McClelland Frog Morton's Cellar

I have to echo Big D's review down the line. The only 2 things I can add is (1) the faint hint of the bourbon taste that dallies on the tongue after a bowl. A pleasant reminder that gently fades...too cool. The second item is the room note: definitely not the typical Latakia insect repellent odour. Oh no. Almost like a fireplace in the cabin fragrance. Playing with the tweezers and magnified lamp revealed a generous amount of stoved VA in the blend - balances the Latakia component nicely. I generally prefer Virginias overall, but this Frog invites back-to-back bowls with non of the usual tongue fatigue. Another cellar dweller for me!

Well, it has been a very long time since I submitted a review. Partly because I fell off the pipe for a number of years, and partly because, when I did fill my pipe, my ole faithfuls (namely Pipeworks & Wilke Bleeker St since Dunhill too a breather from mixing A21000) stood proud. My wife lets me smoke inside, she often comments on the nice aroma, so, why stray from aros...

About 6 months ago, now that I have my smoking room finished and professionally vented, I felt it was time to take care of the smoker, not the audience...on to English blends I went...started with Dunhill MM 965, liked it. Then onto Squadron Leader, really liked it...but, never felt compelled to write a review. While these 2 blends all but knocked my PW blends out of the rotation, they still did not drive me to review.

The next blend, Frog Morton OTT...wow, now, I felt like I landed on a keeper. This became my daily go to...ever, ever so slightly, it helped me get back to my beloved Bleeker St., marrying the natural, earthy flavors of the English with a bit of sweetness...Encouraged by the nature of this blend, and still yearning for a bit more sweetness (not the right word, as I do not want Maple sugar sweet, but some added notes to accompany the Lat) I ordered FM Cellar, hoping to notch up the aro/sweetness/flavor component just a bit...well, this blend is spot on brilliant, (to me and my palate)....I am 50g into this tobacco and very satisfies...so much so, I am writing a review....

I am not going try to make an attempt to explain the flavor, smoking characteristics etc...this review could be akin to a car review that, rather than quote the marketing brochure 0-60 speeds to show that the car is fast, the reviewer simply states that 'my butt dyno tells me this car is fast".

The few reviews tell me this tobacco is good...the words on the tin tell me this tobacco is good...my palate tells me this tobacco is STELLAR!

Give it a try...

The underlying flavor profile is that of the original 'Frog Morton'. That is where the similarity stops. The hunk-o-bourbon barrel in my 50g tin(and I think that tin size may be important here), perfumed the tobacco exquisitely. If you are a lover of bourbon, this is not to be missed. the tin aroma is like sniffing from a glass of well aged bourbon(pick your distiller), combined with, of course, the smokey latakia of the blend. The aroma and flavor remains completely through the bowl. I see the tin size as important due to the ratio of wood to tobacco. I think the infusion in the smaller tin is amazing, but could be less so in the 100g tin. That is, unless there are two pieces, or one larger one in the larger tin, I don't know. Lastly, is the weight of this piece of barrel subtracting from my tobacco? Either way, it's worth the price of admission. This will undoubtedly make for a wonderful aging experience. Top scores to McClelland for a unique experience!

This was a fantastic mild English/aromatic blend. Loved the presentation, and the wooden whisky stave hiding in the tin. Wish I had more of it. It will be missed.

I had the privilege of trying this out of print blend and am sad to see it go. I'm a fan of latakia and this blend really hit the spot for me. I'm searching for anything similar and so far the best I can think is it reminds me of a blend from Tinderbox called Philosopher though It has been many years since I last had it so I hope memory serves me here. Will update with thoughts on this.

JimInks' review pretty much nails it IMO.

I'll add to it to say that I find FMC somewhat sweeter and more flavorful than the original Frog Morton blend - I understand why many people enjoy it, but I think that the legendary status of it somewhat exaggerates how great the blend is. It's pleasant tasting & has a pleasant room note, but it's still a little thin-bodied. I like my tobacco to have a stronger flavor & a higher dose of vitamin-N than what FMC delivers.

I enjoyed my 50g tin of FMC more than I did the tin of original Frog Morton that I smoked, but again - this isn't one that I'm really going to be missing. Glad to have experienced it, but there's a lot of other stuff I enjoy more.

This could easily become my favorite tobacco. I have trouble packing my pipe, but this blend was very forgiving. It took a couple of lights and it stayed lit all the way through. My cadence is too fast, but I did not get any tongue bite and it did not heat up my bowl too much, another problem I have.

I'm not a fan of Latakia, but it's mild in this blend and the whisky is just there, not overpowering. The taste is mild, smooth English with a pleasant room note. This blend is now on my short rotation list.

I will smoke more before I make a final decision, but for now this blend is a keeper.

Quite a nice baccy.

I started the Frog Morton venture with Across the Pond. I favored that, but realizing there wasn't anymore of that readily available, I got a tin of this. Then, I got a load of 5110 for the forseeable future.

All three are in the same vein with differences in nuance. I still prefer the subdued latakia in across the pond which must be attributed to the differences between Syrian and Cyprian Latakia. I find 5110 and Cellar to have a bolder Latakia presence. They both just have more of that campfire smoke where its clipped a bit in Across the Pond.

Amazingly, I find the differences between Cellar and 5110 to be relatively negligible. Cellar might be a bit more nuanced. It smokes and packs a bit easier as this may just be that the cut of the tobacco is a bit more quality controlled.

As cool as the whiskey stave is as a novelty, the main thing it offers is smell from the tin. If I put the same stave in with 5110, smells the same. I'm not sure the wood really adds any flavor to the tobacco. I really never taste whiskey as a a part of the tobacco's flavor. Any flavor that might be construed as such I attribute to the blend of tobacco. That may be sacrilege to lover's of this blend, but I really don't taste a whiskey flavor difference between this and 5110, smell from the tin aside.

It's a great smoke due to it's great cut and pleasant to experience beautifully quality controlled tobacco. It's better than 5110 for those reasons alone, but I really don't have much of a reason to pursue this tobacco in great quantities with 5110 being sufficiently stashed in my den.

There is indeed a noticeable presence of Latakia in this smoke; in my experience it presents as smoky/Woody along with a trace of a floral note. Just a trace. The whiskey, which was definitely one of the reasons I purchased this, (as well as the barrel cube) is apparent but not overwhelming, and tastes like a good quality product. The Virginias give a tanginess of their own, which plays really well with that of the whiskey, as well as also giving another note which would be more like a subdued hay quality, with a touch of earthy. This blend smokes cool in general, and will nip really only if pushed. This is also in part due to the whiskey. Liquor cased blends can burn hotter. Nicotine is rather mild. I myself found the room note pleasing, but as a smoker, I'm biased. I wouldn't push one's luck on this blend's room note. I would say everyone should give this a try, with advice that aromatic preferring folks might not find it sweet enough, and might be put off by the whiskey and Latakia. Non aromatic preferring people especially those who love aged Virginia might find something to appreciate here.This is not a lat bomb, but I wouldn't call it a blend for Latakia rookies. All in all a great blend, one I would get again and again .