Needless to say, due to the cigar component DGT doesn't work on this blend. In fact, smoking a left off bowl can be disgusting.

Well, joy was mine when I smoked this fine blend as part of a C&D sample package. I was interested in cigar leaf blends: I also compared smoked Purple Cow (C&D) and Robusto (GLPease), as well a couple aromatics.

Billy budd is a wonderfully full smoke that is the one I have been seeking. It is 50% latakia and needs some getting used to, but it is now my everyday smoke. I love the mouthfeel and rich luxury of its deep smooth full tobacco essence.

It is great! As for the other two cigar leaf blends, I find them somewhat unfocussed and uninteresting, though in matters of taste one must try for themselves.

In Billy Budd, I am pleased to have found a substantial and well blended pipe tobacco that is relaxing, powerful and pleasant. Thank you C&D.

Raising my recommendation to 4 stars. Time is very kind to this blend. I have a mason jar full which is 2 years old and boy is it great. The sweetness is a bit greater, it is utterly biteless, and the latakia more balanced by the other tobaccos. I also think the nicotine is a bit more subdued, but it could also be I have a higher tolerance. Smoke it in a large bore pipe and it will burn well and taste great with big billows of smoke. Definitely one for cellaring.

Original review 12/30/2008:

This is about as full and in your face as a tobacco can get, kind of like America's answer to Dunhill Nightcap. The burley, latakia, and cigar leaf really marry together well, though latakia runs the show despite all the cigar leaf I see in there. This is a manly, meaty, tough-guy smoke which is full and rich yet very smooth on the palate. The aroma will clear a room full of non-smokers in an instant, though I love the scent of the latakia and cigar leaf. The high nicotine level will have you up and jumping in no time.

I have had this tobacco in both pressed and loose form and recommend you get it pressed as it is immediately ready to smoke (a first for C&D). In loose form, you really need to age it for at least 6 months or it will have some bite to it. After 6 months, it tastes pretty much the same as when pressed, so you might as well take the shortcut.

My only criticism of this blend is the crazy cut. There are 6" strips of cigar leaf mixed with big chunks of other tobaccos, making this difficult to evenly pack and pretty much impossible to pack into a small bore pipe. Still, this is one of the better cigar leaf blends I've tried, far better than GL Pease Robusto or Mclelland's offerings. It's use of burley really sets it apart from the crowd. I would rank it third behind the now defunct Mr. Alfred's Own and Peretti's Cuban Mix. Goes great with a Guinness Stout.

Original Review: Reading the reviews so far I fully agree with all of them. Except for the recommendation part: I just don't like a pipe tobacco which only delivery is a latakia blast and a cigarette like experience. PS in general I really do like cigar blends, especially when the cigar leaf is combined with ripe Virginia (as in the McClelland and Pease cigar blends)

Very harsh with a tongue bite like a drunken parrot on Captain Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge.

Not many redeeming qualities, an assault on the palate and zero balance.

Moreover, I do not fair well with Cornell & Diehl /Greg Pease blends, vastly overrated.

7-7-08 Guess I better upgrade my review to 4 stars as Billy Budd has become my all day, everyday smoke. The other jars in my meger cellar are just gathering dust. With a 50 year pipe smoking history, I can finally be happy with just this one blend.

Original Review: If I were to have to choose between a good cigar and a good pipe, and if money were no object, I believe I would choose a cigar. With that in mind, this pipe tobacco has to be the best of the cigar leaf blends. The blend is rich and full, for those who appreciate a strong cigar. And contrary to some other reviews, I find myself reaching for it throughout the day, especially when I don?t have time to just sit down and relax with a fine pipe tobacco blend (and 90% of my cellar is English). If you have tried other cigar leaf blends but did not care for them, and assuming you like a stout Maduro cigar, you owe to yourself to try a couple of ounces of Billy Budd. The only negative I could find with this blend is that the very bottom of the bowl can be fairly rough of the taste buds.

I think the key here is the strong, stout burley, which blends with the cigar leaf and latakia to lend a heavy bottom note to the mixture. Cigar leaf responds to this in a way that it never does when mixed with Virginia. This blend is absolutely delicious (my mouth waters when I fill my pipe), doesn't bite, and really satisfies, with a nicotine buzz that only cigar leaf and burley can offer.

This is not an all-day blend (at least to me), but I do smoke it more than any other pipe tobacco. I can't recommend it enough.

PS: I also have several ounces of this in pressed form. Whoa nelly, that's some strong stuff! I actually prefer it unpressed.