Cornell & Diehl Brigadier

(2.14)
Brigadier contains latakia, cubed burley, perique, and toasted brown cavendish with a smooth fruit flavor. The folks at Cornell & Diehl made this short cut and granulated for easy packing and superior slow burning.

Details

Brand Cornell & Diehl
Blended By Craig Tarler
Manufactured By Cornell & Diehl
Blend Type Aromatic
Contents Burley, Cavendish, Latakia, Perique
Flavoring Fruit / Citrus
Cut Ribbon
Packaging 50 grams tin
Country United States
Production Currently available

Profile

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

Average Rating

2.14 / 4
2

2

6

4

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 14 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 24, 2017 Mild to Medium Medium Medium Pleasant
The earthy, nutty, slightly woody and lightly molasses sweet cube cut burley is the lead component, and also sports a slight rough edge. The smoky, woody, musty sweet Cyprian latakia plays a supporting role. The sweetened brown cavendish is a sugary condiment. The spicy, raisiny, lightly plummy perique rises slightly above being a background player. The apricot topping leads the light vanilla and caramel, and they do sublimate the tobaccos a little. The apricot has a slight alcohol note along with a sour tartness. The strength level is a little closer to medium than it is to mild, while the taste does reach the medium mark. The nic-hit is a little past mild. Won’t bite, but isn’t smooth sailing either due to the aforementioned rough edge. You may experience a harsh note if puffed fast. Burns slightly slow with a mostly consistent sweet and savory flavor. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and requires a few relights. Has an unattractive sourness in the after taste. Can be an all day smoke.

-JimInks
6 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 08, 2010 Medium Medium Medium Very Pleasant
I think this is an excellent choice for aromatic smokers who also want a little "nic" hit with their smoke. The combination of Latakia and Perique with sweetened cavendish somehow works with this unusual blend and the Burley gives it some punch.
6 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 07, 2007 Medium Medium Very Full Pleasant
While not admitting to "mainlining" Latakia, I do understand those who do so. My all time favorited blend was John Cotton's Smyrna...sadly I have to say "was", for it is no longer being produced. Trying to find a good replacement has been a long road back to pipe nirvana. Today my mainstays are Charring Cross and Squardon leader.

No matter how good a tobacco may be after a while the palate becomes so acclimated that the charateristics that brings one to a particular blend can no longer be enjoyed. My cure is two-fold. Sometimes I'll go for several days with out smoking a pipe,the second is to smoke something totally different. Now you purist are going to going to think that I have no taste at all, but I find that a day or two of smoking Prince Albert is a curative for my worn tongue. It smokes cool has no bite with a rather nice nutty burley taste, giving rest to my tired palate. With that said, I do continue to search for another good alternative.

Recently I stopped in my favorite tobacco shop...(cigar store these days), with the mind to find something new and different. I was looking at the C&D offerings when I took note of a tin of Brigadire. After I made the purchase I opened the tin and was greeted by an inticing sense of Latakia/Perique/Virgina/Burley all with an interesting fruity aroma. The moisture content was just right as was the cut, which is mostly cubed. Upon lighting, I thought that I had made a mistake. My immediate impression was that I gotten one of the #%#@%^&*! aeromatics, but I decided to give it an honest try.

After my fourth-tin, I find that it has crept into my regular rotation. I find it to be perfect as a first pipe of the day, along with a good cup of dark roast coffe. The tobacco smokes cool. It seems to be best in medium size pipe. It doesn't bite me at all. It smokes clean with out a lot of residue, leaving nothing but light grey ash in the bottom of the bowl.

If you want a good switch-off tobacco, give it a fair try. But be careful...you might find yourself craving another bowl of Brigadire.
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 26, 2012 Strong Medium to Strong Medium to Full Pleasant to Tolerable
Original Review 2/26/2012

This is a strange tobacco. I purchased it from local B&M out of anxiety awaiting my first order from C&D. This happened to be the only blend my local store stocked from C&D. I had repeatedly passed it over based upon these reviews. I first smoked it out of a cob being that the briar in my truck was pluged up at the time.

I really enjoyed it as it was prabably the first quality leaf I had yet to smoke and, based upon this bowl, it spent about a day as my favorite until my order came in and eclipsed Brigadier.

After this first bowl, it got progressively worse for me at times tasting medicinal and just downright terrible. I finally discovered that it was the pipe. This just did not taste good in my briars. I had forgotten that first smoke was in a cob. Only after smoking it in a cob again did I recapture that earler love I had for this blend.

I have read about this with blends on here, but this is my first time actually experiencing it on my own. So my review probably at a 2.5 as I would not recommend it in a briar, but would in a cob. The quality of the leaf and cut round it up to 3 stars for me. I did find it a little fruity, but not overwhelmingly so. I would much rather go to something like this than some full-on drugstore aromatic to satisfy my yearnings for sweetness.

The store has two more tins that don't seem to be going anywhere. I will likely buy more.

Update 11/28/2017

I did end up buying the remaining two tins of this and just finished smoking the last of it and, oddly enough, I feel kind of the same way I did back in early 2012 when I had only been smoking for a couple months. Of course, I now know much more about all things pipe tobacco than I did then.

To start with, this is still an odd blend. It is, no doubt, an aromatic, but it has a lot of different types of leaf in it including latakia, Perique and dark fired Kentucky. All of which are somewhat detectable under the heavy topping. The topping as best I can describe is kind of fruity, but in an artificial way. Perhaps some kind of liquer or two is also used. I really don't like the topping so much, but I do like the strength of this blend.

The Perique and DFK is noticeable and I actually had a hard time finishing a large bowl in one sitting. In terms of strength, I found this to be stronger than Irish flake. If you like strong blends and this topping is to your liking, this could easily be your manna.

Now for the funny part. When I first smoked and reviewed this blend, my pipe collection was very small. I think I may have had one cob and possibly two or three briars. I concluded then that the blend tasted good in a cob. but terrible in a briar.

Now here I am. Smoking for 6 yrs with around 100 pipes and I came to the exact same conclusion, but would add Meerschaum (most of this tin was smoked in my Fikri Baki Volacano) to the list of pipes this smokes well in, but each time I tried a briar it just wasn't good. I think this may be more my tastes and how I feel about the topping than a fault with the blend itself. If feel both cobs and Meers tend to mute toppings a little; whereas, briar doesn't.

I decided to drop this to two stars, because I have too many conditions to recommending this blend to someone. Those conditions are that you like the topping and that you like strong blends.
Pipe Used: meer and cob mostly
PurchasedFrom: local B&M
Age When Smoked: 6 yrs 6 mths
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 05, 2020 Medium Mild Medium to Full Pleasant
I’m saddened this blend got such bad reviews. It truly is something special and archaic. Starting off with a warm cocoa and baked bread essence, it develops to a fuller flavour from the perique. Calling this an aromatic is correct in technicality but absolutely abhorrent in description. Aromatic in as much as it is a pleasant smelling tobacco, especially for the holiday season. However the smoking flavour is reminiscent of old fashioned tobaccos. Smooth smoking Smooth smelling Smooth feeling and smooth tasting. Do not pass this one up, it’s a steady regular for me. Who knows what age will do to this!
Pipe Used: Peterson Sherlock Holmes Moran
PurchasedFrom: Smokingpipes
Age When Smoked: 1 year
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 31, 2013 Medium Medium to Strong Medium to Full Tolerable to Strong
This tin opens to a very odd fertilized smell.... The tobacco appears to be very good quality, and was perfectly dried. It burns cool into ash. It is a blend of excellent tobacco ruined by whatever process it's been through. I'll finish the tin, but I'll use it outside. Smoked it in a Grabow, thankfully. It'll get a good soaking in 151 rum after....
Pipe Used: Grabow
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 14, 2012 Mild to Medium Very Mild Medium Tolerable
I was given a tin of this a few years ago. Opening the tin I smelled what has to be fruit flavored kool aid powder poured into this. The taste will haunt your pipe. Disgusting blend and tossed the rest in the bin.
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 28, 2011 Mild to Medium Medium Medium Pleasant
This won't be a long review; this one just ain't my thing. You can just look at it and tell it's quality leaf, with a nice mixture of black and different browns, but I just don't like cherry. I got my aged tin on Ebay, one of those old metal things that didn't seal too well, and someone had wrapped electrical tape around it. I got it because I got it cheap, and was curious. Tobacco was dry, but not compromised. I'm sure some of the cherry has faded, and that at least is good, because I guess I don't like it! The only cherry tin I have finished was the old Ashton Original Oldchurch, and it took me a while. (At least I thought I remembered getting cherry on top of vanilla from that one, but could be wrong. The other reviewers didn't point out cherry!) This is similar: it's not bad quality, just a flavor that doesn't treat me too well. If you are a cherry smoker, go for it! I'm sure it's better than the drugstore cherrys.
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 29, 2009 Medium Medium Mild Pleasant
nice dark broken flake the humidity allowed it to be smoked immediately after unsealing the smell of black cherry is most notable as if the lack of any taste of perique about mid bowl i discovered something i had only read about in other reviews and now i am able to say with clarity this must be what dish soap tastes like i plan on trying another bowl today to confirm my impressions and if the result is the same i will commit Brigadier to a burial at sea
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 19, 2009 Medium Very Strong Mild to Medium Pleasant
Cornell&Diehl is a fantastic blender, but sometimes he becomes crazy. And happens with this blend. For me is junk. Too much flavored, too much sweet. Bleah !
Sembra di fumare marmellata.
1 person found this review helpful.
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