McClelland Blue Mountain/Balkan Blue

Blue Mountain is excellent stuff.

I am not old enough to have smoked 759, so my review is based solely on this blend. Count me among those bored to tears with reviewers going on and on about "the old balkan sobranie." It's like people saying, "Sure, Domingo is good, but you should have seen Caruso back in 1919." I can't, so just let me enjoy Domingo.

I was fortunate to attend the 2011 Chicago Pipe Show and held with the majority that this was the best. (Sorry, Russ!) The blend is thick, smooth, and consistent. I've just finished my first tin and used small, large, briars, and meers and found it respond perfectly in all of them. I suggest rubbing out the top third of the bowl for easier lighting, and you should expect multiple relights on this one. It burns down to about 10% dottle without going harsh or getting hot. I am prone to bite (see my review of Carter Hall), and this has none. It can cake things up, so watch that. The aftertaste is marvelous.

All that being said, this proves to be one dimensional. I tasted no real development through the bowl. Hence, I doubt this will change with aging. But, heck, it doesn't need to. The room note, which I almost never can tell, is obvious on this. This would make Pepe Le Pew blush. I hope to smoke it around my ex- wife one day.

All-in-all, highly recommended. Blue Mountain is a must-have for my cellar.

If I was a lover of Latakia, this would be a favorite. The smokey Cyprian weed dominates every part of this experience. The Virginia is almost completely obscured, and the fine Orientals are reduced to a supporting role for the Latakia.

The tin note is heavenly. Even if I choose another blend for my pipe, I will open the can of Blue Mountain just to get a little glimpse, a whiff, of the eternal. If only it smoked just like it smells!

Slow puffing and a churchwarden stem help to cool the smoke and soften the bite. And it does bite!

If you are in the mood for Latakia, you can't beat this blend.

Regarding room note: My lovely and articulate wife has requested that I never smoke this again. "It smells like burning shit," she says. Fortunately for me, she adores the smells of Blackwoods Flake and Presbyterian Mixture. I will save Blue Mountain for when she is out of town.

I purchased Blue Mountain as a portal blend. Having never smoked Balkan Sobranie 759, yet hearing that it was Mike McNeil's intention to approximate a 20 year aged tin of 759, I could not resist trying it.

If a blender could approximate an aged blend with a fresh blend, and the target blend was widely smoked somewhat recently (hence, a large pool of smokers available to judge the effort), then the implications for future blending experiments are tantalizing. Hence, why I think Blue Mt. is a portal blend (along with Black House).

The result? I probably will not bust the bank buying up BS 759 to smoke BY THE MEASURE OF BLUE MT. Will I smoke Blue Mt. regularly? Most likely, I will smoke it occasionally. It does not sing with Oriental leaf like Legends, Wilderness and Samovar from the same blender- and personal favorites. The Latakia is too dominate for me even in pipes where the non-Latakia Oriental leaf is more pronounced (i.e., wide chambers and stacks). In more typical billiard, Dublin, bulldog pipes, Blue Mt. is more monodimensional, tasting mainly of Latakia and an occasional, pleasant sweetness.

This is a smooth blend, low in nicotine, with a pleasingly pungent room note. Contrast with the similarly Latakia-heavy Bombay Extra. The latter is brash and packs a much heavier nicotine hit. Both are cased, but the added flavoring is nondescript in each.

Smoky and sweet at the same time, I got a new car smell kind of taste. This is not a bad thing, very smoky but not at all overwhelming. I liked and I will cellar several tins for aging, but I do not plan to purchase any more for immediate consumption. This was just too sweet for my Latakia fix and too one dimensional for my English fix. I haven't smoked 759 but I cannot imagine that it was this sweet, I expected much more oriental flavor. Even with all these faults I still kind of like it, hopefully it gets more interesting with time.

Appearance is a dark brown rough ribbon with lighter strands. Tin smells of light sweet smoke. Tastes lightly sweet and smoky with mineral notes.

I have never smoked 759, and so I am reviewing Blue Mountain on its own merits. This is very nice indeed. Sweet, smoky, and mineral like, especially iodine as found in in Penzance or Skiff.

[Note: yes, iodine, most certainly not ammonia.]

It is definitely toward the milder side of mild to medium in strength, but nicely "middle" in flavour. I find Blue Mountain very pleasant, and recommend this far above something like Three Oaks.

759 was king of tobacco's during it's time. The blend MC used was aged for many years, as we know things will change. 759 was lighter in color, more yenidje and latakia as I remember. It failed the huff test, this may not be exactly like what I remember but it is great in it's own way. It's not far from the original but is not the same. That said, BM is a fine smoke that does remind me of 759 at the 3/4 bowl. A good re-light with a full flavor I will be getting more of this as I think it will age well. I just wish I had the foresight to age 759. But I took it for granted that it would always be avaliable. I won't do that again. I do wish the ash was lighter like Three Oak's.

Reminiscent of the Frog Morton blends, but much better -- more balanced, more flavor, and about the same strength/gentleness. Slight floral aroma upon light and a few minutes into it, but eventually fades.

I love latakia. I also love sweet tobacco like red virginias. In Blue Mountain I find the best of two worlds. While smoking about the first half of the bowl, I'm aware of the latakia but it's not overwhelming. From there on, the latakia takes a step backwards and the sweet, sweet taste steps forward. This sweetness is almost sugarlike and I enjoy it even more than the taste of virginias. The tobacco burns slowly, should be sipped very gently and can be smoked right down to the last crumb. No dottle remains, only white ash which can actually just be shaken out. If you do not have this one in your collection, you are really missing out on a great experience.

This mixture is originated as an attempt to try to 'reconstruct' the Holy Grail of many pipe smokers - the legendary Balkan Sobranie. That tobacco is reminiscent of the BS but not entirely successful. But regardless of this tobacco is a premium, full, rounded taste, which I will certainly buy the first opportunity. Once again - excellent tobacco, despite failing to achieve the 'Holy Grail'! Recommendation for all fans of English blends: purchase!