Cornell & Diehl Longevity

Longevity is a middleweight Balkan crumble cake and a member of the Serenity Series tobaccos developed by William Serad and blended by Cornell and Diehl, Inc.

The tin aroma of Longevity is wine-like and has a medium smoky background with slightly sour notes. Longevity is blended from Turkish, Latakia, and Red Virginia tobaccos, with the most emphasis being on the Turkish leaf. The blend appears as a walnut brown, mottled with black, rust, and some pale green.

Longevity arrives as two 2?x 3/4?x 1? pressed blocks of square and ribbon cut tobaccos wrapped in coffee filter paper. The blocks of tobacco appear very much like particleboard and can be quite stubborn to tear apart and rub out. Longevity rubs out into small stiff square flakes of tobacco. The initial moisture of the tobacco is minimal and is ready for immediate smoking without any drying needed. Longevity has the tendency to pack quite dense. For Longevity to have decent smoking characteristics, the tobacco must be packed lightly with very little tamping.

Longevity lights well enough, and if packed somewhat loose, will have a decent burn. The room note is medium strong with musky aromas. The burn rate of this blend progresses medium fast and yields a fine medium gray ash.

The flavor of Longevity is dry, sour, and slightly smoky. The Turkish tobacco leaf dominates the blend with the Latakia playing a more diminished role and the red Virginia only providing balance to the blend and contributing very little if any sweetness. The flavor is consistent throughout the smoke but does tend to become slightly bitter near the end of the smoke. No casing was noticed with this tobacco and the tongue bite is minimal if nonexistent, even when loosely packed. Longevity tobacco also has no noticeable nicotine kick and produces a medium smoke.

In being a true Balkan pipe tobacco blend, Longevity is predominately based on high quality Turkish tobaccos and Latakia, with just enough Virginia used to provide structure and balance. Although Longevity is a unique blend composed of higher quality tobaccos, it is monotone with respect to flavor and its burning characteristics can leave something more to be desired.