McClelland Christmas Cheer 2015
(3.64)
Handblended, premium pressed Virginia flake pipe tobaccos. A fine vintage, naturally sweet, in limited quantity.
Notes: From tin insert: We are proud to offer our 2015 Christmas Cheer pipe tobacco, an exceptionally fine vintage tobacco, hand blended and aged in pressed cakes to develop natural mellowness. This 2015 blend is made with a special selection of rich, ripe, flue-cured Virginia from an outstanding 2011 Old-Belt crop. Superb leaf picked at peak ripeness, it is naturally sweet, rich in oils. It should age with distinction. Each buying season, we look for tobaccos of exceptionally quality and distinctive character. In various combinations, their flavors, aromas, textures contribute to the overall excellence of all our products.
The leaves of different crops and regions are combined to maintain consistency from year to year.
With Christmas Cheer pipe tobacco, we treat our discriminating customers to the singular pleasure of a tasting of the very finest in tobaccos of a particular vintage, not worrying about maintaining the flavor and appearance of this product into future years but actually striving instead to present the unique character of a single crop and area.
That's what Christmas Cheer pipe tobacco is all about. Happy sampling!
Details
| Brand | McClelland |
| Blended By | McClelland Tobacco Company |
| Manufactured By | McClelland Tobacco Company |
| Blend Type | Straight Virginia |
| Contents | Virginia |
| Flavoring | |
| Cut | Broken Flake |
| Packaging | 100 grams tin |
| Country | United States |
| Production | No longer in production |
Profile
Strength
Mild to Medium
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
None Detected
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Tolerable
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Medium
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming
Average Rating
|
3.64 / 4
|
Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 Reviews
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Jan 29, 2016 | Mild to Medium | None Detected | Medium | Pleasant to Tolerable |
I hate to be the skeptic in a room full of True Believers, but I'm fairly sure that nobody short of the McNeils could pick one vintage from the other in a blind taste test. And maybe not them. I set out several bowls each of 2014 and 2015, had a partner number them randomly, packed each over a few days and smoked blindly away. I can report that, other than the initial tin note being less fermented on the 2015, I can't really tell one from the next in the bowl. I do worse than a coin toss. Even worse than that, I was smoking 2014 for its review, from the tin, during the same time. They're visually difficult to distinguish too, which really helps keep the experiment difficult.
Wine experts can't tell the difference between red and white when the white has been dyed red. Sure, you should be able to differentiate between a Bordeaux and a Beaujolais Nouveau, but without the indicators on the bottle people just can't. There's a strong placebo effect at play too ... they've done MRI scans on wine experts drinking $5 wine in a $300 wine bottle, and it lights the same pleasure centers up as drinking $300 wine from a $300 bottle, and the experts can't tell the difference anyway.
I'm sure the same problem applies, with even more difficulty, trying to figure out the difference between a 2009 Middle Belt crop of red VA and a 2011 Old Belt crop.
In the end, Christmas Cheer 2015 is a collectable. So were pogs. It's a good red VA, but I'm over the hype, the comparisons of one year to the next, and the speculation about how well it's going to age. Smoke 'em if you got 'em, but spare me the marketing 🙂
Wine experts can't tell the difference between red and white when the white has been dyed red. Sure, you should be able to differentiate between a Bordeaux and a Beaujolais Nouveau, but without the indicators on the bottle people just can't. There's a strong placebo effect at play too ... they've done MRI scans on wine experts drinking $5 wine in a $300 wine bottle, and it lights the same pleasure centers up as drinking $300 wine from a $300 bottle, and the experts can't tell the difference anyway.
I'm sure the same problem applies, with even more difficulty, trying to figure out the difference between a 2009 Middle Belt crop of red VA and a 2011 Old Belt crop.
In the end, Christmas Cheer 2015 is a collectable. So were pogs. It's a good red VA, but I'm over the hype, the comparisons of one year to the next, and the speculation about how well it's going to age. Smoke 'em if you got 'em, but spare me the marketing 🙂
Pipe Used:
basket pipe
Age When Smoked:
2015 can
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