McClelland Grey Havens

The matured Virginias provide some tangy stewed, sugary dark fruit, earth, wood, bread, mild floralness, light vegetation, tart and tangy citrus, grass, and a small touch of vinegar as the lead components. The earthy, woody, nutty, mildly sour, rough white burley is a supporting player. The earthy, woody, plumy, spicy perique is barely a condiment. The creamy vanilla and caramel toppings moderately tone down the varietals as they also help form a cohesively consistent creamy sweet, fruity, nutty, lightly spicy flavor. The strength and nic-hit are a couple of steps past the mild mark. The taste is in the center of mild to medium. There’s no chance of bite or harshness, and has a minute rough note. Burns cool, clean, and a tad slow. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and requires a couple more than an average number of relights. Has a very pleasant, mildly lingering after taste, and room note. An all day, comfortable smoke.

-JimInks

First blend I ever smoked so has a special place in my cellar. Not a big fan of McLelland due to that vinager/ketchup thing they have going on, ph solution etc but this blend isn’t too bad in that department. I’ll smoke it indoors during the winter as it’s not too aggressive and has a nice room note. Easily an all day repeatable Smoke.

Grey Havens is among my favorite tobaccos, with a permanent place in my rotation.

Having smoked several tins at this point, I can say that the cut and quality of the blend is top notch, with the right moisture content, and an extremely pleasant tin aroma without the slightest hint of ketchup. Grey Havens is at home in any pipe it seems, but it does particularly well in larger billiards.

The taste is delightful, though I do not detect any toppings as some seem to. (I do not generally care for aromatics, but perhaps my palate is insensitive to very light topping.) I find the perique is what really sets this blend apart and gives it a character that makes me look forward to a pipeful. A major plus is the very pleasant room note, and it is my go to smoke when non-pipesmokers might be around. This is a smoke one buy one blend.

I have tried this tobacco side-by-side with Virginia Woods, and Deep Hollow for comparison.

From the tin you can see red, medium brown, and black ribbons intermixed. The smell is sweet with hints of dark chocolate, figs, plum, a bit of tang, bread, and a hint of wood.

Easy to load, but a little difficult to keep lit as it burns a bit wet.

Produces nice amounts of smooth smoke. The flavor/scent of the smoke is richly sweet. Again, not sure if there is a topping but the flavor seems to be nutty, chocolaty, with tones of fruit (plum), hints of bready red virginia, and bits of tang. It seems the burley contributes some sweet nuttiness. The virginias provide a backbone of sweet bread and slight tang. The perique is just slightly apparent with dark fruit tones and later on, down the bowl, it provides a small amount of spice. More enjoyable than I was expecting, since I'm not one who smokes aromatics too often. This is a nicely done aromatic that has the tobacco flavor that many of this type of blend lack.

**I am loving Grey Havens and have finished my tin in record time. I wish it came in bulk so as it does not, I will add one 2 ounce tin of blending Perique to a tub of Chatham Manor. It's as close to Grey Havens as I have tried...**

I have been meaning to try Grey Havens for many many years since its the only blend in the Craftsbury series that I haven't tried. Reading reviews on here over the years I was led to believe this was going to be an aromatic or an extremely light version of Haunted Bookshop, instead I found Chatham Manor light! Seriously this is the closest I have found to that blend (which I love). Also this is only maybe the 3rd Burley blend I have ever had from McClelland which although known for their Virginia's, do have access to very fine Burley as well! To me this is a Burley and Virginia blend with a smidgeon of Perique, really hardly noticeable which to me was just fine since I intended to smoke this in the morning and I do not enjoy strong P mixtures that early. Probably my favorite tin art, just beautiful (if you read my reviews you will know is the most important aspect of the blend :- ) everyone loved the room note that resembles cocoa to me but the tin note is very similar to Dark Hollow, sort of a appley, dark chocolaty affair. Interestingly enough I did not get much Ketchup matured Virginia aroma which I actually enjoy and since my tin is from 2014 perhaps the Virginia's have not had the time to ferment or since its a Burley blend, McClellands Burleys do not get the same casing as their Virginia's? Anyways, no bite, smells good, mild for the morning and a absolute delight to smoke. Rounds out the Craftsbury series very nicely and a great way to try Mc's Burley. 4 stars as a breakfast blend, 3 stars overall.

Well, here's something new--a McClelland that doesn't pass muster. Without going into much detail, let me just say that it didn't have much in the flavor department. It struck me as kind of bland. It needed a little more punch to make it palatable. A real disappointment.

Light-to-mild, natural tasting tobacco. I could smoke this all day.

I bought a 50g tin today at a small tobacco shop near my house. I asked for something with virginias and burleys, was shown this grey haven tin, liked the way it looked and bought it. I hadn't asked how long it had been sitting but by seeing the dryness of the tobacco when I opened the seal, and the reviews here claiming alot of moisture in a fresh tin my guess is that it has been sitting on that shelf for quite awhile, 3 years maybe.

First whiff, sweet smelling tobacco, with a hint of fruit cake, or plum cake smell, emanating from the tin, very pleasant.

First light was full of natural flavor, billows of smoke, something nutty, and a hint of something like a fruity dark chocolate but with a spice accent( perique ?). The first few draws after the relight remained this way, but afterwards died down only to reappear occasionally.

The remainder of the smoke was consistent to what you would expect from virginias and burley. I smoked it down to near mostly ash where relighting was more trouble than it was worth. It didn't smoke hot. It burned quite nice. I was very relaxed by the end of this smoke.

Unfortunately I smoked outside, which while soothing, as it was beautiful out, I did not get to experience a full room note. However I was told it smelt nice by the few who were around. I will have to disagree with the reviews saying this tobacco is flavorless. It does not punch you in the face, but it is quite tasty. The cherry wood accented this tobacco to perfection, I wont be smoking it any other way.

It was pleasing to later find out about the Tolkien reference.

This is a mild smoke - it's not one that will bowl you over, but it something that can be enjoyed all day. It is slightly sweet, in a natural sense, but nothing approaching cloying (no topping or casing...this is from the natural VA sugars).

It does have moments of blandness - the use of perique is very light-handed which, while it makes the smoke pleasant and airy sometimes leaves it a bit short on flavor and depth. But then, just when you think the flavor has died, you come across those great VAs and a remarkable perique spiciness that is the hallmark of McClelland VaPers.

An earlier reviewer noted that this is best smoked in a large bowl. I couldn't agree more. Once the VA and perique start to shine through, they don't go away until the bowl expires...but it takes a good 10-15 minutes of puffing to get there, regardless of bowl shape or size (at least in my experience). This is not to say that the first part of the smoke is unpleasant - it's just uneventful...all the same, best to load up a large bowl and get as much bag for your buck as possible.

One other point to consider: breaking in a new pipe with the blend is something of a double-edged sword. On one hand, it's flavors and nuances don't seem to respond as well to an unseasoned pipe; yet, on the other hand it is neutral enough, burns consistently enough, and is a reliable enough blend to make the break-in process a breeze. YMMV.

I am not a big fan of this blend for the same reason's that the reviewer below likes it. It lacks enough perique to be interesting. I would also like a bit more Virginia in the blend. It needs some dry time, but the cut is easy to pack and the leaf is high quality. I think Burley lover's should give a try to this blend, perique lovers might want to move on.