So I started smoking a pipe a little less than a year after McClellan closed its doors. My first year was listening to lamenting that great blending house. Lots of talk of how this blend compares with Frog Morton or how these varietals don't have ketchup on them or whatever it was that that had. I'll admit I never understood it until all of a sudden Carter Hall got real hard to find so I panic bought 4 tubs of it. 

So my question logically is this. How much of your missing McClellan is nostalgia vs objectively (or even subjective) great blends?

Rookieguy please forgive my confusion but please clarify your question. 

I can honestly state it is not just nostalgia. I cellared a fair amount of McClelland to revisit over the years. It is truly a completely different type of tobacco. Of course, I have moved on to new regular tobaccos, but the flavor is much more than nostalgia. There is not anything like it currently on the market. It is sad, but all good things must come to an end.

I too cellared quite a few cans of McClellan tobacco.  Now I see some of them go for $300 or more a can.  Dark Star, and perhaps my favorite of all Black Shag.  Even though I am primarily a non-aromatic smoker, I can't help but feel disgusted that we can't find their wonderful aromatics.  Mellow Mack, Captain cool, and of course the greatest aromatic of all Best of show.  Now I feel guilty if I pop open one of the tins I have left.  Each time it's like attending a funeral.  I also had regrets when Drew estate stopped making pipe tobaccos. Their gadsby flake was one of the finest Virginia blends I ever had.  

    But important lessons were learned. Now when I find a blend then I believe maybe one of my all-time favorites, I purchase enough that it would last me the rest of my life if smoked at a reasonable rate. ( A pound or more cellared) So far my lifetime blends are..

Nightcap

Gaslight

Fusiliers ration

Stokabys luxury bullseye flake

Old dark fired

Irish flake

Charing cross

the best red va's on the planet...

not nostalgia.

red flake/red ribbon, 5100, blackwoods....the list could go on forever

wish they would pass on their secrets to a trusted producer

Blends come and blends go. That's how it's always been.

Yes, McClelland made some great stuff. And some I wasn't so fond of. But there are some really good pipe blends out there today, and we shouldn't spoil them by comparing with McClelland.

McClelland is gone. I have few tins that I'm saving for the millennium. Otherwise, they are ancient history. Although, I was very fortunate to recently snag a pound of Virginia Red Cake at its price/ounce of 20 years ago. That, too, I'm saving for the millennium.

I mourn the cessation of production of UK Rattray's. Now the Germans are making it. And no matter how close, it ain't gonna be the same.

I mourn the loss of Elephant & Castle some 50 years ago. Now that was exquisite stuff. Sold out to the Germans, who promptly ruined the brand.

I love "And So to Bed", but when will I ever see a tin of that available? Twenty years ago, I could get it for a song. Today, an entire opera won't buy me an ounce because none is to be had.

But right now there are some super house blends that bring me joy. Sutliff has kept alive some great old "codger" blends. And there are great things coming from Russ Ouellette and other blenders. And let's not forget Cornell & Diehl: some very good stuff there.

I absolutely loved McClelland's Navy Rum Cake. But if I want rum, there's Wilke Rum Cake -- very good stuff.

Now I think I'll fire up a bowl of Sutliff Match Holiday. It ain't McClelland, but it's been around a whole heck of a lot longer -- and that says something.

I'm down to my last bits of a Christmas Cheer 2006 tin and 2015 that I cellared in 2005 and popped open a couple of years ago. Working to make the end of my McClellends supply last. 😎 

The good stuff is still out there.  Old pipers pass away and their cellars move back into our circle of friends.

Check PipeStud.com and you'll find amazing deals on the McClelland's tins any Saturday morning. 

Yes, McClelland Virginias were absolutely the best of the best. But when all is said and done its still just tobacco. There is no way any tin of tobacco is worth hundreds of dollars! That's insane. Save your money and enjoy the tobacco that's still available. Since McClelland's demise, I've been smoking C&D's Opening Nights for a full spectrum Virginia and Low Country's Edisto for a straight Red Virginia Flake... And enjoying them thoroughly!

Having been a pipe smoker for over two decades since my university days, I find myself traversing the realm of alternative blends to McClelland's with a certain air of melancholy. The realization that the flavor I seek may not be readily available adds a tinge of wistfulness to the search for a new favorite, reminiscent of the bygone era when McClelland's blends held a central role. It serves as a poignant reminder of the transient nature of certain pleasures, leaving behind a lingering sadness in the pursuit of tobacco that can truly capture the essence of what once was.

The acknowledgment that no comparable blenders, besides Germain's, currently exist intensifies the sense of loss. The limited availability of alternatives that mirror the distinctive characteristics of McClelland's blends adds another layer of sorrow to the search. The fact that we almost lost Dunhill as well further accentuates the fragility of cherished blends in the ever-changing landscape of the tobacco industry. To be honest, C&D doesn't quite measure up.

The age-old reply that there are plenty of good tobacco alternatives out there is, to be frank, a statement from Dreamland parroted by dreamers or smokers who haven't been around the block. It fails to acknowledge the nuanced and challenging nature of finding a suitable replacement, contrasting the idealized notion of abundant alternatives with the reality experienced by seasoned pipe smokers exploring the diverse offerings available. My candid assessment reflects the frustration of someone deeply immersed in the world of pipe tobacco, navigating the complexities of taste, nostalgia, and the evolving market with a palpable mix of reflection and yearning.

I've been hunting contemporary blends that are good enough to make me stop haunting the dwindling suppliers of vintage tins.

On my current very short list - Watch City Nor'Easter, and H&H Anniversary Kake.  I like Steamworks too (the August 2023 small batch).  No doubt there are others, and there are plenty of good-enough English blends (even brick-n'mortar blends, like Barclay Rex "Vincent" and Bennington's No. 15 and of course Peretti Royal -- all very fine in their way).  Not to forget Pease's many excellent blends.  I've never tried any of the Seattle Club blends or Magnum Opus or many others.

To me, the key is finding blends I like, and giving up on a McClelland "match" which sensibly very few (or maybe only one -- there was a match by a now-gone company for one of the Frog Morton blends) have ever even pretended to attempt.

I never had the chance to try any of their blends, but from the other thread about McClelland and the video posted there, I can understand why they stopped, they preferred to not release a product they considered sub-par.

Many seem to be blaming changing government regulations on tobacco production for their closing. I can see that as having a major impact.

Take on example here in Switzerland, it is the wineries and grape growers. For decades the production of wine was regulated by the federal government, which meant you had some good wines, but a lot of it was plonk (and I am sorry if you ever purchased a bottle of Swiss Chasselas wine in the past and found it horrible, we Swiss have a tendency to keep the good stuff for ourselves and export the sub-par, it is a pity and something my brother and I are working on to change at least for the wine). 10 years ago the Swiss government relaxed the rules on the wineries and they are now allowed to plant and grow the grapes they want, where they want. This has greatly improved the quality of the final product. So, yes, in this case less governmental control of agriculture is better.

Another place where I see once excellent products being destroyed is in most food products, but especially things like whisky, cognac, beer and the like. I can remember when a Johnnie Walker Red was still an "ok" whisky with complex notes of peat in the background, today it tastes mostly of vodka and the food colouring they now add. In fact, all of the main-stream whiskies have sacrificed quality for availability and "brand growth" (one exception being small independent distilleries such as Edradour, but they are struggling). Then there are Belge beers like Chimay, it's nothing like it used to be (10 to 15 years ago they purchased a mash filter to speed up production, which created a significant drop in quality).

Who is to blame? Well, in this case it normally comes down to the large conglomerates wanting to control a sector of a market (Diageo and the like), who seek ever greater profits so as to pay their shareholders. To achieve these goals they hire MBAs to "leverage brand equity", which just means they cheapen the production costs of a product to a point where it is a shell of what it used to be, leaving the users of the product disappointed. And then they throw marketing money at it to gain new customers, using some ad that harks back to how whisky used to be made but has nothing to do with the actual production process.

You can rinse and repeat that scenario across just about any product sector.

Still, it creates opportunities for small businesses to fill niche markets. Look what the craft-breweries did in the US.

Sorry about the rant. If you haven't guessed, I work in marketing and in the alcohol business, and I hate what has happened to the industry.

Outstanding post. 

It's a complex issue and seems to fall broadly in a trend away from quality. Speaking from my vantage point, Americans no longer have any interest in quality or sustainable value. They want cheap big, shiny, and lots of it. Look at newly built homes and it's quite obvious. It also entirely dictates how big companies are run. It's all about today's stock price and quarterly earnings. No investment in the future. Leads to a lot of cutting off noses to spite faces. 

I'm not sure if the avg. consumer is the chicken or the egg.