McClelland Royal Cajun Dark

This reminded me a lot of Dark Star. The tin aroma was virtually the same as that of Dark Star. Loose shag cut that was almost exclusively black.

Was rather wet, and should be dried before smoking. Had to relight several times due to the moisture. The taste was dark and sweet with no casing detected. I can't say that I tasted anything that I could definitely say was the Cajun Black. The taste was that of a Va/perique blend with a nice sweet and sour taste but with none of the horrible peppery burnt taste of perique.

I look forward to trying the other blends.

I did not know what to expect with Cajun Dark, I thought it might be similar to a Latakia blend or possibly similar to a Dark-Fired based one, but it resembles neither. Also strength- wise I presumed it would be a strong tobacco but it’s not…

Tin note is quintessentially McClelland, vinegary and redolent of sweet spices. It consists mostly of pitch black pieces of tobacco leaf with some ribbons here and there of red and blonde Virginias. The pieces are rather large and unless you want to press the tobacco hard it loads in quite a loose way. And although the tobacco is a little bit moist, it lights with ease.

Now to the interesting part. This tobacco is very subtle, tasty, but in a very elegant way. It is smoky but not in a pungent Latakia manner, more like an unflavoured English Cavendish sort of way. It feels like the tobacco has undergone a process of rounding, smoothing and mellowing without however losing its taste. Underneath the gentle smokiness lurks the supreme McClelland spicy sweetness of red Virginias, very similar to 5100. Actually it does taste to me like a blend of Black Cavendish with 5100...

The smoke is full bodied and very tasty, yet it’s not strong but does contain a fair amount of nicotine. No harshness at all, on the contrary it is supremely smooth and it smokes dry and clean. Overall Cajun Dark is a very interesting blend, complex and unique in style but with the tell-tale taste of the McClelland hand.

This was a surprise! Unfortunately I only smoked a sample given to me by a close friend. It's a shame that this and the other McClelland tobaccos are gone forever. This is a gem, very rich in flavour, with no bite and mild. An explosion of flavour will greet you from the first puff to the last. Smokes cool, and reminded me Mississippi Mud a bit, but much milder.

This is fantastic stuff. Smokes so cool with no gurgle, no bite, and stays lit pretty well. I agree with other reviewers that this has good complexity ranging from leather, wood, spice, and dried fruit.

This is a lovely tobacco, sweet, savoury and smokey. Full of fruity complexity it burns beautifully and the transition in flavour as the bowl progresses is astounding.

An interesting feature of this baccy is the difference between the flavour in the mouth and the aroma through the nose. The former is lively and fruity: the latter is all earth and wood and deep smokey tones.

Absolutely bite free, but does produce some moisture straight from the tin.

I recently smoked a five year old tin of this. Opening the tin gave view to loose coarse cut ribbons in various sizes. As one would expect it was dark black throughout with traces of light brown. The tobacco was dry to the touch and smelt of cedar and spice.

After lighting it, the first thing I noticed was a subtle milk chocolate sweetness. As I progressed down the bowl I noticed a slight sour taste I could not put my finger on mixed with the subtle chocolate flavor. At times I could almost pick out a light peaty smokiness with hints of black pepper and at others an almost floral note mixed in with the chocolate. The room note was pleasant leaving behind a mild sweetness in the air. All the tastes were very subtle to me through multiple bowls in briars, cobs, and meerschaums. I would like to think this blend may have been a bit too complex for my limited palate to notice everything that was going on, but it may just be a milder smoke than I am used to having.

If you like a mild smoke with quite a bit going on, then this blend is for you. My tastes of late have been toward blends that are more in your face so I may have to revisit Royal Cajun Dark somewhere down the road. As of now, I probably will not be keeping any more on hand as it did nothing for me. I neither love it nor hate it.

This was one of the first 5 blends I ever smoked. That being said it was a surprisingly good experience. I remember at the time I thought it was rather spicy and yet surprisingly smooth. I also remember at the time it bit terribly, I charred my tongue more than once on this blend, but at the time I was a very new pipe smoker and had no idea how to sip a pipe. I ended up using most of the tin to top a whiskey aromatic that I liked, this seemed to work well for me back then although I can't really remember how it specifically tasted. I would like to revisit this smoke, as I have fond memories of it even though I couldn't properly enjoy it at the time not really knowing how to smoke this sort of blend.

Tin: Much, much more subdued compared to RCS, being a little smoky, but not very sweet or buttery like RCS. RCD is lightly moist and just a tad sticky. It is 90% black and 10% dark black-brown.

Packing & Lighting: It packed easy enough, but is not so easy to keep lit. Soon after firing up, a small amount of gurgle persists, but it generally burns to the bottom of the bowl. Multiple bowls give an undue accumulation of moisture around the shank.

Taste & Aroma: I get a peppery feel only when the smoke is directed straight onto the tongue. If it could be termed a chocolate taste, the result is a cloying effect of a plastic palate. There seems to be a vinegar component in the aroma. I even considered not finishing the tin.

While puffing lightly, the smoke is cool like menthol, even though there is none in it. Something akin to cedar/woodsy, I would describe RCD as having a distinct plastic dark chocolate taste and aroma.

Nicotine: Mild to moderate, slightly less than RCS.

Room Note: Although mild, diagreeable and lingered like an aromatic.

Overall: I didn't care for RCD at all. It seems like an aromatic. A couple of weeks after opening the tin, it stays lit easier and has a nicer taste and leaves much less moisture in the pipe. 2.0 stars.

Let me begin by saying that I have liked all of the McClelland blends I have tried. This would be amazing if it wasn't so subtle. Nice cut, easy to pack, almost perfect moisture upon opening and smells really good. Like others, I detected flavors of clove, cedar and spice. The problem is that these great flavors are muted and remain in the background. It's as if the bowl stays half asleep. I think this burns hot - but that might be because I am oversmoking, trying to wake it up. I've read this is the best blend of the series. That's too bad if true because I was hoping one of the others would have the same components but with the volume turned way up. I'll stick to Dark Star or St. James for now and continue to sample Mc's bulk offerings. Maybe with a little more time and development we will see a blend in this series that packs more punch.