McClelland Old Dog

Basic black and brown with ribbons and chunks and a tin aroma of muted latakia. My nose could not detect the orientals nor the Virginia - it was like sniffing dried out latakia. Kind of bizarre. Made me wonder if this was a lat bomb and just what a lat bomb from McClellands might taste like.

It took me two tins to get any kind of a bead on this blend and I have no real idea why. It came overly moist and needed a bit of drying time to hold a light but I'm used to that. At the match, latakia takes over, which made sense to me since that's all I could smell. Very shortly the orientals added their fragrant sweet/sour pungency, with the Virginia adding depth and the Cavendish providing just an iota of extra sweetness. Some kind of topping to the Cavendish, which is no surprise. The flavors melded nicely. This blend made me think about what is meant when we say "complex". If it means the blend changes presentations down the bowl, then saying this is a complex blend is like saying termites are annoying. It never seemed to stay in one place for long. Even bowl to bowl reacted differently. I'd sometimes get this absolutely delicious creamy sweet hazelnut coffee flavor which would morph into a sourish piquancy and then to a robust cheese-like tartness. There were times within a single bowl where this was one of the finest tobaccos I've ever smoked, and times where I was completely turned off. But I was never bored. This is one unique tobacco. Complexity abounds, which is one of this blend's strengths while also being its weakness. Full English? Not really. This one almost needs its own category. Try it if you're convinced you know what an English tastes like. Two tins later and I'm still not sure.

The grassy, very citrusy, lightly fermented flue cured Virginias also sport a touch of dark fruit and wood as they form the base of the blend, though they are not the star component. The smoky, woody, lightly musty, rather sweet Cyprian latakia competes with the mildly spicy, woody, buttery sweet, dry, earthy, lightly floral Xanthis, and occasionally, one is a little more noticeable than the other. The unsweetened black cavendish provides some brown sugar to tame any potential rough edges. The strength is a step closer to medium than it is to mild. The taste level is medium. The nic-hit is in the center of mild to medium. No chance of bite or harshness even when pushed. Burns cool and clean and a little slow with a complex, nuanced, though inconsistent smoky, spicy sweet flavor. May need some dry time. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and requires some relights. Has a pleasantly sweet camp fire after taste that lightly lingers. Not quite an all day smoke, but it’s certainly repeatable.

-JimInks

This starts very smooth with subtle flavors of Orientals balanced with Latakia, however, it is very low in nicotine and bold flavor. Hence, I find myself puffing harder than normal to get some extra kick , this gets the pipe hot and brings on tongue bite. I feel the Cavendish muttles the flavors as you get past the first 1/3 of the pipe. If you are not a puffer and a lazy sipper you can make this tobacco work for you.

Update 8/31/12 I've been smoking this off and on for about a week now and I'm getting to really find this special. Just don't push it and it will deliver a ,smoky, flavorful taste, with a hint of sweetness. This is very smooth and I find it great for the end of the day when my tongue has had enough. I know , a 180 degrees from my first review , very nice to have around. I think I like this better than Black Mallory (that has the same types of tobaccos), because it is smoother with very little spice. This also seems to have a touch of cocoa, much like some of Fred Hanna's blends, Wilderness, legends , some similarities. I'm giving this 3-1/2 stars !

A very good mild to medium all-day English blend, slightly sweet, very smooth and cool-burning, with considerable underlying support, and occasional dominance, by McClelland's trademark virginias and some notable oriental content other than the latakia. Ultimately, it is overshadowed for me by the outstanding Three Oaks blends, Mr. Hanna's amazing blends such as Wilderness and Legends, and a few of Mcclelland's other, slightly fuller or more unique English and balkan mixtures. Nonetheless, a flavorful and well-crafted medium English that is tasty, great-smoking and easy to get along with, right out of the tin.

Mcclelland old dog is just a great English blend. The Latakia is well balanced with the mild spice you get from the xanthis. I would say the xanthis gives like a cinnamon spice as opposed to peppery. I was really impressed with this blend and would recommend to English lovers.

Edit 6/18/2018

I reviewed this one at a time when I had only been smoking for a year. Coming from Cigarettes I really needed nicotine and this one did not give me enough. Over the years, nicotine has become a lesser concern though still appreciated. Of the things I have learned is Turkish/oriental/latakia just does not have much nicotine, so one should never expect it in a blend that uses any as a base or large percentage.

So in comparing apples to apples, I would still hold this blend at three stars. this is a nice tangy edgy smoke with a good oriental presence. The latakia is also there lending those campfire notes and is well situated in a condimental role. The Virginia is awesome, because it is a McClelland product. It has enough sweetness, but never overpowers the other two elements leaving you with little doubt that what you are smoking is a Balkan mixture. The Cavendish, I believe is a Virginia Cavendish. At least that is my guess. It mellows the blend a bit, but is not perceptible on its own, at least to me anyway.

So the end result is the same as was before in that I am holding it at three stars and for my tastes I prefer my Balkans to be a bit more on the creamy side and less edgy, but I enjoyed the tin I just finished and the side stream is lovely.

Original Review 10-22-2012

This did not do much for me. I think the low nic content is my biggest gripe on this. I realize that probably most pipe smokers require less nicotine than I as McClelland blends are very popular and all seem to be too light on the nic for me.

If you are one of the I can't stand ketchup McC haters, you should be happy with this one as it, at least to my nose, contains no such aroma. It actually smells incredible in the tin.

I did enjoy the taste of this, but for this type of profile, I prefer what Rattray's offers. YMMV

Let me start by saying that this was the first tobacco I ever bought. I was foolish in the extreme, buying it mostly for the packaging(I'm a dog lover) and because it was compared to Frogmorton. Frogmorton was highly recommended for a beginners tobacco by all the sources I had checked. On opening the tin the Latakia was all I could smell and it was so moist that it was hard to light and made me hate it and reconsider whether I wanted to smoke a pipe. However I had tried cigars and I knew that the more pungent tobaccos were prized by more advanced smokers. Also I like scotch and at first I hated it for its pungency, but forced myself to acquire the taste. I realized I had just picked to heavy of a tobacco for a beginner and bought some lighter Virginia's to work my way up. So now for the review: although I don't love this stuff I do like and respect it for what it is. I prefer my Virginia's, but I would never be without a solid English blend like Old Dog to break up the monotany of simpler, milder blends. The smell of the tin is very similar to american "dip" smokeless tobacco, which I have since found out contains alot of smoked tobacco, like Latakia. The taste however is very smooth and pleasant, and the room note is pleasant as well(my mom likes it and she hates anything that has an acquired taste). As I prefer milder tasting tobaccos my tin has had a while to age because I only smoke it when I want a change of pace. This said it has aged nicely. I don't know if I will buy it again because I want to try other English/Latakia blends, and since I only smoke them to break up the others I don't go through them very fast. If it ends up being the one I like best it will be added into my permanant rotation. Almost forgot, its so smooth I can inhale it. Its not for that though.

Update; 10/19/2013: After having had some time to gain experience with smoking I have realized that I was not properly drying my tobaccos before smoking. I had a 1-2 month period when I didn't smoke my pipe and came back to find that all my tins seemed too dry, but having read that beginners often don't dry there tobacco enough because they think its too much I tried smoking them as they were. What a difference! My pipe finally stays lit now,I get much less tongue bite, and the aging improved my tobaccos a lot. I now find I really like my one English blend (old dog) and don't much care for more Va's anymore so I am ordering more English blends right now. I like this one a lot and may buy another tin to age long-term. I tried mixing equal parts of this with some McC vanilla ice and it was excellent too.