McClelland Frog Morton on the Town

McClelland - Frog Morton on the Town (Craftsbury).

I've reviewed all of the Frogs barring this, and apart from Frog Morton on the Bayou scoring three, they all got a full house. So, Frog Morton on the Town then:

Quite a coarse ribbon, and my can had good hydration when freshly opened. It appears to be fair with the amount of each variety of tobacco that makes up the blend.

Lighting Frog Morton on the Town is easy, and the smoke falls, like it's sibling Bayou, below four stars; a little bit further down, though. At the start the Latakia takes a leading stance, easily pushing the Oriental and Virginia out of the way. A short way into a bowl the Oriental's take up a stronger position, becoming equal to the Lat', and after half a bowl they easily replace it as the leader. The Virginia's vacant for the entire bowl, I don't get any Virginia tastes, ever. I'm confused as to whether not this is cased, although the description doesn't say so I get a very mild sweetness; not like a natural Virginia sweetness, but a slightly false one. The burn from this is reliable, albeit quick, and it doesn't bite.

The nicotine dose is medium, and the room-note could do with improving!

Frog Morton on the Town? The worst of the Frog series:

Somewhat 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!

Update: The more I go back to the FM blends the less I like them. They have a role and at times are phenomenal, but that is mood dependent. This is a very light, sweet English/Aromatic. What makes me down grade this is that it is unidimensional and, well, flat. The flavor hits the spot when in the mood but it is not overly complex and I tend to think most of the flavor comes from the topping and not the tobacco. Not that that is always bad, but if you are hankering for tobacco goodness the FM series tend to disappoint. OTT is no different and in fact seems to rely more on the topping.

Since the news of McClelland leaving the business just hit, I am committing to reviewing all of their blends that I have been smoking. FMOTT is one I have been enjoying for awhile and will miss. The tin note is vanilla and whiskey, while the blender says there is no topping and that the Basma is what gives the vanilla aroma, my nose says otherwise but I will take their word for it. The blend is a light English and the Basma is the star of this performance. While the Latakia is ever present the real flavor, or what makes the real flavor pop is the Basma. the light vanilla flavor balanced with the sweetness from the latakia and VA's is really uniuqe and delicious. Threre is also a buttery character that hits around mid bowl that adds to this wonderful blend. It is almost as if the smokiness from the Lat and the slight woody notes from other orientals barely are noticed but the blend would fall flat with out them. This is in tight contention with FMC in this series for number 1. I love them both and will miss them dearly.

I'm still new-ish to pipe smoking, and this was my first blend with Latakia/orientals, so keep that in mind.

The smell in the tin is pretty mossy/swampy/something(?), but I can't quite put my finger on it. Being inexperienced in Latakias/orientals, I'm assuming it's one of the two (or a combination thereof).

Packed a full bowl, using the three step process. Found it a little tough to get a char light, but once I did, and gave a light tamp/relight, I was good to go.

I instantly knew I was smoking something I hadn't smoked before. I was getting something that tasted mossy/swampy with a hint of rubber or something equally odd. I wanted to give it a fair shake, so I smoked the whole bowl.

Not overly strong in either smoke, or vitamin N, but was definitely flavourful.

I'm not sure whether it is the Latakia or the orientals that my tastebuds didn't love, but there's something in here that I'm not a big fan of. I'll revisit it in a few weeks to try again, but for now, I'm rating this a two. It smoked nicely, just isn't my cup of tea.

I picked up a tin of Frog Morton on the Town after enjoying Frog Morton's Cellar so much, but the flavor was so mild that it honestly just wasn't satisfying enough for me - and I'm a relatively new pipe smoker, so that is probably saying even more. The flavor was nice, pleasantly sweet and light, and for a beginner or someone who likes a very mild smoke, it might be a decent tin. It was decidedly inoffensive, but just lacked a certain something to make it stand out.

There is no major faults with this blend but I think it lacks a little depth of flavor. FMOTT is simply not my cup of tee. But I can understand people who have it as one of their favorite blends. But I miss Lady Nicotine in FMOTT

I will probably be one of the lone dissenting voices in this review. FMOTT is a wonderful, cool smoke. I just don't however think it lives up to it's older brother FM. This blend is more complex and closer to a proper english. The basma lends a very interesting note to the overall picture and the cavendish keeps the smoke very sweet. So why doesn't it get a higher rating? Because- the reason I was so taken with the original is because of its simplicity and richness. The quality of the latakia in the original frog stood by itself as a treat and allowed you to smoke a luxurious tobacco without having to think so much about it. By adding various orientals and trying to sophisticate this blend they have merely shoved it into a different category with blends like: My Mixture 965, Penzance, Caravan, and other complex latakia blends. In this category it gets walked all over by other better blended mixtures. Personally I will take the original Frog any day of the week and appreciate it for what it is, not add some more igredients to make it something it's not. The grass is not alway's greener on the other side.

I was really excited to try this out, and fired up a couple of bowls this evening. Not a whole lot nicotine (I like nicotine), and a decent amount of flavor. A very good, very nice aftertaste. I did like the room note.

It's pretty wet out of the tin. I'll let it age for a not, and then revisit it.

Sticks and stones... well, I guess mainly just sticks can be found in abundance inside. Every bowl I packed, I ended up picking out some unwieldy stick that wouldn't cooperate. That aside, here goes review #100!

This is the fourth (of 5) Frog Morton blends I have tried, and so far it was my least favorite. I'm not saying it was bad, it just didn't have that spicy taste of the previous three. While it certainly had the similar spicy aroma, it lacked the gunpowder quality that made my nose tickle upon smoking and leaned on being more of an English than an Oriental for me.

For my money, I would stick with the original Frog Morton, or better yet, go down to the Cellar, have a seat on the little wooden cube inside, and start puffing on the best of the series.