Cornell & Diehl Briar Fox

Normally I try to smoke at least an ounce of a tobacco, and preferably more, before posting a review. But this review is based on a half-ounce sample of Briar Fox I received with a tobacco order from smokingpipes.com, which I finished this afternoon. I'm putting this disclaimer right up front so everyone knows there's the real possibility that Briar Fox didn't get a fair shake from me.

I sliced up the entire little plug and rubbed it out. I knew there wasn't enough there to be messing around trying out a bunch of different preparation methods. It burns nicely and produces a good volume of smoke.

There is nothing particularly wrong with Briar Fox, it's just that I find it basically unremarkable. I agree with the reviewer who said he thinks there is some Burley in it. I don't believe it's a Straight Virginia.

I wasn't able to find in Briar Fox very much of what I like about Straight Virginia tobacco: the subtle sweetness, and either that baked bread or grassy, hay-like flavor.

Whether you're more into Virginia or prefer Burley, I suspect Briar Fox might disappoint you. If I want to smoke a medium Virginia, something like Capstan blue does it much better. If I want a mild, nutty Burley then I'd probably go with the new Missouri Pride. I simply don't have a need for Briar Fox in my rotation.

I guess you could say Briar Fox is the solution to a problem I don't have.

I had high hopes for this blend, considering my last name is Fox, lol. But, I must say I find it to be a bit of a disappointment. I feel like I should give this at least two stars, somewhat recommended, but for me, it is a 1-1.5 star tobacco. It isn't horrible on the palate, nor a poor quality tobacco; it is simply a bit too absent on the palate. Rather bland and mild. One of those two can be okay, but both bland and mild in one dose won't do for me. This would be an excellent choice for a cigarette smoker to use to make the transition and ditch the sticks, though (I'm an ex-Camel non-filtered smoker). So for that person, this would be at least a three star tobacco.

To qualify all of that, the one VaBur in my rotation to which I am comparing Briar Fox is Tilbury (I am fortunate to have a Tobacconist that has bags of several Esoterica tobaccos on the shelf), and I really like that VaBur - and it is a much fuller and more flavorful smoke. I also prefer straight Va, Va/Oriental, and VaPers to VaBurs in general, with McClelland's treatment of the Virginia Leaf being what I consider the standard by which to judge, so a VaBur aficionado may appreciate this more than I. But, if you are a VaBur passer-by and just exploring, this is, well, a rather bland and mild one to me that is a little cigartetty (in a good way with quality).

A tin I'll finish, but not replace ...

Briar Fox has the smell, taste, and throat hit of cheap cigarettes. Any one of those might be unforgivable by itself, and the combination is quite unpleasant. The Virginia tastes like it's been poorly treated, and the Burley tastes dirty.

I want to say something kind about a blend I dislike this much, so I will mention that this seems like the perfect format for these loosely-pressed cakes. The tobacco is appropriately dry, so I can break it off in pieces to fit whatever pipe I'm smoking it in and get a good pack easily. It also rubs out with no effort if that's your preference.

It smokes cool and fast to the end - an hourlong smoke of good flake takes maybe 1/2 hour with Briar Fox. If the cigarette quality and taste isn't a problem for you, this might be an excellent fire-and-forget smoke.

I have smoked nearly an entire tin of BF and I have come to a few conclusions not only about BF but C&D in general. Their tobacco is of high quality -- so is this. Their tobacco typically comes pretty dry -- so does this. Their tobacco falls into a love it or hate it group with me -- there just hasn't been any in-between with me so far. This one I hate. I reach for straight VA's and VA/P blends most often. However, this one is so tasteless, hot and so uninteresting, that I just cannot justify the price of it anymore.

Perhaps you will have better luck. But for me, I'll stick with C&D's latakia blends or Bayou Flake -- I suspect that will make you happier as well.

Cornell and Diehl Briar Fox: hot air, accompanied by prose so purple you'd expect Fabio to be shirtless on the tin instead a cartoon furry with a pipe.

Tin Note: The Sample bag smelt like a smokey dark chocolate almost as if it were a dark cocoa powder the smokey part though wasn't that appealing when mixed with cocoa.

Initial Light: Took 4 charring lights to get this pipe going however once it lit it was burning really well.The taste at the beginning went from harsh to extremely dull in flavor.Burn was consistent though and that is what i am looking for in the beginning of any smoke.

Mid-Smoke: The Tobacco is maintaining a slow and even burn down the chamber and leaves a nice thick ash behind. The Nic Hit was heavy, at one point i almost got hiccups and there was a bubble in my chest. Sadly the flavor had not changed much it was still a harsh smoke at this point.

Bottom of the Bowl: Dumped out the Ash to try and relight the pipe as it had gone out twice on me and i suspect the thick ash that was being left behind was snuffing out the flame. The ash coated the sides of the bowl extremely well. After removing the smoked tobacco the smoke began to take form in the sense of flavor. The Virginia was peeking through but only just a little. The taste reminded me of a cold worn leather jacket that still has the faintest smell of your favorite cologne, of course meaning the Virginia that's there but not there just a slight presence.

Room Note: My wife surprisingly gave my a legitimate answer i guess me asking here all these times has giving her the sense of being a connoisseur, Her words "This blend gives the smell of black licorice...no no Anise say Anise it sounds better" haha i am a proud husband... That hates licorice.

Dottle: The ash was thick and fell into dust when touched the burn was slow but it was very consistent but left behind traces of goop near the draft hole and clogged the pipe.

Smoking Duration: 35min

Overall: After a month of trying different Va/burs it has become apparent that i am not much into this type of blend. That being said there are a few that i did enjoy just this not being one of them. Good things i can say about this blend is that it burns really good and will build an excellent cake in your pipe. But i like smoking a pipe not to just build a cake i would also like to enjoy what I'm smoking. Flavor and/or complexity wasn't there for me in Briar Fox.

Ordered a tin directly from CnD. Since I am a fan of Heeschan pipes. The tobacco has a wonderful scent. Upon smoking my first bowl this backy to me just has an bad flavor. I can't point it out what it is but seems like lever 2000 or Dove soap was put in it. It also MUST be smoke slowly cause it cause the bowl to heat up. on a positive note even though the bowl heats up it still delivers a cool smoke. I am fan of Cornell's but this tobacco just doesnt deliver that it should.

I keep smoking bowl after bowl and I just don’t get how this tobacco is this highly rated ? In a smaller pipe I get just a hair of sweetness . In a larger bowl nothing , no taste ! The description says Virginia with a touch of burley or something like that . The burley dominates the blend and that would be fine if it tasted good . It tastes like a white blending burley with no molasses or cocoa notes at all . There is a slight earthy nutty flavor but that’s about it . Very disappointed. Not even a bitter sour cigar note . It is tasteless . 0 stars

Sawdust. I tell ya, this is like smoking sawdust. It comes in a tin and is in a block of compressed small cut pieces. There was no real flavor. I don't know if I got a bad tin but I certainly did not enjoy smoking this weed. I tried letting this one sit for while, as sometimes helps some other C&D blends, but to no avail. Remained sawdust. I am a virginia / virginia-perique smoker and I have been sold on some fine burley blends ala Penington Gap and Barbary Coast but I will not waste any more time and energy on this little fox.