McClelland Blackwoods Flake

For this McClelland tobacco, I really want to like it. But unfortunately I am on the opposite position. I really can not understand why there are so many 4 stars reviews. Maybe my taste bud is not as same as normal people. OK ,it tastes very very mild, actually that's flat. I can only find it like tomato sauce or ketchup and vinegar, NO SWEET at all.

Sorry, it is not for me. 1 star.

I think this is a case of no one wanting to go against all the positive reviews. Maybe McClelland employees filled out a number of reviews. I smoked the entire tin before I decided to review this. This is an extremely mild smoke that kept me wondering when the flavor was coming. It never came. Maybe I like much more robust tobaccos - Nightcap comes to mind and a full flavor tobacco - not this. I recommend this for those moving from aromatics to english blends. It smokes well when dried a bit. No tongue bite (and I am a strong puffer). My wife enjoyed the room note. Good quality tobacco. For those reading these other reviews, thinking your going to get an explosion of flavor in your mouth, you will be disappointed.

Blackwoods Flake is a mix of red Virginia with what McClelland calls stoved black Virginia, which is then pressed into a cake and aged. The flakes sliced from the cake are heavy, with a nice Virginia aroma but a somewhat high moisture content typical of McClelland blends. With a bit of drying they rub out fairly easily. To me, the blend is similar to a mixture of 2035 and 5100. The charring light brings the rich flavor of the constituent Virginias out. Once lit, that taste is quite smooth and easy. There are no real highs or lows to the blend's taste, it is a fairly straightforward blend. The taste remains consistently sweet, with the red Virginia's sweetness dominating while the stoved Virginia contributes a nice, darker tone to the overall taste. There isn't a lot of variability through the bowl, but the taste never sours or gets ashy, even at the very end of the smoke. Blackwoods Flake is, in my opinion, a Virginia to enjoy. I think that smokers can get the same results, however, from creating their own mixture of either Dark Star or 2035 with 5100, and in doing so will get the results at a much lower price point.

Ketchup is the dominant scent in the tin. But not as strong as in St. James Woods. But it is the best ketchup you've ever smelled. Moisture content can vary a bit from tin to tin.

Rub out or fold and pack, it is a cool and slow-burning tobacco.

Nicotine content is moderate.

Strong, unchanging, somewhat monotonous Virginia flavors. I don't think it is cased with ketchup, but the ketchup taste is evident in every puff to the bottom of the bowl.

A month or more after opening, and 10-12 hours with the lid off to dry, and the flavor is more of a pure and sweet Virginia. Stronger, more full, than Full Virginia Flake. The spicy aroma described on the tin is similar to Perique. Not for the mild or aromatic lovers.

For McClelland, it's pretty good stuff, and very sweet. I think it is better than Full Virginia Flake (itself an overrated weed).

Update, 7 July 2010: I have received compliments from the ladies on how great this stuff smells: very pleasant if a little strong, and my wife has declared it a favorite for the room note. So I guess I will be buying more... Three stars mostly for the pleasant room note and appreciative comments from the ladies. Otherwise, it might not be in my rotation.

I was looking forward to a strong robust red virginia, instead I get an insipid mouthfull of warm air with only a hint of tobacco.

Having now stored the contents of the tin for just over a year of aging, all I find is that some things never change.

If you are looking for a mild inoffensive smoke with a hint of sweetnes, this coul be it.

Perhaps I was spoiled by the comparative powerhouse of 5100 Red Cake.

There is nothing like the range of unique and overlapping yet completely natural flavors one finds in a good McClelland (or other good) blend of different aged Virginias. Went through this rather fast, after a rare occurance of receiving a spoiled and mildewed can which I had to get a refund on. Didn't send the tobacco back-the guy just took my word for it and I dumped it out next to a rose bush. It's never bloomed since. It might again if I had given it some of the new can I bought subsequently, because I just had to try this one after reading the reviews, but I wanted it all for myself after the first pipeful, and smoked the can in no time at all. Only my desire to try all the new tobaccos I can has prevented me from buying it again, but I'm sure I will eventually. I would like to try an aged can, without the mildew. Actually, it must have mildewed and then dried out years ago, because the old spores or dust flew out in my face when I opened it. I'm glad I recognized this as an unusual spoilage of a sealed can and got a new one. Blackwoods Flake manages to achieve a perfect balance of mellowness and full flavor, or full flavor that does not overwhelm and remains mellow...something like that, I'm not good at describing flavors. I recognize good flavors, especially in this kind of Virginia. Aged or stoved Virginas are like good aged Cabernets, you can taste all kinds of things even though they are just rotten grape juice! I guess I agree with the reviewers who describe the taste as fig-like. Or dates perhaps...

11-3-2022 Have cracked my sealed tin from 2013, about a week ago, and have been enjoying it, last couple days, in a clay, which suits it nicely. Doubt I will find any more McClelland other that this and the four sealed tins I have left of other blends (Oriental Mixtures 1 and 6 from 2000, Virginia Woods from 2013, Bombay Court from 1991...bet that one is a vintage smoke by now) unless I want to pay up to $300 a tin. Sad...should have sat on all those tins I bought and opened through the years and smoked bulks; hindsight is 20/20, but McClelland was unique, and now pretty much irreplaceable.

Smoking Blackwoods Flake is a bit like smoking 1792 Flake: one has to get past the smell first. Those like me who have little problem with tonka should have no problem with vinegar, but while tonka merges with the basic taste of 1792, vinegar competes with and distracts from the splendid taste of Blackwoods.

Blackwoods Flake, a member of McClelland?s Personal Reserve Series, is a popular and seemingly very appreciated blend among Virginia pipe tobacco smokers.

Upon first opening, the tin aroma contains an initial smell of vinegar, which seems to be the case with some of McClelland?s other tobacco blends, but as in the instance of those other blends this smell soon dissipates. Blackwoods Flake has a warm, spicy, cinnamon bread aroma, which is simply wonderful. This is an all Virginia blend that is known to contain both red Virginia and spicy black stoved Virginia. There are no casings or toppings in this blend.

The cut of Blackwoods Flake is of a medium-thick broken flake. The flake itself is quite handsome being mottled in the colors of red, black, and light brown. Rubbing such a nicely cut blend is easy and pleasing. This tobacco does not seem to have the tendency to become over packed easily. The initial moisture is a bit high but an hour or so of drying will remedy this. This drying not only allows for the removal of the excess moisture and tongue bite, but also seems to enhance the pouch aroma and taste.

The initial light is a bit slow but sure. Blackwoods Flake has an incredible, clean, slow, and complete burn. The room note is pleasant enough and the aroma of the ?nose? off of the warm pipe bowl is of the best that I have ever experienced.

The medium strength taste is sweet but equally dark and spicy, very enjoyable. Being a Virginia blend, this tobacco has the ability to bite; so slow steady draws are best for both decreasing this tongue bite and also enhancing the blend?s natural taste.

In closing, Blackwoods Flake is the epitome of a Virginia flake tobacco. Aging this Virginia based blend would undoubtedly produce increasingly wonderful characteristics of the tobacco.

I'm currently smoking through a 100g tin from 2000 after finishing one from 2015, and was surprised to realize that I'd never reviewed it.

The tobacco is dark red to brown. The 2000 tin is even darker than the 2015 was. The tin note is almost wine like along with a hint of the McC sauce ketchup/vinegar whatever you call it.

The broken ribbons make it easy to either pack in longer pieces in a large bowl or dice up smaller for a smaller bowl. I've found that it shines in fat short bowls such as 320s or tomatoes.

The moisture content was quite perfect for 21 year old tobacco and it was not crumbly. Lighting usually takes a couple of tries to get it going and a couple of relights during a smoke.

The flavor is dark fruit to my tastes as is very consistent from bowl to bowl and through a bowl. When sipped slowly, it will burn forever and down to a grey ash.

When McC closed, looking back I wish I'd bought every tin of Blackwoods Flake that I could have. At the time, it wasn't on my radar and now that makes me sad. I'll treat myself to a bowl from my jar on special occasions and try to make it last.