McClelland Navy Cavendish

Rub it out very Well/Pack your pipe loosely,in layers/Light entire bowl;drawing quite hard...to get tobacco completely involved{tobacco is very densenot unlike"1792"}I find once I've taken a couple solid draws,I used my tamper + push the center(only) of the tobacco right down...I Relight entire bowl,and don't have to relight Med-Pipe,,just tamp from time to time/// HIGHLY RECOMMENDED---My Favorite MCClelland Tobacco---Hands Down! :+}}

It has been a while since I last smoked Navy Cavendish. Its tin aroma was fairly sweet-smelling with that ever-present McClelland vinegar smell. I remember having difficulty with packing (I was new to flake tobacco at the time) and with lighting/re-lighting issues. I happened to enjoy the Virginia/Rum topping taste very much. I'm sure I'll try it again in the future as it was a pleasurable smoke once I got the hang of it, and all of the reviews have resulted in a re-kindled interest with this blend. I must have smoked 4 or 5 tins of this over the years, the last being in the early to mid 90's. Taking all of this into account, I can comfortably give Navy Cavendish 3 stars.

UPDATE 2-19-11: I was in JR Cigar today and spotted McClelland Navy Cavendish and decided to revisit as I haven't smoked it since the early to mid 90's. This time, not a broken flake as I remember it, but individual flakes - about the size of Erinmore. This is even better than I remember it. The vinegar smell in the tin did not in any way translate into the smoke. The rum was present in the taste, albeit subtle. It was a very tasty, spicy smoke. Not hot at all. A very good Virginia presence and slightly sweet without being over the top. No hay-like taste at all. I am very happy I purchased a tin. 4 stars.

I love this stuff! Its a magnificent blend in big golden flakes! Upon opening the tin its quite pungent! I get the ketchup-sour sweetness with a bit of alcohol in the back. I ground some up and was letting it sit to dry a bit. I however was impatient and lit up a bowl right away. It lit and burned fine! Right to the bottom of the bowl. It is a warm full smoke that got thicker, more aromatic and tasty with every puff! Its a natural sweet tasty puff with the slightest whif of rum (could be my imagination) at the finish.

If you dont already have one get an herb grinder. Any headshop, and some tobacco shops online carry them. Get the LARGE!

A traditional navy cav that delivers all it promises. Dark golden flakes here rub out easily, but like I've said in my other reviews of tinned tobaccos, a bit of drying goes a long way. I don't have much to add here, as this is my first navy cavendish.

I wanted to try a traditional navy flake, with the rum and everything, so I bought this one. What a disappointment. It is dark, so I expected a heavier flavor, but no. It is medium at most, but more on the light side and I could not taste or smell the rum. That is not to say that I don't like it. I'm just disappointed that I didn't get what I thought I would get. It has a different flavor and is a little difficult to keep lit.

I simply do not like this. I have tried and retried over the years in various pipes and levels of aging vs. moisture content etc... It reminds me of many of the Danish Navy Flakes which I hate. Sorry McClelland but no!

I first must say I opened my tin of Navy Cavendish over a year ago. My initial reaction was only mediocre, as I had a touch of trouble lighting it; though once lit, it seemed to burn fine with a nice, even ash residue. The flavor was pleasant, but I was a bit put off by the tobacco's moisture, initial bite (possibly my eagerness to get the leaf lit) and pungent tin aroma. It felt too moist and the tin aroma was so dense (Rum? What rum?) I meant to let it sit for a few days -- MY! How time flies when you forget about a thing!

Well, it was September's end, and I found my long-forgotten tin in a box full of other stuff. I attempted to kick myself, thinking I had just found a dessicated version of a promising tobacco. Lo! it not only wasn't desicated, it was in the moisture region I look for as a matter of course in my tobacco choices! Luck? Good packaging? Who knows? The leaf was now easy to rub out, but just moist enough to stay well-packed in my pipe.

I found my favorite bent Barling that often cradles my virginias, and packed a pipeful of the NC. Being of sound memory, I took my time lighting it to avoid a tongue-grabbing initial bite. It worked, and the reduced moisture made lighting a breeze.

My first puffs were of nice, medium-bodied tobaccos. If there was any of the rum left after such a long period, it came through only as a residual sweet note harmonizing with, but not in any way overpowering, the tobacco's own natural sweet tones.

As I progressed through the bowl, the flavor of the smoke became fuller, but only slightly so. I can see why some pipe folks would feel this one-dimensional with little variation. It's simply that the variation is subtle. They suit me in this particular blend, though.

The final third of the bowl became a little hot, but I attribute that to my drawing a bit harder (I was in the middle of an action sequence in a book) and that some moisture had built up at the bottom. The moisture was probably not entirely the tobacco's fault, as I tend to smoke "wetter" than many other pipesmokers with whom I've spoken.

I've gone through 2/3 of the tin since I found it, and I have to put this in my "Keeper" category. There are more complex Navy Cavendish blends out there, but I'll happily keep this one in my "cellar" as a nice, mellow, medium-bodied diversion. Of course, I'll probably open the tins a year in advance of smoking them!

A fine blend that I let age for @ 2yrs,it got stuck in a drawer that I cleaned out.

The flake needed to be rubbed out some but packed well in a mediuum size bowl.The smoke was dry with hardly any moisture build up.Sweetness wafted in and out of the entire bowl with a subtle spicieness that lingered in the background.The flake mostly consists of browns with a few lighter leaves..

Like most virginias a few relights were needed but this is a minor setback when enjoying such a fine smoke.

This (along with C&D Blockade Runner which I haven't tried) is one of the only US-available traditional Navy Cavendish. The tobacco is good quality and the dark rum sweetness comes through quite strongly.

While I don't smoke this regularly, I do keep some around and enjoy it particularly in the winter, when, as in beer, I prefer stronger flavors than I do in the summer.