McClelland Black Sea Sokhoum

Very good stuff, and not really what you think of when you think oriental or cigar-like. I find most cigar blends to taste like a cigar in between the stage of an inch left to smoke and sitting in the ashtray for an hour (do you detect I'm not crazy about them?). This was different, it has the orintal spiciness with the sweetness of the Virginia, but with a depth and darkness that are usually only components within the overall cigar taste. No, this is no twin for a cigar, but it is a very mellow, almost intoxicating blend. An excellent tobacco from McClelleand whose other offerings in the non VA arena have been......insipid, watered down, disgusting, good tobacco for babies, mulch..take your pick. These will get them into oriental tobacco heaven after all.

Also a new reviewer here.. My palette bases a lot of things by my normal go to blend of MCs 5100.. I saw this in the store and didnt know much about it but bought it as to the description of a virginia and cigar blend which got my attention.. I like a cigar on occasion but due to a bad overbite seldom smoke them.. a pipe stem suits my mouth better.. I also am a wimp on nicotine as I don't like feeling light headed, ( got enough middle ear problems to not like that feeling). This blend burned great right from the tin and only had to relight once after the charing light.. Burned smooth, started out more sweet and virginia like and then seemed to move into the cigar taste and smell to me.. I smoke a lot in my truck and this was a great blend for a 45 minute trip, no relighting! I will keep this on my list and recommend it to anyone looking for a light great smelling and tasting blend. Not sure what to expect with it aged though.. will cellar a tin and revisit again.. will the virginias win out and sweeten with age? We will see Mike

Update Nov 3rd... after trying this a few more times I got to lower my rating to 3 stars.. that last half of bowl is not that great anymore.. I like some flavor till the end.. and this wasnt as flavorful as some of the virginia blends I smoke ...

I generally wait until I am half way through my second tin before passing judgement on a blend, but Black Sea Sokhoum has to be an exception. When I opened it, that god forsaken ketchup smell was very present and I winced and worried that it would be no good. I always do this with McClelland blends, but generally at least feel okay about them. I must say, however, that the scent disappeared more quickly than it has in other McClelland blends I've tried.

Semi-sweet seems a bit of a misnomer, it is very sweet, at least to my tastes. Not in a bad way however. Cigar-like, yes. In fact, as someone who is somewhat lukewarm on cigars, this stuff tastes like what I think cigars should taste like. There are lots of chocolatey notes, perhaps a touch of coffee and other times tea and hints of vanilla and maybe dabs of a green herb like taste weave themselves in and out of the smoke. Very complex smoke with lots to look for and a pretty pleasant room note. It's also a very cool smoke and leaves a dry pipe with fluffy whitish grey ash.

I give this one the highest recommendation.

P.S. - Everytime I smoke it, I wind up with Back in the USSR in my head because the Sokhoum tobacco originates in Georgia (not the state containing Atlanta, Macon & Savannah) and there's the line "and Georgia's always on my mi-mi- mind."

Not much taste to this blend. No cigar notes. Frustratingly, a not-so-accurate description of this blend, as is so often the case with McClelland. I realize that taste is subjective, but none of the blends that they describe as full-bodied fit that description in my book. A very mild & smooth blend & perhaps one that could be uses as a blender, but that would be all this tobacco would be up to IMHO.

The cigar notes in this blend is similar to the notes given by a good burley blend. Burley lovers should give it a try. I had an infatuation with samsun seed, but now my tastes are turning to the xanthi seed blends. It does not mean, I am turning from samsun. It is still in my rotation; it just is not a focus of my smoking at the moment.

The blend quality is still there. It smokes dry and cool. The taste is dry when compared to Yenidje Supreme or Yenice Agonya.

Give it a try!

I really wanted to like this tobacco.

It's an attempt to rediscover a classic style of pipe tobacco -- the kind of "fine Turkish" Rudyard Kipling and Mark Twain smoked. It's also an unblended tobacco from a single region, if you're interested in the raw materials the blenders use.

Both of these reasons make this tobacco a curiosity, and interesting to smoke, at least once.

Unfortunately there is almost no flavour in this tobacco. If you smoke if very slowly in a big pipe you'll get an extremely mild Virginia flavour, and the merest hint of cigar.

I like mild tobaccos, and this is very mild indeed. But I also like a robust flavour I don't have to concentrate on to actually detect. Also if you forget and smoke this fast it quickly becomes harsh and unpleasant.

I'd give this one star but I reckon McClelland deserves two stars for effort.

My first review on this site, but this tobacco was so surprising and enjoyable I had to dive right in after just a couple of pipefulls.

I normally smoke much heavier Balkan blends, and hardly ever like anything without Latakia, but this is an exception. I enjoyed the subtle flavors, and indeed, it is very cigar-like, as advertized.

I would highly recommend a tinful, regardless of the (high) price, particularly if you are stuck in a rut and want to try something quite different.

Well normally I would wait until smoking quite a few bowls before reviewing something but I felt completely confident after only one bowl that this was going to the trash heap. This stuff is vile in the extreme. Cigar-like might be accurate in the way that leather-like might be for a really cheap leather jacket if you catch my meaning. It tastes like a particularly cheap and nasty cigar. I like good cigars and this doesn't even cut it in that respect. If you want a cigar, you'd be better off buying one than this. Can you tell I detested it? :}