McClelland Venture Forth

(3.40)
This wonderful, ripe, delicately sweet Virginia ribbon is seasoned liberally with top-grade, smoky Latakia from Cyprus, mildy spicy Oriental leaf from Greece and Turkey, and pungent Perique from Louisiana...a world of flavor for the adventurous pipe smoker.

Details

Brand McClelland
Series United Pipe Clubs of America
Blended By McClelland Tobacco Company
Manufactured By McClelland Tobacco Company
Blend Type English
Contents Latakia, Oriental/Turkish, Perique, Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Ribbon
Packaging 50g Tin
Country United States
Production No longer in production

Profile

Strength
Mild
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
None Detected
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

3.40 / 4
2

3

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Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 10, 2015 Mild None Detected Medium Pleasant
Black to dark brown chunky ribbons with a tin note of latakia smoke and a sort of buttery essence underlying a spicy aroma. Quite enticing. It came moist and was better dry but not too crispy. I also had to rub it out just a bit to keep larger chunks of tobacco from blocking the pipe's draft bore.

I think British Woods or Three Oaks is about as close as McClellands comes to a huge latakia bomb in the GLP domain, so when I read "rich with latakia and perique" on the tin I was a bit taken aback. Then I read on the tin's reverse "Virginia ribbon seasoned liberally with latakia, orientals and perique" and I thought "Ok, that's more along the lines of what I expected". And that's what it is... a Virginia-forward blend seasoned condimentally (if not exactly liberally) with the other leaves. I'm wondering if McClellands Virginias are just too uniformly excellent to ever be superseded by anything else in a McC blend. The latakia was very noticeable, of course, but it didn't obliterate the VA's. The perique was most noticeable in the snork and lent a nice very light spice while the orientals were more in the nose than in the taste. But I did get the impression this blend would have been less complete without them. Overall the presentation was sweet and savory with a mellow spice down beneath the forefront. This struck me as a latakia mixture for straight Virginia enthusiasts. McClellands produces the finest Virginia blends anywhere, for my money. And this lat blend is undeniably McClellands, as in "Virginia with... some other things". It's on the rich side of taste but not heavy. This blend could even be smoked by aromatic lovers, as it's totally bite-free and smooth but with more character than any aromatic. Yet, it's complex enough to satisfy a long-term pipe fan. This blend is nothing short of excellent, and while it won't work for folks that like mostly lat in their mixtures, it's a stupendously flavorful mild-medium English in the McClellands realm. I get excited by so few McClellands latakia blends; meet one of the few.
5 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 25, 2016 Mild None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
I happened upon this on my last visit to the local B&M I frequent and decided to give it a go. Boy, am I glad I did. The components of this blend come together nicely. The Virginias used are of the usual McC quality, along with the other components used. I would say it is similar to some of the Frog Morton series, but amped up somewhat on the taste department. Right out of the tin, it is on the moist side. But a little drying time cures that real quick. This smokes down to a nice fine ash at the bottom of the pipe. The nicotine is the only thing that some may find a bit short of the mark on. I would put it on the low side of the middle of the road. But that is a minor fault and I may well be quibbling over nothing. Overall this is a highly recommended blend well worth the price of admission.
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 01, 2019 Mild to Medium None Detected Mild to Medium Unnoticeable
The last club meeting we had a fellow member that brought this in and I decided to venture forth and try it. Bad pun. Strange name, maybe McClelland venturing forth into the English blend side of the house. Probably not, but your guess is as good as mine. I had two bowls of this and as stated previously this is just me keeping track of McClelland blends that I am lucky enough to try since their demise back in February. Not really enough for a proper review in my opinion but you work with what you have. This is a rough-cut blend with big black flakes and smaller brown flakes. This is a nice mild to medium tasting English blend but definitely no Lat bomb. Virginia blend with some Latikia added? There are so many blends out there and honestly if I smoked this blind folded, I could make out the Latakia in it but that is as far as my taste buds can discern. I could not say, yep this is Venture Forth and so on. Good but I would not pay more than retail price for this one. The tin is stamped with number 2, space and then the year 2015.
Pipe Used: Briar
Age When Smoked: 3 years
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 02, 2016 Mild Mild Mild Pleasant
This blend should be renamed "Tadpole Morton" to reflect what it is. I like the Frog Morton blends, so this is no insult, however I have great difficulty describing this as anything other than a lighter-bodied Frog Morton blend.

I assume this is the type of thing that happens when you try to create an infinite number of blends from a finite variety of "prima materia" -- eventually things will begin to taste alike.

That having been said, it's a great English blend, and doesn't have whatever "sweetners" McClelland's Frog Morton and Dark English Full #5110 have (I insist that many of McClelland's blends are in fact "aromatic non-aromatics" somehow).

The cut is a slightly large and loose, so you'll need to pack a larger bowl or rub this out slightly to accommodate medium or smaller bowls.
Pipe Used: all shapes and sizes
PurchasedFrom: pipesandcigars.com
Age When Smoked: fresh
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 15, 2023 Mild to Medium Mild Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Tin note of sweet smoky, slightly sour and chocolate. Tobacco is mostly black, with a little dark brown and tan rough cut with a little Ribbon. Moisture content is good, some may want to dry it a bit. Burns moderate with few relights. The strength is mild to medium and nic is mild. No flavoring listed, but I detected chocolate or sweet cocoa. The flavoring gradually lessened to nothing during the first 1/3. Taste is medium and somewhat consistent, with notes of spices, floral, smoky, toast, wood, creamy, musty sour vegetation, savory, tangy citrus, earthy, leather, spicy, herbal incense, peaty dry hay, lemon grass, orange peel/zest, a tart dark fruit background note, and a moderately peppery retro. Latakia is leading with Oriental/Turkish and Virginia supporting. Perique supported from afar and Flavoring died 1/3 the way in. Room note is pleasant to tolerable, and aftertaste is great.
Pipe Used: 1991 Ashton Old Chruch XX Prince
Age When Smoked: 7 years
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