Cornell & Diehl Bourbon Bleu

(2.82)
Perhaps the most well-known street in the French Quarter, the oldest district in New Orleans, this Cellar Series blend takes its name from the colorful Bourbon street, whose distinct blue shutters have lined the rue for years . In this equally memorable blend, bright and red Virginias are mixed with just the right amount of dark-fired Kentucky and long-cut Perique, then married together with bourbon before being press to form an old-fashioned crumble cake.

Details

Brand Cornell & Diehl
Series Cellar Series
Blended By Cornell & Diehl
Manufactured By Cornell & Diehl
Blend Type Virginia/Burley
Contents Kentucky, Perique, Virginia
Flavoring Bourbon
Cut Krumble Kake
Packaging 2oz, 8oz Tin
Country United States
Production Currently available

Profile

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

Average Rating

2.82 / 4
6

12

9

1

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 28 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 28, 2016 Medium Extremely Mild Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
The grassy, citrusy, slightly floral bright Virginia is the main component. The red Virginia is tangy, dark fruit sweet, woody, earthy, lightly bready as it plays a strong backup. The dark fired Kentucky is mildly spicy, woody, earthy, dry, herbal, and nutty as a condimental addition, though I seem to notice it just a little more after the half way point. The raisin, peppery, plumy perique is couple of shades more obvious than the Kentucky. The light bourbon topping is very mild, and hardly intrudes on the tobaccos, doing little more than lightly underscoring them. The strength and taste levels are medium. The nic-hit is in the center of mild to medium. It’s an easy to break apart krumble kake that burns slow, cool, clean and very smooth with a mostly consistent, rich flavor from top to bottom. Has no dull, weak or harsh spots, and won’t bite even if pushed. Requires some relights. Leaves very little moisture in the bowl, and easily burns to ash. Has a very pleasant after taste that lingers just a mite. Not quite an all day smoke but it has enough strength to hold your interest and attention.

-JimInks
24 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 12, 2015 Mild Mild Mild Pleasant
My friend Michael was kind enough to send me two tins of Bourbon Bleu to taste test and give feed back. I spent a week and smoked half of the first tin. I understand this is ment to be cellared but right out I could only smell a old summer hay smell. I broke off a corner chunk and rubbed it into nice soft rough cut. Then I just dropped it into the pipe lightly using my thumbs to finish the fill. The tin description states the blend is bright and red Viriginias mixed with dark-fired Kentucky and Perique, and a visual inspection of the stuff, predominantly gold, speckled with flecks of dark red and black, suggests the red VAs, dark-fired Kentucky, and Perique are present mostly as condimental ingredients, that the star of the show is the golden Virginia leaf. It took several tries to light before I could get it going good. The grass smell comes out right at char. For me it tasted salty and more like Amaretto than bourbon. With short sweet puffs this try to open up. It really has to be smoked slow and the sweetness of the blend comes out. In the end it left little dottle and a very nice gray ash. After a little thought I ordered 10 tins and will add a few more each month. In all it was a very good smoke and the age will I hope make it better.
Pipe Used: Comoy
PurchasedFrom: WASH. DC
Age When Smoked: fresh tin
15 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 29, 2016 Medium Extremely Mild Medium Pleasant
Cornell & Diehl - Bourbon Bleu (Cellar Series).

I received this on a trade with Gentleman Zombie, I hadn't expected it but the blends I requested were shipped including a free sample of this, which he very kindly forwarded to me, many thanks Franck! It's so good when I noticed one of my regular dealers have started stocking it I just had to order a tin!

I find the Bourbon really weak at first; more of a nebulous alcoholic addition rather than a definite Bourbon casing. It remains fairly weak over the duration of the smoke, but becomes slightly clearer as the bowl burns; slightly clearer, but still really mild.

Moving on to discuss the taste of the tobaccos now: I find the Virginia leads the pack for the majority of the smoke; occasionally some of the Perique or Kentucky will rear its head (the Perique more so) but most of the time it's more of a top quality, slightly cased, Va.

The nicotine is very medium in this, it's more like the amount I'd expect from a blend that's prominently Virginia.

This, in my opinion, is a four star blend; thanks for sending it Franck!

Highly recommended.
Pipe Used: Peterson Donegal #03
PurchasedFrom: Included as an extra on a trade with Gentleman Zombie
Age When Smoked: Three weeks
14 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jun 27, 2016 Mild to Medium Extremely Mild Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Bourbon Blue is a good looking crumble cake that crumbles with ease. The scent is a little earthy, tangy and a bit sour. For whatever reason it took longer to dry than I expected and smoking it right away made for a difficult time keeping it lit. It burns cool and offers little to no complexity. The bourbon isn’t very noticeable. There is some spice too, but I wouldn’t call it an overall spicy blend. The red Virginia offers a nice background tang, but the bright Virginia’s take the lead. The Perique is ever present, but seems to be well done. Bourbon Blue is a decent enough blend, but for me, most C&D Virginia's need some time in the cellar so I don’t find the “cellar” moniker to be little more than a marketing ploy. Especially since the vast majority of Virginia blends improve with age anyway. If you’re a fan of C&D Virginia forward blends, this one is worth a try, but for me there are so many other Virginia forward blends that I would prefer to cellar that this one isn’t a keeper. Two and a half stars.
7 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 15, 2016 Medium Extremely Mild Medium Tolerable
I bought a couple of tins of each of the cellar series blends around the same time they were released and have had to fight every instinct to open them as I am hoping to attain a little age on them beforehand. Well, I can't tell you how happy I was when Smokingpipes.com offered a free .5 oz sample of this with an order I placed. Finally, I would get a chance to try one out fresh.

The immediate impression of the blend is how golden the little crumble kake is. C&D does a great job on crumble kakes, btw. And my little .5 oz. sample look just as good as a 2 oz cake of briar fox. Tightly packed, but easily crumbled.

The blend is heavily Virginia. This is something I expected as Virginia is highly regarded to be the most benefitted from any appreciable aging. The perique content is nice to my palate which might make it a little heavy to the average palate. Nice sweet and spice. I don't think the Kentucky plays a strong role in this blend, perhaps it is there to mellow the perique a bit, I don't know.

Finally, the bourbon. I don't think I directly tasted anything that tasted like bourbon in this. It was, to my tastes, more of a VaBurPer reminiscent of Old Gowrie. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed this blend fresh and look forward to trying some of the tins after they have aged a bit. I am putting three stars down on this now and will revisit.
7 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 29, 2016 Mild to Medium Very Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
I recently smoked through two half-ounce samples of this and I enjoyed every moment of it.

Bourbon Bleu is a densely pressed krumble kake of Virginia, perique and dark fired Kentucky. The pouch note is very similar to Briar Fox, only kissed with a bit of bourbon. The flavor is on the brighter side of the spectrum. The Virginias are sweet and grassy, the perique and dark fired add depth and a bit of spice but they are minor players in the overall taste. The bourbon works wonderfully, providing a delicate sweet whisky flavor to the outer edge of the finish.

I can’t help but comparing this just a bit to GLP's Virginia Cream. They have similar flavor profiles, only Bourbon Bleu is milder, sweeter and smoother. Virginia Cream has a bit more body and perhaps more personality, but I like this better and I have to admit that I found myself wondering what Virginia Cream would be like as a krumble kake. Anyhow, I am sure this was mulled over by Mr. Pease at some point.

Cellar Series? A novel marketing concept but I prefer tobacco that’s good to smoke now. Thankfully this blend is.
7 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 18, 2015 Medium Mild Medium Tolerable
A good Virginia/Périque blend, with some Kentucky and a bit of bourbon whiskey that doesn't really spoil the natural tobaccos' taste. It is quite dry (krumble kake) and it has a sweet/sour denoument. It is very smooth but for my palate a tad monochromatic and predictable. Nothing exciting, but a good, reliable smoke of a very traditional kind.
Pipe Used: Comoys
PurchasedFrom: N/A
Age When Smoked: N/A
6 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 19, 2016 Medium to Strong None Detected Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
(The following are my impressions and opinions. I don't care if you agree or not.)

I smelled the hay.

I smelled something reminiscent of a vinegary BBQ sauce. (This was the Perique component)

I fell in love with the smell when I opened the half ounce sample pack and stuck my nose into it.

Next step was to light it. Light it. Light it. Light it. For a tobacco that felt fairly dry the Bourbon Bleu just didn’t want to stay lit at first. After the fourth attempt it caught on and rewarded me with a steady cloud of smoke.

And I smelled the hay. It took me back to fresh cut hay fields and early fall hayrides. Bourbon? I’ve read that it is supposed to have bourbon in it but tobaccoreviews.com says it has no flavoring. If there is it is so subtle that the only time I tasted bourbon was when I sipped the Knobb Creek that was in my glass. There was some sweetness but I attributed this more to the Virginia than anything else.

Anyway, I found it to be a slow burning, cool smoke. Every once in a while I would pick up a hint of pepper which I attributed to the small amount of Perique in the blend. Then when I got down to about a half of bowl, I started noticing less hay and more of that Perique aroma I remember from a tour of the L.A. Poche Perique in October. It was a rich, sweet fruity aroma that slowly gave way to the hay smell of the Virginia.

Other reviews I’ve read has the Bourbon Bleu as a mild-to-medium strength smoke. It may have been because I smoked it on an empty stomach, but I feel it’s more of medium-to-strong. As I got closer to the bottom of the bowl, I could feel the nicotine hit building. I recommend not smoking this on an empty stomach but after a good meal.

All this being said, my personal opinion is that this is a good Virginia based blend that I enjoyed but it probably won’t find its way into my daily rotation. I will buy a tin or two and tuck them away in my cellar though.
Pipe Used: MM Shire Cob
PurchasedFrom: Smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: new sample
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 08, 2015 Mild None Detected Mild to Medium Tolerable
Another update: This has gotten much better after a longer wait. The over the top grass/hay that I first noted is absent. It is now a real nice Virginia blend. The bourbon is absent as well, however, the base Virginia makes up for it. Still not the best, or my favorite Virginia as it is on the mild side. Worth adding to my rotation and buying more to age for a year or so.

3.3 stars.
UPDATE:

It got better as it got older/not so moist. However, it still lacks the bourbon note it advertised. As a basic, straight Virginia, it's not bad, but I've had much better. This is not a horrible blend, but it's not great either.

I may update this as I smoke more of it.
The tin aroma is grass, hay and a sharp, tangy alcohol. It is one block of pressed tobacco with a mottled color of light gold and dark brown.

After pulling some off the cake and drying over night, I anxiously packed a bowl. It was difficult to light and keep lit. Because of that, I got some hot, grassy flavor and slight tongue bite. After several re-lights, I gave up and went to bed. The next day, I tried again. This time with fewer re-lights, but the same hot grassy flavor and tongue bite.

Rather one dimensional in flavor of grass/hay. Not much natural sweetness or perique. I would not guess there was any bourbon had it not said so on the label, and of course the tin note.

I'll keep at this. I may to come to enjoy it, but for now, I have many other blends that please me.
PurchasedFrom: Brick and Mortar(Puff N Stuff)
Age When Smoked: Over a year old.
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 21, 2017 Mild Extremely Mild Mild Pleasant
I received a tin of this as a sample in an order, and recently got around to smoking through some of it. I am a big fan of navy flake, Va/Per, and have liked virtually every variation I've tried so far. I was intrigued to try a similar blend in cake form, with bourbon to boot! I am also a big fan of bourbons, so this seemed like a win-win situation.

Tin Note: Despite all the other reviews stating that there is some type of bourbon aroma in there, I can detect none of it whatsoever. I have had my nose in a variety of bourbons from every tier of the shelf, and if I ever had one with an aroma similar to this tobacco I would probably think someone was playing a joke on me. The first thing that comes to mind when smelling this, is old fashioned spiced fruit cake(the kind people joke about around Christmas time). If I were to try and separate the aromas, I smell the spiciness of the Perique, followed by an almost sour note which reminds me of very over-ripe fruit. A strange whiff indeed.

Prep: Breaking off a chunk of the cake and rubbing out thoroughly, produces what looks like a broken shag cut. It is probably the finest I've ever seen in tobacco actually meant for pipes, not the RYO crowd. The tobacco was very moist, and took about 30-45 minutes to get to a point where it wouldn't stay in a wad when pinched. It packed easily as expected given the fineness of the cut.

Light/Burn: First light was somewhat challenging, I think due to the fine cut, as it expanded like a magic-snake out of the top of my bowl. I had to stop mid char to get it tamed back into place before finishing the light. It seemed to stay lit very well, and burned evenly without issue. No bite for me at all, even when pushing it; however, the flavor when not sipped reminded me of a cigar that had been over-humidified(steamy, acrid).

Flavor: The flavor is not what I expected at all from the tin note. I detect no fruity or citrusy flavors common to other Virginia dominate blends, and I surely do not taste bourbon at any point during the bowl. What I do taste pretty uniformly throughout is the Perique - it dominates the palate, and I feel that the addition of the bourbon may be muted by this(although Frog Morton's Cellar is supposed to have whiskey in it as well, and I can't detect it either). Every now and then during the bowl the Virginia sweetness would poke it's head out with a "Hey Y'all", but in an instant it was gone, making me question if I had tasted it or just imagined that I had. The after taste was pleasant enough, like white pepper, and did not overstay it's welcome.

Obligatory, "burned to the bottom/left no dottle/dry bowl/white ash" comment here..

Summary: Overall this was not an amazing smoke, nor was it a terrible one. It was a pretty flat, Perique forward smoke which doesn't offend any of the senses, but also doesn't really tickle them much either. Perhaps with long term cellaring the Virginia flavor would improve, but if you are going to smoke it fresh I would personally seek out other blends.
Pipe Used: Nording Classic, Dr. Grabow Grand Duke
PurchasedFrom: Sample from paylesscigarsandpipes.com
Age When Smoked: Fresh
3 people found this review helpful.
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