McClelland Frog Morton on the Town

The first of the Frog Morton series I have tried. I'll be honest, I bought it while laughing at the name and label, but I do love a reference to anything Tolkien. I am glad I gave this a try. I am really enjoying this blend the more I smoke it. It is as simple as it is unique. One of those few blends I've had where the Latakia doesn't smother it's friends in the blend. At all. You will taste each leaf in the bowl. I am finding this to be kind of a go-to when I am drinking and smoking heavier than usual- This is a great blend for when I want English flavour but do not wanna overwhelm myself with consecutive bowls of Nightcap. The humidity from the tin is usually on point. Velvety mouth-feel and I find it burns cool with no bite, leaving my pipe dry- Yet another great reason for enjoying this blend while in my cups. I am currently well into my 2nd tin and it will not be my last. A blend I'd suggest anyone give a try.

This is one great tobacco!!! I have this problem with misplacing tins of tobacco and not finding them for a long time and this is a perfect example of one such tin.The tin was found in the bottom of my gun cabinet and was dated from 2001! I opened it and when the aroma hit my nose my eyes started to glaze over and my knees went weak..WOW! After 14 plus years of aging the tobacco turned almost all black and the tobacco itself had the aroma of something smokey..almost like smoked almonds. Once lit the tobacco burned very well without any relights and reminded me someone burning well aged hickory in their fireplace a few houses down the street. Not one bad thing can be said about this except I will soon be out of this treasure and I will have to once again wait over 14 years to experience this again!

This is one of my favorite, if not my all time favorite smoke. The zesty campfire flavor never gets old for me. I love to taste it with my mouth and nose. I have also tried FM OTB and it doesn't hold a candle to On the Town. McClelland got this mixture right with the perfect balance of Latakia and oriental supported by the sweet virginias. When packing this in a large pipe, I notice the flavors change throughout the smoke. First, there is that wonderful flavor on lighting that tastes like a campfire smells. After tamping and relighting, the orientals come out. Halfway through, the latakia is the star again, but not in the same way as before. More with a slight cool pepper kiss. I have noticed a difference between bowls and between tins in the balance of the latakia and oriental. I can't get enough of it. One of my favorite things about this tin is that it doesn't lose its flavor toward the bottom of the tin like many do. Lastly is the after taste that stays more in the nose than mouth. Smelling it makes me want more. 4 stars.

Easily the best of the Frogs for me. The Basma smell is irresistible, and it smokes flawlessly. Frog Town sent me on a journey to find a blend that forwarded the Basma even more. After trying G.L. Pease's Meridian (more Virginia forward), and several of McClelland's Grand Orientals, I'm convinced that nothing beats the Frog for ensconcing the entrancing Basma in a nearly perfect English mixture. Mild, sweet, and maybe as close to aromatic without crossing that line (which I'm not prepared to do). It may be that Peterson's Old Dublin or Smyrna #1 will prove more to my liking that Frog Town, but I doubt it.

Like many a tobacco in this category in can go either way in terms of being categorized as an English blend or a true Balkan or Oriental—the differentiation, of course, is the abundance of Orientals here which give it a fantastic, mellow and heady perfume which makes this a great, first-time-of-the-day smoke. There is some sort of un-identifiable topping making the tobacco smell sweet. A great mellow smoke.

Worth they hype? Not sure... but I do know that the more I smoke it the more I like it...

UPDATE: per the above, I've fallen in love with this blend over the weeks... it has a delicate balance about it that never fails to please. It's a cool smoke accented by devious Orientals and a seasoning of Latakia that never overpowers. So... worth the hype? Absolutely.

RECCOMENDED FOR: First smoke of the day or as a outdoor cafe smoke where you want to enjoy and English but don't want to clear the room.

This came highly recommended to me so I thought I would give it a go. The tin smell has that smokiness that I usually associate with blends I won't like. I keep saying that I don't like latakia. This smell was not as strong, though, and I actually liked smelling it.

It packed well and lit right up, with the initial taste NOT being what I had expected. A creamy, full-bodied smoke that was a delight to taste. The nose exhale was smoother than many of the aromatics I have tried. In fact, if you DON'T nose exhale now, I suggest you try it with this one. This is good stuff. I think that this is my "stuck on a desert island with only one blend of pipe tobacco to smoke" smoke. So many other reviewers are better at describing what nuances you can detect in here, but my taste buds are limited to my 8-color-box-of-crayons choices. The wife even said it was "not bad" . 🙂

I will definately be stocking up on this and may even be ignoring the others I already have. We need more stars to rate this thing.

I can't find anything bad to say about this blend. Delightful dance between a hint of aromatic in an English. If you want pureness of style you might not like this but.....just outstanding on the palate.

Frog Morton OTT always brings a smile to my face because, like many people, it was the blend that bridged me over to smoking English blends. But, now after a long time has gone by and English and vapers have dominated my world, I smoked my first bowl of FMOTT in a long time. It really is a nice tobacco. I would call it an English on the sweet side with a touch of vanilla. The Orientals are the the lead player here. It reminds me in many ways of 4 Noggin's "Britt's Balkan." The taste I find to be similar. FMOTT packs and burns well. The Latakia is a player, but in a supporting role. I could see why many people not only mention this blend as their "cross over" blend, but one that they stay with for a long time. One minor note, FMOTT can leave a bit of a ghost in the pipe. It's one that is not impossible to get rid of, but I would dedicate a pipe to it if you can. Recommended.

I want to like this blend. It starts out great. But then it devolves into a one-dimensional flavor that is sort of sweet. The Oriental and Latakia flavors are still there, but they are so faint you can't detect them unless you're really concentrating. Kind of like trying to pick out the bass line in a Scandinavian death metal song.

Some have defined this dominating flavor as marshmallow or maybe some kind of chocolate. I suppose that is sort of what it tastes like. No matter, the point is that after the first couple of puffs, whatever that flavor is, it dominates. It is a very pleasant flavor, but it begins to "fatigue" my tastebuds about halfway through. Kind of like really rich food. After that fourth bite, you're done.

If you decide to give this a try, dedicate one pipe to it. I found out the hard way that FMOTT leaves a big fat ghost behind. Anything you smoke in that pipe will taste like FMOTT for about 5 or 6 bowls. I guess you should treat it like a heavily cased aromatic in that sense even though it is not.

No tongue bite. Stays lit. Stays moist in the tin.

This is a well-crafted blend and I can see where it would cultivate a following. I would recommend this to anyone who favors aromatics, likes the idea of Latakia, but doesn't like it in the typical doses that are prevalent in most blends. In that case, I think FMOTT would really knock that persons socks off because their sensitivity to Latakia's particular flavor would be high. They would be able to easily define the Latakia in the background and really appreciate it as a seasoning.

**Update** Taking away a star. FMOTT makes any pipe it's smoked in taste like FMOTT. I loaded up some Captain Earle Ten Russians in a Savinelli Poker that I had only smoked one bowl of FMOTT in. It made Ten Russians taste like FMOTT. Ten Russians is not supposed to taste like a toasted marshmallow!