McClelland No. 5110 Dark English Full

Re-reviewed.

Ok, so I've been smoking it for several days now and can give a more refined review.

I bought this to have something in bulk similar to my favorite blends found in the Frog Morton Series. My fave is Across the Pond with Cellar being also very enjoyed.

My take on smoking all of these and comparing them is that it's like having a song you really love with considerable difference in equalizer settings. The Morton's have been dialed in by a professional audio technician to hear just the right frequencies at a particular nuances that result in a highly tuned piece of flavorful art. Though there are differences, there's a lot of the same flavors at different expectant levels.

The 5110 is like all of that same flavor, just not dialed in on each band of the spectrum specifically. Someone just took all the ingredients and said, Low, Medium, and high, done. So, it's all there at a kind of more bulky and less nuanced way.

So, I still taste all the stuff I like, just not in a highly tuned way, so to speak. In some ways, I actually prefer the 5110 because of this. I love that chocolate coffee taste that is considerably more subdued in the Morton's that is ever present in the 5110.

This is my daily English smoke..........I am recommending it highly, but if I could get Frog Morton Cellar, or Across the Pond in bulk, I'd probably take that route.

This tobacco is captivating and alluring from the very first opening of the bag to the last puff in the bowl. Greatest English smell in the world! It is listed as having a generous amount of Latakia, yet it did not taste anything close to what they say. It is a beautiful smoke, through and through, and it would be safe for me to say I could smoke this all day. Maybe the quality of the leaf helped the different tobaccos marry well....I don't know. What I DO know is this is one marvelous blend.

This is one great tobacco!!! Smooth...Smokey....A tobacco that is best smoked sitting down out side with your eyes closed and entering "The Smoking Zone"! This tobacco has been compared to Frog Morton and I tend to agree with that comparison. If it not Frog's unnamed brother it is definitely a secret relative of some other well known tinned tobacco!

Another winner from McClelland, quite similar to Boswells North Woods even Old Limey Bastard. Although not as sweet as North Woods yet sweeter than Old Limey.

Starts off creamy and sweet, which both remain throughout as the bowl combusts down. The Latakia arrives more evident about 1/3rd of the way down. I don't detect Orientals at all, which is fine since I throughly enjoy the other characteristics contained within.

Overall a very mellow, rich and sweet smoke; however, I would not call the experience 'full flavoured' rich yes but not full. I would say McClelland's P.M. Pipe is extra full in comparison. This is medium to full depending on which end of the day you prefer to combust.

Another great bulk blend to add to the cellar and highly recommended.

For my taste buds this is a real beauty. I love the flavor of sweet Latakia and that's basically what we have here. This pushes all the right buttons for me. This Stoved Virginia is superb and is the star of the show, in my opinion. My cellar just gained a few pounds of weight. Orientals? What Orientals? Couldn't taste them and don't care.

Mild to medium in body, very nearly just mild. Medium in wonderful sweet Latakia flavor. Burns great.

This an excellent smoke. Dark in color. Full and tasty with a heavenly sweet and sour taste. Even a hint of Bakers Chocolate. Not overly complex - but as Goldylocks said - "just right." At a bulk price - this blend is hard to beat! This is not Frog Morton which INHO isn't such a bad thing.

This Blend is complex, harmonius, each type of tobacco may be found in the taste, But in a few minutes of smoking, it turns almost tasteless and boring, Also is a coarse ribbon, difficult to fit in the bowl and to maintain the pipe lighted. Two stars for the quality, but this blend is not for me. I prefer Many other English mixtures: Penzance, Presbyterian, Chipman Hill, Britt's Balkan, Balkan Supreme, Three Blind Moose, Balded Headed Teacher etc... Between the blends with large latakia ammount, Pirate Cake is much better.

Feeling Latakia-deprived, I recently went to a local brick-and-mortar tobacco shop in search of a Latakia blend. My Mixture 965, it seemed at the time, was cut a little too coarse to fit in the cobs I favor these days, so 5110 Dark English: Full it was.

The prolific Pipestud, in reviewing this blend, described the Latakia as "coarse." I know not if that was a reference to its physical properties or smoking qualities, but it is an accurate description of the former. My bag contained at least one stem that was a full inch long. It's also sickeningly moist straight out of the bag, and after almost four days' worth of drying time (both by pressing in layers of paper towels and air-drying), it still has more moisture content than I care for. It may well require some time in the oven to cook off any remaining excess moisture.

Sure, there are some pieces of Virginia and Oriental in this stuff. I'm pretty sure there are, anyway. When smoked, it's a very one-dimensional blend; all I taste is Latakia. It's also one of the hottest Latakia blends I've smoked, if not the hottest, and I have to puff like the Cannonball Express to keep it lit. Smokers who like a tobacco with a high nicotine content will want to look elsewhere; I found myself drawing the smoke deep into my lungs in attempt to extract any nicotine from it at all. The room note is just a guess, but my neighbors don't complain about the smell...one day, I hope to find a blend whose room note will elicit neighborly complaints.

If you have to have some Latakia about two or three hours (or longer) ago, and this is the only blend available on very short notice, give it a whirl. It might also be good to add in small amounts to liven up another blend. Otherwise, there are better Latakia blends out there.

Update, 6 October 2012: My sample is quite dry now. However, unless it's attributable to smoking outside in the wind, I have no explanation for its increased reluctance to stay lit. I also discovered an additional three large stems, which I consider absolutely unacceptable. This blend is still okay if you need to immediately quell a craving for Latakia, and it's the only such blend available, but think twice about it even then. Otherwise, I can no longer in good conscience recommend it. I've downgraded my rating to one star, and though I'll finish it, I won't be buying any more.

This was not what I was expecting by the name. It is a dark blend to be sure but I had anticipated a full bodied smoke. This is not. It is Medium bodied with a mild to medium strength. It could be smoked all day if one is inclined. However, the cut is varied: Ribbon, chucked, some very fine pieces too. There is a humectant added keeping it way to moist. Even after an hour drying it remained too moist. Although the description does not indicate it there is definitely a casing. I am a purist and try to avoid casings. Toppings (they are different from casings after all) are not such a big deal but casings affect the flavor of the smoke and I want to taste tobacco only in a latakia blend. Personally, for the price paid, I would not buy this again.