Cornell & Diehl Odessa

(2.95)
Cavendish cut burley, Turkish, Latakia and perique. Similar to the old Balkan Sobranie White.

Details

Brand Cornell & Diehl
Blended By Cornell & Diehl
Manufactured By Cornell & Diehl
Blend Type Burley Based
Contents Burley, Latakia, Oriental/Turkish, Perique
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
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

2.95 / 4
5

12

4

1

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 22 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 23, 2016 Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
It’s not similar to Balkan Sobranie White because this is an American English blend. The very nutty, earthy, woody, molasses sweet burley is the star component. The smoky, woody, earthy, musty, sweet Cyprian Latakia is an important secondary player that never takes a lead. At most, it occasionally competes with the burley, though it seems just a little less potent in the last third of the blend as the Turkish shows itself a mite more. The Turkish is woody, floral, herbal, vegetative, earthy, lightly buttery sweet and spicy with a touch of sour, and lurks in the background just below the level of the raisiny, plumy, earthy, peppery perique. Both underscore virtually every puff. The nic-hit is a step past the center of mild to medium. The strength and taste levels are medium. Has a few small rough edges. Won’t bite, and has no dull or harsh spots. Burns cool and clean at a moderate pace with a rich, mildly complex sweet and savory, lightly rugged, spicy flavor from start to finish. There is an occasional light inconsistency in what you'll taste, but far more often than not, you'll observe all the flavors you're supposed to in each draw. Easily burns to ash with an average number of relights. Virtually leaves no moisture in the bowl. Has a lightly lingering, pleasant smoky, woody sweet after taste with a little spice. The room note is almost sweet campfire-like. Can be an all day smoke. Three and a half stars.

-JimInks
23 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 10, 2014 Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
For me this was more of a Burley blend than an English/Balkan. Where in Red Odessa the Virginias simply provide a base, here the Burleys are an equal player with the other components. All four components are very well balanced providing a fairly complex and enjoyable smoke. My personal preference is for Red Odessa, but if you're a lover of Burley I suspect that you'll really enjoy this blend and be grateful that you tried it. Give it a shot.
Pipe Used: MM General, MM Country Gentleman
PurchasedFrom: smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: fresh bulk
16 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 27, 2008 Medium Extremely Mild Medium Tolerable
The claim that this tobacco is similar to Balkan Sobranie White is somewhat true. The tin note is almost exact, but the taste is somewhat lacking. One thing for instance is that from my recollection Balkan Sobranie White was a VA based tobacco. But these are not detractions from the tobacco unless you are buying it specifically to replace Balkan Sobranie White (which goes for a pretty penny on eBay). The tobacco is a beautiful mixture of colors and is inviting to the eye as much as the nose. The tobacco burns very well and does not ever get too hot or wet. It has a very nice Latakia note that is complimented by the Turkish and Burly. I also like the added condiment of Perique it all seems to be in quite good balance. This blend is one of my new favorites, not because it is a replica of Balkan Sobranie, but because it is a good blend in its own right. If you want to have a bowl similar to Balkan Sobranie try Smokers Haven Our Best Blend.
13 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 09, 2014 Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
I think I will provisionally use a new term in describing Odessa - an American Scottish. Burley used in English Latakia Balkans is often termed American English, so why not? Creamy, buttery, tasty; the high grade Burley gives legs to the sweetish Turkish Izmir and the Latakia is wisely used for spice and depth.

This could be an all day blend for me and I might in future bump the rating further. Wife likes the aroma even. Further use of positive adjectives would serve little purpose. I like this one very much.
Pipe Used: Large billiards
PurchasedFrom: smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: New stock
9 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 26, 2014 Mild to Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Pouch note... ahhh... BALKAN/ENGLISH! Earthy caraway seed and cumin spice with cocoa, some honey, a little smoke, and a touch of fig/raisin. Nice and familiar territory here...

Char and initial draw has that familiar English perfume and earthy spice. Considerably less "bready" character than I typically pickup from the others in this style I've been lucky enough to try. This still has fantastic body, a savory richness. The lat in here plays second fiddle, it's ever present but mild, the orientals are taking up the bulk of the flavor with more of the caraway seed-like spice and warm rich nuttiness.

Room note, I was outdoors but still caught a waft of a rich, almost perfume character which was very nice. The lat didn't make a strong presence in it so despite the humidity outside where I smoked, I didn't feel like I had to change clothes when I came back inside.

Nic strength was agreeable. I felt it but wasn't overpowered at all.

All in all, I've had 5 or 6 English/Balkan blends including this one. This one is definately is a keeper - it's real good if you are keen on English style blends.
Pipe Used: MM Legend
PurchasedFrom: Unknown (gifted)
Age When Smoked: Unknown (gifted)
8 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 28, 2017 Mild None Detected Mild to Medium Pleasant
I've not posted any reviews of C&D blends over the past couple of years although I have nearly 100 of them in my personal tobacco log. So, I am running through them as I get time to transcribe here on my favorite place to hang out and blab with my fingers. (-;

I really didn't find any true similarities between Odessa and Balkan Sobranie White, other than it was an Oriental forward blend with the Latakia and Virginia off in the background. Also, BS never had Perique in it and you can sure taste the Perique here. It was a good, solid middle of the road Oriental forward mixture that was easy to smoke.
6 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 13, 2007 Medium to Strong Mild Medium Pleasant
WAOW What a nice blend ,a big flavour , a complex smoking taste ,a really an "all along the day" blend for me
6 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 09, 2017 Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Cornell & Diehl - Odessa.

Okay, before I really digged around in the pouch it looked promising, and then I noticed the amount of twigs. I found a fair few of them in a short amount of time. The water content's good enough, if anything it's a bit too dry.

As expected from the moisture amount it lights easily. The tobaccos are quite well balanced with one another, ergo the smoke's fairly well-rounded. On one hand this is good, yet on the other it's bad. You see, there isn't really anything that particularly stands out where the flavour's concerned - what some would call well-rounded others may call boring? Me? I find it a bit mundane. This feeling lasts for half a bowl, and then it turns to dislike: it develops an ashy taste.

The nicotine's medium and the room note's alright, I suppose.

Only somewhat recommended.

Pipe Used: Peterson Jeckyll & Hyde #05
PurchasedFrom: 4noggins
Age When Smoked: Six weeks
5 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 30, 2006 Medium to Strong None Detected Medium Tolerable
History....Thats what this reminds me of. Old english libraries on estates of well to do gentleman..... This starts with a wonderful smokey taste, metamorphasing to a blend of Turkish, burley and Cyprian latakia. Like a gourmet coffee- Dark and tasty. I'm sure the perique is there, but its a team thing- so I never noticed any one thing performing a solo act. Its not for the aromatic follower, This is an ENGLISH. I was advised by Mr. Tarler that this was his dedication to Balkan Sobranie White. Never having tried B.S.W.- Its just plain good to me. I hope people give more attention to C&D's bulk blends- Pretty packaging is nice, But there are glories out there- and some secrets are forth discovering. If you like a good balkan- You owe it to yourself... ****I have noticed this will put you to sleep if your not careful....
5 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 19, 2017 Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
I bought two tins of this blend in 2012 because somebody told me that it was a Balkan Sobranie Mixture wannabe; however, they were wrong. It took me five years to find this out, as I put the tins in the back of my stash and forgot about them until recently. When I popped the tin, I was taken aback at the appearance: a very reddish brown mixture whose cut was rough and slightly shaggy and not at all the appearance of the old ribbon cut BS Mixture that I had smoked. I was equally taken aback by the tin aroma: five year-aged Burley with undertones of Latakia and Perique that, while wonderful to our pipe smoking nostrils (the tin top and bottom had begun to bulge after five years), bore no resemblance to BS Mixture. This blend is NOT Balkan Sobranie Mixture. Now that we've got that out of our systems, lets smoke this thing. I liked Odessa's smoking qualities right from the get-go. It came on rich and smokey and spicey, but in a way that didn't bite or overpower. The Burley was, clearly, in command in the top third of the bowl and I liked that. As we crossed over into the middle third, the nature of the smoke shifted toward a mellowed marrying of the four components. I thought this to be okay, but already missed the savor of that earlier smoke dominated by the Burley. Then we went into the finish third of the bowl and, here, things flattened out to a kind of tepid and tasteless tenor that is so familiar in these bottom third smokes. So, while not Balkan Sobranie Mixture, Odessa can hold it's own with many burley based blends and I have no problem rating it as Recommended with three stars.
Pipe Used: Northern Briars octagon Dublin (2009 NASPC pipe)
PurchasedFrom: C&D @ 2012 NASPC show
Age When Smoked: 5 yrs old
4 people found this review helpful.
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