The tin was opened three days ago, I smoked it with my Karl Erik freehand pipe. It may require some lights at the beginning, and once it is lit, it is easily burned through the bowl, giving adequate tamping from time to time of course.

The flavory is excellent. This is so far the first Latakia tobacco I smoked and I like it very much. This will absolutely be on my next purchase list. Highly recommended when you watch a videos and would like to have something to smoke.

=== Updated on 28th Dec. 2008. ===

Ok, I have had some second thoughts about this blend. I have finished most of the tin. But the pleasure that I have had during my first bowl is gone. Now it seems a little more spicy than before. Maybe because the leaves are not well mixed. When I packed my first bowl there were only large leaves but there are littles ones hidden beneath the huge-leaf layers. Perique I assume? It is still good tobacco and is good to enjoy a bowl from time to time, but it definetly will not be my everyday blend any more.

Downgraded to 3 stars.

It is not a crossover like the tin will tell you. Maybe it is a crossover in a sense that I do not understand such as production technique, but it is an all out aro in flavor.

I only bought this because it was on sale. I would normally not try anything that I thought might be an aro except Autumn Evening which is the only aro that I have liked.

It has changed a bit over the years, Cornell & Diehl has changed packaging also, my first tin of this was in a brass colored tin with the ?coffee filter?, the second two tins came with a 16mm film canister with a vacuum sealed bag (traded for a tin of McCranie?s ?83 red ribbon) and now the tin is like the one McClelland?s use. Also, this use to be a pressed cake form (have an old tin to prove it) now it is a ribbon. The one thing that hasn?t changed?the tobaccos (however it seems to have more Turkish and less Latakia) and ?lightly flavored with rum punch? topping.

Now for the review, this is heavily cased in a fruit punch concoction that has a musty smell from the Latakia and a spice from the Perique when the tin is opened. However, the smoking qualities are a bit different. When you first light this, the palate and room is overwhelmed by the fruity nature of the casing and the Turkish leaps out at you. (At least in the latest blend tin; labeled on the bottom as #120705 I guess that means it was tinned 07/05?) Then you get a very tasty smoke down to about the halfway point if you smoke it quickly you will get bitten so in that respect I cannot give this four stars. Then this morphs into a wicked Perique war on the senses, spice, nicotine and a clearing of the punch with a whole separate punch. The smoke finished with a mottled grey and dark grey ash with absolutely no ?goop?.

This is a pipe tobacco that in my opinion has to be tried by all aromatic smokers, but the pure VA and English smokers might want to try this as a change of pace or to please the ladies.

Update: What a fun blend. There are some that will disagree, but what fun is that?

There is a topping in this dark and moist ribbon cut leaf that boasted a liquor like flavor. It was tough to keep lit and burning. A mild tobacco/nicotine presentation as well.

As another review indicated, it was difficult to identify any particular component other than the Perique.

Okay, so what are this tobacco's endearing qualities? There are none. (IMO, of course.)

This is a very unusual blend. It's supposed to be a crossover blend, but the only tobacco flavor that actually clawed its way through the topping was the Perique. The other tobaccos may as well not even be there.

The topping is strong. And really wierd. Rum punch? Well, maybe not in the flavor, but I guess it could be that in the room note, which I think would be popular with non-pipesmokers.

If this is a crossover, it must be a crossover from aromatics to super-aromatics. I was expecting more of an English aromatic. I was disappointed.

Next day I got in from work and the whole house smelt of the "light "rum punch flavour. Pop Pourri forget it . Get a tin of this stuff. In 24 hours the "light" rum punch had contaiminated the Barbary coast in the rum humidor. I know burly soaks up flavours but cross eyed cricket smothers everything. It was then banished to a jar in solitary confinement.

This is a great blend for summer heat . But it has taken a good 20 bowls of strong VA to rid it from the rum pipe and it still haunts the solitary confinement jar . With a half life longer than plutonium an unforgettable blend.

But this is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a true aromatic. It also has a strong english style. I have a hard time finding a pipe I want to smoke this in, because it would contaminate either a pipe dedicated to aromatics or a pipe dedicated to latakia mixtures. I end up using a kind of wierd, off-brand briar that I am not that attached to.

Now, my issue with this blend is not that I can't tolerate latakia/perique or aromatics. Indeed, I thoroughly enjoy both. I have approached this blend several times thinking I could get both appetites met at once. My problem is that this is just too dang intense! Since others have not commented on the intensity of the aroma/flavoring, I wonder if I got a double-dosed batch or something. Must be that the cavendish really soaks up the flavoring. I know that I could leave open to air out, but it is already fairly dry, and a lot of the good tobacco flavors would also volatilize at the same time.

At any rate, I will not replace this tin when I finish it, unless I happen to sample someone else's tin and it comes across differently. It would be interesting to try this blend without the perique, which is the element that seems to clash most with the added flavoring. This product suggests strongly that you cannot have it both ways.