McClelland Oriental Mixture No. 14

Whew! Finally a green label McClellands oriental that I can enjoy! I've gone through #6, 8 and 12 so far without much success. I found them all too bland and not very interesting. This one, while not being overly exciting, is very rich and flavorful without being cantankerous or overbearing. Somehow they managed to pack all this flavor into a very smooth oriental blend. Nice!

I would not call this a "Full" mixture. This one seems somewhere in the middle to me - in between, say, Rattrays #7 Reserve and Bill Bailey's Balkan Blend. #14 is for those who desire a richer flavor but aren't looking for a latakia dump. I doubt I'll buy more of this but it was certainly a nice ride!

McClelland's #14 is a delicious, perfectly balanced medium English blend. Everything is in proper proportion. There is enough Latakia to make the blend creamy and smooth, without overpowering the other components. The Orientals are rich and nutty without being bitter. And there are enough Virginias to make it subtly sweet but not sugary. McClelland's Virginias are always magnificent; they taste like honey, cinnamon and cloves.

Overall, I find this blend's flavor somewhat similar to Esoterica's Penzance. Both are favorites of mine.

The leaf here is broken up like a puzzle with different sized and shaped pieces everywhere. Once I got the stuff packed properly (no small task), it then put up a struggle when I tried to light it. Once lit properly, the Orientals jumped to the forefront with a nice background of smoky Latakia. Soft and semi-sweet in its presentation.

McClelland Oriental Blends. The key I have found over the years is: Cellaring, Cellaring, Cellaring. While most tobacco blends can benefit from cellaring, (with the usual exception of flavored/aromatics ones), with Orientals I have come to believe IMHO, this is almost a mandatory need. They seem to smooth out with age and meld better.

Although this is not my first choice in Oriental Blends, I have found a BIG difference between smoking a tin from this year and a tin from 1996.

Overall, I find this blend to be a middle of the road for this genre, tasty, smooth, seldom needing a re-light. The latakia is in a good proportion, not top heavy like many English Blends.

Rich, satisfying, burns to grey/white ash without heel moisture. The flavor is consistent throughout the run of the bowl. Slightly sweet in the beginnig, with spice infiltrating on the way down the bowl.

Just a nice smoke.

If I'm not mistaken this is #12 with a little more Latakia. While it's an improvement, it still lacks any input from the Virginias other than a touch of sweetness. A little actual flavor from some Virginias would raise this to 3 stars, unfortunately McClelland didn't see fit to add any. 2 stars.

Mild to medium in body. Medium in taste. Burns fairly well.

Nice blend from McClelland. To the contrary of many other reviews I found this tobacco to be full of flavor and very satisfying. OM14 packed nicely and lit evenly and smoked nice and dry. It had great appeal as I enjoy VA and English blends. I will thoroughly enjoy the remainder of the tin and anticipate purchasing this tobacco again.

This blend has grown on me in a big way. From the first I enjoyed it's spicy-sweet complexity, a solid 3-star blend.

I don't know what a Scottish blend is. There seem to be a variety of conflicting definitions, so sure, it's a Scottish blend, why not. To me it tastes like a sweetish Balkan with, as Bob Smith rightly says, the "rich and nutty" oriental spices coming front and center, supported by a solid and creamy Latakia background, with the Virginias here a delicately sweet condiment. It all comes together in a wonderfully balanced, accessibly nuanced blend. If this describes a Scottish blend, then I'm definitely a fan of them.

Perhaps thedstnguishdgntlmn said it best: "Tangy, Smoky, and Smooth best describes this winner. A nice change for English blend Afficianados and a must try for those who love oriental mixtures."

(And I politely disagree with those who say it is mild, flavorless, and tends to bite. To me it is moderately strong, full of flavor, with no bite.)

A really delicious blend that would make an excellent all-day smoke. Highly recommended.

Note: this blend is best after it's dried out for a while. Right out of a freshly opened tin it can be a bit too sharp and strong, and, yes, a bit bitey. Letting it dry mellows it to perfection.

Having been a pipe/cigar smoker since 1969 a lot of smoke from many blends has passed over my tongue and this one has become one of my favorites. About 10 years ago I put the pipes away and went solely with cigars and this is a review of one of 5 tins of this I put away with several tins of Dunhill I had bought 12 years earlier. The aroma of the freshly opened tin was one of very full spicy dark Virginia's and Orientals. No "ketchup" smell some have talked about ( but I never smelled it back when I smoked fresh tins of this before) just a nice spicy full tobacco aroma. The color of the belnd had darkened to where there was not as much varigation as I recall in a fresh tin. It packs easily and when the match is put to it, you are rewarded with a nice full blue smooth smoke which continues thru the whole bowl. Because of the predominence of the Virginias it does burn a bit warm if smoked to hard. Take your time and be gentile and it is a wonderful, full,rich, spicy and flaverfull smoke all the way to the bottom. The Orientals do lend a nice spicy tone to it and after aging for 10 years, the Latakia is very nice and smokey without intruding into the overall smoothness of the blend. I originally bought this blend as an alternative to my daily smoked 965 at that time and I'd have to say I could smoke this one all day with no regrets! Keep in mind, I'm reviewing a 10 year old tin of this and I have 4 more to go before I would have to open a new one so I will buy some more and let it age before I get to it. All in all, one of the best blends of McClellands I have smoked. I HIGHLY recomend it!

This has become a solid all day smoke for me. It's balanced between all three components. I would like a bit more Orientals to enhance the butteriness of the background flavors, but, never the less this is a very good mixture. It has the standard moisture of most McClelland blends and could be dried a tad to enhance packing and lighting, but it's not an issue for me. I don't consider this a "sweet" blend as others have indicated. It does have some sweetness due to the natural properties of the tobaccos themselves, but I wouldn't call this sweet by any means. This blend falls in the same flavor category as Frog Morton's "On The Bayou", or "On The Town", without the Perique. Also this is the medium version of Pease "Westminster" in terms of flavor. It gets spicier further down the bowl. The cut is relatively the same as the above blends as well.

This is a go to blend and will be in my rotation always.

Of the 5 or 6 blends that I tried from McClelland, this is my favorite! Whoever at McClelland created that blend is a genius!

Yes, no 14 is dark, but it smokes well, it doesn't take hours to smoke a medium pipe full- know what I mean, those pipe fulls you get tired of because they take forever?. The taste is outstanding, the black VAs sort of neutralizes the Latakia which adds in richness. This is rich and strong, but not in an unplesant way. In an extremely positive way. Think of ex-tre-me-ly satisfying taste.

Upon opening of the tin, a rich and very pleasant oriental smell welcomes your nose. Dark, dark with nice medium brown loose leaf compose this blend. Small broken black flakes identify the black VAs. Even my wife likes both the smell in the tin and the room note,which is extraordinary for an oriental blend- she makes faces everytime I buy English/Oriental blends, and everytime she smells the tin and the room note. She can't stand English blends, but tried really hard to tolerate them,so I had to compromise. I guess it's the Latakia. Anyway, I was talking about no 14! Whenever I feel like English/Oriental blends, here comes no 14.

No 14 is a great alternative to traditional English blends. Actually, McClelland says it's a classic full Scottish mixture. The adding of the black VA is just outstandingly well thought, because it gives an extra richness, smoothness and sweetness to the general taste. No overwhelmness of nicotine whatsoever. And this baby smokes dry all the way down.

Extremely highly recommended. Now that I reviewed this tobacco, I have a crazy rage to smoke it!

Update Friday FEB 16th

Boys! I just received a couple tins yesterday from my favorite tobaconnist - Blatter & Blatter, in Montréal- and let me tell you, this tobacco is a big time winner!

It smokes smooth like silk, yet consistent and very tasty, and it doesn't bite your tongue; there is an alternance between smokey rich oriental taste and sweeter taste when the blck VA is kicking in.

Any pipe smoker respecting himself must try this blend; like another reviewer said, this one doesn't smell or taste like ketchup...

Update 19 JUne 2007

This afternoon, for some reason, I was finding this blend too dark and slow burning, and having a tendency to leave the bottom of the pipe rather wet/oily, I don't know why. And I had smoked, earlier, some Presbyterian, and found it too bright and not enough dark, lacking a bit of flavour and becoming rather tongue - biting. Somehow, something clicked: Guess what I did? Yes, absolutely, I mixed the 2 together, half and half and, until now, the result is quite surprising!

It burns better, and the black VA combined with the Greek Basma grades gives it a pleasant, distinctive, slightly sweet flavor, as where the Latakia and Orientals give it a more silky, smokey taste; and I - for all our Missus out there- find the room aroma to be very discreet and pleasant...

If you do smoke both of these blends, or something similar, and experience the same problems, you might want to give this a try. I guess it will take a couple days before the different tobaccos melt properly together but, until now,it's a delightful surprise, the best of both worlds!