Remembering McClelland Red Virginias

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SmokeClouds

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 7, 2019
164
382
New York
For me, 40th anniversary and the Christmas Cheers are always special. This was a company that always placed an emphasis on high quality. Makes me think that perhaps all their offerings were solid, personally didn’t try all their blends, but their ‘house style’ might have not been on everyone’s taste. Like many other things in life…
The way I see it, they, Mary and Mike, are master craftspeople that plied their trade in a very specific niche market using choice raw material in a tumultuous time of the American tobacco trade. I hope that we’ll see other dedicated professionals like them in the future.
 

dburrows

Starting to Get Obsessed
Sep 2, 2011
279
271
There's blends now that could be gone tomorrow, enjoy what you can while you can. Prior to the loss of McClelland, many ridiculed their blends and those that smoked them for the ketchup/barbecue nature of them. They didn't achieve mythical status until they were gone.

Isn't that the truth... I understood the bbq sauce aroma on tin pop but it didn't affect the smoke for me.

I wasn't the biggest fan but I LOVED FMotT, FMC and Blue Mountain. I miss those. There were others I liked and wish I could get my hands on again but if they were on the shelf and they weren't closing shop I'd likely pass them up 😂
 

jeff540

Part of the Furniture Now
Jan 25, 2016
518
799
Southwest Virginia
I did not care for their aromatic, except I did like the bulk 2000 blend (red VA flake with some kinda old fashioned faint topping).

There is no replacement for their VA blends, nor their Grand Oriental blends :(
 
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Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
45,284
119,420
nor their Grand Oriental blends
No kidding. When Yenidje Highlander was discontinued a few years before McClelland went out, I searched it out and managed to get 3 dozen tins before they disappeared.
 
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didimauw

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 28, 2013
10,727
37,717
SE WI
There's blends now that could be gone tomorrow, enjoy what you can while you can. Prior to the loss of McClelland, many ridiculed their blends and those that smoked them for the ketchup/barbecue nature of them. They didn't achieve mythical status until they were gone.
Why I found the few blends I like, and cellared deep, not wide.
 

Chasing Embers

Captain of the Black Frigate
Nov 12, 2014
45,284
119,420
The folks who decry the McCllelland tang and the Lakeland houses' "grannies' panties" haven't tried to understand these tobaccos. May their weightless opinions float up into the sky.
Or they just don't like them. Many here swear by Stonehaven but I find it to be the nastiest tobacco I've ever smoked. When it comes to the subjectivity of tastes, all opinions are weightless.
 
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Jun 9, 2018
4,514
14,482
England
The only one i've tried so far is CC 2014 and I really liked that. I've got a couple of other CC in the cellar that I bought on the secondary market and a tin of 40th that I purchased when it first went on sale.
 
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Feb 12, 2022
3,591
50,698
32
North Georgia mountains.
40th Anniversary was very good. But my most favorite of all was Aurora. Blissful. If I had known that they would so quickly close shop I would have bought 500 tins! What was your favorite McClelland blend?

View attachment 263618
40th is my go-to, but Aurora was surprisingly a fantastic blend. Glad I grabbed a couple tins on whim. I also enjoy 5115 that I mixed with perique and tucked away. It's turned out great.
So many others I could go on about but I won't.
 
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