Remembering McClelland Red Virginias

[Chasing Embers]

40th AnnIversary was my favorite and fortunately I stocked up.

Same. The ability to get a Christmas Cheer type offering out of season was too much temptation.

 

[crusader]

I have a couple ounces of blackwoods I dip onto one or two times a year. I will probably cry when it's gone.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I never sampled 5100 but some reviewers compare the tinned Sutliff Crumble Kake Red Virginia to it. The latter is very good imo, however close or not close it may be.

Not very close at all.

 

[isaac]

im going to go with three blends

McCrannies Red Ribbon
5100
40th Anniversary

 

[SmokeClouds]

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.

 

[kcghost]

A lot of their blends really did it for me. The Frog Morton series was especially delightful.

 

[dburrows]

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]

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

 

[bluegrassbrian]

Boston 1776, Brindle Flake, Mature Virginia 24 & 27, Honeydew, all of the Grand Orientals, Blackwoods, 40th Anniversary, Red & Black.

I never smoked one that wasn't worthy of a second bowl.

 

[Chasing Embers]

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.

 

[addamsruspipe]

5100 was the bees knees. Nothing else even comes close.

 

[Uruss]

Hard to choose, but beacon is probably my tops.

 

[isaac]

5100 was the bees knees. Nothing else even comes close.

its funny, i thought 40th was a crowning glory. This was until I tried 5100. So hard to come by, but Red Ribbon is pretty similar.

 

[didimauw]

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.

 

[pepperandjack]

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.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Why I found the few blends I like, and cellared deep, not wide.

Same

Much poundage of my cellar is only a few blends. Had I not commissioned a pipe for Yenidje Highlander, I likely wouldn't have gone so crazy with it.

 

[Chasing Embers]

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.

 

[andrew]

St James woods, Dominican maduro glory

 

[smudgersmissingleg]

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.

 

[AppalachianPipe92]

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?

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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.