McClelland No. 25

This tin had a bit of the McClelland ketchup aroma, but not overwhelming. The tobacco itself was a beautiful ribbon cut, perfect moisture, and easy to pack and light. I used a variety of briars and cobs, mostly the latter, but did not find a home for the tobacco.

Which is just as well. While not the worst tobacco I've smoked, I cannot say I enjoyed a single bowl of this harsh, flat blend. This is among the tiny number of tobaccos my wife has complained about the room note (counted on one hand with several fingers missing), and I was as glad as she when the tin was empty. I will not be buying this one again.

(1.75oz tin smoked over 19 days November/December.)

Got this blend yesterday along with a new pipe. The blend is dated 2012 so it has some decent age on it. Tin note is tangy and sweet. The flavor is like eating a sugar coated grapefruit. Very tangy and slightly sweet. Goes very good with some jack Daniels Tennessee honey. Burn cool depending on the pipe. And will possibly bite if not careful. Overall a very good and different blend.

At last I cracked open a mclelland tin that hit me with a pleasent tobacco smell without the vinegar smell so many complain about. Just a rich pleasing aroma. As far as that issue goes I grew up on an old tobacco farm in Virginia and I can vouch that Mclelland tobacco does really have that good flue cured smell I remember very well from late in the summer. I believe the steak saucy smell in some of the mc va's is a lot from the aging, stoving and maybe some fermentation. I still smell the natural tobacco just fine though. I agree they may possibly add a touch of vinegar to a couple of these blends to keep them from growing mold or further fermenting but airing them all out is highly reccomended and totally kills the vinegar smell, which is not a big issue anyway. This blend smelled nothing like the other Va offerings in this series.

Very rich tasting and on the low end of the twanginess scale. Very full also. Good for anytime you want a sweet, thick va smoke. Leaves a good dry white ash too. Definitley a powerful flavor building smoke. The last third of the bowl gets real full and earthy. Very nice!

I find to dry my mclelland va's out helps a lot. I put about a fourth of the tin on a plate rubbed out if in flake but this particular blend is ready rubbed. Spread it out on the plate for a couple hours to overnight till it gets dry and almost crispy. Then I put it in a small mason jar with a goood lid or a pouch. I find these tobaccos a bit too wet straight out of the tin. These are connisuer grade tobaccos and require a little, but totally reasonable effort to fully enjoy.

The tin moisture is appropriate for good keeping and aging however. Mclelland is a master at getting this right.

Trust me these will not get hot burning like crap tobacco if you let it dry. I was scared to waste it trying at first too, but the other guys were right, These Get very cool smoking and flavorful when about 90-95% dry. Of course pace yourself it is a va blend after all. Smoked too wet or fast it is a bitey steamy ride.

Matches the tin description pretty well I think. This Is wonderful.

Update: This is great for lovers of this sort of tobacco. I have moved on to balkans. I was needing something more satisfying in the nicotine dept. This is great for what it is though.

Bought it in absense of the Christmas Blend. Was nice if one doesn't need latakia. Had that very distinct McClelland's catchup aroma and taste. Would like to try a Virgnian with less of this taste so that I can make up my mind if it is the Virginian or this particular style of presenting the Virginian that makes the blend strange. I can not say that this is one of my favorites but does offer a change of pace when something out of the latakia line is required.

This has been reviewed excellently already, so I'll only add a few extra thoughts:

I love the roughly even mixture of red (some orange/red?) and black VAs. It gives a nice balance between the high and low "notes" that's just right, and makes for a better smoke than a red or dark, stoved VA by itself.

Having it fully rubbed makes for convenient packing, which is nice on occasions when I'm feeling lazy or pressed for time, but it doesn't have the flexibility of a flake.

I prefer this mixture dryer than most other blends I smoke. Not crunchy, mind you, but close. I seem to get a dryer and sweeter smoke that way, which stays lit easier, and less chance of tongue bite.

If treated with the respect it deserves (i.e., smoked slowly, like all virginias), I find this to be non-fatiguing, for a VA blend - meaning I can smoke several bowls in a row, and not have to worry about whether I'm going to be able to taste my food the next day.

While I won't claim this is my favorite VA blend, it's really quite good and I'd encourage anyone who likes VAs to try a tin.

I am sampling from a tin packaged in 2003. This tobacco is cut very finely, which makes it handle very differently from my favorite flakes, especially since I always smoke outdoors. The weather always contributes to my smoking experience; and I think this tobacco, cut finely as it is, might be best smoked indoors. I found it difficult to achieve the optimal flavor, but when I did, the flavor was spectacular: rich, complex, deep, earthy, sweet, a fine tobacco flavor. When I achieved the best flavor it was always in the last third of the bowl. At the top of the bowl the taste is almost always hollow, just not much to it. Based on these experiences, I used this tobacco to add fine virginia depth of flavor to tobaccos that lack it (e.g., PS Luxury Twist). I think this is a top-notch tobacco, but it just doesn?t suit my smoking habits because of the fine cut. I have the sense that for an indoor smoker who likes virginias this might be just the thing.

Noorm's review says just about all there is to say about this blend, so I will simply add a couple of remarks.

This is a tobacco to relax and be comfortable with, pleasing in an unassuming way. Not a nicotine powerhouse, nor a stunning taste sensation. Smoking it is a little like relaxing before a warm fire on a cold winter's night in the company of a faithful dog.

People who enjoy Rattray's Dark Fragrant may well enjoy this blend.

The very first bowl of this tobacco I smoked was pure nirvana. However, I never was able to duplicate its magnificence. With that first bowl, everything must have been right with body, spirit, soul and the world. Subsequent bowls, however, were NOT totally disappointing. The flavor is sweet, not necessarily complex or robust but it does intensify as you progress down the bowl. This is also one blend that definitely lends itself to an overnight DGT. But as others have touched upon, the nip will creep up on you if you ?turn your back on it? but if smoked slowly with nasal aroma and some thought, it will reward you.

A cigarette is to be smoked. A cigar is to be enjoyed. A pipe is to be savored.

I rate this tobacco 9.0 out of 10.

With its very fine shag-like cut, this was a surprise as usually McClelland favors the broken flake approach to its matured Virginias. In spite of this, 25 does not burn too fast: you only have to take care in not pressing it too much otherwise you will clog your pipe! The quality is evident, nice red and darker Virginias with a fruity smell like 27, but slightly less bright. My tin was 4 years old, so it might have helped. The smoke tastes sweet, slightly fruity (as in 27 and Blackwoods Flake, the two "benchmarks") but with less nuances and a bit more spicyness. It's a good tobacco, which for me lacks some body in the first half of the bowl and bites the tongue if you are not used to it. Not the most memorable in the McClelland line-up, but it can be very pleasant.