McClelland -- Holiday Spirit 2008

Brand: McClelland
Blend: Holiday Spirit 2008
Style: Aromatic
Pipe Used: Meerschaum
Price: $8.65/50g

Appearance: 7
Taste: 8
Room Note: 10
Value: 8
Overall: 8

McClelland Tobacco is well regarded for their annual Christmas Cheer seasonal blend. That is a straight Virginia and is well worth stocking and aging but, name aside, the flavor and aroma do little to evoke visions of St. Nick and all that. Perhaps to fill that void, McClelland has just introduced a brand new limited edition blend called Holiday Spirit.

Billed as a Burley, Virginia, and Cavendish blend with hints of dark rum, cocoa, and pecans, Holiday Spirit 2008 is one jam-packed aromatic. Upon opening the tin I was greeted with a ribbon-cut blend of black and tan tobaccos and a rich, sweet aroma reminiscent of fruit cake. It sure smelled like Christmas!

To debut this new blend I decided to use my Meerschaum pipe just in case the tobacco decided to get goopy. Some of the tan pieces were a bit irregular in shape which made packing tougher than usual but once I got the pipe filled it lit right up and away we went.

The initial flavor during and immediately after the charring light was somewhat waxy. If you've ever licked your fingertip after snuffing a candle then you know that taste. After that first less than pleasant experience the tobacco soon began to give off a mellow, rich flavor. The rum is very evident and the pecan topping comes across like dried fruit. The advertised cocoa provides more of a bittersweet base than a full-on candy bar flavor. This really is a fruit cake in a pipe.

Holiday Spirit provides a typical aromatic experience in that the flavor profile never really evolves into anything complex and the true tobacco flavors remain very much in the background.

Where it might lack in complex flavor, this blend more than makes up for it in aroma. The smoke is full of the scent of rich chocolate, fine rum, and holiday baked goods. I don't think I've ever encountered a better room note and Holiday Spirit is sure to evoke many pleasant memories for both the smoker and any bystanders not scared off by the demon smoke.

As is also typical for many aromatics, Holiday Spirit required quite a bit of tamping, relighting, and fiddling to keep it burning. This added attention is no big deal but this certainly isn't a fill it and forget it type of blend. Surprisingly the pipe never got too goopy and there was no tongue bite even though I was puffing away like mad to churn out huge clouds of sweet-smelling smoke.

All in all McClelland's Holiday Spirit 2008 is quite a Christmas treat. If you've ever wanted to smoke a booze-filled fruit cake then this is the blend for you. As much as I like my straight Virginias and true English blends, every once in a while I like to try an over-the-top aromatic that provides a wildly different flavor and a room-pleasing aroma.

Holiday Spirit 2008 is the perfect blend for tree trimming, light stringing, cookie baking, present wrapping, stocking stuffing, and any other holiday activities in which you may care to partake.

4noggins -- Essence of Vermont

Brand: 4noggins
Blend: Essence of Vermont
Style: Aromatic
Pipe Used: Savinelli Natural
Price: $10.99/4 oz.

Appearance: 8
Taste: 9
Room Note: 8
Value: 10
Overall: 9

Since I enjoyed Cornell & Diehl's Autumn Evening so much I decided to try out the bulk blend Essence of Vermont from 4noggins since I was placing an order with them anyways. This is billed as a Burley blend with hints of maple and a dash of St. James Parish Perique.

The blend is a rich, dark color and gives off a typical nutty Burley aroma with only a very faint scent of maple syrup. I loaded up my Savinelli natural and headed out to the porch with a book in hand.

The pipe lit right up and once it got going it was pretty much hassle free with only a few tampers required to keep things burning nicely which was much appreciated since I was trying to read while smoking. Toward the end of the bowl I did have to run a pipe cleaner down the stem to stop a bit of gurgling but that's par for the course with most aromatics.

The initial flavor was that of a traditional, mellow Burley -- nuttiness cut with a bit of dried fruit. Burleys are among my favorite tobaccos and Essence of Vermont is at its core a very solid Burley blend.

As for the maple flavoring, I was having a hard time detecting it until I started exhaling more through my nose. After that I could easily taste the sweetness of the maple and found it to be both a bit more natural in flavor than the Autumn Blend as well as more muted. I never really picked up the Perique in this blend save for a slightly spicy finish.

4noggins' Essence of Vermont is a great, two-headed blend. If you're just merrily puffing along it offers up a hearty Burley flavor with nary a tongue bite to be had. But if you slow down and sip at your pipe you'll be rewarded with a rich, cool, maple taste that lingers on the palate long after you're done. This would make for a perfect all day smoke since you can easily change the flavor profile at will.

While the taste of this tobacco was top-notch, the room aroma was surprisingly muted. What faint whiffs I did catch were very pleasant but not on par with the full on maple assault of the Autumn Evening blend.

In a head-to-head competition with Cornell & Diehl's offering for best maple-flavored tobacco the slight edge goes to Autumn Evening. But while that blend features all the sweetness one would expect from a maple aromatic, Essence of Vermont offers up a solid burley that can be enjoyed in its own right with the maple flavoring adding just a bit of icing on the cake.

Essence of Vermont is a great tobacco available exclusively in bulk from 4noggins and is a real bargain to boot. I can see this blend competing with Butternut Burley for primacy in my current rotation (can you tell I like Burleys?) since it's such a carefree smoke.