Cornell & Diehl Pegasus

(3.34)
Three burley tobaccos, two Virginias, and a touch of unsweetened black cavendish form a classic American blend, hearkening back to the days when burley was king in American pipe tobacco blends.
Notes: Reminiscent of old original Bond Street blend.

Details

Brand Cornell & Diehl
Blended By Bob Runowski
Manufactured By Cornell & Diehl
Blend Type Burley Based
Contents Black Cavendish, Burley, Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Ribbon
Packaging 2 ounce tin, bulk
Country United States
Production Currently available

Profile

Strength
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
None Detected
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant to Tolerable
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

3.34 / 4
48

32

12

2

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 94 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 08, 2001 Medium to Strong Mild to Medium Medium to Full Pleasant
OK, I understand that Pegasus is one of my own offspring, but I am partial to it. In the blending, I sought to find a mixture that really reflected rather common American tobaccos which could be enjoyed as a smoke through the day. Years ago, I enjoyed smoking Bond Street, and my hope was to approach the flavor of Bond Street with its pleasant room aroma.

The base of the blend are three burleys: cube cut, white and dark. They are the majority tobaccos. The two virginias and the unsweetened black cavendish provide the flavor. I have grown very fond of ribbon cut virginia with its matured sweetness and clean burn. Black cavendish has drawn criticism because of the travesty which some blenders have inflected upon it with the "bag o' smokes" available in some venues. But, C&D black cavendish is uncased and very smooth, w/o excess sugars.

Smoking Pegasus is best in a larger bowled pipe, to allow the tobaccos to meld. I chose a Ben Wade large Dublin which I got from Bill Unger of NASPC. In the first lightings, the initial bitterness of burleys are expressed, but then their fullness is tasted followed fairly quickly by tasting both virginias and the BC. The smoke never seems to fall into any harshness and levels out into clean and pleasant experience. I believe that both the new and more experienced smoker will find Pegasus acceptable.
106 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 30, 2014 Medium Very Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
This is an excellent burley blend. I can see some black cavendish in the loose tobacco, but it is not flavored. There is not much Virginia here, but it contributes to a slightly sweet note every now and then. This is mostly burley goodness. The taste profile has some oats and has some bitter notes especially in the last half of the bowl.

Think of a slightly stronger Carter Hall with no topping. If you like burley, you will like this blend. There is a certain satisfying quality to Pegasus, and I find it very easy to knock out the ashes and load another bowl. My last purchase was a pound.

Edit 6/15: I have almost finished a second pound of this since the initial sample and then 4 oz to "round out" an order. I think this is easily one of the best "all-day" blends out there. It is a very good smoke.

Edit 8/15: Bob Runowski is the man. This blend grows on you. I am enjoying this one enough I am going to bump it to a 4 "everyone should try this."
74 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 14, 2015 Medium Very Mild Medium Tolerable
The burleys are nutty, woody, toasty, earthy, with a touch of molasses and a slight sharpness (from the white burley) as the star components. The Virginia is grassy with a little tangy and more tart citrus in a supporting role. The unsweetened black cavendish smooths out the burleys a little with some brown sugar. There's a slight topping that doesn't detract from the tobaccos. The strength and taste levels barely reach the medium mark. The nic-hit is at the center of mild to medium. Burns clean at a reasonable pace, fairly cool with a very consistent nutty, woody, sweet flavor, though it can get a little bitter in the last quarter of the smoke. Leaves virtually no moisture in the bowl, and won't bite even if you push it, but I suggest a moderate pace. Requires few relights. Has a pleasant, short lived after taste, and stronger room note. It is a rather comfortable all day smoke.

-JimInks
68 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 30, 2006 Medium Mild to Medium Medium Very Pleasant
Pegasus is among the world's most perfect tobaccos. It is positively transcendent in a way that I would never encounter through tobacco. Cornell & Diehl employ some of the finest burleys to be found on the market today, and it appears that nearly all types of this leaf that they had to offer went into this blend in perfect proportion. For those sad folk for whom perfect burleys are not enough, two Virginias were added, and this only seemed to deepen the flavor without making it over-sweet, over sweet in the Virginia sense, mind ye.

For a perfect hint of sweetness, so slight but so skillfully executed, we have the black Cavendish. Easily the finest example of black Cavendish that can be found, almost what I imagine the old Rattray's Virginia based black Cavendish to have been like, not that I am old enough to have tasted that particular leaf. Is this all that is required to achieve true tobacco perfection? So it would seem.

This is the blend, along with Prince Albert, of course, that turned me into a devoted smoker of classic American-style mixtures. I have gone through more than five pounds of the stuff so far and the gods only know when I will let up. Be warned, once Pegasus casts her spell, it is not easily broken.

Regards,

A. Morley Jaques
53 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 02, 2010 Medium None Detected Medium to Full Pleasant to Tolerable
This is one of my favorite tobaccos. As a rule I love burley and more specifically I love burley from C&D. It's of very high quality and always brings me enjoyment. Contentment in a tin.

I think of this tobacco as a comfortable pair of slippers, your favorite robe or a well worn pair of jeans. It's certainly not fancy or "complex" but it is satisfying and relaxing.

In the tin I see cubed, dark and white burley with what must be a little darker unflavored cavendish and a small amount of Virginia that must provide the gentle sweetness. This blend has a nice gentle sweetness that perfectly matches the nutty burley and has the very slightest hint of cigar notes from the dark burley. It has a nice full oat like flavor at times that almost reminds me of cereal grains. The nicotine is squarely in the medium range and I would rate it slightly above Prince Albert (another favorite if that helps you with my take on the review).

The blend burns well and I would recommend a light gravity type load with a light tamp at the beginning. I also like to load up my pipe and leave it overnight. Although the blend already seems dry the cubed burley seems a bit moist and burns a lot better after drying out a bit. Tongue bite is pretty much non-existent although I would recommend a slow smoking pace since I seem to get the most out of this blend by going slow. No need to hurry!

Overall this is a wonderful that I will most certainly be stocking up on and dedicating a pipe or two to it. Pegasus satisfies, relaxes and is another winner from C&D.
33 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 17, 2010 Mild to Medium Very Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant
Based on my hazy memory of Bond Street, I think Bob Runowski did very well. This is a burley/VA/cavendish blend with a predominantly burley taste and a nice room note. I liken this one to Hearth & Home's LJ Heart Burley. This one burns more cleanly than LJ Heart but doesn't have quite the flavor explosion. It reminds me of a cereal I use to love as a young man - Fortified Oat Flakes. A nice, oaty, slightly sweet flavor.

As with a lot of C&D blends, the cut of this one is all over the map. As always, I'm amazed that it burns evenly but I blend on occasion for myself and I leave the blending for others to the professionals. If you enjoy a nice, lightly sweet, meaty blend that can be smoked all day and you've eschewed burleys in the past, this is one good place to start with burley blends. I doubt I'll return to this one very often but it was a nice experience.
33 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 08, 2015 Strong Extremely Mild Medium to Full Pleasant to Tolerable
Wow! This one blew me away. to my tastes this is hands down the best of the C & D Burleys that I have tried. It is a codger burley with gravitas. If puffed hard this will come off as pretty harsh and ashy as many C & D Burleys do, but at the right tempo the smoker is treated to a perfect amount of nutty sweetness you would expect from a codger burley.

A forum friend sent me about a five bowl sample of this and I puffed through it in two days. I don't know why I bothered to put it in a jar. I find many of C & D burleys to be overwhelming a bit in both taste and nicotine, but the Cavendish seems to settle this one down enough to make it more palatable. The nicotine is there and does dance along the line of overwhelming. I kind of like this so to me this is perfect.

As for the room note, I really can't give an answer as my two days of smoking it didn't include any other objective noses around, but the sidestream was fantastic. Very pleasant pipey aroma you would expect from a codger burley. I liked this better than Jack knife plug, which is saying a lot as I enjoy that blend immensely.

I wouldn't say it is as good as ABF, but it is such a different blend it isn't fair to even compare the two. I would hold this closer in performance to some of Uhle's offerings, but fuller in body and stronger in the nic.

I have listed the flavoring as very mild, but am not sure whether the Cavendish is topped at all, it just seems a little sweeter than what I would expect from a non topped blend.
31 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 10, 2010 Medium Mild Medium to Full Tolerable to Strong
C&D's Description: "Three Burley tobaccos, two Virginias and a touch of unsweetened Black Cavendish make this a classic American blend."

Sentiment: Every time I pack and roast a bowl of Pegasus I experience a moment of prideful sentiment of what it means to be a tobacco user and American. Although Washington has been a part of the union for quite some time now I feel rather misplaced; especially in the winter months when I smoke Pegasus. I believe this blend calls the front porches of the south home, but I am grateful it makes allowances for my personal geographical displacement. The warm summer day(s) in the Pac NW on the deck are the closest I come to achieving the ideal setting for Pegasus.

Dry Characteristics: Described as a ready rubbed, the leaves are unique among the thirty or so blends I have tried over the years. If one were to make a miniature model of a PA neighborhood in the fall, Pegasus would make the perfect raked pile of dried leaves. They are not flecks nor shreds, but small leaves of brown tones.

Packing: Pegasus is ready to go directly out of the tin. The tin-note is one of subtlety with a detection of dried fruit. Their is no need for moisture adjustments of any form and its burn qualities are very good. I prefer a larger bowl for this blend as the leaves cited earlier are too large to pack an ample portion without applying too much pressure in small or mid sized chambers.

Light: Lighting is an easy venture. One match to char and a second to get the light and you may not need another one until it is finished.

Smoking Experience: The flavors upon lighting represent the sweeter spectrum of this blend. you will be revisited by this sweetness on occasion as the bowl progresses but the overwhelming majority of the experience will be spent tasting quality burley. There are a few layers of flavor within pegasus but by and large my palate is stricken with that of a bag of walnuts. Within a bag of walnuts there are many flavors depending on the nut. Some nuts are sweet, some meaty, and some carry the sharp flavor of the shell. Every now and then the VA and Cavendish blend to convey almost a cornmeal or sweet bran like flavor but is not a theme.

Don't let the description of VA and Cavendish fool you. This is a Burley. Unadulterated glorious burley. If you don't like burley, leave pegasus alone. It does not deserve to be slandered by VA addicts looking for robust levels of sweet (I love me some VA too). This blend is nutty, woody, bran-meal goodness and I want more.
30 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 10, 2008 Medium Extremely Mild Medium Very Pleasant
The combination here works. I especially enjoyed the cavendish "nut like" flavor that came on strong with the Burley, particularly over the last half of the bowl. The Virginia stayed in the backround from start to finish, but did lend to what I termed a solid "bottom" once I got there.

I've had better tobacco, but I've also had a lot worse. The 50g tin was worth the price. I was reminded of days gone by - good ones, I might add - while smoking this tobacco. I think Grandpa would have enjoyed it, too.
27 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 21, 2014 Medium None Detected Medium to Full Pleasant
Very relaxing, old fashioned blend. Typical C&D Burley goodness. Sweet, Nutty, Smooth and Strong. The Virginias add a bit of sweet and spicy to the mix while the cavendish smooths it all out making for a relaxing, tasty all day smoke.

Being a burley lover I decided to go through C&D's bulk burley blends and ordered an ounce of this, Big n' Burley and Morley's best. All three are great blends in their own right but as an all day blend Pegasus takes the cake. Very soon after receiving my sample of Pegasus I went online and ordered 4 more ounces. Its that good! Everyday I have at least one bowl of this fantastic burley blend.

Also, the room note is fantastic. The roommates tell me its nutty, smokey and sweet. Like homemade cookies with a pipe smoke smell (obviously).

This blend has also been a huge help for me trying to cut back and eventually quite the cigarette smoking. Smoking a bowl of this on my way to work instead of two or three cigarettes has really made the cab of my truck smell amazing! but for those trying the pipe to quite cigarettes I'd advise you NOT to inhale your pipe. 1 that defeats the purpose of losing the nicotine dependency and 2, blends like this one will destroy your throat if your brave enough to inhale! Pipe smoking is about sitting back, relaxing and enjoying the flavors of your tobacco. and for that Pegasus is, in my opinion among the best of the best.
23 people found this review helpful.
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