Cornell & Diehl Repose

C/D Repose … Judging by the small number of reviews this blend has received, Repose does not seem very popular. To each their own, I found after a bit of drying time, a real worthwhile sipping tobacco.

A blend of Burley/Va, and for me, just the right amount of Turkish, what results in a bite free, smooth and very satisfying smoke. This one is a bit rich (IMO) to be an all day smoke, but several bowls in the evening is sure a treat. Easy to pack, lights without trouble and produces clouds rich tobacco tasting smoke. For my taste, it is blends like this one, that has made my pipe smoking so enjoyable, over the years. My personal rating 4+/5

This is an excellent high class blend with certain similarities to Barbary Coast (by G.L. Pease but distributed by Cornell & Diehl) and Pennington Gap--- all of which are in my top ten. Mr. Serad seems to be an exponent of blends based on high quality burley. And now I understand why. This is a blend founded on said high quality mellow burley to which is added naturally sweet Virginia and spicy Turkish and then all brought together with a topping of rum. This blend is quite tasty, semi-sweet, aromatic, cool with a steady burn. It is, to my nose, fragrant in the tin and does have a slight greenish tint to it, but it certainly does not taste green and may be a reaction caused by blending rum with Virginia, Turkish, and burley components. Anyway, the color is meaningless; taste and aroma are all. I give this a grade of "A".

A most interesting kind of aromatic for me! The description is pretty good already "another kind of aromatic.. nutty, but not (too) sweet" - they should've added "and with loads of tobacco-y goodness!" to it.

Once you take a whiff from the tin you'll get reminded of Blockade Runner and/or Black Frigate by C&D, if you've already smoked them. Yes, it's the very same rum-topping, of that I'm sure! It's more pronounced in the tin note than in the smoke itself though, so don't let the tin note fool you.

Interesting mixture of ribbons, coarser tobaccos and small cubes. In the pipe it reminded me of Pegasus - tobbaco wise! The cube cut Burley gives that pleasant nutty and spicy, mildly sweet foundation, that I love so much! The other burleys amp up the spice and add some earth and body. Then the Orientals kick in... and oh my... this was the idea of a genius to add Turkish to the blend! It gives a very pleasant spiciness, as well as slight sharp edges, which may also come from the burleys. It contributes to the "semi-aromatic" feeling... what do I mean by that? I mean that it's flavored...yes! But definetly far from what we europeans consider an "aromatic"! Far, far from that!

Plenty of tobacco goodness, refined and augmented by the pleasant, sour-fruity and slightly spicy rum topping, which I've grown to love so much in Black Frigate. It's nutty, earthy, spicy and slightly herbal/ethereal (from the Oriental)... paired with the mild sweetness of the Virginias and he rum topping... excellent blend!

One thing I'll have to contradict to though: They say you can smoke bowl after bowl without getting tired of it... that doesn't come true for me! One bowl a day pleases me enough and the attempt of smoking another bowl (back to back) I quickly got tired of the flavor! To me this is a wonderful addiditon to any Burley-Blokes rotation, as well as to lovers of flavored blends that still offer plenty of tobacco in the taste.

|| Personal rating: 3,5-stars | Attempt of an 'objective rating' : 3,5-stars || Granting it all 4, as it's close to being 'a perfect (semi-)aromatic blend' to my taste.

I had basically given up on aromatics when I purchased Repose. After smoking a number of dressed up aromatics from class outfits like CAOs blue note, and nat sherman offerings I thought it was all terrible. My expectation and experience with aromatics was a sweet smoke that would quickly burn away its artificial flavor and burn hot and or wet for the second half. Not so with repose.

The nice picture on the canister was the sole reason for my purchase.

Repose is a great smoke. It is sweet, flavorful, and burns extremely well. The smoke starts nicely and stays sweet the whole time. It is mild and aromatic but in a more natural way than I have otherwise experienced. The sweetness never overwhelms and also never turns bitter. The second half develops with a little more strength, but it is still a mild smoke. This tobacco tastes very natural; one does not get the feeling that a sugary casing is being burned up.

The pack and burn are fantastic. My most haphazard packing has still turned out great sessions. The burn is slow and even.

The aroma is pleasant and I have smoked it a number of times at outdoor mixed company affairs with some compliments and no complaints. This is a great blend and was a much needed change of pace for me. I smoke bowl after bowl of this.

I like smoking Repose because it lites really easy and packs easy. You get clouds of smoke and it doesn't bite your tongue. I also like the nutty taste that it has, infact Serads description of the tobacco is right on! "A different sort of aromatic, not sweet but nutty with a full bottom. And it makes a great allday smoke without excess nicotene buzz. I am ordering a pound of this right along with Briar Fox