McClelland Honeydew

Pretty good, a weird blend- sort of a lightly aromatic flake. I do get a melon taste here and there.

Tin aroma is for a lack of better terms- appetizing to best describe it. I detect hints of rum and vanilla smell. Mostly mollases.

I will smoke it some but not everyday. If you like sweet light smokes this would please. Not too heavily flavored either. A very nice effort by Mclelland. I might just keep a tin around for when I want something different. I am into heavier Virginia blends though. I like the navy cavendish more than this and you might want to try it if you like honeydew.

I can see this being good in especially hot weather. A summertime smoke for me I guess.

Update: 4-27-08 This tobacco has really become a favorite of mine. Upon smoking it quite a bit more I found that it does not go so well in a small pipe but is excellent in a mid size.

I noticed the flavor became more apparent after some inital drying and that it smoked very cool and dry. The flavor became more robust like a really good mollases cookie. This is not an aromatic by my standards at all but does give a good subtle sweet dark sugar taste. I agree with a previous reviewer that it leaves me wanting for more, but in a very good way as it goes so good I could smoke it nonstop. This has become a regular with me, just wish it was a bit cheaper and came in a bigger tin.

Finally a McClelland I can enjoy! No tongue burning, not the faintest acidic undertone, this tobacco is, to say the least, commendable. Smooth and gentle, it nevertheless retains enough body and tobacco complexion to make it enjoyable, and due to the cut and preparation, it is long lasting, consistent and well behaved.

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The subtle sweetness and rich flavor are NOT the result of an artificial casing or topping, but of the honeydew ?process?, that is, a means of preparing and maturing the pipe tobacco leaf (by the same token, Cavendish is not a tobacco, but a form of leaf processing), that allows the natural sugars, oils and resins to combine and ferment in such a way they provide a deep and rich bitter-sweetness, in this case to Virginia leaf, and a uniform reddish-brown hue to the flake.

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There are other similar tobaccos out there, like Gallaher?s Rich Dark Honeydew, J. Fox?s Honeydew Aromatic or Clan Shaw?s Honeydew Cavendish, and they all have this deep rich flavor, slightly sweet and toasted.

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McClelland?s Honeydew vaguely reminds me of Deep Hollow. But where Deep Hollow is bland and undefined in terms of flavor, strength and structure, Honeydew is unambiguously intricate and dense, yet mellow and temperate. It is an excellent option for those seeking to leave behind artificially aromatic blends, and a great introduction to pipe smoking in general.

In my opinion this is a simple blend, I would say one dimensional but in its own right very enjoyable. Its nice to smoke a blend without having to think about it, just smoke for the pleasure of smoking a pipe and this suits the bill perfectly. It did not smoke hot and smoked to fine grey ash and it did not give me any tongue bite. If you want a blend with little complexity, to smoke when carrying out and activity without any requirement for thought this is it.

Cracked open a new tin, and immediately noted the ketchup/vinegar notes in this tobacco. Rough cut flakes, that were relatively easy to rub out and dry slightly before smoking. Flakes seemed slightly damp right out of the tin, so I deemed drying to be necessary.

Packed about 3/4 of a bowl, and went to it. Slightly tough to get a decent light, and required a touch of flame a number of times.

Once lit, there was a definite note of vinegar, and a very slight sweetness to the smoke. The smoke was relatively light, and stayed pretty consistent throughout the bowl. This weed required a touch of flame a few times but eventually smoked completely to ash.

I did note a slight bit of tongue bite with this one, possibly due to it being a bit more moist that it should have been, or possibly due to me having smoked it a bit too quickly. Next time, I'll dry it longer, and smoke it slower. Overall, this one is just ok for me. The vinegar/ketchup doesn't seem to fit my tastes.

This is a somewhat decent aromatic flake... Until it starts biting a bit... The smoke is nice and has a sweet taste to it (too sweet for me)... I really do not have much to say about this flake...

Maybe I just want to smell honeydew melon...? This tobac smells very close to a sweet smelling fruit or melon. I find myself sniffing the tin just to get a whiff of this delicious flake. Ok so it's sweet but it's not too sweet or I wouldn't like it. It's a Virginia type sweetness that is mellow and  very satisfying especially later in the day. Another bonus is that my wife loves the room note and is ok with me smoking this inside of the house with the windows closed. When I first smoked this I dried it out for several hours beforehand which I later found out was too long. The second attempt  I let it sit for 10-15 min which was perfect, but I think like all of the 221B series you can smoke them right from the tin which is really enjoyable and quite convenient.

I tried this on the recommendation of my local tobacconist, and upon opening was greeted by a ketchup-like smell that I've learned is common to McClelland tobaccos. I didn't expect much, and the first bowl didn't greatly impress me. It seemed too moist, lit with some difficulty, and required several re-lights. However...

I let the tin dry for about a week and WOW! What a difference! It lit easily, smoked dry, and the flavor is sublime. The strength is medium, which is perfect for me. It has a fantastic Virginia taste complimented by a very light casing, which provides some mild sweetness. This is definitely a tobacco to rub out and let dry a bit, but once you do, you'll be rewarded with a truly sublime smoke.

Also, after several bowls, I agree with the reviewers who say that it's best suited to a larger pipe. It smoked best in my large Peterson spigot, and provided an hour of great, unhurried relaxation.

I really enjoyed this one. This is another of those blends that harkens back to college memories for me. I smoked through a tin of this rather quickly and loved it. At first I wasn't super impressed, but the tin was open and I had alot of papers to get written, so I kept smoking it. This one claimed my Churchwarden for some time, it has a nice soft sweet smell from the tin and a fragrant and mildly enjoyable taste on the pallet. Great smoke to have around when you are working on something that requires thought I think, it goes well with contemplation, however I wouldn't classify it as a late night smoke, for me it was more of a just got home from work, sitting down to work on papers for school in the late afternoon kind of smoke. Goes rather nicely with a rainy day where smoking indoors is available. Give it a try especially if you haven't smoked much VA, this is a nice one to cut your teeth on.

Honeydew is a fragrant Virginia blend, with a nice appearance of golds and browns and a very sweet fragrance. The blend is a broken flake, and so could use a bit of rubbing out, but should be allowed to dry a bit first – it's a pretty wet tobacco. The name is most unfortunate, honeydew being the term for the waste of aphids. I spent a bit of time deciding whether to smoke Honeydew in my Virginia pipes or in aromatic pipes, but finally decided on the Virginia. I think it's the right decision, and the blend is, after all, a topped Virginia. The charring light brings through some excellent Virginia flavor, but also the sweet, interesting flavor used in topping the blend. This flavor also came through once the pipe was burning. Sadly, the blend has a real bite to it, especially early, that reduces, for me, the enjoyment. The first third of the bowl should be carefully smoked in order to avoid a real case of tongue char. Not bite, char. Deeper into the bowl the flavor comes through and the char lessens. At this point, Honeydew becomes a very pleasant, agreeable smoke. The flavor is reminiscent of a honey-topped Virginia, though smoother, butterier, than honey. I'm not sure what the topping is, but it imparts a good flavor. It's sweeter than a typical Virginia, but not diabetic-coma-inducing-sweet like too many aromatics on the market. Somehow I've been thinking of honeysuckle. The end of the bowl finishes well, again atypical for an aromatic. The flavor remains pleasant, and never becomes acrid, and the tobacco doesn't become wet and gooey like some aromatics can. Honeydew is, in my opinion, a pleasant blend. It's not one I'll smoke regularly, but is one I'd never turn down. Aromatic smokers looking for something slightly less sweet than their typical fare should flock to the stores for the blend, and I have to think that Virginia smokers will also find this to be a good tobacco to keep on the shelf. Mr. Holmes must have been disappointed when he was handed an empty tin.