Cornell & Diehl Warped: Saint Espresso 2023

The steamed and toasted three cavendishes are in order of their prominence: lightly sweetened Dominican cigar, Eastern North Carolina red Virginia, and unsweetened one sucker blackened Kentucky burley. The red Va. is almost a supporting player, and the one sucker blackened Kentucky burley is close behind that. The cigar cavendish is a tad more noticeable with a couple more smoke notes than last year’s production. The coffee takes a little of the lead over the walnut and creamy vanilla toppings, The creamy vanilla seems lightly richer this time. They moderately tone down the tobaccos. The strength is just shy of the medium threshold. The taste level is medium. The nic-hit is a couple of steps below the overall strength level. There’s no chance of bite or harshness, and the rough edges are slight. Well balanced with nuanced complexity, it burns cool and clean at a reasonable rate with a very consistent creamy sweet, tart and tangy citrus, tangy ripe dark fruit, coffee, nuts, floral, mild vanilla, spice, smoke, grass, tea, herbs, leather, vegetative peat, light bitter sourness, cocoa, savory flavor. The after taste pleasantly lingers a mite. The room note is pleasant to tolerable. 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