Quote Originally Posted by Pugsley View Post
I just went there and read the reviews on the 2005. Most gave it 4 stars and raved about it ...... except this guy. Have to wonder what he was smoking.

"I read these reviews and bought a tin with high expectations. I smoke McClelland and McCranie's almost exclusively, and find many of their VA offerings to be sublime. I smoked several bowls of this and was horrified. It was putrid, difficult to light and keep lit, smelled like a car fire and tasted like I was smoking hay clippings and corn silk soaked in cat piss."

"After leaving the tin open for a total of about 48 hours it smelled EXACTLY like ginger snap cookies, so I was hoping it would get better. Unfortunately, no luck. The nastiest blend I've yet smoked and a huge disappointment."
I've read, and personally experienced, that matching the right pipe to the tobacco can make all the difference. It's possible that this guy was smoking some pipes that were way overdue for a reaming/cleaning. Admittedly hay clippings and cornsilk could be rationalized as a normal flavor for Virginias, and cat piss might be an interpretation of the ammonia smell that sometimes comes from improperly cured tobaccos, but McClelland has a good rep and wouldn't sell something reeking of ammonia. I'd say the reviewer is goofy and pretends to more experience of tobaccos and pipes than he actually has.