McClelland No. 2000 Fragrant Matured Cake

As a self touted aromatic with a sweet aroma(Their words, not mine),this falls short. Perhaps some time might help it along but I tend to doubt it. To me any aromatic must meet two criteria. It must taste good to me and smell good to others. Blend 2000 doesn't reach either of these. As a crossover blend, it also fails. The Virginias are good leaves but the artifical flavoring keeps them from being reaching their potential. I only bought a two oz sampler and I'm glad I did. Less to throw away after three bowls. I will never buy this again. There are just to many good crossover blends and aromatics to waste time and money on this. Of course, this is just MHO.

This is a good quality tobacco that has been strongly sweetened. It serves it's purpose of introducing strong-aromatic smokers to the flavor of good tobacco. From here I'd suggest you try their 5100 Red Cake, which is a sweet, dark Virginia which will give you more tobacco flavor.

I finally got to trying a sample of this a friend sent me about four years ago. Overall, I was left with the impression that it wasn't bad. It is a bit of an oddball as it is kind of a straight Virginia and kind of an aromatic. If I had to decisively state which side of things it falls, I would choose the latter.

As to the appearance of the leaf, it looks like a typical broken flake Virginia that would be produced by McClelland. It would not surprise me if the base of this is the classic Virginia #2010 as it is very similar. the major difference between these two closely numbered bulks is in the smell and taste of the two.

As to the smell, where 2010 has the typical (ketchup) McClelland Virginia aroma, the 2000 smells more like the topping. The topping is one of the common caramel/nougat/bakery type scents. It is not overwhelming in smell or taste, but its presence is certainly felt in both.

This will perform the same as any other MC Virginia broken flake, meaning it will be a bitch to light if you don't allow it to dry a bit. Ditto that to the rubbing and packing as the MC flake chunks start out like thick chunks of rubber when moist. Even these problems disappear after the bowl finally does take light. Then you will enjoy a good treat, particularly if this topping meets your fancy. This is a bite free experience that will provide both a nice topping and great Virginia flavor.

What I liked about this blend was the fact the topping never overwhelmed the Virginia which, like all MC Virginias, is stellar. What I didn't like was the topping. YMMV To me this type of topping just suits a burley base more than a Virginia base. I tend to like fruit and citrus toppings more with Virginia.

I am still giving this three stars, because I did enjoy smoking through it, but if I were to have an aching for this type of blend, I would order a tin of SG Firedance Flake instead of this one.

From the multiple bowls I smoked of this the dry time varied from 15min to up to an hour. No reason really except thats when I got to it.

The bag note was sugary syrup sweet. If you've ever smelled simple syrup that is what I'd equate this smell too. I also got a hint of buttered popcorn. Sounds weird I know, but that's what I got lingering in the background.

It comes as a flake but I rubbed it out.

After the initial light and tamp it took about two more goes before it stayed lit. I am a slow smoker so I did end up having to relight just a few times, but that doesn't bother me.

Definitely a mild tobacco. I had read that this blend is bite-y but I didn't find that to be true in my case. At a nice leisurely smoke I think you can escape the bite.

Flavor was sweet and slightly tart but as the smoke continue the tartness came out more and more. I also got a floral note on the retro hale. Even further into the bowl you get this really great lingering sugar taste in your mouth. I found this to pair well with a black cup of coffee.

Room note was sweet tobacco.

The smoke was thin but with the draw it felt chewy in my mouth which is something I like. I don't necessarily care if there are big clouds of smoke but I do look for the mouth feel of the smoke.

Thought I'd give this a shot after shying away from Aromatics. I wouldn't compare this to Lane 1Q but I'd say it is a nice step up from it. I'd return to this blend if I found I was craving something along this line.

After smoking a 1/2 lb of this in various different pipes, I thought I would give a review.

Smoking Pipes accurately describes the tobacco as such.

This light, soft sweet cake is designed to appeal to many smokers of Matured Virginias who have been unable to endure aromatics but who would prefer a tobacco that smells sweeter in the room, as well as smokers of traditional aromatic cavendishes that would like a cooler dryer smoking tobacco. It is an excellent smoke for those who prefer Virginias over Burleys, and who enjoy a mild topping and a nice room note. It has a nice maple like flavor. I would not call it a full blown aromatic. However, neither is it a "Full Virginia Flake" For those who "do not usually smoke aros..." you may just want to stay away.

Tin note: It smells somewhat sweet, but certainly not over powering like Molte Dolce, or Odyssey. It simply has a nice light sweet fragrance to it. It's not too wet, but a little drying out makes it easier to pack.

Packing: I find it somewhat difficult to pack. It's not a ribbon or a flake, it's a cake. I had many trial and error bowels with this. I like to dry it out a bit, and then try to break it up in my fingers as I pack the bowl.

It's nicotine content is mild to medium. More than a Lane 1Q, much less than 1792 flake. The first 1/4 of the bowl can be little light on smoke, and a very little bitey on the tongue. But this soon dissipates, and therafter the tobacco burns nice all of the way to the bottom. Because its made from Virginia tobacco, you feel it on your tongue, in a good way. If you like PS Luxury twist flake, you will like this.

What a pleasant bag aroma and a very good quality Virginia for being in bulk though the price was high for a bulk tobacco. The price didn't bother me once I saw the quality of the leaf. It's more of a broken flake than say #24 Virginia, if it were me I'd tin this stuff! At the char light in a Ascorti KS Billiard I could taste the casing applied and it was nice, not to sweet but pleasant. It lit very easily and has a nice side stream aroma. Though you can taste the flavoring during the smoke, the finish of the puff has that great Virginia flavor on the back end. The flavoring seems to hold it's own most of the way through the bowl. Near the end it has a little less sweetness from the casing and more Virginia flavors. Overall it's a great transitional tobacco for someone who is used to straight aromatics. The nicotine level is fine and won't over power you. I tend to smoke Latakia's, VaPer's and straight Virginia's. I find this to be a very pleasant go to tobacco for a nice change of pace. It has a white/ grayish ash, very clean smoking no wetness at the heal at all. Enjoyed it very much, it burned cool and to me it had no bite, unlike some Virginia's can get a little hot if puffed to hard. Those of you looking to try something out of the heavily cased blends to see what Virginia's are about. I think this one would be a good place to start just remember to draw slower when smoking Virginia's! Excellent!!!!!!!

For semi-aromatics, FMC has a sweet aroma while delivering a fantastic red Virginia taste. The best of both worlds. I have been going through this stuff rather quickly, as of late. I've concluded that the more I smoke it the more I like it. The bonus is I can smoke it anywhere and people will ask question about the glorious smell of vanilla. I think it's a diamond in the rough for those looking for a GREAT aromatic that will please both smoker and those lucky enough to be in the same room. Easy on the puffing, though. As with any of the McClelland virginias, if you get after it too much you'll know why this it's meant to be a "cool smoke".

I mix this with some #5100 red cake and it is a very fine smoke. Alone it can be very strong in my view and mixing with McC 5100 seems to lighten the power of #2000 alone. This is my undiluted go to smoke on those mornings that I just can't get the peepers to open. All in all, a good smoke.

This review is based on fairly limited tasting.

I don't find this blend cloyingly sweet, but it is definitely sweeter than most Virginias, it doesn't have that crisp light flavor of a blonde VA, or the darker spicy flavors of a red VA.

It burns reasonably well, and the cut is nice and easy to work with. I didn't get any goop, and tossed out a fairly normal amount of dottle at the end of the bowl for a broken flake.

I do get some bite from this -- tongue, roof of mouth and behind my bottom front teeth.

I prefer more natural tasting Virginias, and the bite is a turn off too.

I'm sure there are people out there who like this blend, there's a nice gingerbread type of thing going on part way down the bowl, but overall I just find the blend a bit too harsh and sweet for my tastes. There are certainly other blends from McClelland that I like better, in the bulk realm, 5115 and 2010 are both better choices.