Tobacco Review: McClelland Blue Mountain Pipe Tobacco

This blend has received a great amount of attention recently. It won the People's Choice Award at the 2011 Chicago Pipe Show's Balkan Sobriane Throwdown, despite losing the judges' choice to Black House from Hearth and Home. Now I have not smoked Black House - nor have I smoked Balkan Sobranie 759 (the blend that both Black House and Blue Mountain are based on) - so I cannot make any comparisons, only judge this blend on its own merit.

As such, I have to say that this blend is quite good. When I open the tin I am greeted with a scent similar to that of an aged "Balkan blend" - smoky, sweet, spicy, mouth-watering. The cut is your basic ribbon and the colors range from medium brown to black, which screams out to me that Blue Mountain is not a passive, mild English blend. Given that it is a McClelland blend it is a tad bit moist, but not overtly so. It also packs and lights easily.

As far as smoking qualities are concerned, Blue Mountain is a pretty consistent tobacco blend. The latakia is wonderfully smoky, the Virginias are sweet, and the Orientals provide enough spice for there to be an interesting interplay between everything. It's a pretty straight-forward blend and is less complex than some of the other blends I enjoy, but in this case that's not a bad thing as there still is a nice complexity about the way the tobaccos interact with each other. All these traits tell me that the gold in Blue Mountain is that it should age perfectly.

In the end I have to admit that Blue Mountain isn't my absolute favorite blend, but that it is certainly good enough that I plan on keeping in my regular rotation while also storing some away to age as well.

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