Cornell & Diehl Dark Fired Kentucky

t has been a couple of years since I've posted any C&D blend reviews and I have smoked nearly 100 tins of their various offerings in that time. So, it may be awhile before I get to all of them.

I picked up a couple of tins of Dark Fired because the contents made me curious. Not really a blend made to stand alone, but really fun to include with Virginia based blends for added strength. I actually made a blend I like by added 25% of this to an old '83 crop Red Ribbon tin from McCranie's. It beefed up what I consider to be a super great blend and lent little flavor of its own. I later tried it with a Latakia mixture that I enjoy (Rattray's Black Mallory), and the appeal was equally enhanced.

Love the taste of Dark Fired Kentucky and just can't get enough? This is for you -- think of DFK, and this will tick every box. Not harsh, easy smoking, but smoked on its own it can be a bit overwhelming in larger pipes. Obviously, this is nice to have around to add to blends.

This is straight KY no frills just good tobacco. It is woodsy, a little spicy and very smokey with some earth and nuttiness with a little floral note. There is a slight sweetness here and there but it is far from a sweet smoke. As a straight smoke it is fine and can be repeatable throughout the day. As a mixer it is okay as well. I had some success with Cater Hall adding 1 part DFK to 4 parts CH the overall body moved into the med. range the cocoa notes stayed but the earthiness became much more pronounced almost muddy. Still it added to the overall smoke and was enjoyable. There are not a lot of straight KY blends out there so this is somewhat unique but when I think of 100% KY I think of G, H, and Co. Kendal KY which is hands down much better in all categories than this. Still I could recommend it to those looking to add some body to VA's, Burley's, and Lat blends that are lack luster or if Kendal KY is just too much in the nic department for them.

I still have about 4 oz of this and am using it as a mixer primarily now. I have found that it goes very well with red VA's. McClelland's 5100 Red Cake and this work very well together, other VA's that might have some red that is dominated by brights have been changed as it seems to bring the red forward and make it more noticeable over the brights. In this regard it seems to work very well.

Jar note of barbecue, smoky, and wood. The dark brown tobacco is ribbon cut, or a well tumbled out flake. Moisture is on the dry side. No prep needed. Burns slow once lit, with a few extra relights. The strength is medium to strong and nic is medium. No flavoring detected. Taste is medium to full and mostly consistent, with notes of smoky, earth, spicy, very woody, musty herbal vegetation, mildly sweet (and gets a little sweeter later), mildly buttery, dry, a mildly bitter nutty background note, and a moderately peppery retro. Room note is tolerable to strong, and aftertaste is great.