmas blends around, it is good that McClelland's version of a Christmas tobacco is a plain aged Virginia! I got a nutmeggy taste from the 2005, but this may have just been a product of the curing and aging process. The 2002 is reputedly a single crop from South Carolina, and as Ash said about the Alien in the movie of the same name, "I admire its purity." The famous vinegar reek is present in the tin, and I myself like to stick my nose in right after popping the seal to get a good whiff! After all, that smell has been waiting for me to enjoy it for almost eight years! The smoke was very mild, without a hint of the vinegar. I smoked it in possibly the best deal I have ever gotten in a pipe, an Ebay handcarved estate with indecipherable markings that cost me only 11.00 or so with shipping. Its hallmark is that it is a long smoker, even though the bowl is merely large and not huge. The bowl of this tobacco I smoked tonight, after smoking a few smaller bowls, lasted for a full hour and forty minutes. It is a great mild Virginia. I have had Virginias with more complex flavor notes, to be sure, and this may be what is keeping me from giving CC 2002 four stars at this time. However, when I want a pure one, this will be one of the tobaccos I reach for.

Update 4-2-10: Tin open (jarred) for three weeks, different pipe, mellow and heavenly, with pleasant mild spiciness. Sometimes with a tobacco like this, I give it three stars at first (if it doesn't blow me away or fail to impress me on the first couple pipes) with the full intention of considering an upgrade later. This makes the four-star cut!

I managed to sit on this for seven years before breaking it out. It has aged perfectly and the moisture level is just right. It is sweet, but not overly so and burns perfectly. I started this in a "new" 2005 Savinelli POY and it was great from the first bowl.