McClelland -- 5100 Red Cake

Brand: McClelland
Blend: 5100 Red Cake
Style: Virginia
Pipe Used: Savinelli Oscar #313
Price: $23.65/8oz.

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

McClelland is one of the premier pipe tobacco companies in the world and out of their literally hundreds of distinct offerings one meager little bulk blend is consistently mentioned whenever talk turns to straight Virginias and that singular blend is 5100 Red Cake. I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to get around to trying this tobacco but better late than never.

The blend is a fully rubbed out, ribbon-cut red cake mixture of various Virginias with the medium brown, or "red," leaf being predominant. In the pouch the aroma is that of raisins and if you blindfolded me and offered up samples of 5100 and Sun-Maid raisins to smell I would be hard pressed to differentiate between the two. And that particular smell means that the tobacco is both sweet and on its way down fermentation lane which is just the thing for a Virginia blend.

Since my order arrived a bit moist I let a bit dry for a few hours then loaded up my Savinelli Oscar #313 and gave it a charring light. Even with the drying the tobacco was reluctant to burn and it took a few tamps and relights to get things going.

The first few puffs delivered a delectable sweetness that was more subdued than most 100% Virginia blends. This was tempered by a nice nuttiness that reminded me more of Burley than Virginia leaf. Added to this was a faint cinnamon-like spiciness that really pulled the flavors together.

It took a few bowls before it finally hit me and I realized that the taste of the 5100 Red Cake reminded me of the cinnamon roasted almonds we used to get at the mall when I was a kid. Not nearly as sweet of course but it had that same interplay of sugar, spice, and roasted nuts.

The room aroma was also top-notch and reminded me of burning leaves with the occasional whiff of cinnamon-scented candles.

The only drawback with the 5100 was that it did require frequent relights but it still managed to burn clean down to the ash with no dottle or excessive moisture left in the bowl.

McClelland's 5100 Red Cake is a stellar Virginia blend and after spending the last few weeks with it I now understand why so many folks sing its praises so highly. While some find it to be one-dimensional in taste I found it to be quite the opposite with a wonderful mixture of complimentary flavors.

Rumored to be a frequent component of many other blends, 5100 stands plenty tall on its own merits and I found it to be one of the tastiest tobaccos I've smoked. Available exclusively in bulk (unless you're lucky enough to stumble on one of the tins produced in 2005 for the Bufflehead Pipe Shop), this is a blend that promises to improve with age and the only question left for me is just how much of the stuff I can cram into my cellar.

I do have one further, and rather odd, note to add. We've all heard of ghosting as it refers to lingering flavors left in a pipe but is it possible to experience olfactory ghosting I wonder? I've been smoking 5100 in various cobs and briars and all have been dedicated Virginia pipes yet hours after I've finished my smoke I find that I catch faint whiffs of Latakia -- a leaf which is, of course, absent from this blend. It's almost as if my sensory memory is adding the Latakia after the fact because the 5100 is somehow reminding me of the Virginias found in quality English blends. Wishful thinking on the part of my schnoz or perhaps 5100 is in fact a blending tobacco used in some of the Englishes I smoke. Either way it has to be one of the oddest things to happen to me so far in this hobby.