McClelland Bayou Slice

It's all true !!! Small slices of the smoothest Louisiana Perique mellowed with sweet and zesty matured Virginia's. Rich and satisfying, compelling aroma, smooth, no bite. I'm quite surprised that this blend has not gained greater popularity.

After reading the many reviews on Bayou Slice I had to give it a go. My first perique blend. I have been a tad disappointed with it so far but im not giving up. The tin that I have needs plenty of drying out right off the bat. I have had some trouble keeping my bowl glowing and there is plenty of gurgle. However the subtle sweetness to this blend is wonderful!!! And I personally love the room note this gives off. Im going to switch to a corncob to see what results I get. To be continued.......

UPDATE..... Ive let this dry out for almost a month. My last go at this was somewhat of a disappointment but what a diffrence even minimal aging does. I also switched to a narrow Bueshers corncob after a suggestion from down below and it has made all the diffrence. No bite to speak of and no gurgle. A complete 180! The spiciness of the perique is very evident and a very welcome addition to my rotation. Also the vinegar smell is all but gone. Ive actually been somking more of this after some dry time than my other tobaccos as of late.

Oh yes! This is the real reason Rip Van Winkle was in the woods for 20 years - he had several pounds of this stuff. I may have found the Holy Grail I've been searching for in pipe baccy!

This broken flake arrived ready too smoke out of the tin. Some drying time may be preferrable for smoking in larger bowled pipes as this blend does burn hot but has not yet bit. This blend can be classified as more of a PerVA than a VAPer as the Perique dominates. The Perique is clearly well aged and of high quality as it is never harsh except for the first few puffs which is natural. The virginias provide an excellent woody/nutty/toasty sweet base for the zesty/leathery/peppery Perique leaf. This blend is perfectly balanced offering a nice volume of smoke throughout the bowl. I find myslef puffing greddily on the last peppery ashes wishing I wasn't done. Flavors I noticed in this smoke where of cajun spice, light hazlenut, and good toast. Highly recommended for lovers of Perique and natural virginias. Maybe not a good introduction to Perique for the inexperienced. Enjoy.

What I received in the tin was more of a broken flake than the true, well formed flake that I prefer but this may have been unusual. The ketchup tin aroma, typical of many McClelland blends, was evident although not overpowering. Lighting and packing were easy and a smoke without relights, condensation or bite resulted. I think that there was a nice balance between the Perique and the VAs. However, compared to some of their bulk offerings, I don't see see that much difference to warrant smoking this blend and find 2015 just as enjoyable.

A friend of mine at the pipe club let me babysit a tin of this the other day. I in turn let him babysit one of mine. This is a McClelland blend without the name. I tried looking this brand name on the web to see if it was maybe a resurrected blend but could find no trace of it. Maybe it is just made up for fun. The tin code on this is 732017 which makes it about 4 years old and probably some of the last batches of McClelland as they shut their doors around Feb 2018 if I am correct. They also produced this as a ribbon which through me off as I spend some time reading up on the wrong blend. Never heard of this one until the other day. The first few puffs I knew automatically that I would like this one. It is a nice broken flake with the faint vinegar smell that McClelland is (was) known for. This is a full rich smoke, not full in nicotine but full in taste and the way it smokes. If this was a desert it would be a rich dark chocolate cake. The first bowl I had was in my Meerschaum Poker and I just stuffed some into the bowl. It lit up easily and the taste stayed consistent until the end. For some that might be considered one dimensional but consistency is nice at times. You know what you are getting. The second bowl I crumbled and let it air out about 5-10 minutes but honestly could not tell much difference. The third bowl was in a Missouri Meerschaum Patriot Corn Cob and the taste was noticeably different but really not something I can put into words. As I have had 3 fairly medium size bowls I will stop as I will need to return the child back to the parent no worse for wear. It is always a pleasure to smoke any McClelland that I can get my hands on. How I would rate this compared to another McClelland’s is hard to say. I will say that though I am not an all-day smoker this one due to its richness would probably be appreciated more in the evenings rather than an all dayer. I wish I had had some Café del Mundo coffee from New Orleans to pair this one with. To recap, not the fullest tasting smoke I have had but there is a richness that would have me pull this one out of inventory on certain evenings where you can relax and puff on this one slowly.

McClelland makes three great Vapers....(well, more actually, but ) the big three are st james woods, Beacon Extra (and Beacon regular) and this, bayou slices. I think beacon extra is among the best VaPers on the market, but this one might be even better. Beacon extra has more perique...in fact it might have more than any blend I can think of....and it is superb. But Bayou Slices is actually more complex, and better balanced. These are nuances, because all of the Mc C blends with Perique are very good. Its a question of the composition of the Virginias and the amount of stoving. Now the bulk 2015 from McClelland is also very very good...but has considerably less perique. And in general is a bit milder. St James Woods is probably milder overall, too, with a bit less nic hit. Beacon Extra has the highest nicotine content with Bayou somewhere in between. While it seems as one is nitpicking very tiny differences, its not really true. I can tell these apart easily I think, if one were to give a blind taste test. For one thing, the aroma is different. The room note different too, and bayou slices has the superior room note I think.

Anyway, this is excellent stuff. McClelland does stoved virginia better than anyone, period. And among the pantheon of VaPers id say only St James Flake by Gawith is at this level. There are others....some with burly like Reiner Longer Golden Flake (and wee bit of casing) and solani 633, but I think none of them are quite this good. The rich virginia taste is in the foreground and the Perique is quite clear but not as foward as in beacon extra. These are milder virginias (less red perhaps) and there is a nice quality of sweetness in this blend i dont find in any of the others. A real strong clear virginia sweetness that appears about halfway through the bowl. Overall a 5 star blend. Much neglected for some reason.

The guy who stated this to be one overlooked VaPer hit the nail on the head. Takes on a deep fruit tin note several days after being transferred to a jar. This one is tasty smooth. I'll leave it at that.

The tin smells tart, winey, and just slightly acetic.

The smoke is tangy and "spicy" with Perique. I once smoked a bowl of this back-to-back with a bowl of Aged Burley Flake, and the tanginess was quite pronounced. This has McCelland's VA house flavor, which for me is a great thing.

I liked this best when it was fully rubbed out, because I found it to be an easy, tasty smoke in this form. I'm sure there are excellent, deep flavors to be had when smoked as a straight broken flake, but I didn't have much luck keeping a cool smoldering ember without breaking it up.