McClelland Frog Morton's Cellar

I am a fan of rich and flavorful Latakia forward English blends, but occasionally I find myself in the mood for something on the sweeter side. When this craving hits me I turn to Frog Morton's Cellar as it is still smoky and earthy as an English blend should be, yet the hint of whisky that has been infused into the tobacco gives this blend a slightly sweet taste. If you are a fan of English tobaccos, yet hate Aromatics, do not let this statement put you off. I would not say that this is an aromatic or even an English aromatic, just a slightly sweeter than normal Latakia/English blend. I absolutely love this tobacco and will continue to buy as much of it as I can to keep around for those days that I just have to have something a bit more on the sweet side

Lightly aromatic from the whiskey with notes of vanilla and toast, this blend is so very well balanced between the virginas, latakias and whiskey topping. Nothing overpowers and what really stands out is the balance.

If you are new to latakia, or fearful of it, then this blend is for you. Light enough to not over power, but enough to give you that smokey, earthy aroma and taste. Sort of a gateway to latakia.

This goes well with anything and anytime.

Raise your pipe if you are tired of reviewers who seem to be more concerned with raising their review numbers with a cursory bowl and a summary than getting to know a blend.

Smoking more than one bowl, actually more than three tins was necessary for me to figure this one out. More so than any other blend, I've found my experience of Cellar to be dependent upon bowl diameter, depth and wall thickness. Summary: wider is better, deeper may be if you are a strong puffer, otherwise short to medium, and the thicker wall the better.

Latakia responds well to roasting vs hot incineration to release its taste (as do aged VA tobaccos). Cellar has the added dimension of eminently burnable essences from the wood chunk that you will either love (me and many others, it seems), hate or miss altogether. Keeping this blend at a smolder, distilling the flavors and delivering them to your mouth is the key and most critical for this blend. With my puffing habits, a wide surface area worked the best in a well insulated pipe.

As far as the review of the tobacco goes, yes, it quickly became a favorite of mine partly out of dumb luck in pipe selection. This is a tobacco for bourbon lovers, probably also for lovers of oaky vanilla-ish old red wines. It benefits from at least 9-12 months in the tin before opening and then finishing within a week or two. I've never been able to keep a tin longer than a year, no matter how many I buy, so I cannot comment on aging longer than that.

I ignore all other tins when the cellar is open, it is a definite favorite and go-to.

This isn't a bad tobacco, just not what I expected. I was expecting an English like Squadron Leader with an additional flavor. I got the additional flavor, but wanted the amount of Latakia present in SL. Again, there's nothing too wrong with this - nice, soft flavor of whiskey and no bite at all. Not a lot of tobacco flavor though. I'll keep looking.

This has quickly become my favorite. I won't add too much. So many people with a better taste for tobacco than me have already commented. But, I will say that this is something I will never run out of. Tastes wonderful, smells great and smokes awesome.

This is my favorite frog I have had so far. The others I have tried are the original FM and FMATP. I gave those two pretty low marks, so the bar is low. With this I find an lat blend that is pretty easy to smoke. It can be pretty tasty to satisfy the contemplative smoke, but also easy to enjoy when you are busy doing chores or such.

I guess you can say it is a good all day smoke. My major problem is that I would turn to two other blends by McClelland to satisfy either of those needs. For the contemplative lat blend, I want some Blue Mountain. for the lat blend to smoke while I am busy with other pursuits, I want some Old Dog.

I am not sure what kind of impact the stave has on the leaf. I plan to use the stave in another blend of which I have been smoking to see if it makes a difference there. I am not sure whether there is a whiskey topping added as well, but there is definitely some sweetness that goes beyond what I would normally get from a McClelland Virginia.

That said, I will probably not order any more of this one, but I do recommend it as I don't think someone can be too disappointed with it, because it is just so easy to smoke.

That, and the stave is kind of cool.

Perhaps my real issue is that I simply don't like whiskey flavored tobacco, but I think I'm going to toss this tin after trying to enjoy it several times. It tastes like I'm smoking the chunk of barrel that ships in the tin.

I was looking for a baccy which was my favourite when I lived in the U.K. "The Balkan Sobranie Original Smoking Mixture", and by George! I think I've found it!! Many fond memories conjoured up by one single bowl. Ah! Bliss!! Now all I need is something which equates to the "Balkan Sobranie #759 Mixture". - Wil Davis (NH)

After reading a couple of positive reviews about FMC, I sent off to Mars Cigars for a 100 gram tin. I've always been a fan of the Frog series and hoped this one would also be a favorite. To make a long story short, FMC is my favorite of the series and a top 5 tobacco for me.

FMC has a rather pleasant note in the tin and my wife likes the room aroma, which is really nice because I have been smoking a LOT of this blend. It has shades of brown and black in the tin and is a ribbon cut. I've found a loose pack works best with it but it still requires more than the average amount of relights. FMC has a very nice mild taste with a touch of Latakia in the background. There is also a bit of sweetness there, perhaps from some VA combined with the whiskey soaked barrel stave put in the can.It is also reasonably priced.

I am on my 4th bowl of this tobacco today, something that rarely happens with me. That should tell a lot about how highly I think of this blend. Scores for Frog Morton's Cellar:: taste- 19 of 20; lighting and burn- 7 of 10; price- 8 of 10. 34 points equals a high **** score and another winner for McClelland Tobacco.