McClelland Dominican Glory Maduro

Another of my attempts to experience something like the Sobranie Virginia #10 of yore. Not a bad blend. The cigar leaf didn't come through as much as I would have liked. I tend to go for fuller bodied blends and it seems that even the blends McClellands' describes as full-bodied are quite tame by my standards. As other reviewers have mentioned, I would very much like to know what makes ALL of their tobaccos smell like a blend of ketchup/vinegar in the tin. This blend earns a solid 2 stars.

I tried this because I like cigars and from the description on the tin, I thought it would be a good transition to pipes, which I just recently started smoking. I liked it at first, although the ketchup smell struck me as odd. I kept thinking of barbecue as I smoked the first few bowls. I put it away and started experimenting with other blends. I recently went back to my tin and tried this one again, and found I didn't care for it all that much. I do not taste the cigar leaf. It still reminds me of barbecue. It has an interesting flavor but I can't include it in a regular rotation.

I really enjoyed this blend. I come from a 10 year cigar smoking background with the maduro wrapper as my favorite. Now granted, this does not taste just like a maduro cigar. If you want that flavor, then just go out and buy a cigar!! This has a sweeter taste from the viriginias. You can definitely taste the cigar leaf now and then. I opened this up, dried it a bit and then rubbed it a bit and it smoked all the way through. Very, very pleasant tobacco.

I will be buying a few tins of this.

***2010 Update***

I've grown quickly tired of this blend.

Wow, it's been years since I smoked this. I got some from Barry Levin back in 93 or 94, can't remember exactly.



As I recall, it's basically Blackwoods Flake with 2-3% cigar leaf added for spice. It's surprisingly good if you like cigars; you can definitely taste the cigar leaf; but like a good spice it remains subordinate to the (excellent) virginias. If you're expecting a cigar-in-a-pipe you'll probably be disappointed, but if you're looking for a spicy blend with that leathery spiciness (and don't want latakia), then this is a good place to start.



Surprisingly, the cigar leaf is much more noticeable in the aroma than in the flavor, so if your wife doesn't like your cigars, she probably won't like this...

What a strange smoke.

Its glorious to behold in the jar, has that ketchup aroma wafting out of it right from the start, and you get the cigar in there too.

Soaking wet, needs a tonne of drying time. Even after that, its a "female dog" to light this and needed about 3 or 4 relights after char and tamping. Then it was really hot right at the start, palate stingingly hot.

Then it calmed down, warmed, and its a good smoke. However, its a cigar in a bowl! The VA's are present and you can smell them, but the overwhelming presence is a chopped up and pressed maduro cigar. If you want a maduro cigar, have one, this concoction is so strange. I used to smoke cigars before turning to pipes (my bank balance rare got above zero when smoking cigars) and loved a maduro after a meal, but honestly, they are so heavy and palate numbing that you have to be in the mood for them. I thought this would be a McClelland VA with a touch of maduro, but the maduro overwhelms everything, and it just came out with big plumes of cigar smoke.

Kind of nostalgic for me as a former cigar guy.

Won't buy another tin, might give the rest of the one I have away. Its not bad, I just don't see why it exists.

A very good cange of pace. there is virtually no cigar taste,unlike the churchill blend @ Wilke.If you like a decent ready rubbed go for it I would not buy a 100 gram tin though, you might feel stuck. A very good flavor and aroma.