Robert McConnell Special London Fine Cut

The golden shag cut Virginia offers a lightly tangy, mild citrus, a few drops of honey, a slight wood and spice note, and a fair amount of hay and grass. The strength and nicotine levels are a shade past mild, while the taste threshold is a step past that, falling short of the center to mild to medium. Won’t bite, but needs to smoked at a slow to moderate rate at best as it burns a bit fast. The clean, cool one dimensional grassy sweet flavor is very consistent for top to bottom, and reminds me of a lightly more refined, less citrusy D&R Three Sails. Leaves virtually no moisture in the bowl, and requires few relights. An all day smoke with a short lived, very pleasant after taste and room note.

-JimInks

I have a brother who used to smoke roll your own cigarettes before switching to a pipe. I had a tn of this open and was smoking it when he came by the house one afternoon. I told him this pipe tobacco had a somewhat bitter-sweet taste and was not very strong. I thought it might make a good RYO. My brother whipped out his pocked knife and cut the strands up a bit and rolled one. He loved it and said it burned slow for a cigarette. I thought the blend burned fast for a pipe. The flavor was great and the fine cut made for a wonderful presentation... for both of us!

Sweet hay with just a touch of citrus tang and a hint of honey. Needs to be packed firmly and smoked slowly or you risk heat and harshness. Has a fair amount of body. For my uses it makes a better blender than a stand-alone smoke. 2 stars by itself. 3 as a blender. Gonna rate it as 2.

Body is medium to strong. Nic is medium. No added flavorings. Taste is mild to medium. Burns like tinder.

I the spring time I used to brush the matted winter coat of my wife's golden retriever. McConnell's fine cut appearance reminds me the balls of fur that would accumulate in the dog's brush. This stuff - the tobacco, not the fur - is not simply cut into shag tobacco, it is shaved super fine into something unique. It has a mild, straight Virginia taste and I couldn't detect any preservative or flavorings. It is one of those mixtures that you are glad you tried but you wouldn't be eager to stockpile a hoard of it.

A mix of light and medium colored Virginia's in a true shag cut. Damp when tin first opened. I'm thinking Glycol or one of the many other agents or chemicals that the industry will not confirm or deny that they use. The tin & packaging are nice but the poor print quality & off center label placement seen to be the standard, since so many of the old British labels were taken over by (German tobacco giant)Kohlhase Kopf. If your a fan of shag's than give this one a try...

This blend isn’t made for the pipe but for rolling. I still happen to enjoy rolling my own, every once in a while. Of course though, if you so choose, you can smoke this tobacco in a pipe. In fact, if you’re having trouble lighting your pipe, put a dab of this shag on top and light. Think kindling. The cut and moisture makes the rolling easy. The tobacco taste is pure flue cured Virginia. A true satisfying smoke with a good flue cured Virginia aftertaste and a wee over medium nicotine dose. If there is a fruit flavor added to this tobacco, I didn’t notice it. Quite enjoyable, and has a buttered popcorn sort of taste.

An excellent tobacco for rolling cigarettes . Not fit for the pipe . A pure Virginia with no topping but burns way too hot for pipe smoking .

Very fine shag cut that is more for RYO cigarettes than a pipe. It burn fast and if puffed fast is harsh and has no taste. The taste is of citrus and hay slightly sweet. It's a quality tobacco for cigarettes but it misses the mark, for me, as a pipe tobacco.

Virginia lover