Cornell & Diehl Haunted Bookshop

This tasted like a stale cigarette smells, my mouth was unhappy from the first puff.

Wide ribbon cut, about the same moisture level as Carter Hall. The tin note was of nutty burley with a slight hint of the Perique. Packs well and burns very well, smoked cool and dry.

As a big fan of Burley London Blend, I bought Haunted Bookshop hoping it might have a little more depth to it, but it really doesn't, not in my opinion. The two dominant flavors are of course the Burley and the Perique, the first few moments as a matter of fact are pure Perique. But it settles down in just a few minutes to be a nice smoke. Every now and then you get a nice whisp of the pepper and spice from the Perique and the sweetness of the Virginias.

Like someone said of C&D's Purple Cow: I really wanted to like this. I'm a burley man. No objection to a few spiced points to a tobacco. Also naturally a Virginia fan.

This stuff, which I purchased a bit of, from bulk, was dreadful. I can't ever say I have tasted moldy gym socks, pepper, and stale Chinese food all-in-one, but this is it. It has a bite that I hated, and I'd also classify it as rather sour.

I noted the dryness of the sample I received. It was odd. Then I noted it had NO aroma of any kind. It doesn't even smell of tobacco. Is it possible I got something old, dry and with a hint of mold? Perhaps. It sure tasted like it.

The reviews here are vastly overrated if that is what that stuff IS supposed to taste like. It took a malted and a bowl of Lane's 1-Q to fix this mess.

Not my idea of what a baccy ought to be. Comes, IMHO, too dry, has a strange cut, very mottled appearance, takes 3 matches to get started, no flavor but STRONG taste (I know this is hard to imagine), and gives absolutely no satisfaction of any kind.

To it's credit, once properly started, this mixture stays lit well but what the heck for?; Does not bite and smokes cool; No apparent casing or topping; No problems with packing and does not stink up the pipe (This is a little "maybe" since I couldn't finish the pipe and dumped the first load at half bowl}.

Am gifting the wife with the remainder of 4oz. tomorrow as a possible enrichment to her plant potting mix (she's getting used to this).

My bulk sample came powder dry. On purpose? I dunno but this was the worst pipe tobacco I have ever tried, even worse than Borkum Riff Whiskey. Smelled and tasted like cigarettes that had been opened and been left to air out in the sun of the dash board of someone's truck for a few years - HARSH!!

I had not even finished pulling down the flame on the first match when my tounge was stung like a scorpion sting. Biting hard right out of the gate to be blunt.

I was actually astonished that a blend could be engineered to bite so quickly. I never before had a bite, and such a hard intense one, happen so quickly in over 20 years of pipe smoking - even with the cheap stuff that I know will bite at some point.

The taste was awful - like smoking molded hay or floor trash sweepings - simply repulsive. This stuff is bad to the point it that makes me angry.

I hope my supplier had stored their stock incorrectly which led to this unpleasant experience and waste of my money and time. I would hate to think that someone at Cornell and Diehl knowingly made the tobacco this way.

If C&D is out to drive away customers, they have a winning strategy for sure with this poison.

I would give my sample away but I don't want to make any mortal enemies or be arrested for assault.

Sorry C&D, if this is a representative sample, it is simply an awful creation.

(-1 stars if possible)

🙁

I really wanted to like this one, but I can't. I remember the very first time I smoked this blend, it was with my Big Ben Royal Silver 343 and the combination aroma/flavor really reminded me of what a haunted bookshop would be like. Tastes like it's very high in nicotine content.

However, this blend just leaves me feeling nauseous. The taste reminds me of a cheap version of Prince Albert. I don't like burley, and this stuff has the bitter, sour after taste that made me dump out the remaining bowlful and left me w/ the conclusion that I was never going to visit that book store again.

I did not like this blend much. This was rather a surprise but to me it seemed a little on the hot side was quite confused for I really like Old Joe Krantz which had simular ingrediants. I suppose this had more of something in it that did not agree with me. I am perplexed.

I've tried on multiple occasions to get into this blend, but I just can't do it. C&D makes some of my favorite blends, but this one has too many strong flavors that aren't my taste whatsoever.

Seems to burn hot and kind of just tastes like a cigarette. I know it's beloved, but I don't get the hype.

Smoking now:

*bias alert* : I am not a fan of heavy burley tobaccos as it tends to not agree with me.

Bulk version. Bag note is a woody, barn like aroma. Not hay, but vegetative musty kind of wood smell. A little spice.

Moisture and all that is perfect. The flavor is dry. A dry wood barn, slight vegetative, nutty, earthen flavor. There’s a spice to this that’s welcome and familiar with a vaper smoker: perique. It’s interesting to taste it in a burley forward blend. It adds a dry fruit and spice to this that I enjoyed. This is an interesting blend with the decent amount of perique added to it.

It’s probably a 3 star blend without my bias against burley tobacco. This did dry my mouth out and started to bite my tongue but that’s my chemistry not the blend’s. Felt like I smoked a bee hive.