Cornell & Diehl Reviews

1. Mountain Camp
I’m not sure if a non-aromatic blend can be more aptly named. With a mixture of aromas from leather to pine to campfire, I can see opening up a magazine to find a full page ad with men in Stetsons drinking cowboy coffee and smoking this stuff somewhere in the Rockies. I like very few blends that are as heavy in Latakia as this one seemed to be, but certain exceptions have worked their way into my rotation and so I figured “what the hell?”. I smoked out of a bent Savinelli Fuoco. This blend produces a very dry smoke that is reminiscent of pine needles in a way I’ve only noticed in the Pine Grove blend someone sent me the other month. The spice from the Latakia is heavy, but the Virginia takes the edge off by contributing some sweetness to the mix. With the addition of the Perique, it’s almost as if C&D were trying to recreate Dunhill’s infamous Nightcap and while they have come close, they don’t quite make it. They do, however, get an A for effort as the finally product is still pretty delectable stuff.


2. Night Train Burley Cake
Night Train comes is nice little pucks that are moist, fragrant, and easily crumbled. I could drown in the smell of this stuff! It’s like a hay bale in a field of buttercups after a gentle spring rain, or the scent of the barn when the sun rises and the dew is still on the lantern All joking aside though, it is good smelling baccy with wonderful notes coming from the Virginias. I’d like to think I can catch a faint whiff of the perique, but I could just be fooling myself. A disclaimer: this blend will bite the hell out of you if you don’t take it slow! It had a slightly tart beginning before the nuttiness and occasional cocoa-like notes from the Burley surfaced. It is a robust blend that packs a bit of a nicotine kick. The Virginias have bright flavor which combines nicely with the perique to tickle the nostrils when you retrohale. That faint bit of spice add more depth to the blend. This wasn’t a bad blend, but I have to say it built up a little more anticipation through the smell in the bag than it was able to truly deliver on. Nonetheless, a solid cake (no pun intended ): B


3. 2012 Christmas Blend (Chestnuts Roasting)
Who doesn’t enjoy a good holiday blend? In the spirit of Christmas in July, I thought I’d revisit a couple C&D seasonal offerings. The inaugural year for the series was 2012 when C&D released this Cavendish/Latakia mixture. I’ve never actually roasted chestnuts on an open fire, so the name is more nostalgic than anything else to me. The of bit Latakia enough to elicit visions of a yuletide fireplace, but it is only a condiment leaf that adds a bit of depth to this aromatic blend. Notes of vanilla, caramel, and even a bit of mulled wine combine to make for a confectionary scented tobacco. I smoke some in a briar Yello Bole Imperial. My first take on this was that it seemed almost perfumed. After letting the initial light settle down I realized that the flavor was very similar to the candied fruit you find in a fruitcake. This was girded with vanilla notes and a bit of cinnamon. I had to send a search party out to find the Latakia, and when it did surface around the middle of the bowl, it offered little spice and really just reminded me of a Christmas tree since I was already in the holiday mindset. It burned cool and well, and the overall experience was pretty good once it got rolling. B


4. 2013 Christmas Blend (Won’t Go ‘til We Get Some)
First- I don’t get the name. I’m assuming it is a reference to some kind of holiday film or song that I’m simply unfamiliar with; otherwise, it’s just creepy The blend is a nice collection of medium brown ribbons that offer the odor of hay/grass from the Virginias but then exude a few interesting notes. The first thing I thought was maraschino cherries. Examined more closely I decided it’s plums. There is a slightly tangy bite to the smell that is reminiscent of sangria. There are also some cinnamon and nutmeg type spices floating around in the bag. I smoked a bowl in my Zurg Glass Sipper. As scary as it sounds, my initial thought when I took a couple puffs was “Mixture no. 79” It got past that (thank God) and settled in to something akin to a cherry creamsicle. The grassy flavor of the Virginias kept peeking through, but the fruit and sweet milk notes stayed front and center. It burned slightly hot but remained bite free. An interesting blend to go with an interesting name; C+


5. Pegasus
This had a distinct bready, tangy scent in the tin which I can only think to contribute to the two Virginias in this blend. It was a little nutty, but that was much muted. The Cavendish was not of a very dark nature and the overall mixture was fairly light in color. I smoked out of a MM Diplomat. My experience with this blend is best described knowing the context in which I smoked it: I live in a dying city in Virginia that was once home to the largest tobacco market on the east coast. I dropped my wife’s car off for a window repair this morning and smoking while walking home through the neighborhoods of 1940s houses that sprung up for all the tobacco and cotton mill workers. I walked past an older gentleman smoking a pipe on his porch that, in spite of my youth and tattoos, waved and greeted me when he saw the pipe hanging out my mouth. Just as this place nostalgically recalls the quintessential Americana of the pipe smoking heyday, Pegasus captures it in leaf form. The Virginias are bright, sweet, and unfettered with additional flavoring. The Burley is robust, toasty, and will bite if you decide to abuse the implicit slow meditation of sipping your pipe. While I’m a big fan of aromatics, even after over ten years piping, I can readily acknowledge quality when I see it, and this blend is good. I can’t help but imagine this is the sort of blend the boys had in mind when they were going up and down the aisles of the open air market, examining lots of leaf and puffing away, over half a century ago. Good stuff. A