McClelland Frog Morton

Tin Aroma: dusky, but with sweet overtones.



Physical Characteristics: a fine ribbon cut of mostly oily black pieces, with a ribbon of something slightly lighter, here and there. Packs easily. VERY moist. I let it sit opened for several hours before even attempting to smoke it, and have since found that opening the tin upon purchase and then going back in a week or so to smoke it yields the best results for me.



First Light: Yum. This is a good mellow English blend, in the best sense of the word. Strong Latakia flavor, but not overpowering. The Virginias are in evidence, but sublimated to the Latakia and Orientals, so no complaints from me. I will definately be smoking a good bit of this in the future.



Notes: Like a good virginia, and unlike a lot of English blends, the flavor at the bottom of the bowl is the real treat here. The flavor during the last third of the bowl is bursting with duskiness, and is as smooth and thick as a good single malt. The first two thirds of the bowl are extremely pleasant as well, sweet and with a decidely 'earthy', smoky flavor, the flavor that draws me back to 'English' blends over and over again. A bit lighter in texture than it's cousin, Frog Morton on the Town, and the two of them, alternated bowl for bowl, provide me with a full day of english smoking pleasure. I can see recommending this blend to aromatic smokers who are interested in sampling a good english blend. There is the faintest hint of a topping of some kind, though for the life of me, I can't pin down exactly what it is.

I was fortunate enough to get 10 tins of this in my cellar before production ended. I hadn’t smoked it for a long time so decided to crack a tin and right a review not realizing I hadn’t prior to this.

Now that McClelland is no more there has been a lot of chatter about replacement blends, particularly of the Frog Morton series. Whilst I dearly love all in the frog series there are equally as good if not better tobaccos still in production. But what this series in particular did so well for me that others don’t (especially this tobacco), was understated.

This tobacco is very subtle, I don’t mean light, lacking in flavor or other potential negative, I mean this as a compliment. I love big rich flavorful tobacco, but so few offer the subtleties and complexity of frog. It is a rich creamy smoke remarkably well balanced and entising, never boring or one dimensional, and always alluring. If you haven’t tried it and are able to, do! As I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. If you don’t have it and aren’t able to get any don’t despair, there is a host of other great tobacco that is equally as remarkable and more so, see my other ratings for recommendations.

McClelland’s Frog Morton. The O.G. of the series and probably the least talked about.

This blend is pretty damn fantastic. The tin note is a perfect balance of sweet, stoved virginias, smokey latakia, and a BBQ-esque top note (maybe from the latakia processing, maybe from natural preservative toppings. Some describe it as Worcestershire Sauce, but seeing as this blend is made in Kansas City and not the West Midlands, I’m inclined to go with BBQ. The virginias form a cavendish-like base of bready molasses while the smoky-sweet latakia is added with a light hand. Easy light, no bite, and desirable (to me) room note.

Drinking a Manhattan with this blend seemed to work out just fine. Great stuff.

Frog Morton is a favourite among pipe smokers and for good reason, its great! This blend has a lot of notes it borrows from English blends, that results in a very light but flavourful smoke. There really isn't much else to add that has not been said already. The blend has no flavourings to my knowledge and is just a good old fashioned straight blend. Buy it, you won't be disappointed!

Frog Morton is a rare blend. On the surface it has nothing special, a simple mixture or virginias and orientals (latakia?). When you inspect it it has the standard look, a predominance of darker leaf with some lighter virginia, with a somewhat coarse ribbon cut. The smell when opening the box is rather bland, you get a hint of the orientals, but it's not as strong as in other brands. There's also the infamous "ketchup" or "sauce" smell, but rather faint also.

So far, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing special. It has no trobule packing, a couple of matches to light and then the smoke. Oh! Now I see.

The taste is mellow, for a blend with orientals, it smokes easy and cool. It does have some of that earthiness and herbal taste, but very well balanced with the virginias. The nicotine hit is close to non existant. The taste remains consistent through the bowl, and the smoke is light, not creamy. The room note is tolerable, non smokers may complain a bit -it has oriental leaf after all- but not much, some will find it quite pleasant.

So far, there is nothing at all out of the ordinary, but Frog Morton is more than the sum of its parts: McClelland has found a balance with this blend, maybe because of the recipe, maybe because of the quality of the tobaccos used or maybe there are other factors.

The end result is a mixture that it's easy and very pleasant to smoke. It has just enough complexity to be a smoke for a special occasions, when you just want to sit down, relax and forget about the world, but is also mellow and light enough to be an all day smoke, you can fill a bowl and smoke it at any time. Try it, at worst you'll find a mellow blend that, while not bad, doesn't do anything for you, at best you'll find your new favourite, something you'll keep coming to.

A real mellow pleasure. When I want to just "smoke a pipe," I grab this. I don't have to think about what kind of experience or flavors I want, just a smooth, easy smoke to have while taking a stroll in the woods. It's well-rounded; no aspect of it overshadows another. While it hasn't elicited the best smoking experience thus far, it is probably the one tobacco I would choose if I had to.

I'm brand new to the pipe smoking scene, but so far from all the blends I've tried, this has to be my favorite one. I do taste the latakia but before that, the first thing I taste is this subtle sweetness. You can feel it on your tongue and even in your throat (I don't inhale, from retrohaling, I guess I should say back of your throat). It's this subtle sweet flavor, I can't quite put my hand on it. Someone here said rum or whiskey and I'm inclined to agree. Maybe. I am new at smoking pipe, so it's harder for me to point out certain tastes, but it has a nice toasty flavor as well along with a slight smoky pinch from the latakia. I can't really go into much further detail than that, but I'm definitely going to keep buying this Frog Morton. Next one to try is Frog Morton Cellar and On the Town.

What a great tasting Lat/Virginia blend. This is one of my most favorite blends. The taste is sweet hay, sweet wood smoke, plenty of that vinegary flavor and even a hint of barbecue from time to time. While it doesn't sound like vinegar would be a pleasing taste it fits right in this blend and enhances the taste. Very mild nicotine and burns fairly cool. This is not to be puffed but sipped and enjoyed slowly. Along with Boswell's Northwoods,Railroad Station and McClelland's great Scottish Woods this joins my favorite Latakia based blends. A 5 star smoke.......Oh hell a 6 star smoke!!! If you love Latakia heavy blends this is one of the best out there right now.

This is an interesting blend. Definitely driven by the smoky latakia of English blends, but some very interesting contrasts to the age-old formula of latakia dominant. It smells smoky with just a hint of sweet in the tin. A little damp, and it tends to stay that way as it ages, but not in any sinful way like cheap aromatics. The smoke itself is cool and generally mild. I think of it as an English leaning merge between American and English tastes. Enjoyable most any time and in most any setting.