Over the years, I purchased what were among the final few existing boxes of:
- Marsh Wheeling Deluxe Stogies
- Hoyo de Monterrey Demi-tasse
- Farnham Hill
- Judges Cave
- El Verso
- Flor de Farrach
- Excalibur VI
There are probably others. They were mostly nostalgia. Two were truly great cigars, one was very good, the others were just nostalgia. I enjoyed them all. Now they're gone, so I enjoy others (and my own).
As for McClelland, I always had an issue with the ketchup aroma of every one I opened. I assume that was vinegar used as a preservative. But they lost that after being opened for a bit. The company was fairly good at marketing, and with selecting appealing blend names. Frog Morton was a reliably solid Latakia blend--good but not great. Yenidje Highlander promised too much, and was disappointing. St. James Woods offered Perique with its Virginia, but not enough Perique. I suspect our blending goals were not well aligned. (I always preferred Rattray's and Alfred Dunhill, until they sold out to the lowest bidder.) I won't weep about Balkan Sobranie here.
I think the primary story is that regulation aimed at Big Tobacco really clobbers Little Tobacco. Makers of less expensive (mostly machine-made) cigars were killed off faster than the pipe tobacco blenders. But the latter are now beginning to feel the impact of poorly designed regulation.
Aside from the nostalgia (which can be powerful!), I would prefer some of my own WLT blends of pipe tobacco to most of the branded blends that I've smoked over the course of nearly a half century.
If you are seeking very specific aromatic magic that you remember from brand X, that's a tough project. I'm sure you can eventually come close. BUT...if you enjoy pure tobacco in your pipe blends, the world is your oyster. It's all available as whole leaf.
So I lift a bowl for McClelland, in honor of 4 decades of pretty damn good tobacco. [Sorry, McClelland. It's a bowl of straight, sun-cured, kilned Prancak-N1 tip leaf.]
Bob
