Cornell & Diehl Sun Bear: Black Locust

Cornell & Diehl - Sun Bear: Black Locust.

Tin #06952/10,000.

This is the only blend I've smoked since yesterday lunch. Not just so I could extrapolate an informed opinion before posting, but because it's that good!

In the tin sits a sweet smelling, medium brown, rather well broken flake. This tin's moisture suited me, very well; a touch moist but not wet. Only a few flakes need further rubbing, the majority can be loaded straight in.

The smoke? I like it lots more than the 2020 version. Like it's predecessor, the Virginias outweigh the Izmir Orientals. There's a lemon-sharpness from the bright Va, which is a tad louder than the fruity red, but a floral yet creamy, butyraceous quality from the Izmir. The Black Locust honey easily makes more impact than the tequila. The honey's fragrant, sweet, but not sticky; quite charming and very tasty. The tequila differs, greatly (IMO), to 2020's offering. Before I found it diminished the rating, although not a formidable flavour it was bitter and acerbic. This year? I get a very slight touch of piquant alcohol, a subtle ''zestiness'', but nothing as game-changing. It burns perfectly, creating a smoke that's mid-temperature and bite-free.

Nicotine: below medium. Room-note: nice.

Sun Bear: Black Locust? A perfect smoke in these hotter months. Highly recommended:

Four stars.

Summary: an acidic bright Virginia blend that never unites its parts

To make a bright Virginia blend, you either age and press the leaf to create a comfortably tamed version of the bright tobacco without its characteristic acid bite and tendency to flame up like an over-insured restaurant. "Sun Bear: Black Locust" blazes up with first the weirdly sweet topping that tastes faintly of indigestion, and then the sweet-sour punch of Orientals, but then all fades out and you find yourself smoking the under-aged bright Virginias that have made many wary of C&D blends, with a faint molasses and wildflower honey flavor from the red Virginias, which are few in number. To me, it seemed like there might be some white Burley in here as well, which makes sense since it calms down the bright Virginia and gives it a broader, almond-like flavor and the scent of something like cigar leaf. At this point, the Orientals and toppings burn off, and you find yourself smoking this raw Virginia leaf thinking, I should have gone for something more refined, like Capstan, since this tin is going to require three years in the closet before it is smokeable, and even then, it will not be exceptional. They tell you an awful lot about the five percent of ingredients -- tequila, Orientals -- and very little reminding you that the other ninety-five percent are their standard mixing tobaccos, marked up extensively. I love C&D blends, but there's a reason they named this one after a parasite. Hold on to your wallet and acquire something else.

Ahoy!

I've had the pleasure of being able to enjoy last year's sunbear and was lucky enough to get some of the 2021 Sunbear :Black Locust, let's jump in.

Tin note: Fig newtons, bready, floral honey, wiff of tequila/booze and a very slight and fleeting smell of cigar leaf almost undetectable (I know it's not in there).

Let's get this in a bowl..... nice!

Immediately it reminds you of last year's run Sunbear but it has differences, in a very good way. The smoke seems more delicate and complex the black locust honey elevates this much more than previous release. While slightly sweet, very slight tartness it is more savory to my palate and there is a medium creaminess to the smoke, the retreohale is very nice, floral and little pepper. The casing was applied with an expert hand to allow the tobacco to be the star but there is just enough to let ya know hey your smoking Sunbear.

The Orientals are in the driver's seat here, followed by the bright VA, if there is Red VA it's way in the back seat and an after thought. It's best to take this one slow and sip it to really get the nuances of this blend it's such a rare gem as it should be savored with kicking back in a chair on a summer evening with a nice beverage watching the sunset or thunderstorm.

Overall this is a an improvement over 2020 version, that black locust honey is something special and really excited about aging this one in the jar, I'll update. If you enjoy Orientals and are able to track down a tin it would be well worth the effort.

The bright Virginias provide some tart and tangy citrus, bread, sour lemon, vegetative grass, sugar, mild floralness, spice, and acidity as the lead components. The aged Basma and Turkish Izmir offer plenty of earth, wood, floralness, some dry sourness, vegetation, herbs, spice, light tangy sweetness, and a touch of smoke as competitive supporting players. The tangy dark fruity, earthy, woody, bready, mildly citrusy, sugary, lightly floral, spicy red Virginia sits in the third position. It’s more than a condiment, but not quite a secondary supporter. The sweet honey is the most obvious topping. The lightly fruity, earthy tequila is a condiment. Playing at the same level is the tart, grape and berry-like, acidic, floral, herbal, sweet elderflower. The strength and taste are a step past the medium mark. The nic-hit is a rung short of the medium threshold. No chance of bite or harshness, but it does have a few small rough edges. The flakes easily break apart to suit your packing preference. As is my usual custom, I did not dry these lightly moist flakes. Well balanced and nuanced, it burns cool, clean and a tad slow with a mostly consistent sweet, fruity, floral, mildly sour, spicy, creamy flavor that extends to the pleasantly lingering after taste. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires some relights. The room note is a rung stronger than the after taste. Can be an all day smoke. Four stars out of four.

-JimInks

I did not move fast enough to try the original release of Cornell and Diehl’s Sun Bear, and the only reason I got to try this one, subtitled Black Locust, is because I stumbled onto and immediately purchased a tin at my local B&M. After playing around with it for a couple of weeks, I’ve figured out that I prefer to smoke it slowly in a small-ish, number 4 pot that I use for spicy blends, most of which include both Orientals and Perique. Although SBBL is initially an aromatic blend, yet I don’t expect it will be a favorite of beginners or “typical” aro smokers (if there is such a thing…). Appearance is typical-for-C&D broken flakes, which are rather sticky in this case. Tin note is nice, woody/grassy, with VERY faint tequila, more elderflower and honey, and a very faint trace of vanilla. First up when I smoked it in early going was the sweet, flue cured VA, along with the elder flowers and the honey, along with the faint vanilla. It starts very soft, meadow grassy and fragrant. Next up is the fragrant Basma, woody, with fairly mild baking spices. Next up is the Izmir, also woody, also sour, with mounting pepper along with its spicy spices. Last is the red VA, somewhat earthy, wheat bready, a trace of very subdued “dark fruit”, rather bluff, and fairly dense. The final profile holds from about ½, and it builds slowly to the end. When I catch myself pulling on this one, I slow down; otherwise it’s too spicy for its own good. Sadly, the foregoing applied only to the first week or so. After that I found it started out bluff and wound up muddled, with faint “chemical” tastes, and it never burned consistently well for me, being in this reminiscent of McClelland blends I’ve tried. Strength builds from mild to medium, with not much nicotine. Tastes build from mild to just over medium the way I’ve smoked it. Room note is Turkish. The aftertaste morphs from sour Orientals to sweeter, earthy and bready VAs, which trail on and on.

In the end, all’s not-so-well that ends not-so-well, for me, anyway. All considered, I can see where others might like it, but it’s not for me. 2 stars. I’ll get back if it improves.

This release tastes like a fresh tin of the previous batch so my review is about the same.

Sun Bear is tasty and the tin note is scrumptious.

The bright Virginias shine in this flake. They are grassy with some crisp edges. The reds add some earthiness. The Turkish leaf adds complexity with a little sourness—especially in the last third of the bowl. The honey and elderflower casing melds well with the sweetness of the Virginia leaf. There is a pleasant fruity undertone to the flake.

This batch has a few rough spots in the smoke upon opening the tin. It smoothed out after a week and tastes like the Sun Bear I know and love.

After a year I’m finally smoking it.

The tin note is grassy, sweet honey, some hay. Smells sweet. Broken flakes. Moisture is fine.

The taste is grassy, fresh hay, some citrus tangy notes, bread. It is sweeter then most with the obvious addition of honey. I don’t feel the honey is as pronounced as the 2020 version. There is some spice to this as well. Does have some rough spots and can be a bit harsh. Mitigated with a filter pipe in a cob. This is why it’s a 2 star blend. The retrohale was grassy, rough on the nostrils and something I tried to avoid doing. Some mouth tingle, no bite. Almost no aftertaste. The addition of the honey is nice and is what makes this interesting. It’s not the only CD blend with honey. Might check those ones out too.

*update*

Out of a corn cob this is even better and is my go to summer blend this summer. Honestly though, I’m just trying to get rid of it.

This blend taste like a sunny shine. Mouth so good flavor makes for water. Grasping at subtle notes easy and honey great. More tins the better.

When I opened the tin, I smelled a faint scent of some kind of liquor that was familiar to me, but I couldn't figure out why. The next few times I smoked it, I realized that this familiarity was due to the fact that it reminded me of the cherry liqueur that some chocolates are filled with, similar to the smell given off by “Warped: The Red Hunt (Cornell & Diehl)”, but lighter. Also when lighting the pipe I felt that similarity in the flavor between the two mixtures, but where TRH was excessive in flavor and somewhat overwhelming, this SB is a lighter version, which seems to me a success. Keep in mind that I may be ranting and this is a personal perception. If I make this comparison it is because readers who have smoked Warped's tobacco can get an idea of ​​what they are going to find in this version of Sun Bear, since it is difficult for me to describe its nuances in a more precise way. I agree with some reviewers in considering that this seems like a semi-aromatic tobacco, but it still has a coverage that is more noticeable than what I usually like in a tobacco to smoke it every day. However, it smokes nicely and the blender seems to have achieved what she intended, so I'm giving it three stars.

Sun Bear Black Locust is the last of five tins I was gifted at our recent NASPC show for sampling and, after reading the label, I wasn't sure what I would find inside. I guess it was supposed to be an aromatic Virginia/Oriental blend, but that's not what I initially found in the tin. On opening, I was surprised to see a flake of interesting shades of yellow and brown intermingled. However, it was the aroma that really caught my attention; strong and insistent as any Virginia blend I have opened recently, I could not sense the Orientals at all. As to the silver tequila and elderflower, I never found them. I thought I could detect honey in the tin aroma, but it went away with any amount of airing out and was never present in the smoke. My first bowls were Virginia dominated in the top thirds and then settled down in the middle thirds to a normal Va/Or smoke. The bottom thirds were where the Orientals stepped forward to take control of a surprisingly stout finish. As the blend sat around for about ten days, the Virginias relaxed and the bowls became more of a continuous Virginia/Oriental smoke from top to bottom. Certainly interesting, I recommend this blend at three stars.