Cornell & Diehl Haunted Bookshop

There are tobacco blends that really make the burly appreciable. But in my opinion burly cannot stand alone. I'm not quite sure why some pipe smokers are fascinated by it, or even worse considers strong burly blends their "go to"s. If this was the only tobacco that was available, I would learn to love it. But I think their are other blends that are so much more enjoyable that I doubt I will give any more time to this. I have tried it several times and each time I wished I had smoked something else. The burley is ridiculously prominent. In my opinion barely is not a beautiful streamlined tobacco. And I don't think it is very good at this level of concentration. It puts me in mind of crooner. Which I believe is just a pouch of Burley with something like deer tongue added to it. I don't like it either. Now maybe my palette simply isn't tough enough. Or maybe I'm not old enough to be completely nostalgic about the taste of burly. But I can't get down with it. As pipe smokers and tobacco reviewers, I think it is tempting for us to look for the good even in things that we don't enjoy that much. And some people will give this tobacco a good review even though they did not like it. Which really doesn't make a lot of sense if you think about it. They say something like"I can see the quality, but it's not for me". How about just telling us that you think its awful?

Well if you ask me, just because a product is handled well doesn't mean that it is good. There's not a lot of mystery behind this tobacco. It doesn't really taste like cigarettes, but any decent quality cigar is light years better than haunted bookshop. For the smoker like me who enjoys collecting tobacco. It makes sense to have it because I like the full spectrum. But I'm not going to give it a chance again. Because it's not very good.

Fairly disappointed by Haunted Bookshop. I found the taste was actually a bit inferior to some of the old codger blends like Carter Hall and Sir Walter Raleigh. The perique adds a spiciness on the tongue and nostrils, but not a great deal of flavor. And the nic-hit packs more of a wallop than I want out of burley blend--I get fairly dizzy after smoking a large bowl. If I want to up the ante on "pedestrian" burley, I'd prefer to go with Mac Baren HH Burley Flake.

As a newer pipe smoker, I am mainly exploring the different blends (I favor aromatic blends, although I am dipping my toes into the non-aromatic blends now) to find what I like. The product description lists - burley, perique & virginia with no additional flavor added. Opening the tin, what I smelled was nice tobacco smell, pleasant and mild. The flavor I tasted was from the burley and a bit of the perique. I have tasted other blends with these tobaccos, but the combination they used in this was such that I did not enjoy this as much as I had hoped (from others reviews). I did have a small bit tounge-bite with this blend.

Ah yes, the infamous Haunted Bookshop. I’ll admit, it does have a taste reminicent of cigarettes, but in a good way. The Perique stops it from tasting like a straight cigarette and instead leads it more on a cigar or va/per path.

The tin note is pretty much chocolate but the taste is completely different, with notes of coffee, wood and leather, almost like a cigar. It's quite surprising how this has no cigar leaf in it, but since C&D are famous for their burley blends I guess I will just give credit to their expertise.

The burley and virginia work in harmony, with the perique providing a slight spice.

Overall a fantastic blend, but the nicotine content is quite high, so tread carefully if you can’t handle that very well.

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.

Not my favorite C&D blend. Heavy burley causes the first 10-15 minutes to taste similar to cigarettes. (I’ve never smoked cigarettes...tried them...but not my thing). Then a pleasant barn hay type of taste.

Room note is not pleasing

Strength is proper

I think I’ll put the tin away for a while and revisit.

I hate to come down on a blend that is respected by many (on the other hand, it so happens plenty others don't like this blend either). So far, C&D's burley based blends do not resonate with me. Speaking for myself, when it comes to burley's, it's all about expectations. Burley's, in my book, need to be nutty—this isn't what you're getting here.

This blend was harsh, sharp as all get out, and strong. The tobacco combo's here just don't make it for me. The perique put an unhealthy bite on my palate and the burley's lacked nuttiness. A rather rank, tinny taste in my mouth developed as I was smoking it. Very unpleasant. I didn't find the room note very pleasing, either. I will be giving this one away. It's possible, I suppose, this blend may smooth out over time, but I'd rather not wait around to see. I don't regret trying this blend out, but I'm disappointed with this one (I'll give this one a 1.5 stars. I always round down).

Keep on pipin'

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.

3rdGuy

I would call this the Frog Morton of vaburper or even vabur's in general. It is a great starting point in this category for those new to the components but you will eventually advance on to better blends. A solid C to C- and there is nothing wrong in that.