McClelland Honeydew

I would concur with most of the reviews presented about McClelland's Honeydew. My additional observations are as follows.

I had decided to buy a tin and to try it, based on my reminiscense of Gallaher's Rich Dark Honeydew. However, it was so long ago that I smoked the Gallaher's flake that I cannot remember how it was. I guess that the nature of Gallaher's Honeydew is not really relevant to the discussion at hand. On to my experiences with McClelland Honeydew!

On opening the tin, ketchup, what ketchup? Many people seem to get put off unneccessarily by some characteristic scent from McClelland's fermentation, I believe. get over it and enjoy the tobacco IMHO! Rather, I found the tin aroma to be pleasant, with a charactreistic fermented Virginia scent. In addition, it smoked as sweet as it smelled out of the tin, which was dated 2005.

I smoked this flake several times already and found that it burned well, either fully rubbed out and loaded into the bowl, or folded and stuffed into the pipe. A medium-sized bowl full lasted about an hour with modest relighting. Smoking it slowly brought out the subtlties that delighted me greatly, once again due to te Virginia content. It is true that this is a tobacco to be enjoyed by smoking slowly.

Each time I smoked it, near the end, the flavour got a bit stronger, but still very pleasant and sweet, without any souring whatsoever. Also, I noticed some components that I would describe as being very similar to a burley coming out into the spotlight. However, this could be the nuttiness of the apparently high grade of Virginias used in this blend IMHO. Near the end of the bowl, in all cases, the dottle that remained was very small and dry, if there was one at all, and not at all syrupy or pipe-fowling.

All in all a wonderfully successful blend by McClelland. Next time, I will try it out in my Peterson's large Kinsale, with a deerstalker cap on my head, for added effect! But seriously, I believe that I have found a new flake to love.

shakenbake

Honeydew is McClelland's third installment within the 221B series and is aptly described by the blender as being a subtly sweet, fragrant flake tobacco in the Irish tradition.

The aroma of this blend upon opening is light and is reminiscent of sweet biscuit cookies with brown sugar and molasses-like undertones. It is very pleasant indeed. Honeydew is a Virginia dominated tobacco blend with a slight topping that is most likely honey. The color of Honeydew is a handsome caramel/brown with hints of golden/yellow showing through.

Honeydew possesses a coarse broken flake cut and the blend rubs out without much effort. Honeydew is slightly moist but can be easily brought to the correct moisture level with some drying.

McClelland?s Honeydew lights well and has the ability to burn to the bottom of the pipe bowl. The blend?s light room note is similar to the aroma of baking bread and is quite agreeable.

Honeydew has a mild to medium taste that is flavorful yet not overbearing like many heavy-handed aromatics. While the Honeydew pipe blend does possess an aromatic sweetness, it also has a true bright tobacco leaf taste as well. Honeydew can bite, but slow and steady draws greatly minimize this bite and helps yield the best flavors the blend has to offer.

McClelland?s Honeydew is not necessarily an aromatic blend but rather a Virgina tobacco that happens to have some beneficial characteristics of an aromatic tobacco blend. A great blend to smoke during breakfast time.

A nice sweet smoke, not an everyday smoke, but a nice change of pace from my normal rotation. I suggest grab a tin or three and enjoy...

Just finishing my first tin. I'm very happy with this, as an aromatic. The sweet honey taste does not block the natural virginia taste. It gets better with age. Perfect in the mornings. Not ultra-sophistocated, but ultra-enjoyable. Worth having plenty on- hand.

It's good, I like it, but it keeps me wanting for more. but in a good way. I smoke this in a nice big bowled billiard, and it never tires the pallette. Very natural sweet tasting. Finishes with a grey dry ash, no dottle, just a grey dry ash. Honeydew is a nice transitional tobacco for the aromatic smoker looking to get into VA's and Englishes. This makes for a nice afternoon smoke. It's a light bodied VA that won't knock you on your patoot! It has a pleasant sweet flavor and no bite whatsoever. The aroma is also very nice for a VA. This would make a good all day smoke, if you could afford it. To all aromatic smokers who are tired of hot, wet, smokes and gooked up pipes but are leery of Virgina and English tobacco's streghth, start of with this then move up from here. Before you know it, you'll be smoking 1792 or Irish Flake like a champ, respectively.

Though I don't believe this is a four-star scorer, its worth at least three but I still "highly recommend" it, resulting in the four star rating.

This would be a great introduction into Virginias...I find even the best straight VAs to be boring and unsatisfying in comparison to the usual richness of my light or medium English blends. This is neither straight VA nor aromatic though it does have some aromatic properties. The sweetness seems to come more from the tobacco than any flavoring, and the flavoring is indeed transient as some other folks said.

I am a die-hard McClelland fan and I did not initially think I would enjoy this blend, but it is now high on my list of occasional or moody smokes. This and Arcadia are outstanding.

This blend is great, but you definitely need to concentrate on it to understand it and fully appreciate it. when you open the tin it smells of molasses, the coarsely cut leaves pack easily into a big bowl and burn very thoroughly. there is a slight sweet taste to the tongue and the smell of the honeydew is much more prominent in the smoke. I wouldn't call this a full aromatic but more of a semi-aromatic blend as the dominant taste and smell are of Virginia. give it a try.

I was very pleasantly surprised. This is the first McClelland flake tobacco I?ve tried that is light enough for a breakfast or brunch smoke. I could detect a light topping in the tin aroma?some say honey?it doesn?t remind me of the melon honeydew aroma, but it?s light enough so that I can?t fully get a handle on it - enough to tag it. Neither can I detect it much in the taste of the smoke, but others near me can and several have commented as to it?s lovely quality: ?"like pumpkin bread baking"?"it reminds me of when I was a child and my mother used to bake cookies, and the like"?that from a woman at work. It?s always amazing how powerfully evocative an aroma can be. I was near a hero to that lady, as she walked around with a warm and dear memory for the rest of the day. Be that as it may, this tobacco parts, packs and puffs very nicely and has a fine medium taste. It seems to me to be one of those rare tobaccos (to me NOT an aromatic, per se) in which the light flavoring makes the smoking experience infinitely better than if it were not present. It works with and compliments the tobacco instead of frosting it like a layer of mud. I like this very much as I?m now exploring other light flakes such as Astley?s 109, Dan Pipe?s Hamborger Veermaster, Reiner?s Long Golden Flake, Bjarne?s Flake de Luxe and the like. They all fall into a category to me that is labeled: Excellent Smoking Experience! This is a 4 out of 5.

This is another first for me with McClelland's 221B Series Honeydew.

The tobacco has a mild aroma upon opening the tin, the cut is a Flake and needs to be rubbed out a little. The taste is not a sweet aromatic like one would be lead to believe by the name of Honeydew.

This one could nip your tongue a bit if not smoked like a Virginia, the gentleness is there if one will take their time and smoke it slow. Honeydew presents itself IMHO as a satisfying tobacco in the Irish traditionand with a delightful aroma, and a subtle sweetness as the tobacco slowly blends the fragrant of the flake into one enjoyable gratifying taste.

Smoke it Slow, Enjoy it Longer