McClelland Frog Morton's Cellar

I gave myself more than 2 weeks to smoke it before I decided to make my review of this tobacco because I really wanted to get everything from it before I express my humble opinion. Firstly this tobacco has very good rating almost everywhere … which was the reason I really wanted to try it. Although it is not available in the UK I got it from online retailer in US … paying through nose UK customs taxes. IT WAS WORTH IT. First of all tin note of this tobacco is AMAZING. It definitely reminds me smell of good quality Christmas Pudding. Brandy, vanilla (lot of it) and all these spices you would normally came across on Christmas table. For those who don’t know what Christmas Pudding is … just imagine Eggnog. Smell is so tasty that You would like to eat it. Very nice aroma of this tobacco comes not from some additives and artificial aromas but from chunks of oak from wooden barrel which was used for maturation of Whiskey… so in fact it is NOT AN AROMATIC tobacco but proper English Latakia blend. Interestingly you will find chunk of that wood in your tin with tobacco also (I’ve got 2 pieces in 100 grams tin). When you lit this tobacco room aroma is fantastic also. Sweet, Christmassy (again), caramelly… sublime. Taste is fantastic, very sweet. Definitely caramel, vanilla and … I would say rather Brandy than Whiskey. You would taste good Latakia and Virginia in a background. After about half of the bowl all that sweet package gently fades away leaving you with very good quality English - Latakia blend and it stays like that to the end. Nice white - greyish fine ash is what is left on the end. This tobacco smokes cool whiteout any bite whatsoever. There is no tobacco that I came across that I could compare to this one regarding room note and aroma, so I can’t say that it is similar to “X’ or “Y”. It is unique to me and as Artisan’s work is brilliant. I only wish that it would be available in UK soon as it is one of my favourites now. My rating: Flavour 10/10, Aroma 10/10, Strenght: 9/10. OVERALL RATING: 9,5/10

Yech.

Reminded me of the terrible day 40 years ago when I filled a bowl with my Dad's room-pleasing Captain Black. Vanilla casing! Augh!. I've long enjoyed the Frog Morton Latakia line, bought this from the label description, didn't expect anything so powerfully aromatic and candy-flavored. Whisky? No. Vanilla Turkish taffy is more like it. I'm sorely disappointed.

Live and learn. Will be looking for an aromatic-smoking friend I can dump this on.

This tobacco has a nice smooth smell upon opening . The Latakia is not overpowering. This carries over into the smoke. It has a nice smooth consistency on the palate and is a very enjoyable smoke. I am not going to classify whether it deserves to be classified as a true English or belongs in some other hybrid category. I'll rate it for what it is, is it a good smoke with enough interest and enjoyment to be smoked more than once? This is easily a good smoke. If your new to Latakia it's a great smoke. If you smoke a wide array of tobacco, it's good hands down. The smoke was smooth, enjoyable, not goopy in any way and burned nice to the end. Not too heavy on Latakia with somewhat of a sweet note. Well balanced. Definitely worth a try and fills a gap between the heavier Latakia hitters and the wannabes. Room note - not a fave for those closest to you - they'll definitely let you know your smoking that man tobacco in the house again lol.

Very, very nice. The Latakia is fairly bold, smoky, and woody with a touch of spice. The Virginias are sweet and toasty. The whisky flavor is light, but discernible. I love the interaction of the toasty note from the Virginias with the whisky flavor. This is delicious.

Mild to medium in body and taste. Mild in flavoring. Burns well straight from the tin.

I like FMC quite a bit. I used to avoid aromatics because of the usual tongue bite or soapy flavor that some of them have. I generally like Latakia blends, but the War Department often remarks about "burning camel dung." FMC seems to meet all requirements. It tastes good, no tongue bite, minimal snide comments, and it burns all the way down the bowl.

I've tried it in three different pipes. It performs best in deep narrow bowls.

Mild, sweet latakia and Virginia blend. Mild whiskey flavour from the piece of whiskey barrel that is included in the tin to continue to add flavour to the tobacco - incredibly good smoke. It actually has hints of vanilla or even butterscotch just about throughout the bowl. Good puffs of white smoke too. Smoked really cool and absolutely zero bite. Excellent and my favourite tobacco so far. I finally found my "must have", and ordered 5 100g tins.

Definitely a lovely flavored-english blend: smooth, creamy, smoky, subtly sweet... a quality smoke in every way.

So why not four stars? I'll get to that in a moment.

This is the third of the Frog Mortons I've tried. They're all lovely: the base of these blends provides a solid, stable flavor profile that the master blenders of McClelland know how to tweak into wonderful variations of a theme. But no matter how lovely the details of these variations may be, the base flavor predominates.

I liken it to an omelette: no matter how you vary the fillings, it's still an omelette. Some fillings will be better than others, some won't work at all. If the omelette is over- or undercooked, nothing will taste right. But a great omelette, cooked just right, transcends the particularities of its fillings, no matter the difference in flavor. The omelette is the canvas on which to perform flavor variations.

Ultimately, this is why I give it three instead of four stars: Frog Morton's base blend is a wonderful three-star canvas, and to me this variation does not lift it to the next level: Cellar is a subtly-sweet-bourbon-whisper variation of what is essentially the same flavor profile as the other Frog Mortons.

I can see why many of my esteemed peers believe that this is the variation that lifts the base blend to the next level; but, truth be told, I actually prefer both Bayou and Town to this one. They're all successful variations on a theme, so ultimately it comes down to a matter of taste preference. Which means that this, as well as the other Frog Mortons, are worth a try if you're shopping for just the right velvety smooth subtly-flavored English.

I initially bought this on recommendation from someone, as a good introduction to English style blends, but with the condimental tobaccos(oriental, latakia) dialed back. Interestingly enough, I had also ordered some Samuel Gawith Skiff and Squadron Leader, Dunhill 965 and Early Morning Pipe along with it, but back to that later..

Tin note - Smells OK, if not perhaps a tad sweeter than I'd hoped. I am not a fan of aromatic blends, and this stuff smells like Captain Black white mixed with cheap bourbon and camp fire ashes to those not used to latakia. Even still, I find the latakia in this mix to be of somewhat lesser quality, or perhaps a completely different variety to every other blend I've tried with it. It smells(and tastes) more sooty and charred to me, however this could also have been the topping interacting with the latakia smokiness in a bad way.

The tobacco in the tin - as many others have said - is of an irregular cut and consistency. Some leaf is cut wide, some narrow, some ribbon, and some almost looks cube cut. I am not sure if my tin got a rough ride somewhere between McClelland and delivery to me, but there appears to be a LOT of fine tobacco dust in the bottom. This became such a nuisance for me that I had to pour the whole tin into a sieve and shake it out. I also found that due to the inconsistent leaf cut, this blend didn't burn evenly and I had a lot of trouble keeping it lit(especially in smaller bowls). Which leads me to the other problem with this tobacco and virtually every other McClelland tin I've bought - this stuff has a familiar dampness that I can again liken to Captain Black and other OTC aromatics. A type of sticky moistness that I suspect only comes from an application of humectant. I left both FM Cellar, and a new tin of Old Dog open for a full 24 hours and they were still somewhat tacky.

All that said, drying the tobacco out did improve the taste a lot. I could actually taste a nice tang from the oriental, perhaps a slight smokey(although somewhat ash-like) taste, all very light and mostly unoffensive. Despite being dry, I still find the smoke a bit steamy, and it leaves an odd taste in my mouth that persists. Wife likes the room note, and said it smells like someone is brewing some kind of spicy tea next to a campfire.

Would I recommend this to an aromatic smoker who is looking to try something a bit different? Sure! For that purpose, it certainly has a variety of flavors to offer beyond what you'd typically find in OTC aromatic blends.

Would I recommend this to someone looking to try English or Oriental blends? No. After smoking Dunhill EMP, 965, SG Skiff, Squadron Leader, and a variety of other touted blends, this really isn't a fair representation of what English blends taste like. Skiff or Early Morning Pipe would be a far better and fair introduction to those flavors without being overbearing. Frog Morton Cellar, to me, is a somewhat uninteresting aromatic-ish blend that doesn't really deliver as either aromatic or English, and left me wondering how this blend became so popular and widely recommended.

Va-Lat mixtures with whiskey topping are one of the most tasty and satisfying blends the market has to offer, speaking of which, this Frog Morton’s Cellar stands proudly and fierce like an Einherji in the Valhalla of pipe tobaccos.

Don’t be baffled or discouraged by its aromatization : once the tin is opened and the tobacco been sitting for about a couple of hours, the most pungent and bold shades will soften and smooth, and you’re left with a nice ribbon cut ready to fill your bowl with.

McClelland’s leaves are always top quality, and you can appreciate their distinctive traits even in their aromatic blends, simply because the sauce they use is not overwhelming like most of the aromatics out there. The sweetness of the Virginias and the smokiness of the Latakia, everything is there at the right place, accompanied by the charming, warming, alluring and smooth taste of the whiskey.

The combustion is uniform, and the smoke is surprisingly clean and effortless. The times I smoked it inside the house I received compliments for the pleasant room note, which is curious considering it contains a strong and spicy tobacco like the Latakia.

As a rule of thumb, Latakia topped with liquors in general reveals to be a smart choice. At least it did so far.

If you’re thinking of cellaring this, It’d be a wise choice. Besides, I find it smokes best when fresh, as all the other aromatics I’ve tried out. The Latakia tends to lose its spiciness pretty consistently, yet the whiskey ghost still linger somewhere in the blend.

Cheers everyone, Brandr ODS