Cornell & Diehl Warped: Until The End

Never had anything quite like this. It is easy to rate but hard to describe. It checks all the boxes for me. Smells great out of the tin, easy to work with pack and light. It stays lit the whole smoke. Creates a lot of creamy, mouth filling smoke and taste great.
But this is where I can't really come up with a description. It smokes much cooler than most of the tobacco I have tried in the past. It's very mild without being wimpy. It has a great after taste that lasts a couple of hours. But the Cavendish doesn't taste like Cavendish I've had in the past, the Virginia doesn't stand out to me and the Kentucky does not have that in your face kick you would expect.
This is going in my rotation but not replacing anything else because to me it's not like anything else. I get the feeling this will be one I reach for often. I would highly recommend you give it a try.

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WARNING: SMOKING THIS BLEND WILL CURE YOU OF ANY TRIGGER WORDS YOU MIGHT HAVE.

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TIN NOTE

Much like Kings Stride, the chocolate cavendish dominates the tin note with buttery dark chocolate. However here you also get the smokiness of the DFK, mixed with the leathery and mineral Ecuadorian cigar leaf. There's a little bit of an old barnyard smell as well as if the cigar leaf was aged. The Virginias are bearly detectable.

SMOKING NOTES

Okay, I have to say that this is the closest I have been to a cigar taste while smoking a pipe. The two cigar leaves used here are at the forefront. You're getting leather, cedar wood, chocolate, and earth. At that point, the DFK kicks in, but you don't get the usual barbeque notes .. the Kentucky here tastes more like a stronger Burley giving you some more smoky walnut creaminess notes. The red Virginias finish off the taste with some dark fruit and subtle sweetness. On the retro-hale you will get the nice cigar white pepper spiciness and leather with a hint of sweetness and barbeque smoke

MECHANICS

Flawless. The moisture was on point right from the tin. The broken flake rubbed out within seconds under the caress of my fingers. Gave it 15 minutes to breathe. Packs easy. Took to light quickly. One match charring, one match true. A minimal number of relights was needed. Burned evenly and consistently. The burn was slow and the smoke was cool. Produced billows of smoke.

NARRATIVE SUMMARY

Imagine you're at a dinner party in 1959. You just finished dessert, and the wives decide to withdraw to the drawing room in order to enjoy their wine. All the men stayed in the dining room for a proper digestivo and converse about the threat of communism. They take their pipes out, some take out their cigar holders and cutters. The host decides to open an old bottle of Glenmorangie. The Glenn Miller record is playing in the background. Paul announces he and Mary are expecting their 5th baby, hopefully, this time it's a girl, as their four boys are a handful. You all cheer and raise your glasses. Your wife checks up on you. You see her peeking into the dining room. Your eyes meet, she smiles warmly, and you say to yourself "Yeap... Today was a good day" thinking ahead to the vigorous lovemaking you two will be engaging in within two hours.

This is what comes to mind when I smoke this tobacco.

It tastes of luxury and simpler times. It's like smoking a Slim Aarons picture. It tastes like hard men and gorgeous women. It tastes like a new car. It tastes like the first beer with your mates Friday after work. It tastes like a 59 Thunderbird cruising down the Pacific Coast Highway, or an Alfa Romeo going down the Amalfi coast. It tastes like the first time watching Goldfinger. It tastes like the first time you asked your wife out on a date. It tastes like seeing Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin bouncing on the moon on a black-and-white TV.

For me, this is a bold, end-of-day tobacco, that will smack the unprepared but also lift them to a new level of a smoking experience. You have to pair it with some cognac or whisky. I am also sure a nice aged Port would work here as well. The aftertaste is long, be ready for that.

While this isn't my favorite tobacco, it is there in the front. Will be ordering a few more tins to the cellar.

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FOUR STARS

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