Cornell & Diehl Christmas Blend 2014 (We Three Kings)

(2.17)
Inspired by the Christmas carol penned in 1857, the first Christmas carol written in the US to achieve widespread popularity, "We Three Kings" is C&D's 2014 Yuletide tobacco offering and alludes to the magi who traveled to the nativity bearing exotic spices and treasures. One part black Cavendish is met with equal measures of the "Three Kings" of red Virginia, bright Virginia, and Katerini Turkish, transforming this blend into true holiday magic with flavors of allspice, cinnamon, and vanilla.

Details

Brand Cornell & Diehl
Blended By Cornell & Diehl
Manufactured By Cornell & Diehl
Blend Type Aromatic
Contents Black Cavendish, Oriental/Turkish, Virginia
Flavoring Cinnamon, Vanilla
Cut Ribbon
Packaging 2oz, 8oz Tin
Country United States
Production Currently available

Profile

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

Average Rating

2.17 / 4
1

9

6

7

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 23 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 15, 2014 Medium Medium Medium Pleasant
Now, I am not typically an Aromatic smoker, so when an "Aromatic" blend crosses over into the realm of a "Virginia", I have to take note. If there was a category between the two, We the Kings would fall there. To my tastes the bright and red VA does a good job of keeping things interesting in terms of body and strength while the Katirini definitely adds a certain intrigue not typically found in your everyday Aromatic blends. As far as the spice, it does remind me of that certain time of the year (although it would be great year-round) while adding to the modest, yet very appealing aroma. This one certainly surprised me!
PurchasedFrom: Smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: Fresh
15 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 28, 2017 Mild to Medium Medium Medium Pleasant
The tangy, dark fruity, earthy red Virginia is a little more noticeable than the grass and citrus from the bright Va. The black cavendish offers some brown sugar. The woody, lightly sweet and more sour, earthy, herbal, floral Katerini is an important supporting player, and seems to stand out a little more than the other varietals mostly because the toppings sublimate it less. The vanilla plays second fiddle to the all spice and cinnamon. I also sense a touch of clove, though I suspect that comes from the chemistry created by the various ingredients. The strength is in the center of mild to medium, while the taste level is medium. The nic-hit is just past the mild threshold. Won’t bite or get harsh. Burns cool, clean and slightly slow with a very consistent flavor that will fill your senses. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and requires a few relights. Has a pleasant, lingering after taste and room note. Not an all day smoke, but it is repeatable. Two and a half stars.

-JimInks
11 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 04, 2014 Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Pleasant
Tin Note: Mixture of black, brown, and gold leaf with a few stems. Smells pretty much like the tin says: allspice and vanilla, except I don't detect a cinnamon scent. To my nose the vanilla is up front and I also pick up a hint of raisins.

Charring Light: I packed my smallish, smooth Nording Queen using the air pocket method. First light yielded a few different flavors: definitely vanilla up front, and now the cinnamon that I didn't notice in the tin comes through along with a slight note of tea leaves. The leaf lit well with not a lot of smoke, rose well above the rim, and stayed lit nicely on the first tamp.

The first third of the bowl started a little harsh, probably because I pushed too hard to see what I could coax from it. Definitely have to treat this with care or it'll bite. I finally found the sweet spot in my cadence with very light tamping. At this point the Cavendish is forward to my palate with it's mild vanilla sweetness. I'm not a big fan of the aftertaste; it reminds me of cheap, hard candy for some reason.

Near mid-bowl the Cavendish begins to take a back seat as the Virginias and Turkish assert themselves. The sweetness shifts to a grassy/hay variety and the spicy cinnamon flavor weaves in and out. It has an almost peppery quality to it like an atomic fireball but not nearly as strong; more like Big Red chewing gum but not as sweet. The retrohale is fairly pleasant and the aftertaste has improved quite a bit.

The last third of the bowl is pretty much the same except the vanilla has somewhat made it's way back into the picture. The ash is predominately gray with flecks of white, and the burn was consistent throughout. Can't comment on the room note since I'm an outdoor smoker.

Overall this is good pipeweed and very fitting for the season; the cinnamon spiciness does remind me of Christmas. It's not in my wheelhouse so I doubt I would smoke it on a regular basis but it's a very nice change of pace. I'm curious to discover if my opinion changes as the weather gets colder.
Pipe Used: Nording
PurchasedFrom: Local B&M
Age When Smoked: 2 months
10 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 14, 2015 Mild Mild Medium Pleasant
Although sold as a holiday blend I believe that this tobacco could be smoked just about any time. The tin note reminded me of vanilla, nutmeg, rum, and spice and was very pleasant. Before lighting there was a sweet and spicy like taste in the pipe when drawn which hints at what is to come. The tobacco was easy to load and pack and took the initial light well, staying lit through the majority of the smoke, although I did have to relight midway through the bowl, but this is meant to be smoked slowly in order to avoid any bite. The taste was mild and slightly sweet with a hint of vanilla and a touch of spiciness on the initial charring, but progressed into a more spiced, almost ginger like note by mid-bowl. Towards the end of the smoke there was an almost fresh baked bread taste that was detectable with just a hint of the sweetness coming through. The room note according to the wife was warm and pleasant. All in all, a good smoke any day of the week
Pipe Used: Italian Briar
PurchasedFrom: SmokingPipes.com
Age When Smoked: fresh from tin
6 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 27, 2017 Mild to Medium Medium Mild to Medium Tolerable
Cornell & Diehl - We Three Kings.

A small amount of the mix is on the cusp of being a broken flake. It's prominently ribbons but some of the blend is coarser/quite rugged. The black Cavendish is the lesser of the three, about 20%. The smell from it exemplifies the spices more so than the vanilla. Like Golden Days of Yore which I reviewed a few days back the moisture's perfect, but unlike Golden Days' I'm not a fan.

The black Cavendish proffers the least flavour, the Virginia and Katerini are running the show. Being fair, the initial flavour's better than the subsequent part. I can taste a lot more vanilla for the first quarter, but this becomes overpowered by the cinnamon and sharp/floral Virginia and Katerini flavours. The over all taste is quite sharp and bitter. It burns good enough, causing no tongue bite, and is relatively cool.

Nicotine: mild to medium. Room-note: not a fan.

We Three Kings? I don't like it and won't rate it with any more than one star:

Not recommended.
Pipe Used: Peder Jeppesen Free Hand
PurchasedFrom: Smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: New
5 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 11, 2021 Mild Medium Mild Very Pleasant
I've been itching to open a tin of this blend for a long time. Enough to say, after it was introduced in 2014 as a Christmas gift (later replaced by Golden Days of Yore), the blend became quite popular, and it continued to be released for at least two more years. At any rate, I have in my collection a 100-gram tin from 2015 and a half-pound tin released in 2016. It's certainly interesting to compare how the tobacco has changed over the year, and when the 2015 can comes to an end, I'll leave some to make that comparison. For now, let's talk about the tin that was released in January 2015.

Appearance: a blend of tobaccos ranging from yellowish-brown light Virginia to almost black Cavendish. The blend is sliced in ribbon and flakes of varying sizes, with cavendish mixed in. It's not an even ribbon of Dunhill or McConnell, but it's not a rough cut of Amphora's Virginia blends either. The quality of the tobacco is very high - no dust, no extra moisture. A little dried out over the years, but the tightly sealed jar kept the tobacco intact. I kept it in the jar for a day to moisten, and the tobacco was ready.

Flavor: unconditional vanilla, rum and a complex bouquet of spices, with cinnamon standing out. The tobacco also has a slight whiff of berry sourness, which I attributed to its age. In addition, I caught a note of incense in the background. Of course, there is also the actual scent of tobacco - some dark Virginia fruit, notes of spicy Turkish tobacco, woven into the overall bouquet, a little bit of sweet prune from the cavendish. The overall impression is that of a well soaked rum cake with fruit and berry and vanilla filling.

Taste: sweetish note of caramel sugar, dried fruit with a slight sourness (very similar to small Turkish dried apricots), some wheat bread and to all this - an acceptable dose of spice mixed with white pepper. Surprisingly balanced, the blend now no longer feels lightly flavored, it has character. The blend is quite mild, with only a slight roughness that quickly goes away. The flavoring gets weaker as you smoke, the pepper takes over, and the result is quite a light tobacco, which nevertheless tastes closer to natural blends than flavorings. The tobacco smokes medium-hot, does not like heavy puffs, quickly heating up the pipe. The strength is below average - a large size pipe is not enough to get a nicotine hit, but XL pipes can remind you that this is tobacco, not a hookah blend for teenagers after all. The ash is light gray, not much of it. The tobacco leaves some moisture in the pipe, but virtually no tar. The aftertaste is sweetly rummy.

The smoke from the tobacco is very pleasant and yet dense enough to hang in the room for a long time. It has a vanilla-caramel aroma with a cinnamon-berry flavor.

Bottom line: a great holiday tobacco that could well be smoked as an everyday dessert. Fans of pure aromatics may not like it for its hint of natural flavor, but the rest will probably be very happy. The cherry on this cake is the fact that Golden Days Of Yore and We Three Kings blends have been re-released this year, in anticipation of Christmas, so they should absolutely be on our shelves at the end of the year. I highly recommend buying both blends by the can or two to try. They are well worth it.
Pipe Used: Peterson POTY 2013, Peterson Pub Pipe
PurchasedFrom: Online
Age When Smoked: 2015
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 23, 2015 Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Medium to Full Very Pleasant
C&D's We Three Kings, 2014 Christmas Blend is truly a treasure fit for a king of Orient or any other king. It's easily one of the nicest aromatics I've smoked, and definitely one of my favorites that I'm sure to keep at hand.

Not overly sweet - no heavy casing like many cheaper aros - this one is gentle and tasty, with the Virginias and Turkish components blending very nicely with the cinimony, nutmegy, light spicy, vanilla flavors of the dark Cavendish, without being overpowering. Not at all moist or goopy like typical cheaper aromatics, this burns nicely, like a high quality blend.

Other favorable reviews here describe very well the experience of this marvelous blend, with not much more I can add. A pleasure to smoke, especially during cold winter months here in Toronto Ontario. It really does epitomize the smells and essence of the Christmas holidays and spirit! Cheers!
Pipe Used: filtered & non-filtered briar, & meerschaum
PurchasedFrom: Smoking Pipes
Age When Smoked: fresh to 3 months old
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 12, 2022 Mild to Medium Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant
Tin note of vanilla, earth, and a mild note of cinnamon toast. Tobacco cut is a mix of tan ribbon, reddish-brown broken flake and black broad cut. Tobacco is somewhat dry, no drying needed. Burns slightly slow with few relights. The strength is mild to medium and nic is mild. Flavoring is mild, with notes of allspice, cinnamon and light vanilla. Taste is mild to medium and mostly consistent, with notes of very woody, very herbal, very floral, earthy, lemon grass, mildly sweet dark fruit, and mildly peppery retro. The 31.25% Red Virginia and 31.25% Bright Virginia are ganging up on the 31.25% Katerini Turkish while the 6.25% Cavendish plays referee. Flavoring is calling the fight. Room note is pleasant, and aftertaste is ok.
Pipe Used: 2015 XXX Ashton Brindle Author
Age When Smoked: 8 years
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
HWM
Jul 08, 2022 Mild Medium Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
The smell does not match the taste but that is ok. It’s one of those VA blends with a hint of casing. Pleasant enough room note but the taste is more like a VA tobacco. It can bite if puffed to hard. Ok but I wouldn’t buy it again as I was hoping for a more “in your face” aromatic rather than a middle-of-the-road VA tobacco blend.
Pipe Used: Peterson Dracula Bent Apple 03
PurchasedFrom: Smoking Pipes
Age When Smoked: Less than 1 year
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jun 14, 2022 Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Pleasant
After using half of my jar I wrote the review. This tobacco is one of the good aromatics. I got the Valina taste from this one and the room note is not bad. The strength is mild to medium.
Pipe Used: TROKASH
PurchasedFrom: https://trokash.com/
1 person found this review helpful.
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