McClelland Oriental Mixture No. 14

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.

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.

Tin note is not the typical McC...almost no ketchup smell from the VA's, a hint of tart vinegar but mostly woody/sour orientals and smokey Latakia. This is a very nice Oriental blend. I am not sure how McClelland would rate this compared to their other Oriental blends but this one seems like it isn't trying too hard and with that you get a top notch mixture. McClelland struggles (IMO) with Orientals due to how they process their Virginias in part, the other part is they have world class VA's that tend to dominate the lighter blends, particularly Oriental forward blends. #14 is a very well done blend. The Latakia is applied with enough heft to make the blend creamy and sweet but not over power the base tobacco's. The Virginia's provide a solid base for the star attraction the Orientals. They have a woody dry flavor: cedar and hickory. There is also a tannic quality to this blend that takes the moisture from you tongue like a strong black tea. The retrohale offers a fizzy seltzer like feeling that imparts a slightly bitter, nutty flavor. The interplay of Virginias and Orientals also hints of a creamy (more buttery perhaps) flavor. I am sure this is also from the Cyprian Latakia but the mouth feel to me is of the oriental variety. The VA's offer a citrus note as well as some hay (like a hay bale after a rain that is sitting in the sun) I like this blend more and more, each bowl tastes better to me. I have read other reviewers comments regarding aging this blend. My gut says that this is not a blend that will improve much with age. My experience with Orientals is much like Burley, they do not do too well with age, meaning they hold flavor at best not improve. I have smoked a tin that was under a year and I am 2/3 of the day through a tin with about 2 years on it. I cannot say the 2 year old tin had any noticeable improvements. I really like this blend and I was pleasantly surprised as I did not expect much. Another beauty of this hobby, you never know what you are going to get (in my best Forrest Gump).

Compared to the bitey #12 and most aged virginias rubbed out or otherwise, #14 is one of McC's best and most enduring blends. The orientals season the smokey, briny texture of the mix without adding acridity. I'm not sure what 'the classic' Scottish smoke may be, but whatever this blend aspires to be, it attains it. It's much better than the modern EU/Teutonic incarnation of Presbyterian, the once classic Scottish prototype. I agree with some of the reviewers here in saying that if you can get an aged tin, so much the better. I'm thinking of buying a couple this fall, one for immediate use and another for cellaring. Whatever bite there might have been has mercifully mellowed out of existence. Not as ketchupy as most other McC VA/Orientals, the taste has just the right amount of piquancy with an aroma of leather and toffee. A McC classic that straddles the boundaries of the common and the exotic.

Four of five stars

I finally popped this tin I bought on ebay a few years back when you could legitimately buy tins on ebay. I won both a tin of this and the number 6. I smoked the number 6 first and liked it well enough to give it three stars. I enjoyed this blend a lot more than number 6 even though will also be giving it three stars. It just does not rise to the four star level for me.

On to the tobacco itself. This, like number 6 is all about the orientals. The number 6 to my tastes, contained more of the sharp sour type orientals, where number 14 has oriental varieties that deliver more of a fuller earthier smoke to my tastes. It also delivers a heavenly side stream that makes sniffing the bowl as enjoyable as puffing it.

There is Latakia, which is just another oriental that has essentially been smoked, but the presence of this is properly restrained to put the orientals out front. The virginia presence is also light and high quality; the latter point is, of course, expected with McClelland.

If I were still buying tobacco and McClelland was still available, I would buy more of the number 14 than I would the 6, but you may do something completely different based on your own taste preferences.

Update: Not only is there nothing wrong with this blend, it is solid. My initial review was only in smaller bowls. Having the opportunity to sit down for a longer smoke one afternoon, I loaded a group 5+ bowl. No. 14 reached its full potential. The Latakia remains third in line, but is more distinguished now. The balance is superior and it burns to a light grey ash. Glad McClelland is a U.S. company, as the prices of imported blends are starting to show the weak U.S. Dollar against the Euro.***

Nothing wrong with this blend, but it does not shake my tree particularly. It shows fine blending finesse to be sure, but I like Rattray's Highland Targe or Deacon's Downfall more as a Scottish-type Latakia blend. This could be considered an English blend tilted toward Turkish leaf.

The Oriental is the most obvious player layered on superb Virginia leaf and fair to middlin Latakia. The Orientals are not as succulent as McClelland's Grand Oriental blends (which are just too wonderful for words).

The closest comparison is that No. 14 is a milder version of Germain's King Charles, with No. 14 a bit better behaved, but a bit less flavorful, too. If I smoked indoors exclusively, No. 14 would be a nice companion.

Recommend this to your friends exploring beyond the world of aromatics. No. 14 is very accessible.

Pouch Aroma: Sweet and earthy, this reminds me of some of the sweeter English blends. I normally don't care for crossover blends which add Latakia to a sweet cavendish base, but they sure smell good in the pouch.

Appearance: It's mostly chopped dark brown and black tobacco with a few strings of lighter Virginias running through it. There are dense chunks that remind me of McClelland's #2035, and a nice helping of Latakia.

Packing and Lighting: Since this mixture reminds me of a tobacco available locally called "T's Special English" (supposedly a house mixture), I anticipated a similar burn and packed it in my Savinelli Autograph. It packs easily in the slightly conical bowl and should burn cool and smooth in this wonderful pipe.

It was just a little difficult to light, but once it gets lit it seems to burn quite well. The initial flavor is very subdued, and slightly earthy and musty - not at all what I was anticipating. It tastes a little peppery and blowing smoke out of my nose increases that little sensation quite nicely.

Exposition: As the burn settles in, so does the flavor; this is very mild compared to what I smelled in the pouch. It's a nice morning smoke so far, as the sweetness is only a background for the spicy Orientals and some rather nice Latakia. My only problem is that it falls into a taste category which is better filled for me by "T's Special English".

The Story: Approaching the middle of the bowl, I've been constantly fighting with tongue bite. I think this is due to the cut, as I prefer tobaccos either more finely cut like #965 or flakes and plugs. This feels like it wants to go out on me, and I think I overcompensate by puffing just a little too hard.

The flavor is deepening and losing sweetness - it's earthy and spicy now, and I think I can see where the flavor is headed. The bottom of the bowl should be quite tasty if this keeps up!

One thing I like about this tobacco is the smoke density. A couple of short puffs brings me enough smoke to blow big, thick grey rings which hang in the air quite nicely.

Denoument: OK, here at the bottom of the bowl I'm finding a lot of earthy Oriental flavor; the sweetness seems to have gone away completely. It's a nice cap-off, providing quite a bit if fullness if I blow the smoke out of my nose or french inhale lightly.

Pros: Smoky and spicy, this is a nice full-flavored tobacco that is light in nicotine content. The flavors alter in interesting ways as it is smoked down, and it gives generous quantities of thick smoke to play with. Also, despite my suspicions to the contary, it burns quite easily to the bottom with few relights.

Cons: I had trouble with bite, and the lack of complexity. It was decent enough to smoke but I doubt I'd go out of my way to get more. Well, unless someone else would smoke the first half of every bowl for me, that is.