TOM February - McClellands Bulk #2015

[IHT]

post the reviews here.

[kheffelf]

Geez, you beat me to it, I was just going to make one.

[IHT]

stuffed my big Ser Jacapo Maxima Ball full of some still too wet to smoke 2015...
attempted to smoke it, ended up trying to light it more than i was taking puffs.

so, DGTing it will be what happens.

standard McClellands statements about VA based blends apply (catsup smell, broken flakes suck, stems, yet great flavors).
can't wait to see it dry out a bit.

i have some dried at the office (from smokinmojo), this was from what ShawnP sent me.

[physiognomy]

I saw this post earlier today, so I dug towards the back of a growing stash of tins & ball jars looking for where I had put my #2015. The last time I had any was probably back in the summer when Dogwatch Dale gifted it to me. I grabbed a couple of larger (broken) flakes from my jar & rubbed them out reasonably finely. These had quite a bit of moisture content, so I left it to air on our dining table for a couple of hours. Wasn't going to risk smoking it wet after the bite it gave me last time.

After dinner I loosely packed my Iwan Ries volcano. This pipe has mostly smoked blends with latakia, but I enjoy mixing things up with a VA blend... The tobacco was crispy on the outside, but not brittle. As Greg mentions, there was the distinctive McC aroma & nothing visually out of the norm if you have seen a McC broken flake before. Lit easily & I was glad that I couldn't taste any smokey latakia off the bat. The smoke had a good amount of VA sweetness initially, but the spicy perique soon added to the full combo of flavors. I found it built in body around mid-bowl & couldn't help puffing away more often than I should. No bite, but a little tongue tingle warned me to hold off a little. I'm getting towards the bottom of the bowl as I type & the perique has continued to slowly build. Getting pretty spicy now & the VAs have definitely taken a back seat.

I will have to pull this blend out more often...

[physiognomy]

I smoked another bowl of dried #2015 in my Pete churchwarden tonight & it was No bite at all & the change to a VA pipe helped bring out the flavors without muddling them with any latakia ghosting. The perique still built towards the end & culminated in a full & tasty smoke. Tonight's bowl was so enjoyable that I put a few more rubbed flakes out to dry...

[CigarGal]

How long do you let it dry??

[physiognomy]

Originally Posted by CigarGal

How long do you let it dry??

I dried mine out for about 3hrs. It is very dry here though & with the heat on I can imagine that the rh in my apartment barely makes double digits. The flakes were rubbed out pretty well & spread out on a plate while drying. Even after this treatment there was some moisture in the bottom of the bowl after I finished smoking. I imagine that this blend can take quite the drying & suffer no ill effects.

[paperairplane]

I have had my stash of this since late dec and have tried it on and off for the past 2 mos. Last week I finally took the about 2 oz I have left and fully rubbed it all out. I think this is the way to go. If you leave it in the whole broken flakes it does not seem to dry well.

[CigarGal]

Place & Date: 2-9-08 Back deck
Tobacco: McC 2015
Tobacco Cut:
Cut Width:
Cut Length:
Ingredients: VaPer

Appearance (tobacco): beautiful, rich and dark
Condition (humidity level): wet, wet, wet
Smell: yummy
Packing (easy to difficult): difficult because it was so damp I couldn’t get a good pack.
Lighting (easy to difficult): wouldn’t stay lit
Taste: love the sweet tangy taste
Room Note/Aroma: very nice
Consistency of taste: rolls like the ocean
Combustion: bad bad bad-this is too wet
Humidity during smoke: could’t keep it lit
Tongue irritations: none
Throat irritation: none
Satisfaction of smoke: love this stuff
After-taste/Finish: long
Quality-price rapport: great value in bulk

Impressionistic Evaluation (choose one):
__10_this is one of the best of this genre.... (10 pts)
___I wouldn't mind paying for it... (7 pts)
___only if someone gave me a tin, etc (5 pts)
___I don't like it, but can understand other may (3 pts)
___one of the worst tobaccos I've ever smoked (0 pts)


Freeform Thoughts/Impressions: I smoked half of the bowl and had to light several times. I will let it sit for a few hours and try it again. Seems like it needs quite a bit of drying before packing. This is one of my favorite Vapers as far as flavor goes. I just need to get it to the right humidity that doesn't require 10 relights per bowl

[IHT]

i attempted to enjoy a bowl of this tonight as i read a book, but i think i spent more time relighting than i did reading the book.

mcclellands broken flakes normally cause this problem for me if they aren't fully rubbed out to fine ribbon and dried thoroughly.

flavor, when it was smoking, was great, as always with this.

[IHT]

almost 2 weeks without a review?

[smokehouse]

Rubbed some out to dry. Dryed for a couple hours. Rubbed it out some more.
Had a nice Va sweetness with nice spice to it. Spiceyness picked up, but not overpowering and not enough to totally kill the Va sweetness. Had no relights.
I had a little tongue irritation which was do to me over puffing, but can be easily avoided. This blend gets a thumbs up from me.

[paperairplane]

This stuff doesn't burn. I have gone through about 3oz of this and it doesn't work well. The amount I have fully rubbed out and sitting in jar is still fairly moist - sitting it out seems to make it go too dry.

I think the key would be to pack some in jars and try again in about 3 years...

[IHT]

joe, thanks for the bump and comments. reminds me to try some more before the month runs out.

[IHT]

i took my large baggie that shawnp sent me, rubbed out the entire contents intoa bowl, left only a bowlful out to dry... put the rest back in the baggie and mason jar.

after about 30 minutes (which wasn't long enough) i packed it into my new (to me) Bjarne freehand (also from shawnp - first time i smoked it), in a modified "frank method).

first 10 minutes was full of light, puff puff puff, light, puff puff puff, light, puff, light, puff, light, light, puff puff, light. <--- not my idea of "relaxing".

finally, about halfway through the bowl, it started to stay lit. hell, i even dumped out half the ash, ran a cleaner through it, tamped, and it roared back to life without relighting.

if there were ever an award for being "average" in every aspect, this would b the clear cut winner.
it's not too strong or weak on perique, not too sweet in the VA, not too bitey, but it can, not too strong or weak, not the greatest flavor or a bad one either.

maybe with more drying out, the flavors could sing to me. right now, it's a hassle that's not worth the fight for the return on flavor.

iv'e got some at work that's not so moist, and it smokes pretty good and tastes a little better than this one (a sample from smokinmojo).

scale of 1-10, i give it a 5.5 today. but it has the potential to be a solid 8.