Cornell & Diehl Super Balkan

(3.78)
A mostly bright flake natural mixture with Perique, Latakia and burley, spiked with pure Turkish high grade leaf.
Notes: This was an Atlas Blending Corp. mixture. Cornell and Diehl bought the rights of all their old recipes.

Details

Brand Cornell & Diehl
Blended By  
Manufactured By Cornell & Diehl
Blend Type Balkan
Contents Burley, Latakia, Oriental/Turkish, Perique, Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Ribbon
Packaging Bulk
Country United States
Production Currently available

Profile

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

Average Rating

3.78 / 4
26

5

1

0

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 32 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 30, 2013 Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
The burley is slightly molasses sweet, woody and nutty, and adds a light earthy quality with a cocoa note that plays over with the citrusy, mildly grassy Virginias, which are in a minor role. The buttery sweet and lightly sour, woody, mildly floral, earthy, dry Orientals and plumy perique both provide a mild spice hit, and all their attributes underscore the experience. The Orientals stand out a bit more, especially as you reach the half way point. The smoky, woody, earthy, musty sweet Cyprian latakia dominates a little without crowding out the other components. The strength and taste levels are medium. The nic-hit is just past the center of mild to medium. Won't bite and has no dull or harsh moments. Burns at a moderate pace, cool and clean with a very consistent flavor with some complexity. Requires an average number of relights, and leaves little moisture in the bowl. Not quite an all day smoke, but both the new and experienced smoker will repeat it, and it's a good starter for the novice who's looking for a little fullness in a Balkan blend.

-JimInks
60 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 10, 2014 Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
The tobacco comes at a perfect state of humidity for me. The bag smells of latakia, and I am expecting a a latakia heavy blend just from the pouch note. Once in the bowl I taste an oriental forward blend with a pleasant but not overpowering latakia presence. The Virgina and perique make it slightly sweet and and complement the oriental sweet spiciness. The burley gives it body, and it provides some strength. It leaves a characteristic tingle from the orientals in my mouth as a I finish a bowl.

The blend is smooth and tasty. It really satisfies. It punches a lot of buttons for me, and it does it it with a certain elegance. You owe it to yourself to try this if you have any interest in blends of this sort. The price point is even good. Get some, and I claim you will be happy you did.
33 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 27, 2013 Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Although this starts as a mild bodied blend it becomes medium bodied rather quickly. For that reason I rated the strength as medium. The first half of the bowl has the typical Balkan flavor profile of Orientals out front, closely followed by the Latakia, both riding on the base of Virginias. At this point the Burley and Perique are barely discerned. About the half way mark the Perique steps forward and adds it's spice to that of the Orientals. It's a quick transistion. Kinda like, "Wham, Bam, here I am!" I love the way it does that. At about the two thirds mark the Burley steps forward. The spiciness decreases and it starts tasting like a VaBur and stays this way to the end. During the VaBur stage the mouthpiece of the pipe tastes like it was dipped in a mild sugar water. I could also taste the sweetness on my lips. This blend will not overpower you, but it will impress you with it's complexity. Very enjoyable smoke.
Pipe Used: Nording bent apple, MM General
PurchasedFrom: smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: fresh bulk
26 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 17, 2014 Mild to Medium None Detected Mild to Medium Tolerable
This blend although totally different as content, is surprisingly similar to Balkan Sasieni. There is no VA's, and the light metal taste of the Burley is present, but there's still some mildness and you can say "emptiness" in it. And it's not because of the lack of VA. Perique is noticeable here and there, gives just a little sharpness to it, so it's not blunt. The beauty here is in the choice of the orientals. Lat is not overpowering, leaving the orientals to play their part, and it's AWESOME. In most cases, Balkan blends are blunt and empty, lacking body. Adding a pinch of Perique, or more Latakia does the job somewhat, but ruins the oriental kick. Same with Virginias. Here in my opinion, it's balanced just right. The smoke is creamy, tasty, spicy, not blunt, not empty, and not too sharp and strong either. This is perfect for an everyday smoke. Burns OK, despite of the cut, burns cool, and no bite at all. This is mostly morning smoke, because it's mild, and has awesome aroma. Good nicotine kick, it wakes you up, enlightens your day, and prepares you for the day. If I was to name it, I would call it "Morning Balkan". I highly recommend this blend.
Pipe Used: All kinds
PurchasedFrom: smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: 3 months
21 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 17, 2016 Medium to Strong None Detected Full Tolerable
This is a tasty American/English type blend incorporating everything but the kitchen sink as many C&D blends do. This one does stand on its own though as the proportion of orientals, to me, dominate the blend with the burley also a major player. As such, I suppose C&D has appropriately named this a Balkan blend even though most of said named blends do not have Burley at all.

As I understand the term Balkan it is an oriental forward blend. I do not know what Oriental(s) are used, but I would guess it to be of the sour variety and likely Izmir as C&D tends to use this one often. Although there is perique, latakia and Virginia in this blend, they are more minor players that may contribute to the overall taste, but do not jump out in any way on their own merits.

To me this is sour and nutty sweet. It is also very smooth and biteless. It is a well done blend that smoked well to the bottom every time for me. Although I enjoyed this one, I would not put this at the top of my list of these type blends from C&D. I tend to prefer sweeter and smokier over the sour type blends. In that respect, I would rather smoke Bailey's Front Porch, Epiphany, Habana Daydream, et. al. to super Balkan. With that said, I have about 8 ounces more of this in the cellar for later enjoyment, but I doubt I will be purchasing more of this one.
9 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 21, 2011 Medium Extremely Mild Medium Pleasant
From the first bowl I knew this tobacco was for me. Medium bodied Lat blend with nic to match, and it produced the elusive sour note that I desire. Very dark tobacco, very dry, not an incredible jar note, but magic in the bowl. Dry, incense- like, sour, smoky. I'm thinking this is one spectacular bulk tobacco.

Then it dawns on you that despite the traditional impressions, this tobacco is anything but. There is no Va here. You read that right. Burley, Latakia, Perique and Turkish. I am guessing 4 out of 5 Lat blend smokers wouldn't guess that in a blind test. Amazing.

Once you know the Va is not Va, you kind of notice a Burley sweetness in the background. But I stress, this smokes like an excellent Balkan and is nothing like an American blend.

I love C&D's Red Odessa, a unique, genre busting tobacco. It's not a conventional Lat blend, but more like Three Friars with Latakia. I like Super Balkan even more. This is my bulk Lat blend, and I just ordered a pound. This is by far the best bulk Lat blend I've smoked, and it shames most tinned blends. In fact, this is the best Lat blend I've smoked from C&D that isn't wearing a GL Pease label. At $36/lb, about the same tinned if you look around, it's simply astonishing. I'll tell you right now I like this better than Larry's Blend.

###update 4/31/2012 Long term, this blend hasn't consistently reproduced the magic that had me so excited about it, and I have to lower my opinion of it. Occasionally I get spectacular smokes from this one, with luscious sour notes. More often than not, it's an undistinguished generic Lat blend. Still recommended but not one of my favorites.
9 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 22, 2010 Medium Mild Medium Pleasant
Super Balkan (C&D)

Allow me to begin by saying I am getting reacquainted with pipe smoking. I quit a three pack a day cigarette habit about 28 years ago. I recently decided that, at age 74, taking up a pipe would not appreciably reduce my life expectancy and may even improve it. One of the blends suggested by my local tobacconist is C&D's Super Balkan blend. I keep my tobacco's separated in cracker jars and I love opening this jar and inhaling the smoky aroma. It gave flashbacks of campfires past and hunting coats that I failed to have cleaned after the season ended. First, I tried it in a Kaywoodie. I did not like it. Then I tried it in a Peterson large pot with a P-lip stem and it was better, but not good enough. Finally I tried it in a Savinelli billiard dry (#128) and found it very nice indeed. The two early pipes gave me some bite I did not like, but the Savinelli is smooth and enjoyable from beginning to end. No bite. I recommend this tobacco and will make it part of my inventory.
9 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 31, 2017 Medium to Strong None Detected Very Full Strong
I won't bore everyone with blah blah tin note, blah blah hay, citrus, smokey, nutty. I will say it is THE BEST BALKAN, for the price, I've come into possession of. It burns great, smokes smooth, has zero bite, and has all kinds of flavor. I do not get the big nicotine hit most people claim from this blend. I find it extraordinary and would highly recommend this blend to anyone who likes English or Balkan blends.
Pipe Used: Medium Cob, Medium Meerschaum, Large Briar
PurchasedFrom: Smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: 0-60 days
7 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 18, 2018 Medium None Detected Medium to Full Tolerable
It's hard to believe that such a delicious blend has so few reviews. Super Balkan leads with nutty, cocoa sweet burleys that share center stage with sufficient smoky latakia, supported by pleasant notes of wood and earth that I'll assume are the orientals. I also detect a bit of sweet hay from the virginia, but it's easily missed. There's little perique but it's easily detectable with its characteristic plumminess and spice that's more noticeable with a good mouthful of smoke and a retrohale. This blend benefits wonderfully from age, becoming slightly sweeter. The cut is a very interesting mix of VA flake fragments and ribbon that packs and burns with ease. The smoke's mouth-feel is medium bodied, while the taste is on the edge of medium-full, and medium nic. Highly recommended. 4 stars.
Pipe Used: Dr. Plumb Flat Grip billiard and cobs
PurchasedFrom: smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: 1 Year
6 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 27, 2016 Medium to Strong None Detected Full Strong
I seen this bulk blend on Smoking Pipes, for the life of me can't explain why I had not try before now.To me this a stunning tobacco form match to bottom of bowl. I never experience any tongue bite, hard to keep lite, just a cool honest smoke. I am kind of down to earth and this fits my need's perfectly.

This blend surprised me with it's appearance as well as flavor, rich smooth and all tobaccos are balanced so none take the lead, rather present themselves all at the same time some just linger long enough to identify. Not sure if this is a true Balkan , it does contain Va. I can't taste the Va., just read of it description of tobacco. English or Balkan makes no difference to me it is refreshing.

Update 3/21/16 I have found this blend is somewhat "fickle" . It smokes best in a large bowl and I find packing is also a trick. Gravity fed till top of bowl, one firm push, light and second light one good firm (tight). Stay lit a this point and allows smoker a tremendous amount of stress relief.
Pipe Used: Sasieni, Savinelli, Peterson
PurchasedFrom: Smoking pipes.com
Age When Smoked: fresh
6 people found this review helpful.
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