McClelland Black Shag

This blend was a must try simply because of the name. Upon opening the tin I noted that it was indeed a shag cut, very similar to that of RYO tobaccos. On the same token, it reminded me of smoking an unfiltered cigarette, perhaps a Lucky Strike in flavor. This is a very mild smoke, a bit of sweetness, but very simple. For me it has ended up being a good blend for a night out on the town here in Spain, it is easy to pack and does not require attention. This blend did not wow me in any way, but it was enjoyable all the same. I think this would be an interesting one to mix with just a smidge of Latakia perhaps, although I wouldn't want to overwhelm the subtle flavors already present.

For me this one really deserves a GOOD two stars. For what it is,a shag cut all virginia smoke, there is some really good flavor here if you are patient and sip it slowly. It is hard to go wrong with a Mclelland virginia and I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of ketchup smell. Not that I dislike that as it has been a precursor to some really enjoyable smokes, but this blend in the tin has a kind of zesty, spicy sweetness that transfers to the smoke as well. It's a mood blend for when I need something simple and pleasant tasting while I am studying. Why only two stars? Burns fairly hot even when sipped slowly and the taste falls a little flat in the last fourth of the bowl. Probably would be useful in blending. I found that adding a little cigar leaf helps a little bit.

I really looked forward to trying this one as a Sherlock Holmes fan. I expected a very fine, black VA blend like I pictured old Sherlock smoking. Now I understand why he kept his dottle to smoke the next day! He was looking for taste! First off, this is a fine ribbon cut, but not like shag as I know it. Five Brothers is a shag. This is not a black or even a dark brown but dark brown with a little reddish brown mixed in. It does have the dark VA aroma with the Heinz note wafting up out of the tin, but other than that, it does not have the wonderful VA aroma I look for. OK, so I load it into my pipe, it does load very easily and it is not too moist out of the tin. Upon lighting it, well, nothing really, kinda like a light cigarette. So I smoked it down some more, it never builds any charactor. It is mild, and it does stay lit well. But after smoking it all the way to the bottom, and again,I must give credit here for it smoking all the way down to a fine grey ash with no dottle and moisture, I never felt I really tasted much. No satisfaction at all. If this was my first intro into a VA blend, I don't think I would ever have smoked any more VA. This has to be the blandest VA I have ever smoked. So....I dried it out and tried it again....nothing! So, it goes into my cellar to age a few years and then try again. Hopefully it will gain some sweetness, but I cannot in good conscience recommend this blend. I mean it's not bad, but it's not good, and after all, lifes too short and there are so many good VA's out there.

Well, being a fan of the Sherlock Holmes stories I decided to give Black Shag a try. I have had one bowl and neither am love with it or despise it. To me, it will make a nice every now and then bowl....Holmes sent out for a pound of it before hard cases and surely this is what he stuffed in his pipe before solving a "3 pipe problem". This mixture is much milder than what he would have smoked I imagine however.

The first half of the bowl seemed to be burning rather lightly so about midway I applied a new match and noticed a nice change in flavor and smoke thickness. The taste was a bit zesty and had a lemon taste to it almost. There also lingered in my mouth the taste of cardamom for some reason...as if I was enjoying an Arabic coffee in Beirut.

I did find that it made a nice first pipe of the day and that I was able to read my Spurgeon devotional with the utmost concentration. I think this tobacco is a nice smoke for someone who wants to just be lost in thought or a daydream for an hour or so. The pipe I used was a Peterson Rocky Donegal B-10 and the bowl lasted for around an hour. As I said, perhaps my light did not do well the first time because the 2nd light applied halfway caused me to enjoy the last half better.

No bite whatsoever, and that might have been due to the Peterson P-lip. But I was also taking care of the tobacco and sipping it in thoughtful light puffs.

Final thoughts: Not the best ever, but surely not terrible....will finish the tin and perhaps buy another.

Black Schwag. I don't like to give a tobacco one star. I would even give most drug store tobaccos two stars. Except Mixture 79. I wouldn't even review that one. Black Shag has no horrible flavors. It seemed to smoke well at first. But then I found that it was not at all pleasant and not like any McClelland I had smoked, but not in a good way. Harsh taste if you push it, no taste if you don't. I give it two stars only because pipe tobacco appreciation is highly subjective and others might like the blend. The tobaccos in the blend seem to be quality and I might like them if they were blended...differently.

UPDATE: After letting the open tin sit (with the lid on) for about a month, and trying this blend in several different pipes, I've concluded that it smokes best when well-packed and in a smaller pipe. It's not my favorite blend, but given the price I paid for it I'll smoke it until it's gone, or trade it with someone who likes this kind of stuff. I raised my rating to 2 stars.

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I picked up a tin of this just to try something different. It was an expensive mistake, as it was purchased in Michigan, so between the federal, state and local taxes plus the shop's markup it was one of the most expensive tins of tobacco I've ever purchased.

I've tried every method to pack it: loose, tight, air-pocket method, layer method, Frank method. It fought to stay lit every step of the way; it didn't char light and had to be relit constantly, burned unevenly, tunneled down the middle of the bowl almost every time, and gurgled and smoked wet in a pipe that has never had a wet smoke issue. It left a heap of grey/black ash in the ashtray with plenty of blackend chunks of half-burned charcoal-like bits.

It bites back hard if you over-stoke, which you have to to get the wretched stuff to light and stay lit.

About the only positive things I can say is that the room note is pleasant enough and the flavor on the pallete, when not scorched, is sweet and pleasantly tangy, without the usual McCelland "hot ketchup" taste.

I think I'm going to cellar this tin for about a year and then come back to it to see if it improves with age. It was too costly a purchase to either throw away or put into a catch-all "Hoover blend" tin.

I am sure that the black shag Holmes was smoking was definitively stronger than this one. And I cannot presume to compare between his or McClelland's for I am not among Doyle's characters.

Nevertheless, this tobacco is not unpleasant, by all means. But didn't hook me up either. I was expecting a bit more stoved VA than what was contained. There seems to be some oriental beacause I denote a spiciness, almost saltiness to this mixture.

The advantage is that it fills really easy and smokes easier still. The stoved VA is delicious, backed by that little saltiness in the background. Smoked slowly, it definitively has some good taste to it. Being a shag cut, don't push it or it will bite you.

Of the 221 B series, Arcadia remains my favorite. Then this one.

Black Shag is not a strong tobacco by all means, which contradicts the tin description. There is no major nicotine hit like Irish Flake, which spontaneously comes to mind as a good example of a "nicotine hit".

However, the nice lightly sweet and fairly present earthy taste derived from the dark stoved VA, supported by the spiciness of some oriental leaf makes this tobacco really interesting. The taste fully remains in my mouth for the whole time and even after finishing my pipeful but does not consist in an annoying experience, quite the contrary.

Its taste is quite unique. A tobacco does not have to make your head spin or make you sweat to be a good tobacco. It simply has to taste good. And Black Shag does.

However, I was expecting a stronger tobacco. That is the reason why I purchased it. Which impacts negatively on my final assessment

2.5 stars

I was not sure what to expect on this one. I like Arcadia fairly well, but as we all know liking one in a series does not make the entire series worth smoking. I would like to make a warning to novice smokers *** be careful *** the cut of this blend (somewhat like cigarette tobacco will burn hot. If you have the discipline and a smallish pipe, read Dunhill group 3 or smaller, this tobacco has some good attributes. There is a slight casing of spice, like cinnamon that is present on match, but what I mostly taste while smoking is a nice warm earthy taste that is not very sweet. I do not know what a newer tin is like on moisture content, but my nine year old tin was drier than most McClelland tobaccos. There was still a vinegar smell but not as strong as most of their blends. I did like my tin a bit better after letting it dry out more, but it was smokable as soon as the tin was open. Over all there are a lot of other VA blends that I like better, and the possibility of third degree burns on my tongue if not careful leads me to go elsewhere for my VA fix.