I've wrestled off on on throughout my life to like this blend. I really wanted to like it, but just never been able to do it.

As teenagers we managed to illicitly acquire a few supermarket blends like Holiday, Rum and Maple, Prince Albert and Hickory, but Revelation was one of those finds we'd obsess over. The Burley, Virginia, Latakia and Perique configuration made it intriguing and a joy to have around. It smelled different and exciting. But as I recollect none of my pals ever actually smoked Revelation much because it was just an unpleasant encounter, bitter and biting, like Popa's Camel cigarettes.

And things haven't changed for me. Acquired 8 ounces recently in another attempt to embrace this icon tobac only to find it still smells great, but that is where the adventure ends. It smokes hot, has a tendency to require multiple relites, tastes bitter, is hard on the throat, and ghosts any pipe I ever put it in including the cobs. I'm relegated to using it as a mixer and for me that is where its salvaging grace lies. I give it ** stars in deference to all good Revelation lovers out there.

Sorry Dr. Einstein but your passion for it athwarts a dimension I have never been able to enter.

As for the smoke itself I got some smokiness (i.e. Latakia) in the bag but this didn't really transfer to the bowl where I found mainly burley and perique. The lack of latakia made it a little too spicy for me and because it lacked the smokiness of the latakia, the burley and perique just sort of hung there with nothing to support it. In the words of the 42nd president of the USA, there really was no "there" there.

I blended some in various ratios with 1Q and will see what that does in a week or so. I'll order some BCA and blend it with that, too, and see what happens.

UPDATE:

I have had several more bowls of this and it seemed inconsistent in flavor. After a deep pipe clean days ago, I came back to it this morning and had the same joyous experience as the one above. Could just be the alignment of mood/climate/time of day, but I cannot get enough of this blend. Very contemplative and special to me as I would not have continued my journey into the land of non-aromatics were it not for this.

The order on Monday morning arrived on a Wednesday afternoon via US Priority Mail. The sample packaging was in heavy duty ziplock bags with a Cornell and Diehl label, see uploaded photo.

I gave this tobacco it's first firing in a good sized meerschaum that was well cleaned prior to smoking, to attempt to narrow down the flavor, etc. to this blend alone. (this is what I prefer, for a first go with any new tobac)

The taste was decent, the smoke appealing, and like the other quality tobaccos I've used the ash was fine and gray. Tongue bite for me was noticeably absent at my standard relaxed pace, though I did not attempt to mindlessly huff it to see if I could get the bite.

The aroma was certainly tolerable, the taste was decent to my palate. I have no experience with either of the two variants that inspired this blend. I will continue with this blend . . .

I'm finding an affinity for light "American English" blends these days. In this one, the latakia is used as a spice while the burleys and VA's rule the show. The perique is almost undetectable but it shows itself enough to indicate that this blend would be less harmonious without it. This blends strongest attribute is its balance. Nothing stands out but everything melds into a united whole. Nice nicotine hit too, for those who hold that in high esteem.

Ridiculously cheap in bulk, my 1 oz sample is being parlayed into a 2 pound purchase. Tarler and Runowski have outdone themselves! And outdone many others as well!

I don't know how Messrs. Tarler and Runowski can make such a makeshift looking blend of tobacco-leaf debris burn so well and taste so good. They are wizards. That said, the flavors morph a bit throughout the bowl, and you should use some care when loading. Give it a good stir first; otherwise, the random-cut leaves can deliver a mixture with wildly varying taste. Recently, forgetting to do so yielded what seemed like half a bowl of Louisiana weed.

Highly recommended for both the novice smoker who wants to branch out from aromatics and the veteran piper alike. Four American stars!

The cut of the blend is a nice chunky cut that is low on moisture in the tin which I certainly prefer over being quite wet. I pulled the contents out of the tin and removed a couple of stems as well as pulled apart a couple of large leaves. I promptly loaded up my Peterson 102 Army mount and put the contents back in the tin to air out a bit and then in a Mason Jar the next day.

Upon lighting up the room note struck me as one from my child hood when my dad would smoke Revelation. The taste wasn't one of individual leaves weaving in and out in taste but of a united front of burley, an English mixture and a very slight fruit like topping. It was an extremely pleasant combination which I haven't ever tasted before. The smoke remained united through the whole bowl and took on a toasty taste towards the end of the bowl that reminded me a little bit of Squadron Leader. I did experience some gurgle in my pipe but I place this squarely on the pipe being brand new and not having been broken in.

The smoke had something that I've always felt is missing from a lot of English blends: body. I enjoy burley so much precisely because it seems to have more substantial smoke than a lot of "thin" English blends. Believe me I do enjoy English blends but always come back to burleys as my baseline. This blend has a nice solid base of burley that interplays perfectly with the English components. If that wasn't enough the very slight topping adds a subtle and sweet touch that balances everything out. If you're a latakia fiend don't expect to find a huge amount of it in this blend. It's there and you can certainly taste it but just like all the other components it works well with every other leaf to make a sum greater than the whole.

I do believe that C&D hit a home run with this blend. There is something for everyone to enjoy and if I were to pick a blend that is a perfect Americanized English this would be the blend. Enjoy!

No problem at all packing and burning. This particular sample was quite dry, and because it was a gift I don't know if it came from a tin or bulk, but my guess is bulk. Makes me happy since I plan to buy a pound for aging. Seems to me this blend will only improve with some time in the cellar.

The first word that comes to mind is earthy. It starts off mild, as the description suggests. Earthy and warm, it makes for a perfect autumn outdoor morning smoke, with a mug of Starbucks at my side. I'm thinking it's the Burley that gives that earthy note, and it works perfectly in this particular blend of leaves. I'm literally tasting what I hear rustling in the branches above my head - autumn, dried leaves, fall colors. The Latakia is very mild and serves only to provide some flavoring and richness. All the ingredients meld so well that the overall end result is all that comes through. This is perhaps one of the best balanced combination of tobaccos I've had in a while.

Sweet Virginias make an occasional appearance, but most of the time it's that consistent blend of flavors that create what is in my experience a unique combination. Yes, it's a mild English, but it gains a bit of strength during the smoke to push it toward the medium part of the spectrum. About half way though I notice a toastiness that lasts the rest of the bowl. This is where it really gets good. The occasional hint of a very light topping comes through, but I can't honestly tell whether that's just natural sweetness of if they added something. For those of you who don't prefer toppings, there's nothing to fear as it's so light as to make me question whether or not it's just the natural tobacco flavors.

Yes, I will certainly acquire more of this. It's a keeper and easily earns four stars.