McClelland Best of Show

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.

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.

Tin note is similar to stultiff PS Mountain pass. Sweet but not overly so. Attractive coarse cut tobacco with mostly black cavendish evident. Lights very easily and burns cool but on the sweet side. A nice aromatic with a very pleasant room note. McClelland premium aromatics are all made from high quality tobacco and this is no exception. Nougaty goodness permeates the smoke and never becomes cloying or bitter. No chemical taste at all, just good tobacco flavor. Tastes a bit like Dark chocolate Milky Way bars. Recommend.

This is my first review, so please bear with me. I haven't been smoking pipes for long. This is my first of McClelland's Premium Aromatics. It wasn't quite as aromatic as I expected, but it was tasty. However, it began to burn fairly hot especially in the second half of the bowl. It also had some bite, which I'm not a fan of. I'll give it a couple of more tries and we'll see where it takes me.

Best in Show is no dog. My return to Black Cavendish aromatics started with P&W 191 and it remains my benchmark for this genre. This is tasty and non-challenging. I also enjoy mixing it with non-aromatics to make my own crossover blends.

Long, wide black and red-brown ribbons fairly easy to load

Cool, but not for careless smoking

Tin aroma very close to taste with the latter less sweet than the former might suggest

Delightful room aroma

Moist in the tin, even slightly sticky and does not dry out easily

Great for smoking in places you do not want to smell like you've been smoking

Real tobacco taste and does not finish bitter

Smokes dry and completely for a clean pipe that smells like you smoked an aromatic.

Best of Show is a fine tobacco blend as far as aromatics go. The tin aroma smells to me like butterscotch. The taste is sweet and that of nougat or butterscotch true to the tin aroma. It lights and burns well and smoked down to a fine ash for me with only a little dottle and moisture. It's a very mild, smooth smoke. The only time it bit me was on relights no matter how gentle I puffed. It did require a lot of attention and care to prevent overheating and moisture build-up. It was pretty unidimensional throughout the bowl with no changes in taste but no bitterness either. All in all a nice tasting and smoking quality aromatic but a bit on the boring side.