McClelland Best of Show

McCelland, in my opinion, is a maker of some of the most mellow aromatics around. This is no execption. Best of Show seems to be missing the vanilla notes common in other aromatics like Captain Black, Blue Note, etc. but makes up for it with the nougat flavoring, and it does taste like nougat. A smooth, cool smoke all around that is not much different than Town Topic (same base tobacco?) when the casing is taken out of consideration. Overall it's cool, smooth like velvet, and rich - definately not something that is hot, bites, or pierces the tongue.

I like this particular blend much better than Town Topic's uneventful Maple flavor.

Best of Show was the other McClelland blend I got as an early Christmas gift. Similar to Taste Master in composition and structure, Best of the Show has a sweeter taste due to the nougat flavoring, which my daughter compared to Krispy Kreme donoughts. Though initially it?s difficult to set both blends apart, in the long run the after taste of Best of the Show does become actually cloying.

Steam-cased Burley, shiny black in color with some golden strands thrown in, Best of Show is very sweet and tasty. A quality aromatic, it appeals to the almost infantile sweet tooth one still has. It?s yummy and rich in flavor (perhaps too rich), but unlike Taste Master I found this one tiring and eventually bloated. Still, if you are strong aromatic fan, this one is a quality smoke.

I haven't deliberately smoked many "Aromatics" since my first encounters with a pipe in the 1960's and early 70's. This was highly recommended by many reviewers I have often agreed with and am very impressed also. However, be aware that the aroma is somewhat overwhelming to one not used to flavored tobaccos. It is kind of like being hungry and coming indoors and smelling fresh-baked sticky buns or pecan rolls. The aroma is really out there. If you are a person with a moustache, you will remember this blend for a good long while!

Updated 6/12/2005: For newer pipers wanting a very nice smelling tobacco with very little strength. Really smells teriffic!

This tobacco is light and airy. This tobacco is sweet. This tobacco does not have a tendency to bite. This tobacco burns rather dry, (all things considered.) This tobacco was created by a quality blender.

In writing the 1000th review of a McClelland blend here at tobaccoreviews.com, it would be wonderful to give praise to Best of Show. As you can gather, I cannot. This is slightly uncharacteristic of many of McClelland's work in that the "nougat" flavouring overpowers the traditional McClelland tin aroma. This is a charming-looking course cut blend--a range of colours from the Cavendish and Virginia tobacco. This is too mild for my tastes, though, and typical of aromatics artificial-tasting. However, this is not quite as artificial-tasting as some aromatics I have had and the quality of the tobacco is much higher than most aromatics that seem to think it is okay to add low quality tobacco as the casing is so often very strong. I will not keep this around and this is the first McClelland product that I will not try again. With that said, if you like mild high-quality aromatics, you will probably like this.

Although I normally smoke VA flakes, this was one of the better aromatics I've recently tried. The nougat casing is sweet and strong in the tin and room aromas and slightly less evident in the taste. The predominant black blend has some lighter leaf included and is coarsely cut into rather uniform chunks. As with many other true aromatics, I found that the casing overpowered any natural tobacco taste. It also lacked nicotine strength as compared to my normal fare. However, a cool and very mild smoke resulted until the condensed moisture in the heel started popping like fireworks. On subsequest bowls, I just dumped the last part of the smoke. If you favor rather mild blends that are still strong aromatics, give this one a chance.

I smoked my first bowl of McClelland's Best of Show and fell in love with it from the first puff.

Opening the lid you get the aroma of Nougat from the coarse cut Virginia, the Black Cavendish is most likely toasted and the Cavendish is most likely a Sweet Cavendish. The combination of the three presents an excellent flavoring and aroma that I enjoy as a connoisseur of the aromatic tobaccos.

There was no tongue bite not even a little nip, this is a very mild tasting tobacco with full flavor that is very satisfying.

I love and it will be a great addition to my tobacco collection.

Will circle back, but this is the same casing as McClelland Panache with a thicker cut; Panache is a ribbon cut . Adding more words to this.

I had high expectations for this blend after I got the tin note for the first time. Man, does this stuff smell good! It smells like buttery toffee, with a light hint of coffee. When I lit up my first impression was enjoyable, but I have to say I was a little underwhelmed the further down the bowl I got. It tasted faintly of caramel, with little stabs of coffee and nougat. The Cavendish was nice, but not great. If you smoke this blend dry and cool (and I liked it best smoking outside toward the end of Fall), you can get an easygoing, even buttery palette. More times than not, however, Best of Show is bland, burns too hot, and leaves a pungent goop behind in the bowl. The blend is is not entirely without merit, but with many far better options in my rotation, I rarely smoke this blend at all anymore.