Just posted the following review on TR; reproduced here for your edification.

McClelland Christmas Cheers 2004

Mottled, dark and chocolate brown broken flakes streaked with tan. The tin nose offers a bright, somewhat sharp aroma reminding of lemon preserves and nutmeg. Packed somewhat moist, the sliced broken flakes are firm when dry and can easily be rubbed out to the desired consistency. Provided there is an ample garnish of kindling atop, a composite mixture of smaller semi- and fully-rubbed pieces seems to do best in the pipe, taking to the match with ease and burning long and even. Best smoked when quite dry.

Admittedly flat and rather unappealing fresh from the tin, when given an ample amount of time to breathe the mahogany Virginia flakes deepen a bit in color and the flavor profile, while remaining quite delicate, begins to open up, revealing a core of sweet, zesty Virginias spiced with notes of freshly grated cinnamon, sour cherry, and lemon tart. A light woody smokiness emerges near the end of the bowl by which time much of the initial zest has disappeared. Mild in body, the finish is dry and a just a bit crisp.

While certainly not the best vintage in the Christmas Cheer collection and decidedly on the mild side of the spectrum, this 2004 offering does possess certain qualities which may make it of interest to devotees of matured Virginia flakes. At the same time it is a rather finicky flake – requiring time and patience to coax it to offer up its charms, which are in any case not readily apparent at first blush. In this instance about a month of ‘decanting’ was necessary to effect its transformation, meaning that the flakes were allowed to sit in a closed tin and sampled a few times per week until they blossomed. After that, the tin was finished in short order. Tinned almost a full ten years after harvest and opened, in this case, almost five years after that, despite its finicky nature there is something eminently satisfying about enjoying a leaf whose journey from field to pipe has taken some fifteen years to accomplish. In this lies what is, for this reviewer at least, one of the most pleasurable aspects of McClelland’s Christmas Cheer, a few of tins of which always seem to find their way into the cellar each and every year.

I've yet to open mine , Thanx for the review, Ken
Pacem en Puffing!

Very nice review, thanks.

What years of the Christmas Cheer do you personally recommend? So far my favorite, of the few years I've sampled, is the 2000. I try to put 3-5 tins of each vintage in the cellar every year. But I have to say it's been pretty hard to muster up the will power to keep from opening them all up for a year by year taste test.