McClelland Bombay Court

These notes are based on a tin of Bombay Court originally packed in 1999.

If I had written a review based on the first few pipefuls after opening the tin, I would have rated this blend as "ho-hum". But I put the tin away and actually forgot about it for about six months. When I rediscovered it, and loaded a pipe...Wow! The idle time made a world of difference. It was a little drier in the tin, and the flavors of the virginias, turkish and latakia now seemed to be in perfect balance. A classic recipe, beautifully executed. This has quickly become a favorite of mine.

This has become one of my favorite tinned blends. I purchase mostly bulk, so I only keep a half dozen or so tins around at any given time. This has an initial sweetness and somewhat smoky flavored charring light, and after a tamping and another light, burns readily. I like the way the flavors express themselves, one by one as the smoke progresses. The latakia is always present, but stays in the background and the sweetness of the Virginias and orientals sort of ebb and flow thru the bowl. I will always keep this in the rotation, and I really have not found if aging will improve this or not. I enjoy it just like it is, no drying required.

While my tastes in tobacco are wide, usually Oriental blends are not my first choice. But from time to time I find their character exciting and necessary to have in the tobacco bar. Usually the problem I find is they are rich and heavy after awhile. But Bombay Court was like a fine dry gin. Very dry, balanced, nice flavor and pleasant room note. This would be the one Oriental that I could smoke every day for an extended period of time. I smoked it in a Peterson rustic dry system. It packed easily. Lit easily and stayed lit to the bottom of the bowl. Burned down to a fine white ash and left the pipe very clean. Would reccomend it to English blend smokers wanting a break from their usual blends.. This was very balanced and unobtrusive..Will keep a steady supply around.

This is a very balanced tobacco and highly pleasurable. It had a enough smoky latakia to be interesting and not too much to be afraid of offending the unenlightened. It reminds me of a blend that I used to buy years ago close by to Wall St at a tobacconist on Maiden Lane, although this is far superior, the balance is what they share. The ash is light and it burns clean to the bottom of the bowl. If you accidently puff on this a little to aggressively and heat it up ... it will forgive you and settle down as you do. (Or as I did, as it were) Very nice stuff! VC

This is one of my top 5 all-time favorite blends. The closest thing I have as a "go to" blend. Typical McClelland tangy broken virginia flake with a nice amount of oriental leave to add a bit of sourness and spice. The latakia peeks its head out once in a while but certainly never comes to the forefront. This could be a great intro to oriental blends for those wishing to venture out of the realm of virginia flakes.

McClelland's Bombay Court is surprisingly unpleasant. This 'Personal Reserve' looks good and smells great in the tin. Unfortunately, there the positive notes end. This is a 'taste like something smells' weed and in this case it is a mixture of new vinyl and a well-used kitty litter box. However crude that reads, it is truth that is not helped by the fact that this tobacco also burns very hot. The kind people of Mumbai would be insulted by such a namesake and with good reason.

Truth be told I am not a devout McClelland fan, BUT this is the exception. I have been searching for a virginia flake that does not burn the tongue or make the belly queasy,and I believe I have found it.The dominant flavor of this blend is a rubbed out Virginia flake with just a dab of Latakia and a generous amt of Orientals and Turkish added.The blend defines what must have been an aromatic of yesteryear.It is sweet, mild, and bursting with flavor.My very good friend who loves McClelland said I would not like this blend so naturally I had to try it.Needless to say, a fair amt of his tin was left in my posession.When looking for a change from Latakia blends this is the ultimate in flavor!This is the best non-aromatic i have sampled from this company to date. I will make it part of my rotation. 3.5 0f 4 stars.

An excellent offering in the Personal Reserve series by McClelland. This is a rich, dark blend of ribbon cut Virginias with Macedonians and a hint of Latakia. It has much of the same McClelland benchmarks: ketchupy tin aroma, thick, sugary cuts of tobacco and attention to quality with an emphasis on top grade stoved Virginia. This has much of the exotic charm of the British Woods with a bit of sweet piquancy ala Frog Morton. But it?s a more reserved version of each. Though it doesn?t rock my world like the two aforementioned, it?s a mixture worthy of merit. This could easily be an all day tobacco, as it doesn?t burn the tongue and no wet dottle is evident. Excellent, though I probably will stick with British Woods or one of the Frogs when I?m in the mood for a tobacco of this style.

Three and a half of Five Stars

Being an admirer of McC VA's & their Orient/English blends that restrain the latakia, it was not hard for me to enjoy this. Like #6, tin aroma is mainly fruity kinda 'oily' with a leathery background Latakia presence. Inthe bowl it tastes smooth, rich & somewhat creamy & without the bitterness towards the end common to more latakia heavy blends. My tongue remains unscathed from BC, though a slight dryness & rawness was noted after a ...well, fairly too casual smoke- faltering technique style smoke we've all had. Though this phenomenom is typical of anything with the powerful, sugar-rich McClelland Va's in it & I can usually avoid their chastisements using a variation of the breath-smoking tech. All in all, primo stuff & I see myself buying more.