Cornell & Diehl Warped: Cloud Hopper

Cloud Hopper is a swell blend from the Warped sector of C&D. They start with a first quality VA/Per, then they add cigar leaf. Their blurb also mentions “traditional, Italian air-cured leaf”, but I could not sort it out from the cigar leaf. There’s no Latakia, and there’s no mention of KY. My tin is dated 05-19-20. Inside the tin are broken flakes ranging from tan, to red-brown, to dark brown. Tin note is slightly musty, spicy, loamy, cigar-ish, some musty cocoa, mushrooms, dark fruit leather, bready, and figgy. I dry it some and loosely stuff bundled, chunky “ribbons” vertically into a cigar blend briar. It handles, loads, lights and smokes down just fine. As for tastes, to me, CH might be a good VA/Per with KY, or maybe Sansepolcro. The first taste up, that stays on top through the smoke, is the cigar-ish leaf. It is rich and dry, and mildly spicy, but not like a strong cigar, and the cigar spices are well melded and enriched with bakery spices from the Perique. The bright and red VAs alike also meld with the Perique, but on the grassy, fig and musty wheat bread level. Either the air-cured leaf tempers the cigar leaf, or the cigar leaf is mild for the genre. It’s taken a while for me to figure out that there are some subtle complexities here, but I tend to just puff away, because CH works very well for me as a blend. It’s well balanced enough to make it relaxing. Strength is just over medium. I pull until the tastes are more full than medium. Room note is tolerable. Aftertaste is a long trailing off of the best of the smoke. For all the cigar leaf, Cloud Hopper rather reminds me of a smoother HH Bold Kentucky. Anyway, it’s plenty good in its own right, and pretty sure it will age very well. It’s certainly benefited from rest. 4 stars.

Abridged: This is delicious! Creamy, full bodied smoke. More mild than medium nic hit. On palate I got notes of milk chocolate, caramel, almond nuttiness, & pure bliss. On the retrohale I savored the molasses, zest and pepper of the Virginia and Perique.

Extended: I’ve had the good fortune of smoking exquisite cigars from such manufactures as Davidoff, Arturo Fuentes, Montecristo, Padron, & others. The leaf in this blend is of high-quality. The taste and smoke of the blend is on par with any boutique producer, if not better. I initially bought one of each of the Warped tins when they came out, I smoked them as soon as I got them and I thoroughly enjoyed it! The beauty of pipe leaf is that it’s easy to age, and so while my initial impression was positive, I decided to age mine for six months before revisiting. This aged wonderfully! I am going to buy several tins to cellar.

I look forward to future blends from the Warped line up, and wish Jeremy Reeves & Warped GODSPEED!

I smoked cigars before I started smoking a pipe and I have to admit they are very different experiences. That being said time has found me predominantly a pipe smoker, though I do enjoy cigar crossover blends. So when I saw the Warped/Cornell and Diehl joint venture I had to give it a try especially since they omitted Latakia from most of the blends in their lineup. To date most cigar crossovers are done with an English style. This blend is the combination of a typical VaPer blend, with Dominican Criollo added.

The tin is plain and simple: minimalism at its best. When I opened my tin for the first time I found a typical C&D broken flake. The tin note smells of sweet raisins, matured Red Virginia, citrusy Yellow Virginia, plummy Perique, toastedness. The smell is really inviting from what you'd expect. It does come at a perfect moisture to pack and light. It takes a flame really well and only needs a few touch-ups.

When lit the complexity is striking. There is a very distinct floral note from the cigar Leaf along with herbal sweetness. The Red Virginias add a body of breadiness, while the Yellow Virginias balance that out with a pronounced citrus and hay. This blend is filled with rich, natural tobacco sweetness. Coming up behind is the Perique which adds plummyness, and spice. Now the cigar Leaf has spice too but it's melded and balanced by the other components. This blend burns mice and slow, and also pretty cool.

The taste is a medium on the cusp of medium-full. It wants to fill your mouth, but not in the way Purple Cow another C&D cigar blend does. The strength is a medium again on the cusp of medium-strong only because of the Perique. I have had a light breakfast and I can feel a light tug at the back of my throat and that's about it. The room note is very interesting. It doesn't carry that heavy cigar aroma, and smells more like a typical VaPer with something extra. An excellent blend and one that I will buy more of.

Tin note of tart plums, stewed figs and musty sour. The broken flakes are an orangish brown and may need some drying but rubs out easily. Burns slow with a few extra relights. The strength is medium and nic is medium. No flavoring detected. Taste is medium to full and consistent, with notes of cigar, cedar wood, very earthy, raisin bread, mild sweet grass, spicy, floral, bitter nuts, leather, dry herbal, mild stewed dark fruit, a mildly lemon background note, and a peppery retro. Dominican Criollo leads with Italian Air-Cured Burley supporting. Virginia and Perique provide back when needed. Room note is pleasant to tolerable, and aftertaste is great.

I could have sworn I've reviewed this one. Mine is just a little over 2 years old.

The tin note it sweet berries. Usually I get musty earthiness with cigar leaf but with age in a pipe blend, it gets a berry note.

Flavor is very consistent from beginning to end. Sweet, dark, creamy, cocoa notes, slightly musty and earthy with just a touch of spiciness. Burns nice and cool.

A very well balanced flake and smooth. Goes well with coffee or your favorite chocolate bar. I highly recommend.

Ok ok ... need to say, I'm a big Warped fan.
Whenever I visit my sister in Dusseldorf, I always try and grab a few of their cigars.
I've got a stash of Kings Stride, Until the End, Sarto, the Red Hunt, and now Midsommar. However, I've never smoked Cloud Hopper.

This was rectified this weekend.

Tin note was strange ... it smelled like Paris during the trashmen strike. Garbage and chocolate. The garbage note is a combination of over-ripped red fruit left out on the kitchen counter during a warm summer day and the high humidity of the tobacco in the tin. After drying, it was mostly the earthy leathery chocolate combined with Perique and some Virginia hey and bread notes.

Lighting it was a breeze , smoke was dense and creamy. The Dominican Criollo leads the way , with the Italian in second place. VAs and Per provide sweetness and support.

Brilliant smoke. Had a great time smoking it. This is the perfect crossover tobacco that would bring a cigar smoker over to the pipe hobby. tons of smoke, retrohale was peppery and a little spicy and you could feel the perique playing with the cigar tobaccos. Smoke was consistent, very few relights were required and it burned to grey/white ash without leaving condensation on the button of the chamber.

It's a brilliant evening tobacco. Full of nicotine and full of taste.
My friend had a bowl and we had to resuscitate him with some sugar as he wasn't expecting "vitamin N" to be so abundant in this blend. Please smoke on a full stomach, with some glucose in your bloodstream.

Again ! Kyle and Jeremy didn't disappoint.
Stocked the cellar with 3 more tins.

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This blend is a reason to get into pipe smoking.

This is a very unique blend with a very distinct flavour. I detect a peaty taste similar to Laphroig Single Malt or some other Islay malt. There's a sweetness overall to the blend with a hint of pepper from the perique. I swear the pepper has that slight hint of English mustard...wow.

I also get notes of licorice and expresso. It doesn't seem strong but there is a mild nicotine hit.

Overall very well-balanced and distinct from other blends I've tried. Perhaps it's the cigar leaf that gives it this distinct flavour but it's definitely not like smoking a cigar.

I would call this a very smart, contemporary, well-crafted blend.

The broken flake is easy to rub out and pack. But it could use some drying time. I found it's best to leave it on a plate for 45 minutes otherwise it crackles or won't light.