McClelland No. 2010 Classic Virginia

Just a few words to add to previous reviews. The trick with this one is to age it for a year at least. At this point it is transformed from something rather bland into a sweet, tasty and truly enjoyable flake in the McClelland tradition. Wonderful stuff!

This is my first experience with 2010. I have previously smoked a tin of McClelland #22, to which 2010 is often and favorably compared. I enjoyed #22 very much and on the strength of that experience purchased a pound of 2010.

Virginias and Virginia/Perique blends are my personal favorite tobacco genre. 2010 yeilds an excellent smoking experience and with the price is now one of my top two, alongside 2015.

There is not the Perique component. And the Lemon Virginia adds a lightness that 2015 does not possess. It arrived a little more moist than I prefer, but that is easily remedied. I have found no stems or stem shards. It is a quality tobacco. One or two matches gets me through a full bowl.

It burns well, tastes good on my palate and I find the scent of natural tobacco smoke that it produces pleasant to my nose. I have had little problem with "gurgle" despite the moisture level.

It is a Virginia and I have to smoke it slowly, or it will begin to warm my tongue. This is also similar to the new Bufflehead Virginia Ruddy Duck. I also smoke Stokebyes Luxury Navy Flake and enjoy it. But I naturally gravitate to 2015 and now 2010.

With three sons in college I have to watch my dollars and so rarely purchase tinned tobaccos. And I see little need to. My 5# of 2015 only gets better with age. I expect the same will be true of 2010. This is a winner for me and I intend to buy more when this pound is exhausted. When the kids are on their own, perhaps I will be more adventuresome and indulge in more tinned varieties. Aaahh, the possibilities!

Jar note of ketchup, spices, and tangy fruit. The tobacco brown flakes have flecks of tan in it. Tobacco is damp, drying out may be needed, but rubs out easily enough. Burns slow with many relights. The strength is mild to medium and nic is mild. No flavoring detected. Taste is medium and super consistent, with notes of tangy sweet grass, lemon zest, spicy, mild sour bitter fruit, earth, wood, spiced dark fruit, mildly floral, orange peel, a mildly sweet bready background note, and a fairly peppery retro. Room note is pleasant, and aftertaste is great

Luckily I came back into pipe smoking before McC shut their doors. When the announcement became official, I ordered a couple of their bulk blends to jar up as a cost-effective means to have some to enjoy in years to go.

This week I was working on organizing my cellar and I found my jar of 2010 Classic Virginia. The lid opened with a nice pop and I instantly smelled the wonderful (to me) McC signature jar note. I decided to treat myself to some to smoke this week in my rotation and transferred that to a smaller jar for smoking before sealing the large one back up into storage.

I smoked this in several of my 320/author shaped pipes over the last few days as i find this a great combination.

Like most of their flakes this one is broken, but can still benefit from a little bit of shredding or cubing in my opinion before loading. The moisture content was good, did not require drying out. It does require some effort to get lit and get going, but once lit it stays going and requires minimal relights.

I found it to be a sweet smoke with lots of high/mid notes. It's not very complex, which to me makes it a nice smoke while working from home. The flavor is consistent throughout the bowls. No tongue bite and the slow burn makes me want to slow my smoking rhythm down to sips.

The Nicotine to me is very mild. The room note according to the wife is better than that campfire crap (aka Latakia).

I'm glad I grabbed some of this when I did as I feel it will only continue to improve with age and I look forward to doling it out in small doses for years to come.

The description is dead on. This is a zesty and spicy Virginia. It’s a bit of a challenge to get lit, but after that the rubbed out flakes burn slow and pretty cool for a straight va tobacco. This builds in body and mouthfeel pretty quickly. The mild citrus and zest builds up to a nice medium pepper like spice that prickles the tongue and keeps it interesting. Smoking this tobacco reminded me of a Screwdriver (OJ & Vodka), the citrus with the kick of the vodka in the background. I wouldn’t call this one note. Maybe two or three note, but it’s is a flake. That happens. For the red Virginia fans, no this doesn’t have any. To me it’s not missed in this one. I love red va, but it has a habit of getting hot, wet and drab for the last 1/3 or so of the bowl. This smokes cool and dry and holds its flavors all the way down.

2010 was one of the very first McClelland Virginia flake tobaccos I ever smoked back in the Spring of 2016 when I took up pipe smoking successfully due to the help I was afforded by online forums.

I never did buy much 2010; only 1/2 pound but the lid puffed up in that lone jar, indicating some serious fermentation going on.

This broken Virginia flake offers a good, fairly complex smoking experience filled with the world of the orange/red flue cured Virginias. This blend offers a natural sweetness that I would define as caramely, and is delicious. Upon working my way through the bowl, what I found was a zesty, musty, bready/toasty blend that only offered some brighter citrus notes every so often. This blend seems to sit right on the cusp of the orange-red divide with only a bit of yellow in there, and even gave me a bit of spiciness that was not unpleasant.

I was, in fact, a bit surprised with how dark this blend actually was, which is perfect for me as one who favors orange/red Virginias (à la McClelland 5100). This blend could probably benefit with age, as all Virginias would, that would make it a bit smoother. As always with McClelland, leave it dry for a bit longer, due to the way their blends retain moisture. I found this blend smoked and tasted the best fully rubbed out as well. Nicotine level is mild.

Overall, this is a good mild Virginia, especially for the price point and the fact that you can get this in bulk.

I have not try my CC, but I have a tin of Boston Peretti's Oxford flake and I find them really similar. Nicely formed intact and semi-broken flake with various virginia pressed, it smoke more young with an edge than in OF. Good all day stright VA. Though not complex or deep as FVF, but enough to satisfy my VA eager.

Had to let us try out for 24 hours but it was well worth the wait. This is an incredibly sweet Virginia and only gets better deeper into the bowl.