McClelland No. 25

I'm reviewing a three years old tin. The McClelland note is more subdued than usual, it smells of sweet, musty hazelnuts.

If smoked without any drying, get ready to use a lot of matches and if smoking it fast to produce a lot of moisture. The best way is to dry it in your pipe for a day and savor it as indicated after dinner or late evening. Gravity fill works best as the cut forces the smoker to be careful with the packing, less and loose is better.

The balanced flavors are tangy, sweet and toasty, mellow yet with enough body. As the bowl progresses, the flavors meld with a smooth earthiness/mustiness. I recommend it for experienced pipe smokers and to be smoked as an after dinner treat or as a last smoke of the day.

Virginia lover

This one really activates the taste buds. Very sweet. Tangy. You immediately want to light up a 2nd bowl.

I don't usually smoke stuff cut this short in length. Just gravity drop it in. Don't pack. Try to get a few larger pieces in at the bottom so you don't clog the draft hole.

This stuff smokes better the drier it is. Let it get crunchy. Air it out overnight. Try to smoke it on a low humidity day.

Then enjoy an explosion of flavor.

The majority of the previous reviewers all hit on the fine points of this tobacco. This is not my favorite McC's Virginia, as I like a little more of the "high notes". I find the initial light to be interesting, however, bottom half becomes "ashy" and flavorless. But a solid 2 1/2 stars

Updated 10/31/14- I've had this cellared for about a year and it has improved. High and low notes are more distinguished and it now has a nice spicy background. The blend now reminds me of a lighter Blackwood's flake with about 25% Dark Star . Still on the mild side or I would rate this a 4 star.

McC #25 Virginia … A tasty, fully rubbed out Virginia blend with just a touch of oriental's. The moisture level is about ideal, but I aired my tin out some, maybe just from habit, but the result was a real decent smoke. There was some sweetness and a good measure of that wonderful Virginia tang.

Due to the fine cut, I found bowl packing can be a little tricky, but overall IMO #25 is a real keeper. I found this tobacco bite free, flavorful and well mannered, and for those reasons this tobacco (IMO) could be candidate for as all day smoke, but I save this blend (and others) for my evening recliner smokes, when I have time to get into my sip and taste mode. For those that enjoy a more straight aged Virginia taste, I sure would recommend you try this one.

Smoking now:

A sample bag graciously given to me. The bag aroma is fermented fruit, hay, and sugar. Tangy. Almost like the glass bottle of ketchup that’s been sitting out on the counter. Oh it’s delightful.

The taste is rich. Dark, sugary but cooked sugar that caramelized and lost its saccharine taste. Some grassy fermented hay, dark cooked fruit that’s lacking a lot of its citrus tang. As the bowl progresses I get more earthy, woody, vegetative matter. Dark bread flavors maybe? It’s all, dark if that makes sense? Very… matured. The retrohale is smooth but doesn’t pick up additional flavors. No aftertaste, bite or mouth tingle. A relaxing not too complicated dark Virginia.

A good Virginia. Now that it’s 2022 would I go out of my way and spend a car payment on a tin? No, however it’s worth checking out.

I had the chance to acquire a tin of 96 vintage #25. I really love #24 but had never tried #25.

Unlike the normal VA flakes, the consistency is ribbon almost shag. The coloring of my tin is muted blacks and browns. Tin note was not too exciting kind of earthy. Very like McVinegar smell like so many of our lost McC blends.

This one being such a thin cut requires care not too pack too tight. Moisture level was perfect and it took off with one light.

The taste is pure tobacco, it has the stewed fruit taste not the grassy/hay of bright VAs. I've never gotten any tongue bite from it, but the cut requires slower smoking than my usual flakes. I'd consider it very consistent through the bowl as I don't notice much change from beginning to end. Seems to smoke best to me in a smalll/medium bowl. Also, not interesting enough to really want a huge bowl at once.

Wife said it smelled like cigarettes in the room (coming from a RYO smoker) compared to other tobaccos she prefers the smell of.

I'm planning on enjoying my only tin of #25, since I don't know if I'll ever find anymore out there at a reasonable price.

Tin note is signature McClelland, tangy sweet smell of tobacco and ketchup. The flavor is unlike any VA I have tried from McClelland or any other blender. The Virginia's are mostly earthy with a subtle sweetness, like that of dark fruits. There is also a toasty quality to the smoke. The flavors all marry well and provide a toast and jam like quality and stay consistent throughout the smoke. The only other flavor I get in this is a dry, woody flavor that lingers in the background. I am not sure what leaf provides this and seem's to be an artifact or expression of red Virginia, but that is at best a guess.

I found that pipe selection was significant when embarking on your smoke with this one, more so than with most tobacco's. Briar's tend to mute some of the flavors in this blend and make it come across "lighter" than in other pipes. Meerschaum's, cob's and clay's are the best with my preference being in the cob.

Very short ribbons of black and mahogany coloured leaf. This is a flavour rich, but mild in nicotine, blend. Full of dried fruit aromas. Seems to have a fair proportion of stoved Va, and consistent with that, can be a little difficult to get a steady regular burn.

Lasts a long time in the bowl and bursts with Va flavour, making this a sort of dessert tobacco. Something in this coats my mouth: not a deal breaker by any stretch, but I wonder what might have been added to kick the blend along.

It's not quite in the same ball park as an entirely black Va like Rattray's Black Va, but it does hit a lot of the same notes. Not quite enough to displace RBVa in my rotation, but well worth a try.

Tin note is very enticing, red Virginia tanginess with the deep heady Mclellands vinegary odour. Consist of a fifty-fifty mix of red and black Virginias cut into thin and short ribbons with a few small pieces of broken flakes here and there. The tobacco needs a little drying otherwise it will smoke a moist. It needs a little effort to light and needs some relight if your’re not all the time at it and a drawback I could mention is that I find it does not always burn evenly and this translates to the draw.

Now, the smoke is not as exciting or complex as the tin note suggested to me, but it’s still very good. It has a nice wholesome tangy taste with some smokiness, a good medium strength and a nice balance between the savory and the sweet flavors. Room note is acceptable, smoky and tobaccoey.

Without being overenthusiastic about the flavors or complexity, I find it’s a tobacco I very often turn to. It’s satisfying without being overtly complex, but it has a nice tobacco flavor, burns cool for a Virginia, does not bite unless pushed hard and can be used repeatedly without being boring. For me it’s what I am looking for an everyday tobacco. 3.5 stars.

As I hinted at above, I have some problems with the burning behaviour and the resulting draw. A remarkable solution I have found to remedy this problem is to blend #25 in differing proportions, even half and half, with Samuel Gawith's also excellent Golden Glow Virginia. The result is one the best tobaccos I've smoked!