Cornell & Diehl John Marr

Simply scrumptious! Everything is in this blend that a piper will enjoy. All proportions are well balanced and play very well together. The addition of bourbon and vanilla is just an added bonus. The aromatics are not over the top and let the Virginia and Turkish come through. Easy to light, stays lit, and not gooey. Billows of spice with a nice medium nicotine lift.

A Bluesy-Boozy-Bandwagon that's best to be enjoyed just as you enjoy your bourbon - sipped! And so we go.. sippin' and pickin'

In the tin-note the very mellow vanilla aroma is accompanied by a somewhat fruity undertone. In addition the mildly turfy and boozy note of bourbon fuses with the lovely vanilla. Once the tin was opened for a while a corn-ish aroma appears, which I find most interesting. Like sweet, roasted corn bread or alike. The flavoring is on the mild side and gets even milder with time, leaving enough room for the tobaccos - mostly the Virginia's hay - to shine through in the tin note! Update: the tin note keeps getting better and better with time! After another while the sweetish notes go play in the back, whilst the warm bourbon steps forward, as well as the Turkish's wonderful spice..nice!

In the pipe the bourbon plays the bluesy-boozy lead guitar, howlin' the lonesomest sounds with its pleasantly spicy, slightly peppery-smoky and smoothly boozy aroma. It's a lot more present than in the tin-note. Quickly the smooth vanilla - which is rather sensitive to vigorous puffing - joins in, yet keeps the amplifier at half-volume, giving a great rhytm for the bourbons strat to wail on.

One might get the impression that this is a full-blown aromatic the way I'm gushing and raving over the flavorings... I just savour this flavoring a lot, so I loved describing it in detail! 😉 The tobacco is everpresent with few of the Virginia's hay and earthy tones, but moreso the Turkish with a delightful hint of sharpness, as well as mildly nutty and ethereal-flowery notes. I get the feeling its the same Izmir leaf as in Embarcadero! I suppose the perique plays a role to the decent spice this blend offers, just as the b.cav. must play a role to the smooth and creamy sweetness and broad flavors.. but they are both unnoticeable as such - they are the sound-engineers of this bluesy-boozy-band! 😉

A lovely Virginia+Orient dominated blend, with an expectionally tasteful bourbon-vanilla topping, that never subdues the tobaccos too much, but always lovely harmonious accompanies them. The flavoring is a bit less present in the last third, especially the vanilla is gone by now and the mixture of bourbon, Virginia and Orient makes for a nice spicy, slightly (pleasantly) sharp last puffs.

Sweet,sour, earthy, spicy and a little boozy. John Marr for me is what a top drawer American blend aromatic should be! Not one of the components overrides the other. Smooth savory sweetness from start to finish. I smoke a lot of C&D blends and as per usual the quality of the leaf shines through. The blending is in line with their other creations. Moisture was spot on out of the bulk bag, took fire well with no delights sans the char. Burns at a medium rate with no bite or goop. Consistent flavor throughout the process. Not a nicotine giant but ample enough. Repeatable throughout the day. All in all a very pleasurable smoke in a cob or a briar. Solid 4 here on the creek, will stock more for sure

It took me only two tries to find the right pipe for Cornell and Diehl’s John Marr, and it’s one I also use for C & D’s Sansepolcro. While a VA pipe would work, JM will ghost it to the point where it will take a prep bowl before using that pipe for VA again. I recommend against using pipes previously used for strong KYs, cigar leaf, or Latakia for John Marr. Bag note is fragrant, vanilla and faint Bourbon over flowery, dry meadow grasses with woody, flowery notes, along with cashew and sweet country corn bread, as noted by DenizBeck, and these scents are echoed in the tastes, as well. JM handles, loads, lights and smokes down very well. Burn rate is tied to the Orientals, which is to say, a fair clip. However, a tight pack kills the subtleties that make JM special, so I just take it slow. There are savory, faintly woody, very slightly musty over and under tones from the Orientals, and there are bakery spices and some souring from the Perique as it is influenced by the Orientals. The VAs are mostly grassy, flue cured yellow, along with some earthy, air cured red. There are nuts, notably cashew, and some bitterness from the Burley. Ample Cav delivers sweetened Bourbon and vanilla and some typical Cav sour. If the mix is kept cool, the vanilla and Bourbon remain a delicious adjunct to a well-melded yet fairly complex smoke, somehow playing well with the Orientals as well as the flue cured VAs. Strength is just short of medium. Tastes just nudge medium. Room note is pleasant. Aftertaste is the best of the smoke.

With the wrong pipe and/or technique John Marr might still make a 3. With the “right pipe” and “due consideration” I’ll round it up to a 4. I happen to prefer C&D’s (somehow) similar Redburn, but YMMV, of course, and John Mar will make a nice everyday smoke for some.

When I first tried this I was very much not satisfied. The vanilla smelled cheap, and got no alcohol smell I was expecting. I jarred it up and forgot about it for about 5 mo ths or so. Upon a revisit it really made a great impression. Nice , smooth, and tasty as hell. I found one of my all time favorite blends from c&d.

Wow!! 1 year ago I purchased a tin of JM anf find it not very well . I experienced it unbalanced and rough and also kind of "dirty". Maybe my impressions cheat me by smoking it as the third pipe of a day or I expected a different flavour. Today I gave it another go and was surprised to like it a lot. Va's in the frontseat, spicy orientals beneath and a little tang from the perique in the backseat. Rounded by a masterly measured vanilla scent. Also my beloved nic was in the house. Flowery ,tea like and otherway a little spicy. I enjoy it alot will go on

Deep, incensed and sweet with dark fruit backbone that keeps things from going in a cloying direction.

Similar to King Kake in richness of flavor and types of notes, with a more Oriental/Virginia anchor.

Several years fermenting in a mason jar has done this tobacco a world of good. Delicious flavor and a welcome intermittent change from my usual English and Orientals. No need to wax poetic about this since others have done that for me and for this blend. Certainly worth trying.