| I have smoked Cornell & Diehl blends now for several years. (Actually I was a 700th-and-something customer). I honestly don't think there is a better burley blender in the nation. I truly believe C&D does with burley what McClelland does with Virginias. It is an amazing mixture of magic and tobacco. Amen.
I love most of Craig and Patty's burley and English blends (no, not the aromatics, but then I don't mess with aromatics any longer at all, having smoked them to my fill, and the foo-foo, gummed up ruination of several good pipes in my youth).
Blend #7 has a fine, fine burley component (yes, I am a burley fan) with just the right touch of Brown Virginia, Latakia, Perique and Bright Flake. The burley softens and smoothes out the Virginia and the flake and there is only a hint of Latakia.
The Perique is there from start to finish. If you puff slowly on this blend (it is 503 #7 in the C&D catalog) it just gets better and better.
There is no casing that I can detect, which is typical of the C&D blends outside of the aromatics. What you buy is what you get, no extra water, no humectants, just the pure pleasure of the tobacco itself.
I don't think #7 makes an all-day smoke, but for the burley lover, this is more than worthy of at least a couple of bowls a day. I have been smoking it for more than a week now fairly constantly in various size pipes. It is lovely in each. No bite at all, with a pleasant aftertaste.
The ash burns to gray, and if you smoke the tobacco all the way down to the bottom of the bowl, you will be pleasingly rewarded. That is provided you are in the mood for burley.
And if you aren't, there is more than enough to warrant giving this a shot. You might be surprised.
A word to the wise: the wife won't like the room aroma.
|
