Equivilant blends to Frog Morton Cellar?
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With the deaming laws approaching very likely no.
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/frog-morton-cellar-match#post-1252417
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/frog-morton-cellar-match#post-1252417
Trying to match any McClelland blend is a long shot for at least two reasons.
1. McClelland had perfected their own methods for processing Virginias that is not replicated elsewhere. This included custom proprietary equipment that was destroyed when the operation was shut down.
2. Mike McNeil wouldn't be micromanaging every aspect of that processing.
So there is virtually zero chance of making a true match. If you want to smoke Frog Morton, go buy Frog Morton.
As regards other speculations, the person referenced above is on the record for hating smoking. Good luck.
1. McClelland had perfected their own methods for processing Virginias that is not replicated elsewhere. This included custom proprietary equipment that was destroyed when the operation was shut down.
2. Mike McNeil wouldn't be micromanaging every aspect of that processing.
So there is virtually zero chance of making a true match. If you want to smoke Frog Morton, go buy Frog Morton.
As regards other speculations, the person referenced above is on the record for hating smoking. Good luck.
That 'Cellar was good. sable's right, we won't see its like again. Nothing like that, but there are some good whiskey and rum blends, tobacco forward, that you'd find excellent, but you have to do your own picking and choosing. Right now I'm really enjoying GLP's Haddo's Delight, but others on Forums think its awful, so you have to sample and select. Buy in small quantities and sample around a lot. 'Cellar's gone, so go exploring.
It's becoming more than a national problem. The W.H.O. wants to see tobacco gone entirely and global public opinion of tobacco use isn't favorable. Majority rules and tobacco is less a right than a privilege. Find some favorites and cellar heavy as who knows what tomorrow will bring.
C&D makes some Latakia blends with boozy additions. Worth a try. I have maybe 4 bowls left of Frog's Cellar. It was very much a blend that opened me up to Latakia. Where is Jay with his New Orleans Frog Funeral image?
Seems odd to bury these methods that gave us great experiences. Just another example of American manufacturing greatness lost to history.
During my residential plumbing career I saw the transition from high quality brass and metal manufacturing and machining to poor overseas attempts. I worked on fixtures well over 100 years old while modern fixture attempts were lucky to reach 30. The mineral quality and cleanliness of water has greatly increased too.
During my residential plumbing career I saw the transition from high quality brass and metal manufacturing and machining to poor overseas attempts. I worked on fixtures well over 100 years old while modern fixture attempts were lucky to reach 30. The mineral quality and cleanliness of water has greatly increased too.
I've not popped my tin of Cellar yet, so I don't even know what I'm not missing. Still, I'm flush with more good smoke than I can handle.
As requested...
Note my mad photoshop skills. Don't be hatin'
As requested...
Note my mad photoshop skills. Don't be hatin'
My career was in Norfolk, VA. I personally replaced countless steel and lead water pipes which were dense with collected minerals, many times bringing 1" pipes to the size of a pinhole.
Our water there is much better than most of the country/world.
Our water there is much better than most of the country/world.
I have looked for a while and have settled on Boswell's Northwoods or Countryside. I just ordered King Frog Morton from King's pipe and Cigars online shop. They claim it is really, really close. We'll see. There is something in FM that no one seems to be able to capture. Who knows, maybe it was dirty water.
I love that 'Cellar label art, with the frog's rowboat moored at the pier outside his grotto man cave. Some people thought it was corny, but I savor the imaginative vision. I also loved their breaching whale and the story behind it. And the block of whiskey barrel stave right in there with the leaf. I have to celebrate the energy and effort the couple brought to their blending, so far from the big business of corporate tobacco. That's the same feeling and uniqueness I get from my local independent pipe shop Pipes by George in Raleigh, N.C. These and many other pipe and pipe tobacco businesses capture a piece of the past and present that is a world of its own, in the best way.
@Sablebrush, McClelland destroyed their equipment?? What was the rational behind that? I know they didn't want to sell their blends... but equipment? It would be like you breaking your sable brushes in two after you retire from being an artist (assuming you're an artist). Nobody can steal your ideas just from obtaining your old equipment, but even if they could the McNeils are out of the game, why would they care if someone had their old gear?
I destroyed my tools when I walked away from architecture. Maybe like me when done with something they were finished and wiped the past clean so as to have nothing to look back at.
Some people are just so wasteful. Sheesh!
On topic, one might find Shortcut to Mushrooms in the same ballpark but again, I haven’t smoked it for years and I’m pretty sure that when I did smoke it they were using McClelland tobaccos to blend it just like I mentioned in another thread regarding Northwoods from Boswell’s. Cellar was definitely my favorite Frog Morton, it smells like a slightly smokey eggnog, I smoke it around Christmas time and it pleases those around me (1 bowl per year, so I have a lifetime supply). Still I had to spike it with more Latakia, the Frog blends were all very lite, too lite for my tastes. I’m pretty sure that there was some top dressing added to Cellar along with the stave but they swear the flavoring only comes from that cube of charred wood.
Another suggestion, if you are going to spend some big bucks on a McClelland blend, go for their VA’s as that was their forte, there are a million of other readily available English (cross-over English) blends that will surely fit your fancy and I bet you can find one that ya like even more if you just start sampling and judging blends by their own merits rather than finding a clone, clones are never as good as the original and usually just lead to disappointment.
On topic, one might find Shortcut to Mushrooms in the same ballpark but again, I haven’t smoked it for years and I’m pretty sure that when I did smoke it they were using McClelland tobaccos to blend it just like I mentioned in another thread regarding Northwoods from Boswell’s. Cellar was definitely my favorite Frog Morton, it smells like a slightly smokey eggnog, I smoke it around Christmas time and it pleases those around me (1 bowl per year, so I have a lifetime supply). Still I had to spike it with more Latakia, the Frog blends were all very lite, too lite for my tastes. I’m pretty sure that there was some top dressing added to Cellar along with the stave but they swear the flavoring only comes from that cube of charred wood.
Another suggestion, if you are going to spend some big bucks on a McClelland blend, go for their VA’s as that was their forte, there are a million of other readily available English (cross-over English) blends that will surely fit your fancy and I bet you can find one that ya like even more if you just start sampling and judging blends by their own merits rather than finding a clone, clones are never as good as the original and usually just lead to disappointment.
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