McClelland Grey Havens

01-19-2005 Buying an (what is for me) expensive tin of premium has become a crap shoot. All too often I end up kicking myself for laying out $8-10 for a disappointment.

That was the case with Grey Havens. I initially could taste nothing. I began drawing harder, attempting to capture what taste was there and the bowl and my mouth got a little hotter than I like.

I am going to put it up for a month and come back to it. For now, it has shown itself to be a bland, thin, vaporous thing. The "room note" was OK, but that is about it.

My own efforts have proven more satisying. I mixed a pouch of Revelation that had only a couple pipe fulls missing and an equal amount of MC 5100, added a measured teaspoon of MC blending Latakia and a measured tablespoon of MC blending Perique. I mixed it, let it sit overnight and on the way home tonight had a smoke that was much more satisfying that Grey Havens.

Just a hint of smokiness, just a hint of Perique and the 5100 sweetened and rounded out the Revelation. And it didn't cost me almost $9.00. Yes, I can be a tighwad. And sometimes it pays off.

One thing I've noticed about McC blends in general - they require age to really come to fruition. Lots of age. The tin I have is about 50g worth of 7.5 year old Gray Havens. This is really fantastic stuff. I could envision a newer tin being hard to get through - thin and harsh - much like some of beloved "young" C+D and GLP mixtures. But the sample I'm currently treasuring is dense in flavor in complexity. Truly quality stuff with an interplay of light nuttiness, tangy perique, delightfully sweet topping and natural VA. A very mild cigar note creeping in every now and again adds robustness. No bite or wetness with the topping actually enhancing - instead of overpowering the smoke.

This is in sharp contrast to my experience with other McC Craftsbury collection series. Frog Morton is, IMO, abysmally boring. Deep Hollow kind of like attempting to smoke a caramel apple (though quite tasty if you hit a sweet spot). But Gray Havens is to date the only one of the bunch I'd actually keep around. Though I have a feeling I should hunt down some old tins or else stow away a bunch for savoring later...

I will add that while topped, this seems to promote much more appeal in taste than to room note. While the perique and topping function well in the blend - the air left in the room is exceptionally acrid and stale.

In description it sounds interesting and like a real winner, but after opening the tin and smoking a bowl, this is amoung the group of really bad McClelland products. A base of broad rough-cut burley with some black stoved/cavendished(?) broken cake and supposedly some perique which I can't detect. The smell of the tin suggests that it was heavily flavored with Hershey's chocolate syrup. A rather overly flavored product that does'nt reflect it's description on the tin. It would have been better if it was produced with a restraint on the flavoring to just barely case the white burely along with a noticable amount of perique. Or maybe the heavy flavoring is masking it. In the final analysis a monochromatic aromatic without refinement.

-Not recommended

This is very flat and thin. I smoked one bowl and got rid of the rest. No redeeming qualities, even the lable on the tin is mundane.

Hot, flat and 'blah'.

I see why Tolkien smoked this, I love it! I purchased it because I love perique. Though I prefer Dorchester, I thought I would broaden my taste. I read the previous reviews, after I ordered a tin and thought: Uh Oh! But, I love it! My tin was moist, sure, but, not that moist. It is a most unique, leafy texture, with a smattering of black perique and a fragrant odor of dried fruits. The taste, oh. that taste!, now, I know why JRR used to look forward to each new day as another to smoke! However, one does have a next-morning "after-taste" But don't let this deter you. So do as I did. You need to experience it firsthand!

Va., burley, and perique. Excellent quality tobacco. It has the {traditional} McC nose out of the tin. When lit it is smooth, has a sweet flavor, and a light chocolate/vanilla aroma. Note the word light. It's not flavored like an aromatic. I like this blend because it's not tireing like a straight burley or an english, and it doesn't get sugary-syrupy disgusting like a typical aromatic. A good middle ground tobbaco. The wife will like it too. It is moist but once it is lit it burns quite well. Savor and go slow. VA and perique will bite ferociously if you smoke them too fast. The flavor is sweet and spicy. I like it!

This blend is one of the blends that I love the way it tastes but it usually bites me. If the bite was eliminated from this blend I would smoke this regularly and give it the highest rating. I will not give this the lowest score simply because the flavor is very good. The odd thing about this is it seems to smoke cool even though it bites me pretty bad. Maybe the topping in this does not get along with me. I may try it again later to see if it still gives me the same bite affect.

November-2003. Grey Havens.This is very strange to me as it taste as though I've dropped my pipe & the tobacco fell out in the dirt.Then I've scooped it up 'dirt & all' repacked my pipe & lit it anyway.The taste being very much like earthy soil,so much so,that I wan't to empty out the pipe & start again.Could only detect the Virginia,near the last few puff's.Tried 4 bowl's just to be fair.But no improvement.

Coming this season on Fox: When Perique Goes Bad.

One of McClelland's embarrassments, this blend is a particularly sour expression of perique, with a distasteful topping, to boot. Pointless, given the presence of St. James Woods in their portfolio.