Cornell & Diehl - Briar Fox pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
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SirLoirn	09/25/2008	Medium to Strong	None detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant
Tin: Fig, hay, red wine fragrance, pressed into a block, wrapped in paper, that looks like Days O Work chewing tobacco. There are shades of brown with flecks of black. BF is not sticky, but is on the dry side. It is a prime candidate for rehydration(GLPease.com/FAQ). Packing & Lighting: When broken up, the cake is a coarse ribbon . You have to pull apart and rub the tobacco, which I find to be a small chore and messy. Not as big a chore as it is with a flake or roll cut, after handling the little block for a couple of days, it becomes an agreeable task. It is easily overpacked. The first two bowls were packed lightly, but became too difficult to even draw through it. The third bowl was gravity-fed only, tamped down while smoking, and again became difficult to draw. Just gravity-fill the pipe, tapping the side of the bowl, then cautiously tamp it down while smoking slowly. Funny thing, but later bowls do not give this problem. On first light, the bowl smoke makes the nose tingle. The tobacco lights easily, being dry. The bowl becomes hot, but the smoke remains nice and cool, until the end of the bowl, where it is hot. This dry tobacco produces very little moisture. BF burns quickly to the bottom, on one match. To control the burn rate, pack the bowl with some of the tobacco in chunks. Taste: Tastes like the tin aroma: fig, prune, light hay or toast, natural red wine spice character; while not sweet like a McClelland or Dunhill's SM, BF is fleetingly sweet. Aroma: Like the tin aroma, and taste. Lightly packed, more taste and aroma evolves. Nicotine: BF has plenty, sometimes as much as Dunhill 965 or EMP, sometimes no stronger than SM Mild. Overall: BF has qualities of a good VA, though not sweet. BF compares favorably to Dunhill's SM, in quality. It's a nice, toasty VA that delivers a light, natural fragrance, worth the price. Hunting for a fine VA smoke to be enjoyed at all times of the day? Cornell & Diehl sounds the tallyho. The Briar Fox is in the trace.
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Backwoods Piper	06/21/2008	Medium to Strong	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
I purchased this tobacco back in August of 05 and have just gotten around to smoking it. Of all the designer tobacco lines around I must admit C&D's is one of par excellence. Briar Fox is yet another hit for me. I really enjoy opening new tins of tobacco and the first impression aromas that escape the tin upon cracking. The first impression in BF was that of a sweet woodsy aroma made me think of a cold autumn evening in the middle of June. The moisture content was perfect right out of the tin, as most C&D blends. I love the compressed mixed crumble. It kind of reminds me of plug cut chewing tobacco. BF rubbed out into a beautiful blond, brown to dark brown crumble. BF packed easily and lit evenly and well. BF stands true to form in most VA's a little hot on the light and best enjoyed gently sipped instead of puffed. The layers of flavor for this smoke range from sweet and light, to rich and nutty mid-bowl to knock out. This tobacco never comes on as overpowering for me and does have a nice kick in the nicotine department. I consider this offering an excellent mild VA almost suitable for all day smoking, especially if it was cut with a good burly. I will add this to my Virginia rotation and smoke this on a regular basis.
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SmokeKing David	04/06/2008	Medium	Very Mild	Medium	Tolerable
Pretty straight-forward tobacco. Not a lot of bells and whistles, this is a natural smoke that needs some drying before you fire it up. Pleasant enough, but did not impress. Govern yourself accordingly, SmokeKing David
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mo	04/03/2008	Strong	None detected	Full	Tolerable
I recently openened a tin of this blend and have smoked it quite a bit since then. I find as a smoker of Virginias, that this blend fits in very nicely amongst my "need to have" blends. I do not really smoke lots of Latakia blends and have great difficulty as a nicotine junkie to get my fix from the likes of Rattrays etc. This is now my evening Virginia smoke. The taste is really wonderful for when one craves something hearty in the evenings or after a big supper. It has a very faint sweetness and the right kind of bitterness and lots and lots of cool smoke with no bite. That wonderful taste lingers in my mouth for a while and keeps me satisfied until the morning. Now I need to explain why it gets 3 stars instead of 4. Unlike Rattrays HOTW this blend is not very sympathetic to relights and I would reccommend smoking it in a bowl size that you can finish in one sitting. If you do that, you will be rewarded with a very enjoyable smoke indeed. #UPDATE. I have to upgrade this blend to 4 stars. It has become indespensible in my rotation. Really good stuff and I am stocking up
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Packer	04/03/2008	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant
C&D has done it yet again. You get all tobacco, no excess moisture with this blend. I love a good kake and this one is "top drawer". Peel off a layer and rub it out, load, and light. It can't get any easier than that. Taste is all tobacco, and what a taste it is. Mildly sweet, and cool. Nice combonation for a Va. blend. Great burn...few if any relights. Burns all the way to the bottom of the dry bowl. I love this stuff...one problem is cost. At nearly $40 per pound it is rather pricey, but you can't take it with you. I might as well burn it up now, rather than leave it behind for others to blow. ****
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SMOKETSES	10/29/2007	Mild to Medium	None detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
I WOULD LIKE TO THANK VERY MUCH THE REVIEWER PIPESTUD CAUSE AFTER READING HIS REVIEWS, THE LAST TWO YEARS, I LEARNED A LOT, REGARDING THE TOBACCOS TASTING With the opening of box, the light sweet and sour smell of its quality leaf of Virginia came immediately to my nose. The level of humidity is precisely right. I cannot detect certain aromatic wrapper. It reminded me of the taste of cigarette with more elegant flavor. As long as you smoke this tobacco, it becomes more tasteful and stronger. Quite heavy with strong dose of nicotine in it, Briar. Certainly it is a tobacco which gets much better (after one or two years), when it gets mature.
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bighitter	10/17/2007	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant
Update* After a few months of leaving this one alone and trying it again, I'm going to up my rating after all. It's made of a predominance of brown Virginias (really don't see many yellows or brights), and I wouldn't doubt some Burley to contradict my earlier review (especially since the blend has hardly any bite). A fine nutty smoke, with a slight bitter edge, I mean real slight because it's mostly sweet and nutty, without too much of the grassy quality of many Virginia blends. Love it. C&D is really spoiling me. old one***I guess I'm mostly in line with the reviews here. This is an obviously carefully prepared and cared for tobacco. I'm not sure why the wax paper exactly, but it makes it feel like you're opening a present or some ancient artefact the first time. I think that's half the experience, at least the first few times. Given the regalia, one would hope for a more overwhelming smoke, but let me say, it's definitely not bad. Just not all that might be promised. It's smooth, but almost to a frustrating degree, at least for me. I mean, I guess I'm left feeling it needs just a little more spice or something, maybe just a dash of Perique or, dare I say, a touch of some not too crazy Burley perhaps. I'm still holding out hope for this one, however, and I will try to update soon.
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Tobacco Saves Lives	09/28/2007	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable
much like ciggarettes. simple VA... several tins later (I cant just give up) it is in fact more complex than at first. has nutty, woodsy element others describe, I would buy this, but be aware this takes a little time and thought to find the sweet spots.
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bigbowls	08/06/2007	Medium	Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
A very fine VA. I can smoke this one all day. No bite whatsoever for me...just good clean virginia taste. This was my first krumble cake and it was a litte strange at first, but I found it was very easy to break off what I wanted. I will buy more of this.
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EAL	07/25/2007	Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable
This is a staple VA for me when I want sturdy VA taste, no danger of bite, and a no fuss pack and burn. Great stuff, tho maybe a bit different than what you are used to.
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Tin Man	05/22/2007	Mild to Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
This has more upfront flavor than most straight Virginias I've tried. I like it. It will bite you if get too excited though. I love the smell in the tin; like sweet, slightly fermented hay. I like the room note also, but I don't think everyone would. The moisture level in my tin was absolutely perfect.
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Dave	04/29/2007	Very Mild	None detected	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
Don't have much to add to what others have said except to reiterate that this stuff must be smoked slow and relaxed. Don't do that and one will miss out on what this blend has to offer. I tend to be a fast smoker so it has taken me a while to get used to this, but, when smoked "right," I find it to be a mild yet flavorful blend. I suspect any negative experiences with this comes from hurrying too much. Hard to describe the flavors. There is a sweetness to it, as well as a hint of woods. Very natural with no casings or flavorings which is what I like. I like the cakes wrapped in the paper. Nice touch and should help with storing and aging. As far as room note goes, I detect very little, but on a couple of occasions when the wife has come in from outside, she has asked me if I have been smoking a cigar. I don't see it but perhaps there is a "heads up" there. I bought eight ounces, then a pound and am going to let about half of that age for six months and then see what it is like. Until then, slow and steady will win the race with this one, in my humble opinion...
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Puff Daddy	02/08/2007	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
A quick update: I cracked two tins of Briar Fox last night that have been aging since September of '06. I put the two seemingly - small bricks into a Mason jar. This morning, I rubbed some out, and have to say - this ages magnificently. What I tasted this morning was one of the very best straight VA's that I've enjoyed to date. I like this when it's fresh and young, but like so many VA's, aging transforms this into something quite different. If you have the luxury (and patience) to set some tins of this aside, I would highly recommend doing so! ==================================================================== A top-quality Virginia. Neat Krumble Kake, rubs out well, or does fine just lightly stuffed in a larger bowl. Equally wonderful in any sized bowl, I've found. Nutty, rich, really satisfying. Just great stuff. If this was the first VA I'd ever tried, I might not have switched mostly to latakias. Moisture content from the tin is fine with me, possibly just a little dryer than I'd prefer, but it just works down fine with nothing but a little ash left. Cool, dry, and packed with flavor. Four stars with no reservation.
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theredstrat	01/02/2007	Mild	None detected	Medium	Very Pleasant
There's not much I can add to the descriptions already provided. I submitted this review mainly to contribute to the average rating. I like it that much. I love Virginia's, however, I tend to enjoy the milder ones the best. This one is all I could ask for. It is also worth noting this is my first "crumble cake" and it allowed me to overcome the intimidation of pinching and rubbing. This is an easy tobacco to crumble, smoke, and enjoy! Thanks again Cornell & Diehl!
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Black Seamus	12/17/2006	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
NapaWineLover nails this one in his review. I'll just add my own three cheers for this flavorful Virginia offering. The price of a tin is a little steep, but it's woth the money.
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DoctorThoss	11/24/2006	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable
This is an exceptionally good VA cake - it crumbles and burns exceedingly well, and it has a rich, deep flavor. It's not a VA I'd smoke every day, but it's an interesting change of pace when I'm in the mood for a medium-strength VA with absolutely no hint of flavoring. It also excels as a blender.
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Maimonides	10/26/2006	Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant
BARK, WOOD, EARTHY A nice Virginia. Slow and relaxed will bring out raisin/fig sweetness. Hurried doesnt work well with it. It most certainly comes too dry. Worthy of anyones rotation. Earthy,Woodsy, Nutty, Sweet, Light/Smoky. Crap. The next few tins I bought were more earthy and unilateral. woodsy,woodsy,woodsy. i AM THINKING THAT c & d LACKS in the consistancy dept. BETTER PICK: MCCLELLAND CHRISTMAS CHEER 05' OR 06
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NapaWineLover	09/02/2006	Medium	None detected	Medium	Pleasant
It is my turn to completely revise my earlier review of this tobacco. I removed it because it was not a very well thought out comment. Briar Fox, over a period of a year, has become a regular in my rotation. So much so, that I have completely become a VA snob. It has forced me to say farewell to some of the tobaccos that will remain nameless, that had a series of subtle flavorings in the background that were meant to mask sour and inferior VA tobaccos with low sugar content from a variety of continents. While I mean no disrespect - there's no comparison of the high quality of this tobacco to some of it's global cousins. I make slices of the plugs so that I am left with a more uniform size morsels to pack. It crumbles rather easily so the slices are more virtual than literal. The array of colors mahogany, reds and a spec of gold here and there are a clue to what's ahead. There's a wonderful toastiness to the blend that makes me think of fire roasted cashews. As previous reviewers commented ... nutty - woodsy / woodsy - nutty ... but with a very subtle and unmistakable caramel sweetness sneaking through. Mind you, I'm talking about rich VA sweetness not that of additives or flavorings. I've smoked this in all shape and size bowls and they have all smoked well but typically I smoke it in a medium size which suits my slicing method best. When smoking, I try to puff this just a wee bit above a smolder. If you get too aggressive with this blend you'll miss all the complexity. Even the non-smoker is curious about the room note - which is nutty and sweet but unmistakably fine tobacco - no flavorings here. It burns to a white ash and never disappoints. However, I would keep this as an 'indoor only' smoke. Wonderful stuff !! Cheers, VC
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loosewatches	08/19/2006	Mild to Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant
This is a good Virginia straight out of the can. I like the C&D dryness, it seems like they are playing fair and not selling watered hams like even the nicest butchers do these days. (yes, tobacconists are butchers, vegetable butchers. It's not a put down, just an analogy). Anyway, Briar Fox is good stuff. But with and little age and, more importantly, the tiniest bit of rehydration, it is a great blend. Hydration is a big deal with this stuff. It can be Great. Not spectcular, but still 4 stars. And because this is a cake and not so heavily pressed, there is more variation of flavors throughout the bowl than in, say, Full Virginia Flake, or Marlin. . A very good all-dayer.
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Courtney Evans	08/09/2006	Medium to Strong	None detected	Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
This is terrific stuff - earthy and deep. It has given me new appreciation for Virginias and for the pipe in general.
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