McClelland A.M. Pipe

As a newbie, this was my first foray into English blends. WOW, I'm a convert!

I was skeptical at first. The pouch aroma is obnoxiously pungent. Very organic and peaty, which is as close as I can come to describing it. (Perhaps this is the latakia, but my palate is not yet educated enough to identify it exactly). Not at all pleasing. However, upon lighting it, its a different animal.

The smoke produced is a pleasant light-to-medium, but there is a very present creaminess that gives it an appreciable body. Very nice. VERY slight sweetness, almost undetectable, but works great with the creaminess. The peaty component is completely tamed and harnessed by the creamy body into a nice organic, earthy note and balances perfectly with the creamy sweet notes, almost like a well-made espresso with perfectly steamed milk where the milk's sweetness tames the espresso bite but not enough to disturb the fruity overtones of the coffee.

The burn is great(coming from aros). This was the first bowl that I've smoked to ashes, and with minimal relights to boot. On top of that its available at my local shop for a great price.

In sum, all I can say is that if other English blends are anywhere near this good, future aros better step up if they wanna make it into my bowl!

This is the only "English" blend from an American blender that I care to smoke. I feel that most of our US blenders try to do too much with a blend and thus either have too many different attacks to the senses or wind up with something completely flat.

Having said that, I've been smoking this for about 4-5 months now. Great first smoke of the day. While it does not compare to the long gone Dunhill blend, I do not believe that it is an attempt at a copy, and, it does stand on its own merits.

Whereas EMP gets the palate started with some very fine orientals, AMP hits you with a nice Virginia/Latakia combination but without the overdose of the Latakia (which is an oriental, I suppose, and could be the reference made in the blend note).

The play between the sweet VA's and the smokey Latakia is very engaging, alternating ever so slightly throughout the bowl. Thus, to me, it does a fine job of "arousing the palate".

Packs easily, lights and burns very well. Light grey ashe at the end with very little, if any, dottle.

Very nice light English blend that can serve as an all day smoke.

This is one of my 'go-to' pipe tobaccos. The VA is quite nice, not super sweet but full of flavor. Now...the Latakia is just right...it seems to me to add a certain sweetness to the flavor. The Oriental in this is subdued, not the spicy-hotness of Early Morning Pipe but like a very slight sprinkle of Tabasco or even better Texas Pete's hot sauce, very slight, just tasty. This is a mild tobacco and that's one of the reasons I like it so much. Great in the morning, nice at noon and always good in the early evening. Why do I say the Latakia is sweet? I enjoy smelling my pipe tobacco as I smoke it and when I smell this after a nice puff...the Latakia comes across with just a hint of sweetness...not like a sweet-tea but more like the hint of sweetness when you add some lemon to your tea or iced tea, just that little hint of a taste of sweet.

This is my second round with this blend. In a nutshell, i like it. Having smoked both old and new versions of EMP I,d say this is similar to EMP in that it is a mild english but with a little more flavor and less grassy. Price aside I prefer it to EMP. Good anytime smoke and nice change of pace from more Lat foreward blends.

This is a nice bulk blend. Light and sweet enough for an all day smoke in my opinion. The orientals and latakia play nice together. I have not had EMP in a long time, so cannot do a fair comparison. Although EMP didn't leave me wanting to purchase more. And AMPipe has ended up in my cellar instead. Enough said.

I've not smoked EMP so I am not able to provide any comparison, but on it's own AMP is really good. I am a big fan of McClelland blends, ketchup smell (which this one does not have) and all, so this may be biased. This blend ranks high on my charts. It packs well, smokes cool, and is just the flavor that I like - a little sweet, a little nutty, and finishes off a little spicy. For me most blends that I have smoked with Latakia and Va's in them have a somewhat caramel/vanilla flavor when they are mixed together. This tobacco has that same taste to me, and I like it a lot. It's flavors are really drawn out nicely with a cup of coffee. I smoke this blend all day and enjoy every pipe full. I receive complements all the time about how good this smells, so one thumbs up for smoking around the crowd factor.

Good evening Gentalmen,you will find this to be a very good smoke.Very tasty and pleasant,does not bite.It is not as good as dunhill standard mix medium,but it does come close and i will say it is a viable replacement for a tobacco that is not around any more.So my opinion is give it a try.It does burn well and taste is even from top to bottom,of course the first few puffs are the very best but rest of the bowl will not dissapoint.As far as being overly sweet I don't think so of course my main smoke is virgian tobacco so I may not detect that.I only smoke english once or twice a week it makes my sinus hurt. But this my change that yes tis that good. Well good day gents.

Not only did I find the Dunhill EMP knockoff very similar to EMP, I found it to actually be far better in every respect. Better taste, better burn, better everything. EMP smokers should find themselves quite satisfied with this replacement.

I was lucky enough to get some of this recently and am thankful I did. One of the best English blends I've had. Smooth smoke with a beautiful aroma that didn't make people around me run for the hills. Did have to relight a little more than usual, but I'll give the benefit of the doubt and assume some user error. It wasn't enough to be a real inconvenience anyways. I highly suggest this blend. Do not pass this up if you get the opportunity!!!