Cornell & Diehl Warped: Saint Espresso 2022

The steamed and toasted three cavendishes are lightly sweetened Dominican cigar, Eastern North Carolina red Virginia and unsweetened one sucker Kentucky burley black. Their aspects are fermented tart and and tangy citrus, tangy dark fruit, earth, wood, peaty vegetation, floralness, leather, herbs, some grass, sugar, cocoa, espresso-ish coffee with a little cream, spice, nuts, tea, acidity and light roughness. The cigar is the most prominent cavendish. The red Va. is a supporting player. The burley black sits in the third slot. The coffee, walnut, and creamy vanilla toppings are the most obvious in that order, but I sense some tangy citrus added as well. The toppings moderately tone down the tobaccos and help create a very synergistic, well balanced, complex and nuanced creamy sweet, fruity, espresso-ish/coffee, lightly sour, bitter, cocoa, savory, slightly spicy, floral, flavor that extends to the pleasantly lingering after taste. The room note is a tad stronger. The strength is a step shy of the medium mark. The nic-hit is in the center of mild to medium. The taste level is medium. There’s no chance of bite or harshness. The tobacco is mildly moist and needs no dry time. It burns cool, clean, and slightly slow. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires a couple more than an average number of relights. Can be an all day smoke. Four stars.

-JimInks

This was a gift from a fellow pipe club member, I do not think this was to his liking but am glad to have been the lucky recipient. This tin was practically full. Apparently, this is a limited run of 3000 tins with this one being 0683, until next year maybe. Ha. According to the tin, “A unique blend of distinct Cavendish variants, each carefully steamed and toasted, combine to invoke the velvety body and rich flavor of a fine espresso. Perfect to start your day, to pick you up after lunch, or to pair with evening desert, this exquisite coffee-inspired blend takes an exclusively different approach to the classic Black Cavendish aromatic profile.” I found this to be pretty moist in the tin but to its credit this is really fresh with production date of 051022. This has a strong alcoholic like cacao/chocolate smell to it and has lots of torn leaf which I am guessing is the cigar leaf which I did not know it contained as this was not listed on the contents section but read JimInks review below which gives a better description of the make up of this blend. I did have to look up “one sucker Kentucky”. From Victory seeds website. “‘One Sucker' tobacco is an all-purpose, dark, air-cured tobacco that was used for snuff, chewing, cigarettes and cigar blending. One sucker produces fewer suckers (flowering stalks) which is a desirable trait for tobacco leaf growers. Its leaves are very long, narrow, and have a prominent midrib. The exact history of 'One Sucker' tobacco is elusive. We do know that it predates 1900. It is believed to be synonymous with a very old variety called 'Tongue' or 'Ox-Tongue' mentioned in very old literature.”” https://www.victoryseeds.com/nicotiana_one-sucker.html. Granted, I have drunk more espressos than I can count and I guess one could describe the taste as somewhat rich with a slight chocolate taste but I find the name of this tin misleading as there appears to be no coffee flavoring whatsoever in this blend. Has this invoked the velvety body and rich flavor of a fine espresso as described on the tin? I see that it could. This really is a very flavorful bend that actually tastes more mellow than it smells which is a good thing but definitely one I would have to be in a particular mood for. Oh, I don’t know say tomorrow morning with my espresso? In closing, when you finally start running out of words to describe all of the different tobacco blends you have tried use “quotations”. 😊

Smoking now:

The tin note is chocolate mousse. Straight up smells like the dessert. Ribbons and random large pieces of what I believe to be the cigar leave. Dark and medium brown in color, not sticky, and perfect moisture from the tin. Packed and lit with the best of aromatics.

The taste right away is the smell. A chocolate mousse. Sweet chocolate and vanilla but wait there’s more. There’s an underlying earthy, herbal/vegetative, woody, dry unsweet cocoa, tea like flavor. I assume that’s the cigar leaf making itself very apparent. It was unique and made me keep puffing away probably faster than I should have. At times it comes across as creamy like a cigar. It reminds me of a chocolate mousse with one of those bready and buttery crumbly plain cookies in it.

There’s plenty of up front sweet, vanilla and chocolate notes to satisfy the aromatic smoker. However there’s enough interesting tobacco flavors, the Virginia, Kentucky Burley and Dominican Cigar leaf to satisfy the other pipe smokers and give this plenty of body. Did this taste like a cigar? No. Did this taste like an aromatic pipe tobacco? Sort of, but far more interesting. There’s a little mouth tingle, no bite, and the retrohale had more cigar qualities of wood and peppery notes. The topping and aromatic qualities diminishes half way though and you’re left with a woody, (but not dry), grassy, herbal, sweet tea like flavor that’s slightly spicy and peppery on the retrohale. Sometime I get a cinnamon note. Left a vegetative but pleasant after taste with a slight tingle on the back of the tongue. Easily repeatable. I noticed you can puff this fast with little repercussion.

Coworker said the room note smelled woody, but nice. As a cigar smoker he said he did enjoy it. Might not be as aromatic as it smells.

Does it taste like coffee? No. Did it pair well with coffee? Absolutely. A milder cigar leaf blend. Sweet and dessert like. Definitely enjoyed.

Cornell & Diehl - Warped: Saint Espresso.

Since the constituents have already been broken down and deciphered in great detail, there's little need for me to do the same! This will be quite a short review, in comparison to the other very helpful ones.

The mixture contains some leafy pieces, most of the blend's in ribbons but there are some bigger pieces. The smell is really inviting, like a cup of mocha.

Just like the tin-note, the additives cause a flavour that's like a very sweet cup of mocha; coffee, chocolate, a touch of vanilla. The Cavendish doesn't come across as the usual over-sweet, sticky, affair. Yes, there is a honey-sweet, grassy Va Cavendish flavour, but there's more of the dry cigar note. Also, a nice touch of Kentucky smokiness. The burn? It could be slower, for me.

Nicotine: medium. Room-note: nice.

Saint Espresso? A very nice blend, just spoiled by the speed it burns at. Three stars:

Recommended.