McClelland 2009 Holiday Spirit

(3.14)
This mild, smooth blend of burley, Virginia and cavendish tobaccos is flavored with dark rum, pecan and cocoa. It brings a warm glow to the coldest winter day. The aroma of a favorite holiday confection wafts from the bowl bringing pipe smoking contentment.

Details

Brand McClelland
Blended By McClelland Tobacco Company
Manufactured By McClelland Tobacco Company
Blend Type Aromatic
Contents Burley, Cavendish, Virginia
Flavoring Cocoa / Chocolate, Pecan, Rum
Cut Ribbon
Packaging 50 grams tin
Country United States
Production No longer in production

Profile

Strength
Mild
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Very Pleasant
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

3.14 / 4
5

7

1

1

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 14 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 20, 2010 Mild Mild to Medium Mild Very Pleasant
This tobacco reminds me of a time, many years ago. When I had been living in London, I was, at the time a banker and dabbled a bit into money lending. All the greed and money hording eventually caught up with me and I became a very stingy and bitter fool. I had one man under my employ by the name of Cratchit, Bob Cratchit to be exact. I had taken it up as a hobby to try to make this man's life a living hell, after all, he was poor, and the world needed to be rid of peasants such as him. On one Eve of Christmas, after my stupid arrogant nephew came and tried to convince me to enjoy the holiday; Cratchit had the nerve to wish me a "happy Christmas", I should have knocked his blinking block off for uttering such rubbish to me. I, having rejected the idea of Christmas, told Cratchit that if he wanted to keep his job, he would continue to count money, crunch numbers and keep the books as i had asked. It was bad enough that the man picked my pocket every Christmas when he DIDNT WORK... WITH PAY! I had no pity for him and his pathetic crippled son, Timothy. I needed my money.

I was so consumed with my lust for money that my mind had created a phrase that, in my mind best embodied my frustrations, "Ba Humbug". As I would walk the streets, people would see me and in order to show my great displeasure upon them, I would look at them and say "Ba humbug!" This attitude led to a sort of notoriety among the town folk, but I didnt care. Half of them owed me money anyways, I held all the cards in the end.

That night after I had my nightly crumpet with butter and a nasty glass of warm sheep's milk, I started off to bed. Almost immediately after drifting off to bed,I was awoken by a great brute by the name of "Jacob Marley", my old fool of a business partner. This startled me, but never the less, I listened to the apparition in front of me. Marley proceded to warn me about some things which I payed not much attention to. The great oaf was covered in chains. Warned me about 3 ghosts, and being greedy. But being greedy I wanted to take his chains to melt them down and counterfeit them as jewelry. As I went back to sleep, I was abruptly awoken by a jolly fat man who claimed to be the "Ghost of Christmas Present". He took through a door that led to mountains of food, and on top of the mountain of food was McClelland's Holiday Spirit Pipe tobacco. I smoked it there out of a pipe provided by the great fool known as christmas present. I smoked and it was Good, filling the room with sweet memories of the olden days, when I used to get wanked. It was good. I was then shown the path by two other Ghosts of what would happen if I didnt load myself up with this Holiday Spirit tobacco.... I would be dead, and nobody would have a second thought.

I changed my ways, and gave out roast ducks to the scum living on the streets. Holiday Spirit changed my life. Very pleasant aftertaste. Now towns people refer to me as Big Papa. And now I just give people money instead of running a legitimate business and I was able to pay for Tiny Tim to have his spine fixed. In Conclusion, if this is your first time smoking, please let the Ghosts show you a good time.
6 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 19, 2015 Mild Mild to Medium Mild Very Pleasant
The Virginia is slightly grassy, and there's a minor nuttiness from the burley. The black cavendish adds a very mild vanilla note and there's a touch of honey from the gold cavendish. The toppings are not strong, and the rum loses a little of its impact after the half way point. The pecan is more noticeable then, being a little less obvious in the first half of the smoke. The cocoa notes are also very mild. The tobaccos and toppings complimentary meld fairly well together, and as pleasant as it is to smoke - decent burn rate, little moisture in the bowl and no dottle, silky smooth with no bite or harshness - it lacks depth of flavor to be any more than a work about all day mixture. If you like mild aromatics, this may suit you, but if you want a deeper tasting one, it may not satisfy you. Has little nicotine. Two and a half stars.

Apparently, this blend is the same every year, so my reviews for the other versions are the same as this one. I can't tell any differences.

-JimInks
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 11, 2011 Mild Medium Mild to Medium Very Pleasant
Smoking the 2011 edition. I find this to be a very merry blend. Just the right amount of sweet Christmas flavor to get me in the Holiday mood. I usually smoke Latakia blends, but like a break now and then with a Virginia or an Aromatic. Caramel Rush is my usual aromatic blend, and this Holiday Spirit has the same gentle aromatic appeal, with a very pleasant taste. If you are looking for a holiday special taste, this is just right.
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 24, 2013 Mild to Medium Medium Medium Very Pleasant
I smoke aromatic's as a change of pace, and this one is really good I'm a big McClelland fan myself.I'm rarely disappointed in their tobacco's. I'm smoking the 2009 version so it's been aged four yrs, I have no way of knowing if it lost anything since I've never smoked it. I can say that it has a rich tin aroma, and the taste is very pleasant and sweet. The flavor is full but not real sweet it leaves a good after taste in your mouth. The side stream is very pleasant as you continue to smoke it the blend looses some of the flavoring but still has a good flavor. It burns clean leaving a soft gray ash and a very enjoyable smoke I really liked it!
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 22, 2010 Very Mild Medium Very Mild Pleasant
It took me three bowls to determine this blend is not for me. As much as it pains me to give 1 star to a tobacco from my favorite blender, I must do so here.

Very antiseptic, artificial tasting aromatic that I found not at all in keeping with their tinned aros. The tin aroma was very nice and reminded me of their Best of Show, but a little less overblown. I smoked one bowl moist out of the tin and dried out the other two. Drying did not help. The flavor was anemic and offensive. I'm not sure I tasted pecan or cocoa but the rum was very much in evidence... more like rum laced with watered-down Listerine. I would think the three flavors would go well together but in this case either they clashed or the rum just took over. Could not finish the tin. It did burn fairly cleanly and at no time did it threaten to bite my tongue.

Again, I only smoked 3 bowls, so certainly a grain of salt would go nicely with this review. It seems others here enjoy this, so do give it a try if it interests you. But I have to recommend either McC's Tastemaster or Easy Street over this one, hands down - or even better - their bulk #2050 Oriental Cavendish Mixture. McClellands can make good aromatics but this is the tobacco equivalent of the wild pitch in baseball... the pitcher loses control, the batter has no chance to hit it, the catcher has no chance to catch it, and everyone starts running. 😉
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 26, 2012 Mild Medium Mild to Medium Very Pleasant
Wonderful! I smoked this around Christmas times and found it wonderful. The pecan and cocoa really comes through throughout the smoke, and it all blends together to a Christmasy sweet wonder. I understand that this will be too sweet for many, but for me its the perfect holiday blend, something i will go back to every year.
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 04, 2012 Mild Very Strong Medium Pleasant
I'm not a huge fan of Aromatics, but this one was nice. If you smoke it too quick it has a bite and can get a bit of vinegar, but behaves well for the most part. The cocoa and pecan's take center-stage for sure and the sweetness gets a bit much at times, but it's perfect for a festive winter's night. It will ghost your pipe, so be warned, and it also can make your pipe goopey, but other than that this is a fantastic tobacco.
Pipe Used: Bent Billard, Dublin, Egg, Acorn
PurchasedFrom: Pipesandcigars.com
Age When Smoked: New from store - 1-2 years
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 04, 2010 Medium Medium Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Upon opening the tin I am quickly brought back to the smell of the kitchen when my mom would make rum cake. The fragrance is sweet, full, with rum being the most predominate, and the other scents melded in subtly. It seems a little moist for my liking, so I pulled some out and let it dry out for about an hour.

After filling the pipe and lighting it you are meet with a sweet smell that reminds me of a good cake baking in the oven. The taste is sweet, rich, and the subtle pecan flavor comes out. The tobacco really takes off about mid pipe and becomes even better. The end of the pipe carried a little darker flavor than the beginning of the pipe, but the entire smoke was pleasurable.

I paired this with my favorite pipe smoking drink, black coffee. I think that this blend went very well with the cup of Peet's Holiday Blend coffee.

So satisfied with this blend I ordered 4 more tins to carry me through until next holiday season.
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 24, 2009 Mild to Medium Medium Medium Very Pleasant
Not having had last year's version, if there in fact is any difference with the descriptions being virtually the same, I must say in either case that this is indeed a very good aromatic for the season. It seems quite moist upon cracking open the tin, but it smokes with little tongue bite and absolutely no gurgling throughout the pipe. It burns down to a nice dry white ash and produces a nice quantity of smoke. It really is a nice tasting weed and no complaints were heard from anyone close by. The room note is first rate. It does make for a nice diversion from the Christmas Cheer. I would recommend this fine weed to anyone.
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 08, 2011 Mild Medium to Strong Medium Pleasant
the tin i tried was marked 2011 with the same description as previous years. i cant distinguish the flavors from one another they just sort of blend together to make an artificial christmasy aroma and taste if that makes any since. it was not in any way offensive but this is probably the only time of year i would enjoy it. i would assume this is a great choice for aromatic lovers whose choice of smoke is influenced by the season.
0 people found this review helpful.
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