MClelland Cellars
- Thread starter jon11
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Yes I can, though compared to serious McClellandheads I barely touched the stuff. I've known people with cellars stocked with McClelland going be to the 1980's.
Good, so we can agree on something.
But, here we go...
Well no, I didn't say that. That's your connotation. I said that nothing in what I had smoked was worth a 300% to 500% premium. I had stocked up on what I liked long before I knew about the closing, which is pretty normal practice. Its called cellaring. Plus, anyone at this for a while knows that blends have a way of disappearing without warning. Also besides, it's not a closet full, more like half a closet full. Sorry to disappoint you there.
It's a personal call. Some people believe it's unnecessary to spend more than $10 - $15 on a pipe.
You've been wielding this "pretentious" accusation like a wooden cross covered with a garland of garlic, at anyone who holds a different opinion and I'm mystified by its usage since all who have been branded with it seem to be quite sincere in their point of view. No pretense at all, which makes its use utterly inappropriate by definition.
Or, maybe this is your language of grievance?
As far as anyone's supernatural power to impose emotions on others, that's nonsense, it somebody feels "silly" that comes from within them. You're responsible for your emotions as I am responsible for mine.
What good does it do? Well, that varies from person to person. People like myself, who are on a budget, may be more inclined to order 15 to 30 various tins of blends they like rather than putting it into a tin of an extinct blend that's been hyped into "star" status.
At least we'll have a choice to consider, rather than getting swept up in all the hype.
I've been enjoying pipes long enough to have tried a great many fine blends, like Dunhill blends made by Dunhill, Sobranie blends made by Sobranie Ltd, Rattray blends made by Rattray, and they were superlative, and are long gone, and I thoroughly enjoyed them, and I wouldn't pay a bundle to smoke them again, and I don't have even a half a closet full of any of them.
Maybe because I'm of an earlier generation I have the attitude that they're just blends to be enjoyed, not idols to be worshiped. People just didn't think that way, at least none that I knew back then. Well, we might have worshipped Bridgett Bardot, but not Royal Yacht.
That's not to say that I never paid a premium for a vintage tin, but it was more like 25%, not 300% to 500%. And you could often buy "old" tobacco at 25% to 30% off.
Now, as back then, I look for what's good, available and is within my budget. I want the most bang for the buck, not the most buck for the bang.
YMMV.
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One of the stores that I buy at sells the stuff that been sitting there for months, to a broker who sends it to China. This stuff doesn't sell out immediately, or at all.
Brigitte Bardot ?
My other indulgence besides pipes (and cigars) is whisk(e)y, which I've been drinking for quite a few years longer than I've been smoking pipes. The unicorn-worship phenomenon is far far far worse with bourbon than it is with pipe tobacco, but the same principles apply. With bourbon, there is a significant portion of people who are more interested in hunting down and possessing harder-to-find bottles than actually drinking the stuff.
I ordered a glass of Pappy Van Winkle for the first time ever a few months ago. On the bartender's recommendation, and knowing my own preferences for mild to moderate oakiness, I went with the 15 year. It was wonderful! However, it was also only marginally better than a store pick Elijah Craig single barrel a buddy of mine picked up for $45.00. Hype is just that - hype. If what you want is a good top-notch experience, be it bourbon or tobacco, there is plenty to go around without looking very hard.
My McClelland blends, for good measure. Those are a few rows deep, so it's maybe ten or so tins of Christmas Cheer, six or seven Frog Morton Cellars (plus one small FMC tin and one small FM original tin), plus maybe 5 or so tins of Iwan Ries Gourmet English, which is an aromatic English very similar to FMC that McClelland blended for Iwan Ries.
They're not unicorns when you've domesticated them into herds.
Now here is a unicorn I'll chase.
I would say thanks for the kiss, rmpeeps, but that just doesn't sound right.
Just FYI, Sutliff Matured Red Virginia 515 RC-1 is running about $30 a pound, but if proposed taxes get passed here in the US, the tax per pound of tobacco would increase from just under $3 to just under $50 (meaning the Sutliff could easily become $80 a pound or more). So if you want to try it (or stock up) you may want to do so soon.
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I have some more boxes of jars of 5100 in a closet, but they don’t make for great photography.
I also have to admit that I still find unopened shipments of tins all the time. I’m kind of a mess. I have a storage building my wife tosses stuff into, and a couple of times looking for camping gear, I will run across another McCrannies, SPc, or P&C box that I just left by the door and Mrs Cosmic will stow it away like a squirrel.
When buying tobacco becomes a “compulsion” after I place an order, I don’t give a shit about actually receiving it. I just feel better that someone else didnt get it, ha ha!
When buying tobacco becomes a “compulsion” after I place an order, I don’t give a shit about actually receiving it. I just feel better that someone else didnt get it, ha ha!
I have 9 tins of FMC, 3 tins of Christmas Cheer, and a half dozen other assorted tins.
You know, the “new” McClelland fanboys are about the worst thing I’ve seen on pipe forums.
Let’s just completely ignore what pipe smoking is supposed to be about and focus on a brand.
Jesus, no way these guys aren’t cigar “affecionados” looking for a new unicorn.
Let’s just completely ignore what pipe smoking is supposed to be about and focus on a brand.
Jesus, no way these guys aren’t cigar “affecionados” looking for a new unicorn.
Guy who started smoking in 16 or 17, didn’t ever try to smoke for the sake of enjoying it, but hunt mercilessly for what guys should be smoking.
Rather talk on forums about what tins they “acquired” than what pipe they just enjoyed.
Ahhhh, thank you. I kinda hoping to be the worst thing ever, ha ha!
I smoked nothing but McClelland for an entire year. Not for any other reason than it was readily available, tasted great, and was affordable. Prior to that I found that I just couldn't find a comparable tobacco so I stopped looking. Red and Black was my regular, but McClelland made Virginia tobaccos were the only thing I smoked. Suddenly a year passed. Sorry if I didn't enjoy pipe smoking right. Lol.
I swear cigar Master took the blends as I was trying to check out back in the day. I also thought he might have been the reviewer DK on tobaccoreviews.
Well you’re still not doing it right.
You smoked it when it was easy to get, and you’re not posting EVERBODY LOOK AT ME
McClelland threads.