Butera Matured Ribbon

Tart and tangy. Sweet. Notes of citrus and various darker fruits. A touch of earth, a touch of spice and a little toast. Fairly complex for a blend of Virginias. A smooth and satisfying smoke. I tried, but I can't find a damn thing wrong with it. 4 stars.

Mild to medium in body. Medium in taste. No added flavoring. Burns well when dried.

I really enjoy the Royal Vintage Butera blends as they use McClelland's excellent leaf but adhere to Mike Butera's recipes, Kingfisher and Pelican I missed trying when they were available everywhere and now command Germain premium prices on auction sites 🙁 I have tried several Royal Vintage blends over the years but for some reason have only reviewed Golden Cake and yesterday I found an unopened tin of Matured Ribbon in my closet that was 8 years old. I popped the tin and my den filled with the unmistakeable matured McClelland aroma (which is divine). The tin was under pressure due to fermenting and sounded like a champagne bottle opening and made my dog run out of the room like a cartoon character.. I dried the ribbons for a half hour and packed a tall deep bowl, first light and I knew this was going to be quite the savory smoke, reminded me of Blackwoods Flake. Sweet and Sour, dark fruit, no bite for me, and when the Red Virginia toasts at the last quarter it's just heaven. My old notes say I thought It was a 3 star blend fresh in 07 but now its even more delicious!

Very nice top and bottom flavors. Initially the smoke is tangy with a sweet and sour flavor, not hard on the tongue. Zesty, but smooth, with a pleasant scent and ample "N". Not grassy or hay like, more McClelland like ,(similar to "Boston 1776" or "Blackwoods Flake"), but with creamy base notes and no vinegar. I've tasted these base notes before? Dark Star? Ashleys #44 ?

Needs drying right out of the tin and maybe a slight rub as it is a little hard to keep lit , but very good on the relight, doesn't get ashy. Grows very dark on the last 1/3 of the bowl, becomes more creamy than zesty. A very interesting smoke throughout the bowl, constantly changing, never bites and never bitter. Has a flavor more like a Virginia that has 3 years of cellar time A solid 4 star

Butera Matured Ribbon (Royal Vintage) tobacco is the prefect collaboration between pipe carver Michael Butera and the McClelland Tobacco Company.

Tin aroma was missing McClelland’s signature aroma vinegary/ketchup.

Matured Ribbon is a nice solid Va flavor with subtle sweet and zesty nuances that will keep your mouth watering. The blend is a very nice, rich blend of Virginias; three different Virginias that burns quite well with no hint of tongue bite. This could easily be an everyday blend. It tastes like McClelland’s No 27. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I have several more tins set aside to age. I recommend it highly.

I was fortunate enough to happen upon a tin of this dated to 2000 just last year. It was an incredible experience. Fully coated with crystallized bloom with the incomparable Mcc signature aroma. It was a sight to behold, but I finished my last bowl of it yesterday. 🙁

I enjoyed every bowl of it the sweetness of the VA was perfect augmented with a slight cider tasting tinge added by the stoved element. A lot like 27 to my tastes and, at least this tin, was superior to the tin of Christmas Cheer 2012 that I have been enjoying since last fall.

I am sure my impressions are due, largely, to the age of this tine, but I have to call it as I see it and perhaps this will change with a tasting of a fresh tin. But four stars for now.

I have found Matured Ribbon to be a very high quality tobacco and an exceptional smoke. This blend has the complexity that many other VA's have failed to achieve for me. It's an interesting smoke with the interplay of different types of VA poking their respective heads throughout the bowl.

The tin aroma is sublte and tobacoo fruitiness and the well aged stock of this blend makes its presence known in a very velvet smooth base with some VA tang here and there along the way. A very subtle background of deep sweet aged VA is constant and the other parts of the blend play atop that base.

There was no hint of any topping at all. It has a wonderful taste, does not bite and smokes cool. I ocassionally smoke ths in succession because one bowl just wasn't enough to satisfy my craving for it.

Now my disclaimor. Generally I like a broad variety of tobacco but in the VA's I tend to enjoy the dark mature blends and tend to not like golden, light and yellow blends because of the tanginess and bite (With all due respect to my smoking contemporaries - I don't share the joy of Delayed Gratification - I want it when I'm smoking it and this delivers. I smoke many balkan blends and latakia blends as well and I love the complexity of blends with orientals. I also don't like Marlin Flake the alleged Holy Grail. And, I think that's why I love this tobacco so much because it's deep, dark and complex without being unusually harsh or hot. It is now a regular in my rotation.

Cheers, VC

This is a blend of three different Virginias, and all contribute nicely to this tobacco offering. Despite the weight, it burns cool too. I found this to be very similar to McClelland's #27 and McCranie's Red Ribbon. This particular blend carries a bit more spice than the aforementioned other two, and is perhaps less sweet as well.

If you do give this a whirl, do so in a small bowled pipe, it seems to smoke better than in a large one. I tried a variety of shapes and sizes of briars during the course of smoking the 50g tin. Perhaps the Virginia strength became too much for me in a larger pipe.

I was really looking forward to trying this blend and while I was not disappointed it's not quite for me. Excellent quality. Smooth smoking, complex, clean finish, easy burning. Red virginias provide the base and body with stoves and bright augmenting. What this blend lacks that would make it outstanding for me is sweetness. Very dry, earthy, mineral tasting blend with subtle spice. Excellent in that respect. Tang, spice, and earth. Just no sweetness detected. If it's there the tang and spice mask it. I might even go as far as to say it's completly devoid of casings. Natural tasting tobacco.

Maybe a decade or two would make it shine...for my tastes

The tin aroma of this medium-cut, medium ribbon is the usual funk associated with McClelland: fetid silage and sauerkraut.

Flavor is, again, typical. Which is to say, typically sweet, strong, and complex matured VAs. The solid and balanced flavor rests on the red VAs with the gold and dark leafs providing punctuation.

This is a delightfully complete, full-spectrum blend. More than yet another red and black VA blend, the gold leaf brings a wonderful variance to a somewhat bloated blend category. This seemed best in a narrow to medium gauge chamber.