McClelland - Known for VA But Were They Good at English?

[GCW]

Being relatively (5 years) new to pipe smoking I'd like to know people's thoughts on this. If there is a thread that covers it please point me in the right direction so the mods can delete this one in the name of redundancy.

From all I've read and the dozen or so blends I've been able to smoke prior to McClelland closing their doors my impression is that they did Virginia flakes / blends quite well and uniquely so. But if one was looking for a stellar English they might be better off looking elsewhere?

Thanks in advance for an education on this, gents.

 

[Servant King]

Good question. I'd like to know too. I've been smoking a pipe even less time than you (2+ years), so I never got to enjoy a single McClelland blend. But I know how popular they are, and I see them all the time in the sale section here.

Looking forward to hearing some thoughts on this from the others!

 

[sablebrush52]

The various Frogs were a huge hit and are sorely missed. Personally, I didn't like them, but I'm in a very very small minority.

 

[americaman]

Others that have been smoking longer will be better suited to answer this, but I have pounds of McClelland AM Pipe and close to a pound of McClelland 925, both English blends, and they are absolutely fantastic. You can really taste their sweet Virginias in the background. They go great with coffee too.

I found a B&M that had loads of AM Pipe in the Summer of 2019. I bought a bag of it, and then proceeded to buy out the entire store.

 

[username]

Wilderness was a fantastic blend.
Their Syrian super Balkan was another one i enjoyed.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Beacon and Beacon Extra have Latakia and are quite good. As mentioned, heckuva following for the Frogs.

 

[sablebrush52]

Come to think of it, I really liked Jubilee and have 5 tins of it.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Oops, I meant Bombay Court and Bombay Extra. Bombay Extra probably considered more of a true English Blend. I've smoked that at over 20 years of age, it was fantastic.

 

[tfdickson]

Wilderness, 3 Oaks Syrian, and Nocturne where my favorites in the English category. The green label blends never did much for me.

To answer your question directly, for really stellar English blends I would look elsewhere. GLP Samara, H&H White Knight, and Dunhill/Peterson Nightcap are long time favorites of mine and are cheap and readily available.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Wilderness, 3 Oaks Syrian, and Nocturne where my favorites in the English category. The green label blends never did much for me.

To answer your question directly, for really stellar English blends I would look elsewhere. GLP Samara, H&H White Knight, and Dunhill/Peterson Nightcap are long time favorites of mine and are cheap and readily available.

Forgot about those. Never had Wildnerness, I have one old tin in the cellar somewhere. 3 Oaks was absolutely superb, I still have 3 or 4 tins.

 

[americaman]

Oh yeah, I also have close to 20 large tins of Frog Morton, large tins of Bombay Court, Bombay Extra, more than a pound of Dark English Full, Jubilee, Frog Morton Cellar, some blend they made for a pipe show, and tins of 3 Oaks and Syrian Full Balkan as well. I think I’m missing one or two.

Dark English Full is good. Frog Morton grows on you. Frog Morton Cellar is unique. Frog Morton on the Bayou is my jam, though. I can’t remember how much I liked Jubilee so I should revisit it. I can’t get into Bombay Court. I didn’t like Coyote.

I guess my point is, they made some fantastic English blends, and many of those blends used their famous Virginias as components.

 

[captainsousie]

Let's not forget Syrian Full Balkan and Syrian Super Balkan. ?

 

[mingc]

I tried the Frogs and thought they were only so so. I enjoyed British Woods and CORPS Full Balkan Reserve, which are nice exemplars of their genre. I'm somewhat sorry that I didn't try the Bombay Courts. I didn't think much of the aged Syrian that was available in the 2000s in any company's blends. I thought it was too soft and muted compared to other Syrian latakia that I've had.

 

[Chasing Embers]

 

[logs]

McClelland didn't slack on English. Tons of great oriental selections, Balkans, and Syrians. They were as good at those blends as the straight VA. (If you want to get nitpicky they didn't do much with Burley or dark fired... but why quibble?)

 

[GCW]

View attachment 81375View attachment 81376

I had heard of the Yenidje Highlander but never got a chance to try it. Maybe one day! The Balkan Blue tin looks alot like the one tin of Blue Mountain I had a few years ago. Pretty good if memory serves and all jet black?

 

[Chasing Embers]

The Balkan Blue tin looks alot like the one tin of Blue Mountain

Same blend. Turned out Blue Mountain was a trademarked coffee name.

 

[alaskanpiper]

Balkan Blue was a magnificent blend. I like On the Town and Frog Morton Cellar as well.

 

[GCW]

Only two FM blends I've tried were across the pond and cellar. They were ok but not too memorable to my palette.
As mentioned above is the quality virginia what made McClelland's english blends?

 

[boston]

Frog on a log fan here. A favorite of mine. Need to be in the right (chill) mood...puff slowly. It's stellar.

I think McClelland did well with their 'latakia' blends and others in a large part because of the excellent Virginia tobacco they used in them. I also like legends, and oriental#6, and others. I have many of their blends cellared...many 20 plus years old... that I've yet to try (I don't smoke alot). Special occasion smokes now. When life calms down I'll have them to look forward to.