McClelland No. 22

I completely agree with the positive reviews on this tobacco. It's a great tobacco but requires experienced pipe smokers. It demands concentration and attention to achieve its fullest potential. Oddly enough it can bite initially but settles down to the point where you can puff it rather vigorously. Mildly sweet, toasty, citrusy, spicy, medium body virgina. Progresses down the bowl and leaves a clean finish. High quality leaf. I have had amazing smokes and frustrating ones. Bowl size matters. Experience matters.

I got a sample of this in the mail and found fairly dense broken flakes. I rubbed them out and smoked it in the Kirsten I am smoking Wessex Gold Brick in these days.

This is a mellow, full red Virginia flavor. It is a little "heavy" tasting, with just a little tart and sweet. I don't detect any topping at all, and there is no subtle latakia or izmir lurking in the background. I liked this as a straight Virginia smoke, and it is in the same class of tobacco as Wessex Gold Brick and McClelland 5100.

I am new to pipe smoking, and certainly new to reviewing tobacco. My experience to this point is mainly with aromatics, so this is my first real non aromatic tobacco. And I like it!! The tin note is definitely along the lines of roasted tomatoes, vinegar, and ketchup. Not my favorite smells to get out of the tin. However, the smoke seems fairly complex - I do get some roasted tomatoes to taste, but also leather and hay. It burned very well and offered an extremely long and cool smoke. No tongue bite for me. A very nice tobacco that gets 3.5 stars from me. I will absolutely keep some of this on hand.

Vinegar, anyone? This being the first McClelland Virginia I ever tried, I was somewhat surprised at the odor that greeted me when I popped the top of the can. As another reviewer has mentioned, it's an odor that one either loves or hates. Some say it smells like ketchup; have any of you eaten any recently? Exactly what have you been smoking?? Ketchup isn't even close! Oh well, each person's tastes are different; that's what makes life interesting :-). Personally, I like the smell, and it doesn't come through in the tobacco's flavor at all. This blend comes in medium to large flakes, dark brown with veins of lighter, yellowish-brown running through them. They are a little moist, but rub out easily and pack well. Once rubbed out, they light easily, though this blend seems to require more relights then average once into the bowl. I usually smoke this blend in a very large-bowled Savinelli estate billiard, with a tobacco chamber diameter of about 1.5 inches. If I need to stop partway through the bowl due to tongue bite, I can rest and pick up the pipe again with no loss of flavor. The first third of the bowl is sweet, especially if smoked slowly. Actually, slowly is the only way you CAN smoke this tobacco, unless you *enjoy* crisped tongue and mouth. To avoid the bite, I find I need to puff carefully, barely getting anything from the stem at all. This certainly contributes to multiple relights, but it also is where this blend shines. The light puffs deliver a sweet, flavorful smoke that makes the effort worthwhile. As the bowl moves into its second 1/3, the flavor becomes more rich and complex, though the sweetness stays present. Toward the last third, the sweetness and richness merge somewhat, forming a complex and satisfying flavor that has an even greater tendency to bite. Care is needed! Also toward the end, some moisture is present, and it may be necessary to run a pipe cleaner down the stem of the pipe. Unlike Latakia mixes, going back to a bowl later on does not adversely effect the tobacco's taste. This is fortunate, because frequently it will take three sessions to smoke a large bowl of this blend. Overall, this is a pleasant smoke that requires time for careful concentration for full enjoyment. While not my favorite McClelland Virginia, it is nice as a change of pace, when I'm in a sweet Virginia mood. In addition, I believe that leaving the tin open for a couple weeks may help to solve the moisture problem; more results to come.

McClelland no 22 Matured Virginias- loving this tin of 20 yr old Virginia tobaccos . Sweet and tangy dark fruits . I am getting some citrus but no grassiness to speak of . Not really any spice either . A little vinegary ketchup but i enjoy it . If you can get an old tin you won’t regret it . What a treat ! 4

Another fine Virginia flake from the, probably, greatest Virginia flake maker out there. McClelland knows Virginia. Period. To give this less than 4 stars, IMHO, means you probably are either inexperienced or simply an aromatic smoker, or just a guy who hates straight virginia. Its impossible not to rate this four stars, frankly. Its of the highest quality and perfectly presented. Now....one might like blackwoods better (i do) or Dark Star or even #27... but along with Gawith's FVF the McClelland virginias are the best you can do. Some reviewers give, for example, Macbaren blends four stars. Thats fine. Thats what you like. But honestly, for the experienced smoker of pipes, the art of pipe smoking as it were, this is of the highest quality. Now its a less stoved flake than some from McC, and its made of different virginias (i suspect very little red in here, but i could be wrong). And its not a nic bomb ....though its certainly a notch over mild. The taste is a bit subtle and perhaps that is the problem for some. But if you give it some attention, dry it out a bit, rub it out then before packing your pipe....you are getting the luxury end of virginia flakes.

When I opened the tin, there was a very strong aroma of ketchup, though it did not carry through to the smoke. The broken flakes were very nice, and the tobacco rubbed out perfectly each time. The moisture level was spot on, but this tin had apparently been sitting for some time, despite my having just bought it. Mature VA #22 lit and burned well, and behaved throughout the bowl. I tried it in a number of different pipes, including several briars and cobs, and it seemed to be most at home in the pot shape.

I was, however, not impressed with the taste. It was a touch ashy, and that is all the flavor it really had. If there was anything else going on, it was hidden beneath that. The only time I ever got a little more out of it was in a pot, particularly my Randy Wiley. The sort of thing to smoke if one wants a lit pipe but no distractions like taste or complexity.

(1.75oz tin smoked over ten days in November.)

I thought this would be a tour de force of all that McClelland does well, and what I got was a soaking wet (and impossible to dry out), bitey and hard to smoke Nic explosion that left me with dry mouth, and a palate that tasted like hay.

I don't know what went wrong. It was sopping wet when I got it, I took a load out and dried it for an eternity (as in, lid off in my office for nearly 4 days mixing it around occasionally), and still it was hard to light and keep lit.

The smoke was paltry, very sour and hard to draw out, and unsatisfying, and the flavor was just middle of the road VA, with a stack of Vit N and dry-mouth and bite for the pleasure of trying so hard to smoke it.

Not good.

My tin is vintage 1997, and I don't think I can add much to what others have said except to say: another winner from McClelland's Matured Virginia series!

They have a lot in common anyway, but the main similarity is just in the overall quality of these American Virginias, and McClelland's excellent selection and treatment of them.

11-6-2022 I must have bought a duo of 1997 tins of this off Ebay back then, because I had another that I cracked about six weeks ago and smoked through...it's sad to think how many McClelland tins I had with age on them back then in 2012, and how few I have left, and what people are paying for them now, but at any rate, what I have left, I will smoke...