I've enjoyed a couple tins and cellared a few more of C&D's brief offering of Sun Butler's (Organic Smoke Inc.) collaboration, "Organic Pipe Dreams", which was grown with certified organic practices and treated only with organic agave, prune, and vanilla extracts to act as mold inhibitors. The McClelland product appears comparable, but I can only give you my impression of what I've tasted.
First, it's an exceedingly subtle Virginia experience. The flavour is very light, very mildly sweet, and very close to smoking "raw" tobacco--i.e., unprocessed leaf--without the bitterness. If you're a fan of Virginias, have several in your rotation, and are accustomed to smoking very slowly and contemplatively, then you will surely enjoy it. You will also want to smoke through the tin within a week or two at the most; due to the absence of chemical inhibitors, it will mold. Eleven years in the tin will have aged it wonderfully, and I doubt you could make it bite if you gave it a set of false teeth--but again, to really experience the subtlety of flavour, you will want to smoke it as slowly as possible. If you're not as acclimated to Virginia smoking, keep it set aside until you feel up to the challenge, as again it will produce mold within a short time after opening. Enjoy the hell out of it, share it with a friend.
