Cornell & Diehl Baalbek

I lucked into 5 oz of this from a trading partner who felt it had degraded to the point where he no longer enjoyed it. He'd stored it for 16 years and the blend had darkened considerably. A bunch of jar aromas, ranging from latakia to dank newspaper to old cheese. Juicy oriental smell in spades! The blend was moderately dry and no further drying time was needed. I rehydrated a bowl of it, to disastrous effect.

In the pipe, I liked this one a lot but had a feeling he was right - something just not quite on the nail with this one. The Virginias were lightly sweet and the orientals were front and center, merging with the latakias to form a true light Balkan. The Cyprian latakia was very subdued but the Syrian seemed to have deepened. With the perique in a moderately prominent role and melding with the Syrian, there was a briny, spicy flavor that fused nicely with the orientals pungent sourness. Sounds like a lot going on, and there was, but the whole concoction didn't have as much of a "presence" as it may have had in the past. It was more mellow than vivid, and I suppose that may be in part due to the softening of the Cyprian latakia. I wish the Virginias had been bolder as well, and I couldn't help but wonder what a company like McClellands could do with a recipe like this. Overall this was a very good blend but it could have been more... and may have been when fresher. I'll still smoke and enjoy the rest of mine, but I won't mourn it when its gone.

I bought Baalbek on the strength of the preceding reviews when I ordered a sample pack from C&D late last autumn. I moistened it a little and it has been sitting in a Ball jar for several months now. It is delicious; a tasty and full-flavored tobacco. Don't expect a latakia kick in the teeth from this one. The latakia is there, but it is only one of the performers. The smoke is complex and well-balanced, and I do not tire of it. I have no hesitation in recommending this to anyone who enjoys English-style blends. I like several of them from C&D, especially including Yale Mixture, but this one is my favorite now. I find myself thinking about it in anticipation as I drive home from work in the evening.

Addendum February 2005: Alas, Baalbek is no more and is not likely to return. Future runs of this blend all went up in smoke at the warehouse fire that destroyed the Tarlers' Syrian latakia supply. I have most of a pound of this left; I will savor it slowly.

For a long time C&D was turning out some pretty shabby blends. I am glad they got their MOJO back with this one. This is one of the SLEEPERS of the pipe smoking world. An extremely well balanced English with no one component dominating the other. Excellent burn, taste and aroma. I found this to have a slightly "LAKE LAND" FLORAL/ SOAPY CASING APPLIED TO IT. It might have just been the tobaccos working together. I am not a fan of that particular taste I just mentioned ,but here it really works! I am very impressed that they produce this most unique tobacco 4 of 4 stars!

Though the Tarler Syrian is gone, I was lucky enough to have a friend who had stocked up and was generous enough to send me a quarter pound.

I am truly going to miss this one when it is gone. A full, rich blend with lots of flavor, and just enough Perique to really liven things up.

An outstanding smoke - if you run across any, grab all you can.

The above reviews do this blend justice, so I won't belabor it. But I will add that this is really a lovely blend of tastes I traditionally associate with "american" tobaccos: perique and bright VA - contrasted against the oriental and english backbone of latakia and Turkish. It is rich, nutty and spicey. I just lit up half a bowl that I started last night on a late drive home. The DGT did wonders to further meld the flavors!

I've noticed this and other C+D latakia mixtures are *extremely* cool and smooth. Where I find, for example, despite their quality some Dunhill mixtures are not.

IMO this ranks up there with the English cornerstone blends that I've tried, and by far surpasses some in terms of complexity and uniqueness of flavor.

WOW! This stuff has everything! I love it. A fabulous, unique smoking experience. If you like Latakia/Perique blends and are a bit adventuresome, GET SOME OF THIS!! As a suggestion on ordering, you may try a sampler pack to start, and then once you realize that you love this stuff, get a pound and get it pressed!

Two different pipe smokers turned me on to this blend, and to both of them I offer my thanks. Baalbek is delicious. It is a medium English blend where the layers of taste are each delicious and none overpower the others. This blend is my favorite C&D offering and the none of their other English blends hold a candle to Baalbek in my opinion...and they have some other dandy blends.

Highly recommended!

A full and complex mixture, arrives as usual like its been in a desert for a couple of months. I added a little water to help with the smoking qualties of this full english mixture. Its deffently one of the more powerful syrian blends from Cornell and Deal. Well it might be with the addition of perique. Reccomended.

one of the things that makes for a great tobacco(IMHO) is a complexity of flavors that can all be tasted in the course of a smoke. this is one of the reasons greg pease's blends are so highly regarded. baalbek is another great tobacco that fits into this category. the two latakias, red virginia, turkish, and perique can all be discerned in a bowl of this delightful blend. even the room note is not bad for a balkan. if i had one nit to pick(and it is a tiny one), this one seems to require a few more re-lights than most C&D blends. i'll gladly trade a few extra vestas for the pleasure of a bowl of baalbek. four big stars.

This one is the near opposite of Black Dawg. Where the Dawg is direct and strong, Baalbeck is subtle and

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smooth. It's a fairly large and loose-cut light leaf, and carries a delicate Virginia sweetness with what might be a hint of Syrian latakia (I

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need to check their ingredients). It's an interesting companion to Dunhill Standard for me, because it's very consistently smokable and

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always friendly without being loud. As with Black Dawg, it needs a bit of moisture to really sing, but once you've found the sweet spot it's

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a joy for any pipe.