McClelland Frog Morton on the Town

The first tin I tried of this didn?t really blow me away. It seemed like regular Frog Morton with the Virginia kicked up a notch, to the point where they really took away from the smoky mellowness of the original Frog.

Then one day I stumbled into a cigar shop that had a token shelf of pipe tobacco. Mostly bulk blends, but there were about half a dozen dust-covered tins there, too. Among these was a tin of FMOTT dated 1998. I couldn?t pass up a tin with six years of age on it, so I decided to give Frog on the Town another shot. Definitely glad I did. The years had been kind to the Frog. Any harshness I had experienced with my first tin was gone. Instead I found a smooth, mellow blend with lots of flavor. The bright yellows I remembered from the first tin had mellowed and darkened into chocolate-covered browns. It tasted like the original Frog but with many new depths and added dimensions. If you?re one of those people who complain that Frog Morton is too monochromatic for your tastes, then buy some FMOTT, put it away for as many years as you can manage, and you will be richly rewarded.

This is a full flavored tobacco. It was not what I expected. This is the perfect campire smoke or working on the ranch, but not an everyday smoke. It contains Latakia and I am not fond of that kind of tobacco.

NOTE: I have really had the desire to try an English blend again and may buy this one. The only problem is I am in Africa right now and it is much to hot to smoke English blends. I am not sure if it will be this one or another, but will definately update if I try this again. I will probably wait till it cools down in the fall.

I would consider FMOTT to be an English/Aromatic.

The room note can offend some, this one is more for the person smoking it than for the people around him/her.

I didn't detect any added flavoring. The Basma makes for a very interesting taste. There is a nice Latakia taste in there too, though it isn't the dominant taste. This is just a very pleasant tobacco to smoke. Very smooth, totally unique taste.

I recommend it to anyone - because I believe most aromatic smokers could appreciate the Frog as well as dedicated English smokers.

This is the more "civilized" brother in the Frog series and it is just as good. This is a lighter blend than the original Frog with the addition of basma to spice things up. I found this blend to be more complex even though it is lighter. It is one that is in my rotation and I find that for my chemistry, it tastes better from morning to just past noon. After that though, I prefer something a little fuller like the Frog or other blends of that nature. I found the moisture in my tin to be perfect and not quite as moist as the Frog. The color in the tin has a little more lighter leaf as well. Because of its complexity, I would still recommend the Frog first to a newcomer to latakia land.This blend is a little more sensitive to bowl size and seems to burn better in group 3-4 size bowls. And as the other McClellands, it burns all the way down the bowl with no fuss, maybe a pipe-cleaner once or twice for the excss moisture, but thats about it. Enjoy.... Update: 02-18-04 After trying many blends since this original review, I have to say that this blend is no longer in my rotation. Not that this blend is not good, on the contrary, it is good, but there are many better, including the original Frog which I prefer to this blend. Rating: 3 out of 5 Points

Two words sum up this blend: Dark and full. Frog Morton OTT is a full, heavy smoke without being overbearing. The room note is suprisingly mellow. If you're a fan of orientals, this is a blend not to be missed.

Hey! My girlfriend likes the room note! So, what? There's a lot of other tobaccos I smoke that she doesn't. Interesting because those are usually Latakia blends. It's always nice to please somebody (My sister likes the RN of Dunhill's Elizabethan Mixture). The most important thing is how we, the smoker, like the taste and, above all, the combination of all the "ratings" that we post. This one is a winner. It's one of the most pleasant blends of it's type I've smoked. I originally bought tins of this to please my girlfriend so she would let me smoke in her house. That worked. Now, I smoke it for myself. It has become my morning pipe after playing second fiddle to Elizabethan Mixture. I occasionally smoke it in the evening, too. Why not? The so called "Basma" tobacco, from what I hear is the generic crap that is left over after the cigarette manufacurers buy up most of the leaf. Wonder how this would be if that wasn't the case. Anyway, the Basma comes out at times giving me a fruity, gentle nuance, to counter the stonger Latakia and Orientals. Everytime I load up a pipe of this, it seems to be slightly, and noticably diffent in a subtle way. I'm always pulled back to this tobacco. It's not uncommon for me to smoke back to back bowls of it. If that's the case, the second bowl is just a little wetter than the first, but a few pipe cleaners solve any concerns. I think this is a little less moist than the original Frog Morton, so that pays off in the second bowl. I wouldn't find myself attempting a second bowl of other mixtures that are similar. That is, not in the same pipe. My combination for this lately has been with a Ser Jacapo Prince. Seems to be at it's best in a slightly wider bowl. I just want to end with saying that this is one of the best McClelland blends I've tried besides the original Frog Morton. Seems like comparing apples to oranges. Both are great. However, Frog Morton on the Town would be an excellent tobacco for the new English smoker. Great for breaking in pipes, too. Highly, highly recommended!!!

What's not to like? It's fragrant and tasty. Sure, the ketchup smell is a little funky at first, but you can't argue with success. This is an aromatic that does not overpower, does not ruin a fine briar, and will give an English man a sweet alternative. I drop in a few strands of Old Ironsides when I'm in the mood, but this Frog dances quite well on his own!

As an added value, the cans come in handy to store other blends that may dry out fast.

Another Froggy winner. The dominant flavor is Latakia, but that can be said of almost any blend that contains Latakia. What makes this different is that it has a strong Latakia taste sweetened by the orientals/turkish, and blended so that it produces the most delightful creamy, round smoke. It isn't, to my taste, an English blend; it's far too sweet for that.

Unless you are positively allergic to Latakia, you should try this. Even if you think you don't like Latakia, this may change your mind. If you do like Latakia then you'll find a unique non-English Latakia blend.

After having gotten back into pipe smoking recently after a three to four year hiatus I decided to try something other than the heavily cased aromatic bulk tobaccos I had smoked previously. This blend is a good one to start with for the aromatic smoker looking to expand his horizons as it is not overly threatening to the smoker unused to latakia. The oriental in it gives it a light sweetness while not being overly sweet or cloying as is the case with some aromatic tobaccos, and the latakia content gives it a nice body and taste that lasts until the bottom of the bowl. There is a bit of a gurgle problem starting about halfway through the bowl, but this may be due to me and not the tobacco. The smell of the tobacco in the tin may be a little offputting to those accustomed to sweeter-smelling tobaccos, but I personally like the woodsy smell. I have been informed by my girlfriend that the room note isn't particularly to her liking but is tolerable, but it leaves my beard smelling similar to that of cigarette smoke. This may not be one of the better indoor smokes if you are around non-smokers for that reason, but I personally like the smell of it as it burns. Of the tobaccos I have tried to this point, FMOTT is my current favorite. Of my pipes (all of which are the cheaper varieties), I have found it to smoke the best out of an Irish Seconds bent which I have pretty much dedicated to this one blend.