January’s Pipe Guys’ Pick: Drama Reserve

The Oriental blend style is not one that currently enjoys a lot of popularity. In fact, few and far between are the Oriental blends on today’s tobacco shelves, which seems to me a shameful thing, since a tastefully blended Oriental pipe tobacco can offer as much pleasure as the most finely crafted of English mixtures.

In trying to shed some light on this oft overlooked tobacco style, we’ve decided to select McClelland’s Drama Reserve as The Pipe Guys’ Pick of January. We took upon ourselves the grave responsibility of opening a tin and sampling it for the purposes of this little review, and we are most glad that we did.

Drama Reserve delivered a wonderful and unique smoking experience unlike most of what we’ve tried before. It presented us with a conundrum from the first light, which is that what stands out above all else with this blend is it’s subtlety. There is no dominating flavor that mutes the undertones, or pungent smell that masks the otherwise delicate aromas. The blend is well balanced, with the sweetness of Virginia offering it’s support to the gentle sourness of the Orientals. Mild spice and fragrant olive oil were discernible, followed by a pleasantly dry finish with lingering flavors of toasted wood and the tannin-like mouthfeel of a freshly cracked walnut. The blend did not change it’s character even three quarters of the way in, but the flavors deepened significantly, becoming stronger, and the wine-like finish lengthened. The rich smoke and moderate nicotine content left us extremely satisfied, but not exhausted. This tobacco comes highly recommended from The Pipe Guys!