RIP McClelland

They made the announcement earlier this year that they weren't happy with the quality of Red Virginia that they were seeing and thus retired 5100.  That doesn't mean that there isn't good Red out there, just not what McNeil is looking for to produce his particular blends. 

As for not making an announcement, what good would come of that?  The speculators and hoarders would descend like a plague of locusts and wipe out the supply, depriving their regular customers of their favorites. 

By not saying anything the process has been much more gradual, allowing their customers months to purchase their favorite blends as they wished, until stocks grew low enough to catch someone's attention. 

Now that people think McClelland is closing, something that they have not said, the panic is on and people are buying like it's the end of the world. 

Some of the rarer favorites, like Tudor Castle, may become valuable on the gouging secondary market.  But many of these blends were produce in massive amounts, 50,000 to 100,000 tin runs, such that it's not likely they will be appreciating in value all that much for a long long time. 

And sellers may find themselves with a number of restrictions regarding secondary market sales, and/or a reduced market.  Also, as the generation of geezers with cellars dies off, all that product will be hitting the market. 

Tobacco as an investment is a lousy idea.

Personally, I buy to smoke.  I have a number of rarities and unobtainium in the cellar that fetch 4 to 8 times what I paid for them, and I truly don't care.  I'm gonna smoke them, and whatever is left after I croak out, will be sold to benefit my beneficiaries.  Instructions are included in my will.

I put away some of my favorite McClelland blends, but there is no way I can afford to stock up adequately on all of them. I will save them for special occasions. I love Dark Star, Beacon Extra, Wilderness and 3 Oaks Syrian. I wish I had 50 tins of each. I will have to make do with a dozen or so. Not happy news for me at all.

Putting aside extreme utliers whose honestly considering smoking 1000 lbs plus, without adding more, during the rest of their lives? Leaving behind such a big cellar doesn't sound like an efficient use of resources.

Is there an estimate as to the largest 'respectable' cellar a single smoker is likely to have?

I'm not sure what you mean by "respectable".  There are some very large cellars out in the wild, and they're not listed online.  I've got something a little north of 100 lbs, which is a stupid amount, but which also should hold me for 15 to 20 years.  And while I might not be around that long, given the longevity gene on both sides of my family, I might in for the long run.  In any event, I'll have some nicely aged tobacco to smoke when I want it and I'll have choices. 

McClelland never figured large in my cellar, but I did buy a half dozen tins to sample, a bit of bulk for blending and fun, and a significant amount of the 40th Anniversary blend as that's one that I'm going to want to smoke regularly.  With McClelland possibly going tits up it seemed time to get off the pot.

I doubt this too.  A couple of years ago at the Chicago Show, I was standing outside the front door of the Mega Center having a quick smoke and chatting with Jeremy Reeves.  Mike McNeil stepped outside, stood 5' away from me and Jeremy, had his smoke, and went back inside without saying one word to or even giving a head nod to Jeremy.

Interesting formula. I've heard good things about the Holiday Inn Express; continental breakfast, HBO, the works! I have to admit that your constant pushing of Distinguished Gentleman is starting to work on me and if Match Ready Rubbed is a let down then it'll be on my list.

That sounds about right.  I've built up most of my cellar over the past 5 years, very late to the game.  I'd always kept a couple of pounds in stock, but putting aside a private library of blends was quite a step for me.  And part of it was the knowledge that the marketplace would change and become more constricted.  Buying with the intent to resell at a profit wasn't, and still isn't, part of the plan.  Buying to provide me the opportunity to enjoy some aged blends and to simply have choices is what it's all about.  It's surprising what has happened with some of the tins I bought in terms of market value.  I'm still going to smoke them, a few of them with friends who will appreciate having the opportunity to enjoy some unobtainium.  That's really where the value is for me.

In the summer of 2012 I decided I needed to have a cellar if I wanted to smoke aged tobacco and have blends that I knew had the possibility of being discontinued. It took me less than a year to accomplish my goal and now it is rare for me not smoke nicely aged tobacco. Two of my favorite blends Rotary Navy Cut and Brigham Klondike Gold were recently discontinued. I had the foresight to cellar them deep and I didn't get caught like I did with the original Three Nuns.

I recently found a couple of new blends that I really like so I began to cellar them. One is a Mc made blend so 2 weeks ago I began accumulating it. I have what I want now and if MC does indeed close, I will be fine. In 5 years I am sure my MC blend will be worth more than I paid but I have no intention of selling.

Even if it did happen, it would not be McClelland's anymore.  I find their blending styles and types of leaf to be totally different.  Their Orientals and VAs taste nothing alike, and those are the things that make McC unique.  It would be McClelland as much as Dunhill is Dunhill.

Yup, I've got plenty of tobacco to smoke and I only more if I can see a big upside. In just that last week at the Gateway Pipe Show in STL I bought bunch of rare and rumored disconnected mixtures at lower to a little over retail including a couple of dusty tins of Across the Pond from a local cigar shop.
I really enjoy the hunt for pipes and tobacco.

As for McClelland who knows what will happen. When the "closing the doors when their tobacco supply runs out" rumor was first going around the hobby in December I stocked up then. I talked to some of the KC club guys who would be the first to know last weekend and they all said there was nothing new to report but this was the first time I can remember Mike McNeil not attending the show.

Is this your way of letting us know you're getting a vape pen?

Good point.  As much as I seek out certain special blends, it's rare that I actually think, "Damn, I wish I was smoking X blend instead!"  Unless it's something new I'm trying and don't like, of course.  

Can anyone recommend an alternative for 110 Just Plain Nuts? I'd use it as a light aromatic blending burley.