McClelland Black Shag

This blend is a little underrated. It is a great Virginia tobacco with which to start the day. I have smoked pounds of this over my morning coffee and never experienced tongue-bite or a hot bowl. My only criticism is that I wish Black Shag was a little bit more of a proper English blend - but I guess that is why McClelland gave us Arcadia. A great AM tobacco!

Blech! Wretched stuff and an insult to the venerable detective. To be fair though this is probably what the tobacco in the persian slipper tasted like after years of neglect.

Note: Deserves no stars. Moriarity was clearly behind this.

Interesing shag cut. More reminicent of RYO cigarette tobacco. for the way its cut you would expect a bit more flavor. But you can puff and puff and it always seems like somthings missing. I think this ones kinda boring, and what flavor is there, isnt all that appealing. McClelland has some really good blends. This isnt one of them.

Ok, I'll try to think of something nice to say....the tin will be great for keeping something in...paper clips. In a word, awful. I've read the other reviews about lightness on the tongue, etc...I found it to smoke way to hot, the tobacco cut lends to that, flavor...uh, what flavor...smelled like cigarettes...I liked stoved Virginias, but with some taste..I'll stick with Rattray's Black Virginia...

This the kind of blend you love or hate. I love it. The lightness on the tongue and the smooth but spicy taste keep this blend interesting from the lighting to the ash. This could be an all-day smoke. I liked it best in a churchwarden.

I've approached this tin from several directions. The first smoke burned me badly. I switched to a HCA churchwarden and took wee little puffs, but it still burned and I had to relight it several times. I let the tin sit for a few weeks, and approached it again with a different pipe. Smoking carefully after the leaf had dried, I was not bitten or burned. But the taste isn't pleasant. And the smell is pretty nasty. I know Holmes kept his stash in the toe of an old Persian slipper, but ths stuff smells like it crossed the desert riding in one. I'll take the 7% solution, or better yet the excellent Arcadia blend in this same line.

EDIT: I let the tin dry for a few weeks and smoked another bowl in a church warden today. It's still not exactly good, but it's much better now that the leaf has dried out. I also packed it more loosely. It did not burn me this time, but the taste isn't really there. I'm going to stow it for a few months in a sealed container and see how it is after that.

The smell in the tin was unpleasant, it smelled burnt or ashen, maybe that comes from the persian slipper it was stored in. The taste was unpleasant, again burnt wood. One can find far better stoved Virginias out there, pass this by.

If you are a fan of Dunhills' Royal Yacht mixture or would like something like R.Y. without the flavoring give this a try. This is a good change of pace tobac. I wouldn't recommend smoking this after smoking anything strongly flavored or following a mixture that includes Latakia. As a first smoke of the day or after one of the lighter Virginias it is tasty and satisfying.

For some reason this blend hasn't recieved the respect it deserves. I found it very tasty and very enjoyable. I've never had anything else like it. Not for virginia lovers. I'm not into all Va blends. Will buy Black Shag again.