Butera Blended Flake

I found a couple of tins dated from 1997, so this is some well aged tobacco. Popping the tin, my nose still told me McClelland, but that's OK, as I don't think anybody does Va's better. My tastes have always taken me to VaPers and Oriental blends; I enjoy very few burleys and latakia blends. This on has it ALL; quality Virginias, St.James Perique, and fine Orientals. As good as McClelland does tobacco, I believe that some of their best blends go out under different labels, like Butera's Royal Vintage, and Hamlin's PCCA. This could easily be a "desert island" blend.

If you are a lover of va/per blends, you will positively flip over this. I normally shy away from anything that contains more than a whisper of perique, and this has about a shout of it. But it is so well done, that even those of us who are perique intolerant can enjoy it.

I need to preface the rest of this review by saying that this is based on smoking a tin that had aged for ten years; anything younger, and I can't vouch. But, what ten years has done for this tin, marvelous! The tobacco was leathery, sugar coated, and reeked of tanginess (this is made for Butera by McClelland). It wasn't very attractive, unless you knew what you were looking at; and I knew that this was gonna taste goooood.

Lighting was surprisingly more difficult than I expected, more like an unaged McClelland flake. But, once it got going it never went out, and it smoked down to pure white ash. The flavor was sublime; sweet va., tangy/spicy perique, but without the overbearing fermenty flavor I usually get from perique. I think the orientals helped tie everything together during the aging process, as the musty flavor of these peeked through around the edges of the perique. Smoking this tobacco brought to mind images of a beautiful, exotic and musky scented woman. I won't go beyond that. It was just really good stuff.

I intend to pick up a few tins of this to put away for another ten years. While this is too much of a good thing for me to smoke all day, I think it would really be a suitable evening smoke for the cooler months. I only wish it hadn't been my only ten year old tin (du'oh).

What can I say this is my favorite tobacco. To me it's perfect in every way. Taste, complexity of flavors, differences in flavors, Balance between flavors....

A winner. There is a wonderful balance here between the three major aspects: VAs, Perique and orientals. None dominates nor do any wilt into the background. The VAs are not overly sweet, the orientals are not overly cigar-like and the Perique is not overly potent. There is a continual dynamic of reassertion of each aspect so that this blend is never boring. On the flip side, it is also hearty enough that it does not require a alot of attention to enjoy its flavors and complexity. The Perique supplies an adequate amount of nicotine.

Moisture content was a tad high, and only modest drying was required. I would call this 'broken flake' rather than 'ready rubbed', and my packing procedure was the same I would use for an all-VA broken flake.

The only downsides were: 1) a slightly astringent quality which could lead to a bit of scratchiness at the back of the throat, 2) the signature McC vinegar quality which I felt interfered with the orientals to some extent, and 3) it burned fairly rapidly which was disappointing because this blend is so enjoyable.

Open the Butera labeled tin and you can easily smell McClelland as the blender. Under either name this is a winner! A partially rubbed out flake with a mix from light brown thru red to black. Packs nicely and burns uniformly without a bite. None of the vinegar-like tin aroma comes thru in the smoke. I sense a slightly nutty flavor intially but that soon disappears into a richer by smooth tobacco taste. The Orientals & Perique become more evident but do not dominate the flavor right to the end of the bowl. This is great natural tobacco flavor. An interesting, tasty blend that results in a cool and enjoyable smoke.