S0, If There’s Nothing Much Special or Particularly Cheerful about Holiday Season Pipe Tobacco, Why Bother?

I obviously failed to make note of the retailer’s comment about McClelland’s seasonal blend, Christmas Cheer… “Even though the tobacco is a remarkable smoke right now, Christmas Cheer is even more outstanding with some age on it, so lay in a few for cellaring.”  Good advice about the cellaring, I’m thinking.

Continuing my thoughts about “Christmas season pipe tobaccos” from part I, my question regarding this blend is, if it’s not actually ready to enjoy during the season it’s released — 2013, in this case — when will it be? 2021?

Because, I mean to say, I did not enjoy this smoke at all fresh from the tin.

Here’s the deal…

I’m back to regularly smoking a pipe for a couple years now after some absence, and as the just past Christmas of 2013 began its approach, I thought, hey, let me add to the celebration with a good holiday kind of smoke, something kind of special, something not only I but those who would be within smell-shot might also favor.

Well, what better way to achieve that than to partake of a tobacco “specially blended” for the occasion?

I understand that any so called “seasonal blend” is most likely nothing more than what any other regularly available blend could be. What we’re talking about is just joining in on the fun of a once-a-year occasion and adding some different twist to our normal routines. So even if it’s nothing more than a marketing ploy, what the heck; however, I would think the blend should somehow match up to the smoker’s expectations the marketing department has set. Truly, when it comes to tobacco, we should be enjoying a different twist to a blend that is not made readily available during the rest of the year because of its use of a rare leaf, an expensive curing process, or maybe some difficult to create super deliciously aromatic topping that even tastes like it smells. And I want to smoke it now, the Christmas year it’s available, not two Christmases later. I don’t see this happening.

Cracking the tin, Christmas Cheer gave me a nose load of the famous McClelland ketchup smell. Finding the odor unbearable, I “decanted” the broken flake into a mason jar. McClelland states that this blend is from a prime batch of 2009 harvested leaf. Obviously it will improve with further aging, but it must be ready now, right? After three weeks, it was time to light up.

The blend’s ketchupy aroma had shifted to a less offensive spicy barbeque scent — yet still not so appealing to me. I loaded a partially rubbed out and folded tobacco into my pipe and put it to flame.

Not one to go into the “sip slowly and allow your tongue to caress the playful taste of Bergamot — citrus, not herb — from the foot of the highest hill facing the sea… South Dakotan honey from 2012…a touch of  Madagascar vanilla, perhaps…?”  I’m pretty caveman with my descriptions…

Pros: The expected almost grassy-like sweet and tangy Virginia essence smoothly maintained its presence throughout the bowl along with a mild to medium tobacco flavor; DGT provided a bit more fullness; Pleasant enough room aroma.

Cons: Despite the good stuff noted above, the bad stuff, i.e., ketchup or BBQ sauce, whatever, still popped through in room note, in flavor profile while smoking and in aftertaste. So much so, I can’t even think about going back to this tobacco for at least another six months. By then, Christmas Cheer 2014 will almost be ready!

Christmas Cheer 2013 might very well turn into a remarkable smoke that I can thoroughly enjoy within another year or two. Like a fine wine, it has a particular vintage that might benefit to some degree with a certain amount of cellaring. But I would like to enjoy my Christmas cheer in the year it is appointed. Is it wrong of me to ask for that?

In Christmas season 2014, I’m going to purchase the requisite minimum amount of Boswell’s Christmas Cookie, about which I have heard good things but have yet to try. If it doesn’t “do it” for me, I shall never again try any pipe tobacco labeled “holiday,” “Christmas,” or other kind of “seasonal” this or that.

If pipe tobacco manufacturers cannot create an honest-to-goodness once-a-year special blend for the holidays — I shan’t be suckered, again. Really, why bother?

Hmmm, I don’t know… maybe C&D Maple Cavendish?