Cornell & Diehl Burley Flake #2

(3.19)
A blend of Dark and White Burleys with red Virginia for a touch of sweetness.

Details

Brand Cornell & Diehl
Blended By Cornell & Diehl
Manufactured By Cornell & Diehl
Blend Type Burley Based
Contents Burley, Kentucky, Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Flake
Packaging 2oz Tin
Country United States
Production Currently available

Profile

Strength
Medium to Strong
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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

3.19 / 4
14

17

5

1

Reviews

Please login to post a review.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 37 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 23, 2014 Medium to Strong None Detected Medium to Full Tolerable to Strong
The rugged dark and white burleys offer a lot of strength, earth, wood and cocoa, a little nuttiness, with a note or two of coffee, and a hint of sweetness. A slight, dry, sour sharpness from the rough white burley is a tad more than condimental. This is not a sweet blend, but what little there is mainly comes from the tangy dark fruity, earthy, woody, bready red Virginia, which is an important minor player. It adds a little balance to the burleys, and helps tame some of the harsh and rough spots to a small extent. The strength is a step past the center of mild to medium, while the taste is a slot short being full. Won't bite, but fast puffing may result in a little harshness. Burns clean and cool, and a little slow with a very consistent savory, woody, roughly sharp, lightly sweet, nutty flavor to the finish. Leaves very little moisture in the bowl. Requires a few relights. It has a medium nic-hit which I seem to notice more at the end rather than the front of the smoke. Has a pleasantly lingering after taste, and a potent room note. Not for a beginner, and certainly not an all day smoke, but experienced smokers may desire more than one bowl a day if it fits their flavor profile.

-JimInks
23 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 25, 2010 Medium None Detected Medium to Full Tolerable
The first thing I always do with a new tobacco is take a deep whiff of the tin aroma. This one has easily the worst tin aroma I've ever experienced, a very unappealing mixture of old gym socks and recently spoiled milk. Not a nice introduction! But a tobacco is to be tasted, right?

This has excellent if monodimensional flavor. I have not yet smoked #3 but this one is not nearly as complex as #1. In this one, the inclusion of virginia seems an afterthought but I do believe it provides some of the flavor. But essentially this is a burley blend - hefty, full and robust. As someone else hinted at, this redefines what a straight burley can be. It lacks all but the slightest hint of sweetness and surprisingly doesn't really taste of the usual "nutty burley" to me. It seems more earthy to me (yet another traditional burley descriptor) and in that respect, this could be considered bland by someone reading this review. Somehow this blend escapes that designation but I'm clueless as to how.

Recommended for those who love burley. In fact, for those who love burley, this is a "must try" blend. 3 stars for my own personal taste, 4 stars for what I believe to be a stroke of blending genius.
17 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 23, 2013 Medium to Strong None Detected Medium to Full Pleasant
I first tried this in 3 different briars with no joy. When I stuffed it in a cob it made all the difference in the world. Lovely burley flavors with just the lightest presence of Virginia sweetness. A nice flake that shouldn't be ignored. Try some.
13 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 22, 2017 Strong None Detected Full Pleasant to Tolerable
This is the first of the burley flake series I've tried. And it's an immediate hit! This is why I smoke a pipe, right here. All my personal favorites contain burley, dark fired kentucky, or both in most instances. So I knew before ordering there was at least an 80% chance of falling for this blend. And upon popping the tin, the deal was sealed.

It's nutty, it's leathery, it's earthy, with just the perfect small amount of sweetness on the finish to smooth it out. But the best part is the way the dark fired intermingles with the light burley and virginia. The characteristic smokiness and dark tea notes are immediately discernible, but without overshadowing the other components. It's just very balanced! With loads of flavor, and quite a bit of vitamin N(which I quickly discovered after a manically puffed mega-cob full of the stuff).

My hat is off to the guys at C&D, and I plan to order the full line now to see what other gems I might have been missing. This is undiluted, old-timey American tobacco, strong and balanced as it comes. If you lean towards burley, you've got to try this. If you've never tried burley, then give this a shot...in small quantity. Don't load your General MacArthur cob with it in other words. And if you just find burley offensive, you're probably not even browsing this blend. As for me, it's a permanent member of my favorites and my cellar.
Pipe Used: MM Wizard
10 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 12, 2011 Medium to Strong None Detected Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Burley flake #2.. My fresh 2oz tin had a mild bread dough aroma to it, and was filled with attractive, moist and easy to rub-out flakes, that almost crumbled when handled.

Originally purchased for adding some zing to otherwise tasty but thin blends, that on occasions left me wanting in the nicotine department, I found a pinch of #2 (IMO) solved that problem nicely.

I also found this blend has a delicious all tobacco flavor on it's own, and I frequently have some in a small bowled pipe, because this one has a little more kick than I'm used too, a small bowl does the job.. .

Overall a excellent but stronger burley blend, with no added topping that I could detect, in it's aroma or taste. I also found no tongue bite, and #2 is easy to manage. Probably because of #2's strength, there was no “need or want”, to get aggressive with this stuff, those two issues seem to take care of themselves! As is, or as a enhancer, I would think most burley smokers would find this stuff both interesting and satisfying.
10 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 27, 2015 Medium to Strong None Detected Medium to Full Pleasant
At the time I opened BF#2 I had already smoked BF#1 and BF#4 and really had enjoyed both. I was hot to trot on smoking BF#2 as it has no perique nor latakia and promises to be the purest BF experience, and, it was. Strong, flavorful and nutty it is the definitive burley blend experience. It's basic aroma and taste is very familiar to any of us who have smoked the earlier generations of Burley blends, as well as the newer ones. My immediate feeling was: Now, this is what most burley blends are trying to be even though most fall somewhat to greatly short. BF#2 is, simply put, the best burley blend I have ever smoked in my fifty-plus years of pipe smoking. When you smoke this blend you are at the DNA of burley smoking. Now comes the only negative that I have to sadly say. After about five or six puffs I began to notice a familiar gremlin - tongue bite. Persistent and consistent, no matter what I tried I could not escape it - sad but true. My rating is four stars for aroma, taste and being number one on the list but three stars for smoking qualities.
Pipe Used: Ashton: thick-walled pot and thin-walled canadian
PurchasedFrom: pipes and cigars
Age When Smoked: recent
9 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jun 11, 2018 Strong None Detected Mild to Medium Tolerable to Strong
The Burley Flake line by Cornell & Diehl is a treasure. It's the finest Burley I've ever tried. Generally, making straight Burley blends is a risky business; few producers cope really well with that. Burley tobacco easily gets bity or bitter or, otherwise, bland (like in the celebrated Solani Aged Burley Flake, a favourite of many and not of mine). In the case of C&D, however, the result is stellar: all four blends are superbly balanced.

All four varieties deliver equally good healthy dose of Nicotine, while flavourwise they are not overly full (they shouldn't be: it's Burley). The flavour is rather thin-bodied, like the flavour of a light liquor (say, tequila) against dark spiced rum. Adding to the similarity with clear liquors, the Burley smoke, instead of flavour fullness, has unique sensatory qualities, unlike most other tobaccos. It's hard to describe the feeling, I just can say I love that soft alkaline "throat hit" when inhaling the smoke a bit.

===

Well, that was about the whole line. And now to this exact variety, the Burley Flake #2.

This one is the closest of all four to the pure Burley Tobacco. It's also the most "sensatory" and, flavourwise, the thinnest of all. There's some Virginia at the background, which manifests itself in slightly rounding the taste but otherwise remains in the shadow and doesn't add any characteristic Virginia flavours or sweetness to the smoke. The Virginia here is apparently of the Dark Red variety: strong, slightly tart and subdued. The smoke is thin, dry and light in body while full of strength and abundant in fine and unusual peaty, woodsy and doughy notes.

Great tobaccos. Try all four of them. You'll be rewarded with an experience you won't get with other blends.
8 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jun 22, 2015 Strong None Detected Full Tolerable to Strong
I got a sample of this at the Chicago show personally bagged by Chris Tarler. I also bought a beautiful pipe by Abe Herbaugh which I picked up from him as I was leaving Sunday. Since the bag was handy as well as the pipe. I loaded the pipe with BF2 and loved it. I loved it so much I had 2 more bowls on the five hour trip home. I also ordered a couple tins for the cellar.

I found this one to be more enjoyable than Burley Flake 3, which I found to be a little overwhelming. This one, likely due to the lack of perique, seemed to be the perfect tradeoff to nutty burley goodness and sledgehammer nicotine. I have yet to really find a burley perique from C & D that I really like, because their burleys are already so strong in Nicotine, the perique is just another nail in the coffin.

The Virginias in BF2 do a wonderful job of accentuating the natural burley sweetness. I did enjoy this and do recommend it, but for this type of smoke, I still prefer Pegasus, which includes some unflavored Cavendish which even smooths the burleys out further. One thing that C & D burleys tend to have in common is the ability to get very harsh with the slightest provocation and this one is no exception, but I find it more forgiving than BF3.

Pipe Used: Herbaugh squashed tomato
PurchasedFrom: sample from Chicago Show.
8 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 01, 2011 Strong Extremely Mild Medium to Full Pleasant to Tolerable
I have tried all four of the C&D Burley Flakes. No. 2 comes across to me as the "plainest" of the four, but this isn't a negative. It has plenty of burley flavor and enough strength to satisfy most.

My first tin seemed to sour about halfway through, morphing into something that tasted very bitter and smelled similar to cow dung - literally. I contacted C&D about this and they quickly replaced it with a new tin, which smelled and tasted fine. I am constantly impressed with C&D's committment to customer satisfaction.

The tobacco seems a bit moist when the tin is first opened but I've had no problem getting it lit and burning. The crumbly flakes are easier to rub out than to smoke whole to me but I've smoked it both ways. I have heard a number of people say that burley does better in a large bowl, so this is what I initially used for BF2. I was not very impressed - mostly a flat taste with bitter notes toward the bottom of the bowl. It wasn't until I tried breaking up the flakes and smoking them in a smaller bowl that the blend really came alive for me. In a medium-sized Kaywoodie or Grabow billiard, I get a smooth, consistent burley with not a little Virginia sweetness throughout the bowl. I enjoy this blend enough to keep coming back to it and it's in my regular rotation.

Without hesitation, I'd recommend this blend to all burley lovers as they will likely be prepared for what BF2 delivers. I'd also recommended it to other smokers who wish to try burley with the advice that their results may be somewhat dependent on the pipe.
7 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 08, 2019 Strong Extremely Mild Full Tolerable to Strong
Of the 5 Burley Flakes, #2 is the Country Cousin, “simple” and rustic, even by C&D standards. It presents as well broken flakes ranging from red-ish tan to medium brown, with some darker ribbons, as well. Scent in a new tin is well-melded varietals posing as musty, moldering silage, with very faint dark fruit leather and a faint but distinct barnyard component. After some futzing I’ve found the “right pipes” for myself, including two briars I use for Kentucky, a #4+ and a #5. BF2 handles, loads, lights and smokes down quite well. The barnyard part of the tin note abates with rest but it reappears when BF2 is smoked. Lit, the scents are a “fragrant” version of the rested tin/jar note, musty, very earthy, with significant barnyard, also woody, more bitter than sweet, “saturated” like a cigar but not all that cigar-ish, along with some nutty fat, and dark fruit leather WAY down there. Tastes follow suit, joining the scents to produce a “strong current”. BF2 is NOT the toasted version of Burley some prefer, at all, but it’s very “basic” and downright “primal” in this way, along the lines of Gawith, Hoggarth & Co’s Dark Bird’s Eye. I detect a floral component but I’m guessing many will not get this, due to the barnyard aspect and the sharpness from the white Burley. It’s like this from top to bottom, gaining in strength and fullness through a long smoke. Strength is strong, including the nicotine. Tastes are full. Room note is barely tolerable; in fact I think it will probably clear out civilians in short order. Aftertaste is the best of the smoke, only sweeter and nuttier over time, almost reason enough to smoke this blend, IMO.

Probably no need to say outright that I deem this blend best suited to experienced Burleyphiles. Though it doesn’t pack quite the wallop of Burley Flake #3, still, most will want to be fed, hydrated, and seated before smoking a 4’s worth of BF2. Confirmed codger that I am, I find it quite satisfying, and I will continue to enjoy this one as an occasional smoke. It’s a 4 star blend as far as I’m concerned, despite it’s not on my Favorites List at this point; but this is only because we have so many great VA/Burs to choose from at this wonderful point in time.

Update, 02-09-20: The more I smoke this, the better I like it. The tobacco is more rested, and I've got a better idea how to smoke it. It still smells like a barnyard, but it's also quite floral, with delightful, delicate side streams. Quite nice, if you ask me. It's replaced #1 as my favorite of this series.
Pipe Used: KY briars preferred.
PurchasedFrom: 4 Noggins
Age When Smoked: 8 mos.
6 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.

target="_blank"