Rattray Brown Clunee

This is a honest Virginia Perique. The Kentucky is not really visible. It is quite mild and could be smoked all the day. The nicotine is between mild and medium. It is a plain and evenly smoking tobacco. Not many taste nuances, but still pleasant. I would reccommend it to a bigenner. It is not overwelming, but I would buy and smoke it gladly again.

With Brown Clunee, I finally found a Rattray's that I love.

BC is in between Old Gowrie and Hal O' The wynd both in terms of strenght and richness/taste.

The tin aroma makes it a lot closer to HOTW, it is also similar in taste, but not as harsh as I found HOTW to be.

The perique was quite present starting at half bowl, perking things up, marking a nice combinaison with the sweetness of the matured Vas ans spiciness of the DFK.

An excellent offering from Rattray's, I will regularly stick to that one.

If you are a fan of VA/Per with some Kentcuky, you must try this wonderful partially rubbed - out flake. It is simply delicious!

I tried BC as an alternative to Hal of the Wynd which is one of my favorites but sometimes has too much nicotine for me. BC is a little bit spicier and less sweet than Hal. BC is very good but lacks the same sweet balanced complexity of Hal. It is an excellent example of a brown flake.

3.5 stars.

I´m used to take it with me when going to the pitch. I load a large bent bowl and off we go. There is no hurry and so I sit there for nearly two hours puffing my pipe and enjoying myself. What else should I ask for? I still have it with me when I´m travelling although I only have one pipe reserved for this tobacco.I smoked it more often before I got to know Gawiths brown flakes. Easy to use, good taste, unprecious simply good but not my top notch at the moment. Might change again. Good quality tobacco, good starter for virginia lovers, to get to know the secrets of slow smoking, because it is a bit sweeter than the other big Rattrays.

April 2008 update:

I guess by my smoking habits and what's aging in the cellar, this fine flake has lost to Samuel Gawith's Best Brown Flake. The pace at which I need to smoke this so as not to be tongue-bitten does not deliver enough flavor for me. I have to add Perique to increase the flavor.

March 2005: There is not much to compare this to, except the heavier-bodied Best Brown Flake by Samuel Gawith (a "Hall of Fame" flake). Brown Clunee is overall darker and more naturally flavorful than the recently unsmokable Dunhill Light Flake and Orlick's Golden Sliced.

There is a tang in the tin aroma dissimilar to McClelland flakes. Which "tanginess" I like more will require several dozen more tins and years of intense experimentation. But, hey, somebody has to make the sacrifice.

BC is a lively, sweet smoke, but substantial, almost rich. It has more finesse than Briar Fox (which is good, but can get sooty at times and is cased).

Like most flake blends, I enjoy this in larger pipes, preferably pot shaped (wide mouthed, shallow bowls). BC burns cleanly to a medium gray ash. It leaves the pipe dry and clean.

Brown Clunee, Old Gowrie and Hal O' the Wynd are morning, afternoon and evening smokes respectively and with obvious generalization, though some might prefer the nicotine hit of HOTW earlier in the day. All can bite at the provocation of poor technique and failure to reduce the moisture to just above the crumble state. All three are delicious examples of its genre.

Why the darker stoved Marlin Flake pierces like a cornered porcupine, while these lighter offerings with more sugar can be managed to ecstasy, is a mystery.

Rattray's Virginias are very unique, to me anyway, very much unlike anything you will find from McClelland, Astley or the Lake District crowd. They are very fresh, vibrant and, if mishandled, harsh. Of the line this is the least in strength and character and fills in the notch of the everyday all day Virginia. I often fill a bowl with this if I am walking, hunting or working and cant pay proper attention to a more subtle blend. All in all a good blend if you're focusing on other things.

An honest, unpretentious VA. There is a slight woodiness, alongside the faint raisiny sweetness that appears now and then. The overall flavor is otherwise somewhat gentle and reliable (i.e., there are no great surprises throughout the bowl), and I find it tends to bite only if I puff too hard in order to try to extract more flavor from it - which is to say: the flavor is appealing and satisfying if not strong. But Brown Clunee is not the heartiness of Marlin Flakes or the unique richness of Old Gowrie. Instead, it deserves to be smoked slowly and lightly, which is pretty easy given its good burn qualities right out of the tin.

Good on its own, I also find this works well also for blending (such as mixing 50/50 with SG's potent Brown Rope #4).

As a low-strength, easy-smoking VA, this would be a good "beginner " VA, as other reviewers suggested, but I think alot of its virtues would be appreciated best by a more experienced VA fan.

Brown Clunee is a tobacco I have heard a lot about, but only recently tried. It definitely has a following. I have been smoking BC for a few days now, in different sized pipes. Bowl size doesn't seem to matter much with htis one.

The tin aroma is very nice, and like most Va's it reminds me of a freshly mown field. It puts me in a slower-paced state of mind, and helps me to relax. So from the opening, BC has something good going for it.

On the initial bowl, I thought, "Where's the flavor?", but I had been smoking Penzance and Abingdon for the last few days. Once I re-programmed myself, I was ready to start smoking BC for real.

The initial light-up brings forth a very light and airy, slightly sweet flavor. By mid-bowl, the flavor has gathered itself and becomes darker, sweeter, yet with a hint of bitter undertone. The flavor never becomes anything approaching bold, but it is definitely a solid Va taste. Nuances are VERY subtle, but they happened consistently and in different pipes. Otherwise I would have thought them not even there. Sweetness and a natural 'grassy' flavor combine to give a hint of spice, sometimes a fruity raisin-like flavor.

BC burned well, and left the pipe dry. Note that I did dry it some. Also, I found that it stayed lit better when rubbed out just a bit more than the way it comes.

One odd thing - when smoked with coffee, it seemed to me that the coffee overpowered the flavor and detracted from the experience. However, when smoked later in the day with Coke, the two seemed to complement each other nicely. (I warned you it was odd...)

Smoked outdoors, BC fades - I prefer it indoors. It has such a light room note that you can smoke inside without fear of the family assaulting you with cans of Lysol.

Tin note: dried fruit, hay, some kind of casing, smells like caramel

Taste: Sweet woods, nuts, dried fruit. Little bit spicy. Smokes well, no bite. Similar to Hal o Wynd, but I get more perique and less strength.