McClelland Christmas Cheer 2005

Little I can add after many superb reviews, so I'll just stick to what I have not read below:

The (in)famous vinegar/ketchup McClelland smell: it's there on every McClelland tobacco I have tried, but that never bothered me in the least. One of my favorite tobaccos is Bulk #2015, where I've found it to be very strong. Who cares, I'm in heaven when I smoke it. Now, when they actually make me taste vinegar, even in a subtle and inconstant way, I don't appreciate that. That only takes one star away.

The second minor drawback is a sharp, almost tangy taste. Had I tried a well aged tin, this baccy would probably get that fourth star back. Aging should improve this enormously.

Overall, a top quality Virginia.

I am giving this blend three stars although I can't personally stand the vinegar/ketchup taste that comes with it (and seems to be a feature of all McClelland's VAs).The quality of the leaf is first-rate and the flavor has a great many subtleties as you work your way through the bowl (including, as others have noted, the occasional hint of cinnamon). I used to smoke lots of McClelland VAs, but over the past few months the trademark McClelland flavor mentioned above started tasting horrible to me, and I can barely stomach any of this company's VAs nowadays -- I find myself smoking lots of VAs from C&D, GLP, and Rattrays instead. Nonetheless, I believe this is a matter of personal taste and would highly recommend this blend to anyone who likes quality VAs and isn't put off by the ketchup/vinegar taste that accompanies it. I'm aging three tins of this right now in the hopes that (a) the ketchupy taste will fade over time or (b) I'm once again able to stomach it.

This blend is pipe picky. But, in the right pipe, it yields a sweet, warm citrus taste. I experienced no bite, burned cleanly down to the bowl's bottom. The first draw to the last was consistent. Rubbing out is recommended.

My tin has been open for 1 yr now (seal broken with top on). It's smoothed out now from what it tasted initially.

small to medium broken flakes stay moist evan as I opened the can after a year. Date on can is 07/05.

Love this tobacco.

But not 4 stars worth.

The taste is not as full as a FVF but more so than Rattrays OG. It's not as sweet or cool as FVF but is sweeter than OG.

The strength is less than OG.

I still need to be carefull and smoke slowly in order to minimize the chance of tonge bite.

This is a very engoyable smoke

The following review is based on a tin of CC2005 that was allowed to age for two years. I did try one bowl before transferring it to a jelly jar and found it a little harsh and hard to keep lit. The broken flakes were lightly chopped in a coffee grinder to about 1/4 their original size just before smoking.

The history of this tobacco has been pretty well covered so I will just give you my smoking impressions. First, the (in)famous McClelland tin odor, also known as the vinegar/ketchup smell. I have an idea this has something to do with a preservative McC uses on their tobaccos as they tend to hold their moisture pretty well over long periods of time. I don't spend much time sniffing tins so it doesn't bother me much.

Lighting and burn are only OK with CC2005, I had to use several relights even after chopping the tobacco up. The reader should know that I am a wet smoker and have never mastered one match bowls, but this one seemed a little more troublesome than many others. YMMV.

Taste is where this tobacco starts to shine. McClelland's real talent, IMHO, is in their VAs and this one upholds that tradition. It has a tangy VA sweetness that catches one's palate immediately upon lighting and remains pretty consistent to the end of the smoke. It does not have the tendency to bite that many VAs do, although the reader should also know I'm a pretty slow smoker.

I buy almost all my tobacco on-line due to lack of local B&Ms and can find very reasonable prices on all McClelland blends.

Scores; taste- 16 of 20; lighting and burn-6 of 10; value-8 of 10. 30 points equals ***. A good solid VA smoke.

I followed the advice here and stowed this one for a year. I opened it again today and I find it's improved quite a bit. It will burn you, and still needs to dry out a bit to stay lit, but the taste is worth it. My bet is another year or two or ten and this will get even better. What would happen if you mixed in some perique, I wonder.

If you have tasted previous Christmas Cheer offerings, you know what to expect here... I will simply add that this edition is slightly smoother, rounder and tastier (and less grassy) than previous editions I had tried (2002 and 2003).

A good solid Virginia tobacco, still not up to the best (#27 and Blackwoods Flake) but certainly consistent and recommendable.

Seems awfully complex in taste and scent for this to be a single kind of tobacco from a single crop; and also is there not some sort of very light casing used here to produce this holiday melange scent?

As VA flakes go, CC'05 is relatively decent all round, and does indeed seem to have been imbued with Christmas spirit. Construction is sturdy flakes that seem to crumble more than rub out. CC '05 can be a bit bitey but not dramatically more so than any other VA; as always, puff patiently.

This is the first time I have tried Christmas Cheer. I have been buying tins since 2003 and putting them back. This year I decided to get an extra tin and try it out. I am glad I did, but I have to say that if you arent careful, your tongue will pay the price. It was a nice tobacco. No special flavoring added. I rubbed it out and let it dry a bit before I smoked any. The things I like best about it was that it burned clean all the way to the bottom, produced good hearty volumes of smoke and once it caught and took off, I never had to relight which for some reason tends to be a problem for me. If I could have kept from having my tongue singed, I would have given it 4 stars. I hope that aging it will take care of that problem. Good experience!