Cornell & Diehl Autumn Evening

Not for me. Amazing room note but it burns hot, bites the tongue and leaves an horrible aftertaste. Textbook example of why I am not a big fan of aromatics.

Don't let be fooled, this is a classy aromatic tobacco, which is not cloying or disgusting. The aroma is that of maple syrup, but this tobacco has also a great base made of Red Virginias which are dominant throughout the smoke. The aroma is for sure one that your wife/girl will enjoy. Nicotine-wise, this is not a light tobacco, I'd say it sits in the medium spot. Tin art superb as usual. I highly recommend it for those who want to try a top-notch aromatic tobacco.

The best airomatic blend I have smoked in 5 years. And that includes my all time favorite cult brand. This one has it all. A clean sweet topper. A nice blend of latikia and i detect a little bit of red virginia cased with vanilla and rum.

A quality aromatic pipe tobacco that is straightforward. Smells strongly of sweet maple syrup. Taste is of a sweet, tangy, fresh baked bread virginia with almost no earth and a dash vanilla. Aroma is very pleasant maple with some tobacco. The mention of this reminding people of a smoky diner is funny because its true, be it a good or bad thing is up to you. The maple and slight breadiness of the virgina give you a sense of pancakes, but the pure virginia aspect brings the cigarette like nature to the party.

Bought in bulk, the ribbon cut packs well and humectants used perfectly as this was not dry nor sopping wet. Takes light and keeps pretty well, and burns at a moderate pace for a VA. Leaves some residue but nothing crazy.

Overall it is a quality aromatic with straight virginia. Not much complexity or depth because of that but I find it to be enjoyable as a VA/Per smoker and a good change of pace.

With all the hype, my expectations were high. I’ve been disappointed with most of Cornell & Diehl’s products lately, and this unfortunately continues the theme.

It smells fantastic when you open the tin, but that’s the best thing I can say about this. I don’t know if I got a dud tin, but I thought I was looking at the contents of a can of dip it was so finely cut and chopped. I’m not talking about just a fine shag, the cut is extremely fine and short. The entire contents of the tin are this way. Perhaps this is intentional, but it conveys a “what do we do with all these scraps?”-style presentation. In any case, I think this type of cut, any kind of shag cut when it comes to pipe tobacco, provides for a hot, fast and muddled smoking experience.

That delicious tin note does not translate to the smoke. It’s just a mildly sweet and mostly bland flavor.

More and more, I’m beginning to view Cornell & Diehl as the OTC blender of the premium tobacco realm. I’m glad they have as many fans as they do, and there are still a few Pease blends that I think they’re getting right, but the switch to the finer ribbon cut for many of their blends in the last couple years has been detrimental to their quality.

As it stands, I tried a few bowls of this over the course of a few days and threw it in the trash.

Oh, and the above picture of the tin and the accompanying tobacco is clearly from the pre-2016 era, before C&D switched to the ultra fine shag cut. I’m now of the opinion that most reviews of C&D produced blends pre-2016 have been rendered essentially useless, as most of their blends now feature a shag cut, and seemingly different leaf in many cases, and therefore bear little resemblance to what they once were.

When I opened the can it smelt like a short stack from I-HOP dripping in maple syrup. Almost too sweet smelling but fortunately it smokes a lot milder than it smells. To me this is another more natural aromatic that I have tried and I really enjoyed it. A little spicy at times and taste was consistent until the end. Defiantly a nice smoke for the evenings this time of the year hence its name.

Upon buying this tobacco, I was very pleased with the tin note. Very pleasant maple/bourbon note is present. However, once I actually loaded this up and smoked it, it became apparent to me that this blend is a very bland and stale cigarette taste. It burns extremely hot, and like most aromatics (cheaper ones) instead of the last 1/3 of the bowl being an ashy taste/aroma, the whole smoke was that way for me. I threw my tin away. I wasn’t impressed.

An aromatic done right. The casing (maple syrup) melds well with the Red Virginia Cavendish and produces a smooth yet flavorful smoke.

That said, my first impression of the blend was that it was a bit too mild for my palate and it arrived a little too wet. However, the more that I have smoked the blend, the more I have enjoyed the delicate subtleties of the casing mixed with the Virginia tobacco.

Edited on 21 Nov 2018 After smoking this blend for a four months, I realized that this blend was turning my stomach. I originally thought it was some nicotine poisoning, but my body definitely does not like something in the topping. After four similar experiences, I dumped the rest of the tin, which deeply saddened me. I moved on to Cult's Militia for a similar maple aromatic blend. I will leave the recommendation at three stars, because I believe my body chemistry is the issue.

Very pleasant mild all day aromatic. The mild maple sweetness carries through from opening the tin to the last puff. One of the few tobaccos my wife doesn't mind.