Rattray Brown Clunee

This has been a very pleasant smoke, but not especially remarkable. The Kentucky makes itself known with some earthiness early. I got a little plum perique in the last half of the bowl. Mostly this is a good mildly sweet stoved Virginia with some condimental tobacco to keep it from being too boring. The taste is more on the dark, heavy end of the Virginia spectrum. As an odd observation, I noted just a whiff of soap on first light, and it disappeared.

It was an easy smoke and was a cool burning blend for me. I doubt many people whould think of this as a contender for an "all-day" blend, but I could see it working in that mode.

This is a solid 3 stars and if this was all I had I would smoke a lot of it and not feel sorry for myself. Given the price, I am unlikely to buy more.

Truly a companion to Old Gowrie. Clunee is the "sweet brother" of Gowrie that is less spicy.

The tin aroma is great, somewhat fruity-sweet, little spicy and fermented. Dark, broken flakes are waiting in the 100g tin to be admired and stuffed - but in forehand they need some drying time, just as Gowrie does!

Having Brown Clunee in the pipe is wonderful! A cotton-candy like sweetness is always present, though never too much. A gentle fruitiness is giving this bled a foundation for the sweetness to shine and only mild spice is giving this blend its backbone. Whilst Gowrie has some nice, zesty spice to it, Gowrie is rather sweetish with little spice. The Kentucky sports some minor boldness as well as some tart nutty tones that harmonize excellently with the fruity-sweetness.

Just as Gowrie and Hal o the wynd, this has around 6mg of added flavouring on 1000mg of tobacco, as the additive list reveals. Just some minor addition, but all of them have around 40-50mg of sugar added to enhance the sweetness.

What can I say more? I love it! Gowrie and Clunee are one of my Go-To Va/Per/Ky blends, whilst Gowrie is more Perique-forward and Clunee rather Vrginia-forward with more Ketucky to it. Also Clunee shares a few similarites with the famous Motzek Stang, which is plus for me too! 3,5-stars, as I find Old Gowrie to be a bit ahead of this blend!

Appearance: Fairly uniform dark brown broken flake. Very little variation in color. Slightly too moist right from the can.

Aroma: Great aroma of stoved Virginia, hints of chocolate and raisins.

Packing: Can be packed as is into medium or large bowls, or rubbed out for smaller pipes. Lighting:

Initial flavor: Starts very mild, slowly increases in flavor to a medium level of intensity. Good sweetness from the Va. leaf, and some depth added by the stoving process.

Mid-bowl: Straightforward simple Virginia flavor. Lighter than its cousins Hal O' the Wynde and Marlin Flake, with nice layering of tastes. Not as complex as other members of the family, but this one could be the "all-day smoke". Can be enjoyed with morning coffee, and continued through the day. Maybe too light for the evening, when I enjoy a more full bodied blend. Burns cool and dry at any reasonable smoking pace.

Finish: Well behaved right down to the end. Leaves a clean gray ash.

Summary: An excellent mild to medium Virginia, strongly recommended for the novice or the veteran.

This, for me, seems to be right in between Old Gowree and Hal O' The Wynd as far as strength goes. The components come together nicely to form a good solid smoking experience. I had no issue with tongue bite at any time throughout the bowl. This blend might need to be dried out somewhat before smoking, but for me, it was quite fine right out of the tin. YMMV on this point. This lights easily and stays lit with no further thought necessary. It burns down to a nice ash and has just enough nicotine to satisfy. Recommended.

Recommended if you're into the Kentucky Periquie Virginia combo and you don't want too much flavour. For me, a nice go to blend when you've head 'nuff Northwoods or Countryside. Not crazy about the tin note and the room note is vague but pleasant.

For some reason, this one gets better and better the deeper into the bowl it gets. A little moist upon opening (which blend is perfectly ready for deployment upon opening?).

It'll be in the regular rotation and the dryer it gets the more I find myself reaching for it. Not quite Cellar or Bayou and thats ok because I don't think its meant to be. Took some coaxing to get lit and required a couple of extra burns and thats ok with me. Again, less fuss after drying out some.

I did catch a wisp of that citrus flavour the first few bowls but I agree with reviews below, the flavour is certainly flatter than most.

I still like a lot though. The War Department says she has other favourites.

Nice sweet fresh hay note from the jar. Even cut and good humidity. As others have noted, this one is on the mild side. I enjoy it well after supper. It burns well and inhales smoothly. Perique is way off in the background but it is there. Not as much vitamin "N" as I like but a fine smoke nonetheless.

Smoke it slow and whispy and you will be rewarded with a semi-sweet, spicy and toasty smoke.

Puff too hard and it will get bitter and nip your tongue.

Setting : Pre-dawn hour with strong black coffee while reading tobacco reviews.

I won’t say Rattray’s pipe tobacco is hard to get but not many are carried where I frequent and saw quite a few blends carried online so I bought some that I have never tried this being one of them. Upon opening the tin, I was greeted with a nice sweet ‘stewed plum’ smell for want of comparison. This is a medium dark broken flake they say and loaded quite well in my Bones Poker. I thought at one point I detected some wisps of floral but really hard to say. The next day I switched over to a Mark Twain Cob with filter and this smokes smooth and mellow, not much Perique detected. This went well with my Clausthaler Dry Hop NA and could definitely be an all-day smoke. Not really more I can add except a good solid blend.

You're greeted with a ready-rubbed/broken flake mixture, mainly dark brown interspersed with light brown, even yellowish specks. I don't know the production date of my tin but the flakes had a light sugary sparkle to it which left my mouth watering. The tin note is a perplexing one. It smells quite strongly of stewed prunes or plums cooked in rum. There's a hint of liquorice present. Spicy, peppery undertone, quite sweet otherwise. The longer you smell it, the more you are able to smell the grassy Virginias present in the bouquet. It reminds me a bit of Dunhill's Royal Yacht both in presentation and in smell.

The tobacco was perfectly smokable right out of the tin. Took to the light immediately and required two relights. I noticed that it tended to smoke very hot if puffed absentmindedly. I just set it down for a few minutes and continued smoking.

It's quite pleasant to smoke, lots of dense creamy white smoke. Not too mild and not too strong in taste. I neither noticed nicotine nor a tingle from the Perique. If someone told me that this blend was a straight VA I'd definitely believe them.

Recommended if you fancy a non-offensive (in the best way!) daily smoke.