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Da Vinci
| Brand: |
Cornell & Diehl |
| Blender: |
Craig Tarler |
| Tin Description: |
Named for the famed Renaissance man of letters, arts and science, this blend evokes the Near Eastern influence that trade brought to the docks of Renaissance ports. The base of light Virginias and Burley is overwhelmed by the smoky pungent aroma of Cyprian Latakia. This is the perfect blend for the true lover of Latakia; but be forewarned, this blend is not for everyone. Additionally, because of the high Latakia content and slow burning nature of Da Vinci, it would be a very good blend to break a pipe in with. |
| Country of Origin: |
US |
| Curing Group: |
Air Cured |
| Contents: |
Burley
Virginia
Latakia
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| Cut: |
Broken Flake |
| Packaging: |
50g Tin |
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Average Ratings
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| Strength: |
Medium to Strong
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| Flavoring: |
Extremely Mild
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| Taste: |
Full
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| Room Note: |
Tolerable to Strong
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| Recommendation: |
Recommended
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Showing reviews 41 through 45 of 45 reviews of this tobacco
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| Reviewed By: |
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Thatcher
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01/19/2005 |
Mild to Medium
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None detected
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Medium to Full
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Pleasant
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| My favorite C&D blend so far. The consistently off-putting thing about C&D?s blends, though, is the massive amount of tobacco ?dust? or finely ground tobacco. I realized this morning as I packed my bowl with DaVinci that the tobacco literally had the consistency of dirt. Sure, it tastes great, but it doesn?t have the look and feel of a high-quality blend. Despite its fine taste, it?s hard to enjoy a blend when you spend the first third of the bowl sucking in little specks of tobacco. Admittedly, I don?t know much about the intricacies of tobacco blending, but I wouldn?t have thought that a mortar and pestle would be involved. Anyway, a great tasting blend, but it loses points for its physical characteristics.
I?ll say this for the blend, it burns extremely dry and smooth all the way down, rarely requiring a relight.
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| Reviewed By: |
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Beer
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09/13/2004 |
Medium
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None detected
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Medium to Full
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Strong
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| Practically a softer and already rubbed out version of Pirate Kake. It smokes wonderfully, with an incredibly intense taste: latakia is clearly the main character, but nutty burley plays a significant role too. Of course it doesn't feel as "full" and sweet as some more typical English tobacco, due to the lack of orientals and a light hand with the Virginias: it's just a spice feast. Tasty but doesn't calm the appetite, not "meaty" enough or complex at all. The Latakia is clearly similar to the leaf used in some GLPease blends, as it has quite a similar taste. Very good, anyway! Minor complaint: too much fine tobacco dust in the tin!
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BostonPipe
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06/04/2004 |
Medium
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None detected
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Full
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Tolerable to Strong
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| This is what I would call a Great American/English Blend. My original smoking roots lay in burley blends, then I went onto the English/Oriental styles. While I am not partial to blends with this high a Syrian Latakia content, I find that the use of Cyprian allows this smoke to be a blissful experience. Is this due to the mellower type being employed? I think it is.
While the latakia plays the predominant role, one can enjoy the virginia and burley weaving in and out down the length of the bowl. The traces of nuttiness and airy subtle sweetness dance in and around the smokiness of the fine Cyprian.
Overall, I really enjoy this blend and always have several tins cellered.
It burns to a nice grey ash and a dry dottle.
A Really Nice Smoke.
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WxGuy
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09/09/2003 |
Medium
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None detected
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Very Full
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Strong
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| Another interesting product from Cornell and Diehl.C and D is one of the most innovative blenders in a market that is often driven by tradition. The krumble-kake koncept they are famous for is a good example.("...overwhelmed by the smoky pungent aroma of Cyprian Latakia"- it almost sounds too derogatory to put on your label!) .
So... I had high expectations DaVinci. Now let me say right up front that I like this tobacco, even though it had a few strikes against it. First off, the tobacco in my tin was too @#%& dry, even by C and D standards! Bone dry! Dry as the death of a sponge. This of course could be remedied. It was also in poor condition consistency-wise, however. Tiny pieces of ribbon and lots of powder. Seems like it was the very bottom dregs of the batch, 'cause no one would purposely sell tobacco in this condition intentionally. This being one of my first experiences with C and D I was quite disappointed. (In retrospect, I guess the consistency is what you would get if you over rubbed-out something like Pirate Kake.)
So I put a little unsweetened burley cav. in the bottom of the bowl to keep the crumbs out of my mouth, filled up a half bowl and lit her up. Surprise, this stuff tastes good: "The perfect blend for the true lover of Latakia". Well not perfect, but definitely a good latakia fix. I would say that the burley is of fairly high proportion in this blend (C and D love their burley blends, don't they), making this an atypical "english-style" smoke. All the component tobaccos made their presence known as the bowl smoked down, with a little sweetness from the Virginias poking through from time to time
Though I had rehydrated it a bit, it was still quite dry, which seemed to work OK. The dry powdery texture was easy to light and burned fast, giving amazing clouds of lat-heavy smoke. I kind of enjoy that. A real "mouth-feel" to the dense smoke. It is no Pirate Kake, mind you, but still good stuff.
One interesting feature of the tobacco IMHO is the immediate and short-lived ammonia-like aftertaste this tobacco has near the bottom half of the bowl. I am struck by this every time I smoke it. Not too bad,just weird.
In my book this is a "niche" latakia blend that has me coming back for more when I am in the mood. Sure hope my next tin is in better condition...
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RCUSElder
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07/03/2003 |
Medium to Strong
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None detected
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Full
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Tolerable to Strong
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| This is definitely a unique blend. The burley is not in cube form as I am used to but all 3 tobacs are in a medium/short ribbon cut. The moisture upon opening is perfect. The aroma in the tin is delicious with the latakia making its prescence known. I tried half a tin of this in a Radice classic poker (not all at once, of course). The taste upon first light is of the burley grassiness with the brightness following but after the second light, the latakia harmonizes nicely. What I like most about this blend is how it develops as you smoke it down the bowl. The nuttiness of the burley with the smoky sweetness of the latakia and the brightness of the virginia make for a truly exotic journey for the tongue. Speaking of which, there is no tongue bite in this blend and as advertised,it smokes slowly. This is marketed as a vintage blend and if this is what the old-timers smoked, I think I was born in the wrong era. This is truly a great unique blend. Highly recomended......... Update 07-03-03: This blend is not to be confused with Dan Tobacco's Da Vinci which IMO is an aromatic abomination.This blend is very full flavored, I liken it to a "maduro" wrapped cigar. It leaves a fluffy grey ash when finished, but be warned,this is for latakia lovers only......
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Showing reviews 41 through 45 of 45 reviews of this tobacco
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