Cornell & Diehl Haunted Bookshop

The pouch aroma is pleasant in grassy hay sort of way like picking dry grass. The mixture a mostly a nutty burley base with the support of red virginias and perque in the scene saying hello to my taste buds and to nose. The leaves mostly yellows and gold and thick The first torch I got a strong whisp of the red virginia and a tickle in my nose from the perque. Before mid bowl the burley starts the party and finishes the party with wishes of a big pipe so that I may enjoy this longer. My wife might tolerate this one so yay!

This is a pleasant, mild smoke. There is nothing flashy about this blend except for the name. I occasionaly like to smoke this especially when i've been smoking blends that are very assertive in strength and flavor. I find this a nice change of pace compared to some of the more assertive blends that I smoke. This is very natural tasting to me and smokes very cool. This is nutty, lightly sweet, clean and pure. I enjoy this and recommend it.

Cornell & Diehl
Haunted Bookshop

Blend notes: “A predominantly burley mixture with a touch of red Virginia and perique. Another of the late Bob Runowski's blends, named in honor of the famous novel written by Christopher Morley, Haunted Bookshop is a burley and Virginia blend with just a touch of perique.”

Or, really, just a burley blend with a bit of Virginia for some structure, and a slightly larger bit of Perique for a side-note of peppery spice. Burns and lights easily. There is no discernible difference between the regular and ‘cake’ which, really, breaks apart so easily that it’s hard to call it a cake.

This is a medium to full burley blend. If you like burley (not dark-fired KY) then this is a good blend. I like it but then I like burley. If I were to label Haunted Bookshop, I’d call it a BurPerVa in the order of tobacco importance.

HB is solid, steady, uncomplicated. Nutty from the burley, a bit of pepper from the Perique, not remotely sweet though. C&D tends to case their blends, but casing if done correctly does not sweeten as much as it draws out and enhances inherent flavors.

The way I will treat HB is to use it as a palate cleanser, a sort of interlude between a season of English/Balkans and perhaps a season of VaPer or a traditional VaBur or anything with KY. It’s not a go-to blend but will have a place on my shelf.

A solid 3 stars out of 4.

The tin note has an aromas of musk and sweet preserved fruit (in the realm of fig/date/plum/raisin).

When smoking the dry musk of the burly comes out first, perhaps because of the name, but brings to mind the pleasant smell of old books. The perique is present but not on every puff. The pepper spice fades in and out. The sweet creamy Virginias are more detectable with smaller sips and a cooler burning technique. Haunted bookshop is at its best when the Virginias are leading. within a single bowl the different tobaccos are rotating who is commanding the ship.

A pleasant smoke. The sweet cream aroma is leading the room note.


A solid 3 out of 4. Sometimes it sits on the shelf, but when in the mood for this blend it hits the spot.

Appearance: The tin was released in March 2022. Finely ribbon-cut in a milk chocolate color, almost mono-color, with occasional light Virginias. The moisture and consistency of the tobacco is perfect, it requires no drying or additional preparation.

Flavor: A fairly even smell of medium density, in which notes of milk chocolate with a lot of cocoa, hay-wood aroma with a slight touch of fresh mushrooms, a little dry wine, a little bit of spice and a little bit of brine are evenly intertwined. The bouquet is a bit strange, but not unpleasant.

Taste: smooth, soft, not too dense. Fairly bright nutty note with a slight earthiness and even lighter bitterness in the foreground, in support of it comes a slightly spicy and plumy note of perique with a touch of iron. I must say, with this tobacco I felt for the first time what some pipe smokers talk about - the iron flavor of perique. Woody, slightly sweet and fruity tones of Virginia complete the composition, almost not interfering in the duet of burley and perique (which, by the way, in this tobacco is less than it seems). Closer to the middle of the pipe separate notes mix into a general bouquet, with the woody-earthy-nutty taste of burley remaining at the head of it. The perique on the exhale weakens somewhat. The tobacco smokes slowly, cool enough, but requires some attention - overheating kills the sweetness, the tobacco begins to resemble a cigarette mixture. The strength of the tobacco is clearly above average, a standard large pipe gave me enough nicotine to feel a slight nicotine hit. The tobacco burns out almost completely into a light gray ash with no lumps, leaving no moisture in the pipe. The aftertaste is quite persistent, woody and earthy.

Abundant smoke from tobacco has a pronounced woody-nut odor, similar to cigarette odor. It is unlikely to appeal to your household. On top of that, this odor stays in the room for quite a long time.

What's the bottom line? It is very difficult for me to evaluate burley-based blends, as I practically do not smoke them. But I can't help but admit that something about this blend has me hooked. I would have preferred a little more perique in the flavor, but then I'm afraid it would just put me down - it's not lacking in strength.

Package note of pungent fermented vegetation and earth. Tobacco is a mix cut of ribbon and broken flake, Tobacco color is reddish brown and tan with a little darker brown mixed in. Moisture content is great. No drying/prep needed. Burns moderately with few relights. The strength is medium to strong and nic is medium to strong. No flavoring detected. Taste is medium to full and mostly consistent, with notes of peaty sour vegetation, dry bitter, spices, very nutty, earthy, mild sugar, slight spicy, very woody, slight molasses, mild dark fruit, mildly savory, a spiced raisin background note, and a very peppery retro. Burley is leading with Perique supporting. Virginia is getting pulled along by the scruff of its neck. Room note is tolerable, and aftertaste is great.

I like burley. This one is good on a cold day, but not so much in the heat for some reason. When it was fresh I liked it more when smoked straight, but after a couple months it tasted a little rough to me. I blended it off into a couple aromatics that needed to be filled in with flavor and it was an absolute delight. I will definitely but it again, for both smoking and blending. It does wonders adding that burley taste and burn characteristics to a goopy aromatic. You may not like it straight if you aren't into full rough burley flavor.

I also recommend reading the book by its namesake by Christopher Morley while smoking this.

My review is based on bulk (why pay for tins if you don't have too?). I'm not sure if this blend always comes as dry in a tin as is does in bulk, either way it's not an issue. Ready to smoke immediately.

Big unsweetened bitter chocolate & toasty nuts (walnut especially). Typical burley stuff. The Perique note in this one is huge. Lots of black pepper and a bit of an anise/licorice note. The Virginia is a pretty noticable condiment and bring a bit of hay, oak, and grassyness to smooth things out a bit, but as a whole this blend is far from smooth (in a good way). This stuff doesn't really bite, but keep a steady caedence or you will be greeted with a lot of bitterness, not unlike over-puffing a cigar. Burns kinda fast, but stays lit. On the strong side.

Overall I think this is a perfect "driving" blend. Its cheap-ish, stays lit with no fuss, and delivers the nicotine. Wakes me up in the morning with a rush of rough-and-tumble, unpretentious flavor, and leaves me buzzing.

First impressions—aroma in pouch very subtle, burley (of course), a touch of sweetgrass, fruity–figgy overtone. Seems very dry almost stale. Burns hot & quick but no tongue bite. Quite strong. I don't detect the Périique.

Burley to me is THE pipe tobacco (I suspect my father smoked it). Interesting dichotomy: many reviews here liken it to cigarette tobacco, I presume US. Here in Canada cigarettes are almost exclusively Virginia Bright, which is also the only commercially grown tobacco in Canada.

I expected something a little more exotic or perhaps whisky-cased from the name, but what the heck? Burley is a burley is a burley, as Gertrude Stein might have said. I can see this being an all-day smoke for those like me who like strong. I expect it will be a good blender, too, as burley generally is; I will experiment with black stoved Virginia & more Périque.