Cornell & Diehl Sun Bear Tupelo

A great tin note. I definitely get honey and there’s a bit of earthiness and a light floral quality which I suppose is St. Germain’s elderflower liqueur. Mostly, it smells like chocolate covered cherries, I get a lot of dried fruit and cocoa; it smells quite good. The taste is a tad mute, not exactly bursting with flavour, but what I do get is nice: light toast, light grass, wood, a cumin-like spice, subtly sweet honey and an essence of fruity elderflower. I hardly notice the tequila. The orientals run near equal to the virginias, providing a kind of omnipresent spice/incense that brings some sourness and a black tea aftertaste. All of the flavours are on the mild or light end of the spectrum. It’s quite moist, almost damp, and leaves some moisture in the bowl. When properly dried, it smokes acceptably. For a greedy smoker, such as myself, it tends toward hot and steamy, likely the honey topping, however if sipped it’s warm and creamy and it finds a rhythm. I don’t usually make recommendations on preparation, but I found the fold and stuff method proved an excellent result and to truly bring out the subdued flavours of Sun Bear, retro-haling is a must. As this smokes down the bowl, the cocoa notes pick up and the honey becomes very creamy, it’s virtually milk chocolate by the end. While I did not find smoking this, or any tobacco for that matter, akin to entering uncharted realms of pure enchantment (I mean, we are talking about tobacco not mushrooms), I did find this to be a very good smoke that took my mind off this floating asylum we call Earth for a brief moment. I’ll give it the full 4 stars for that alone. Hopefully, you were able to nab a couple tins. Cheers.