McClelland No. 2015 Virginia Perique Flake

**UPDATED REVIEW 2017** I have smoked this blend on and off from 2011 on. I figured I'd provide a more descriptive review.

From the bag the redish, medium-brown flakes provide scents of tangy, sweet earth with hints of hay and dark fruit. Definitely a McClelland VA blend. It reminds me of red cake in smell, but not quite as sweet and a bit of spice.

The broken flakes are easy to load in a bowl or to rub out and load. Lighting is a breeze and I find one I get it going it tends to continue if tamped gently occasionally.

The red va's provide a natural sweetness and tang that includes dark fruit notes, some toasty caramel hints, and some earth and just a tad of hay. The perique is a condiment in this blend as it also deepens the dark fruit flavors and rounds them out with just a bit of spice. The smoke is not harsh and doesn't bite. It reminds just a bit of redcake but with more going on....more spice and a great variety of flavors. Definitely worth ones time.

** OLD REVIEW 2012** I have found, when the mood is right, especially on a nice summer day, that I love a good VaPer. With the virginias in these blends, it has been my experience that they are of a lighter nature, like Escudo, Scottish Cake, Bulls-eyeflake, Navy Flake, etc... These 'lighter' virginias produce a sugar-cookie, hay-ish, like sweetness that I very much crave. With this blend of red and orange matured Va's though, I have experienced something different than my typical VaPer blends. This tobacco seemed to be richer and fuller than the aforementioned VaPers. There seems to be more depth and the sweetness is heavier, like comparing a sugar-cookie to a rich cheesecake. The smell from the bag of this blend is exactly how it tastes & smells when smoked. Truly delightful!!!

One thing I've learned about McClelland 20's: You never know what a few weeks will do till you've let it sit for awhile. This seems like an ok, mild, va/per. No muss, no fuss. I have never been let down by McClellands yet, so I bet this stuff only gets better. At the price it's going for a must try.

20 Oct 11 Update: I smoked this all summer long and feel deeply in love with it.

This is a delightful VA/PER. SLightly rubbed out, it stays lit and delivers a pleasant sweet Virginia flavor with the Perique slowly developing over the durarion of the smoke. I am enjoying it in a J.M. Boswell large bowled apple. The blend also smokes well in my Group 3 and 4 estate English pipes. I can't compare it to PS Luxury Bullseye Flake( my other favorite) because 2015 has no black cavendish. All in all, a fine smoke all around

McClelland's 2015:

I am not etirely sure of the exact date but I believe it was in the late '70's or possibly the very early '80's (of the last century,Oh My!)when I first encountered this blend."Very different" I thought on lighting up,"very different indeed!"

I went on to smoke the rest of the other 20's and the same thought ocured to me each time. Another thought was that I'd like to like this considering the "different taste" as a motivating factor. I kept smoking the blend and the other 20's since I worked at a tobacco shop at the time and free tobacco was a "perk" as they say.I did this on and off for about two years( not as a regular everyday smoke but as a change of pace) still thinking that for some reason I was missing something and it probably was my fault that I was not enjoying it as much as I thought I should.

Finally the job, the college carrer and that part of my life wound down and the McClelland's was just a memory. I continued smoking other available tobaccos but not much missing the 20's blend experience.On a whim of nostalgia I ordered some from a supplier(Habana Premium Cigars)about four or so years ago after reading the rave reviews here."Must have been my own lack of sophistication back then," I chided myself.

It wasn't.Continual sampling during the interim has assured me I was initially right.

As an older smoker I have come to realize that, oddly enough, my opinion does count for something at east as far as my own enjoyment goes.

This is undoubtedly good tobacco but for me it just doesn't work as a serious blend. This is not to take away from the others that really are big fans of this since a little age has granted me a little tolerace and respect for the opinions of others while not changing my taste buds much.

I like the Virginia/Perique blends very very much but for some reason I just can't get past the(fermented Virginias? ketchup? whatever) smell of this blend.The taste, in my opinion, is nothing to get worked up about either The room note---who cares!The strength? So-So not much more.

If the smoker happens to be a really big fan of Red Virginias (fermented or otherwise)and doesn't mind the smell then by all means do try it. Otherwise I don't recommend this blend. The other McClelland's unpressed virginias are fine and recommeded but not the "ketchupy" ones.Their aromatics????? To each his own I suppose?

I'm lightly puffing on a bowl of 2015 as I type this.

And light, effortless puffing is one of the things you'll have to do to experience the flavor 2015 has to offer. I say that not only as a caveat but as a recommendation: I sincerely hope that more who've taken up the pipe in seriousness, with the patience the hobby generally demands in comparison with others, might take the further time and effort necessary for enjoying vapers -- their exquisite, elusive flavor is truly worth their steep learning curve, 2015 included.

What is 2015's flavor? I'm not intentionally being coy here by saying that, were it easy to describe, it might not be so intriguing. Unlike the straightforwardness of the flavor of most aromatics, and the relatively easy-to-describe smokiness of latakia blends, the vaper flavor is, literally, elusive. Part of the reason is that, to a much greater extent than with other tobaccos (perhaps with the exception of some straight VAs), the flavor can vary considerably from bowl to bowl, depending upon the cleanliness of the pipe, the peculiarities of one's smoking technique on any particular occasion, and even the moisture-content of the tobacco.

I'll give it a try anyway: sweet but musty; figgy or raisiny; a deep unison bass pitch of burnt-sugar caramels against lighter virgina violas with pepperings of mild acidity from taut strings of the first violins. How's that for a tobacco tin-side description for a vaper named, say, 'Symphonic Splendor'? If it weren't for the possibility of alienating a large percentage of the customer base, who are probably less than keen on orchestral music, I'd say we oughta rename 2015.

Although I don't usually review a tobacco after the first bowl, I'm making an exception here. This could very easily become my regular smoke. The sweetness of the Virginias combined with the spice of the Perique give a piquancy to the taste and aroma that are almost beyond description. Reading the other reviews here leaves me scratching my head. Some reviewers describe the experience as almost transcendent, while a few describe is as almost garbage. I guess this only proves that there is no accounting for human taste. Difference of opinion is what makes a horse race. A few reviewers described the pouch aroma as vinegary. I don't really detect that, but if I were to describe what I smell as vinegary, it would be as balsamic vinegar rather than white vinegar. I smell the ripe figs and raisins that I detect in almost all Virginias, but there is something else that I can't quite put my finger on. I suspect it's the fermentation of the Virginias combined with the Perique. At any rate, whatever it is, it's delicious. I detect no acidity in the smoke, but just a very rich, full sweetness and savoriness.

First VaPer and what a start. When received the stuff i crumbled all of it and let it dried in mi case for a couple of days. When loading it was lose cause this being a flake, always works (better lose and adjust with tamper than have to put down a wasted pipe).

Love at first sight. The virginias in there are just indescribable, these lasted for half of the bowl, the second half was spices i'm asumming the perique, just spice to complement the sweetness of the virginias, smoked two bowls and they both behave the same way half virginia sweetness and half perique's. My only complain is that i couldn't smoke these on an empty stomach. I'm still to try the so acclaimed Escudo.

This has been reviewed so many times...and tbh it was on the overwhelmingly good reviews that I went out and bought some...and I was not disappointed. This is absolutely one of the best VAPERs that money can buy. It's pleasant enough freshly out of the bag, but if you can buy enough to age some, and I strongly suggest you do, you will be rewarded with a smooth creamy smoke unbeatable at it's price with any other VAPER on the market. In my humble opinion this is really one of the best smokes I have had to date...wonderful hints of fruit, bread dough, cream and spice. My method, for what it's worth, is to fill a couple of pipes in the morning and smoke them in the evening slowly and contemplatively. Easily beats Fillmore and that's not to say I don't rate Fillmore because I do, but McClelland knows how to blend virginia and perique far better than Mr Pease...though I think Mr P is a better blender where Latakia blends come into play. But each to their own....if you haven't tried 2015, you owe it to yourself to give it a go.

Updated...I was very enthusiastic about it fresh out of the bag wasn't I 🙂 I do stand by my comments though in letting it mature a while. I have so many blends in my cellar that I rarely come to 2015 and thus I now have a lot, more than 5 years, in the jar. When I do turn to a pipeful now and again I find this blend very rewarding indeed. Like all USA produced virginias it needs careful gentle smoking so as not to get bitten and so playing Warcraft and puffing 2015 furiously is not something to be at all recommended!

It's like an old pair of jeans...sure you can buy the more fancy...and God knows they're more dry, wet, sweet, sour, stronger, or milder...

I really enjoy the bar bq topping...excellant stuff.