McClelland No. 600 Special Black

An undistinguished, overly PG'd black cavendish--artificial and cloying. Wet to the point of being difficult to light. Once lit, it sizzles like fat dropped on a hot fire.

Only redeeming quality: added a bit of aroma at about 20% to a home blend of white burley and red Virginia.

I have no idea why McClelland makes so many heavily cased aromatics that all lack any tobacco taste but also sells some of the best Virginia bulk tobaccos around.

It might seem unfair for a person, like me, who isn't a fan of aromatics, to be reviewing an aromatic, but descriptions of this baccy would have had it in the true cavendish family with only some sweetening and a bare whiff of flavouring. On this basis I purchased half a pound with a mind to using it to soften some other baccies in my cellar that had proven too strong or rough around the edges.

So let's be absolutely clear. This is NOT a cavendish with a hint of sugar and vanilla. It is a full blown in your face fruit and incense bomb that left me feeling nauseous and my mouth coated in synthetic grease. This doesn't make this a bad aromatic. Some people will love this sort of thing. But at least know what it is before you buy.

I don't know exactly what the flavouring comprises. The dominant essence is plum. But there is also a melange of things including vanilla, butterscotch (the combination of which might in turn suggest whiskey) and something incense like. I am reluctant to be critical of earlier reviewers, but some of them I have to wonder whether they even went near this tobacco.

Burns easily. Has little nicotine, but will still make your head spin from the smell.

I wanted to like this tobacco, but it's not going to happen.

The aroma is OK, but definitely "off." Unlit, there's a strong and sweet vanilla/nut scent, but there's also a funky, mushroomy smell that is reminiscent of the kind of incense your hippy roommate burned in the dorm room.

The taste of the smoke is just horrible. It's like eating that stick of incense -- stick and all. This might be the first tobacco of any kind that I will toss in the trash. In a word: yuck.

There is nothing special about this black cavendish. I bought two ounces of bulk two years ago and smoked it all but it is not impressive. Room not is OK but there is not much flavor. Two stars.

This might be as bad as it gets. Like several other blends by this brand, the taste of wood is predominant. It is not your pipe that is on fire, it is the taste of this blend. With all the wonderful aromatics out there I can't imagine anyone choosing this. I rarely start a pipe and then empty it before the smoke is done, but I did with this. I couldn't take it.