Cornell & Diehl Autumn Evening

While waiting upon the full review promised above, I thought I'd go ahead and share my own impressions of Autumn evening. Bland, mild, no nocotine kick. I do think I detected some sort of flavoring - although Maple would not have been my first guess. A real winner for light aromatic fans.

While not a terribly complex tobacco, this is about as good a commonly available aromatic gets. The first time my wife smelled this as I was smoking it, she said, "ooh, what is THAT?". Add to that the fact that this is one of the best sellers at the B&M my wife and I own, and I'd say it's a real crowd-pleaser, both with smokers and those around them. We have plenty of customers who come back for repeat purchases of this, which is really no surprise. I have a pretty large selection of pipe leaf from which to choose, and often find myself reaching for this when I either can't make up my mind what I want to smoke, or I just want something reliable and tasty. I also haven't noticed any serious ghosting, like some aromatics can cause, although I keep my pipes very clean and rotate among around 4 dozen or so cheap to mid-range pipes. I generally recommend that someone trying a new tobacco give a blend a test-run in a cob pipe first, but I don't have such a worry about this blend. If I could, I'd give this 3.5 stars.

Cornell and Diehl, an outstanding blender of boutique tobaccos, has a winner in Autumn Evening, and this pipe mixture racks up big sales for them. For those who puff aromatic pipe tobaccos exclusively or mostly, and for those who use aromatics as a change of pace, the chances are that Autumn Evening will tickle their fancy. The minority of pipe smokers who absolutely do not care for aromatic offerings need not sample this offering.

Open the tin (it is also available in bulk) and you will be greeted by coarse cut, short chopped ribbons of some girth, and some bits that are close to being cubes.

The tin aroma seems predominantly maple. This pancake smell is slightly deceiving, for Autumn Evening in fact has a complex blend of casing agents, which includes (aside from the maple) rum, whiskey, fruit, citrus and vanilla.

The moisture content open first opening is a bit high; this tobacco improves with some drying time. Lighting is not difficult, and I generally get by with a single relight. Surprise, surprise! Once lit, Autumn Evening is an aromatic tobacco that actually tastes the same way that it smells. Do the aromatic agents completely overcome the citrus note of the base Virginias? "Purt' nigh but not plumb."

The great majority of bystanders will approve of the room note, sweet and fragrant,but not overbearing.

The pipe load smokes down to a dark grey ash with less goop that you would expect from a tobacco as aromatic as this. In fact, if you puff very gently, the goop is surprisingly scant. Autumn Evening contains both cavendish and Virginia, and I take it that the cavendish treated element is also Virginia. The nicotine content registers on the minimal side of the scale. Virginia dominant tobaccos create a tongue bite challenge for smokers with sensitive tongues. If you are one of these, a filter pipe will help.

As this tobacco can ghost a briar, enjoy it with pipes dedicated to aromatics, or use it in a Missouri Meerschaum. I personally find that the maple dominant flavor really shines in a cob.

Excellent. If you are looking for a good solid Aromatic this is a good one. It's billed as Red Va Cav but reminds me of soft burley. Pleasant smell and smoke. I get more out of it than Maple. I got the Vanilla and taste of a sweet whisky. I can see why this is a best seller for C&D.

Recommended for an all day smoke or special time to relax on the porch after a meal.

Autumn Evening is a sweet smelling aromatic from C&D. The pouch scent is that of maple syrup. After some needed dry time, it packed with ease and smoked with ease. The maple scent doesn't translate well to the smoke as the taste is sweet, rather than maple in flavor. The good news for me is that red Virginias generally don't like me, but I had no problem with AE. When I want a Maple aromatic, I prefer Vermont Maple Cavendish from Pipeworks and Wilke, but still worth a try for lovers of maple aromatics.

UPDATED...again 12/17: I watched an interesting video on youtube where a youtube blogger visited the C&D factory and inteviewed the owner and blender of Autumn Evening. They described AE to be the most difficult and time consuming of all the blends they make for C&D and all private label blends due to the flavoring process. This is not a casing by any traditional sense. As they describe it is an infusion where the "sauce" is actually soaked into the tobacco and not applied by traditional process. The tobacco actually absorbs all of the flavoring in the soaking and then requires some significant drying to get it to the packaging phase. I found this informative and interesting. It may also help in understanding the concentration of flavor and sweetness in this tobacco. And now you know...

This is the poster child for a solid aromatic. Cool smoking subtle flavors of maple syrup and vanilla bean and the clean Virginia's coming through. Tobacco and casing in a perfect marriage. The maple flavor is front and center with a grassy nutty Virginia in the background. I read pancakes a few times in reviews but I'd say french toast (mom always added vanilla extract to the french toast in my house). Room note is fantastic, like IHOP at 2 in the morning on a Friday night. If I had to have one aromatic, this might be it.

Update: The above review was probably due to the transitional period I was in from aro's and non aro's to almost exclusively non aro's these days. I have gone back and smoked this a few times and find it rather one dimensional and it has a tendency to bite. I still enjoy the pancake flavor it provides but I have noticed with age that taste has faded. Still a nice aro if you are looking for a sweet breakfast smoke with a cup of coffee.

One of the best flavored mixture. This blend is rich in aromas and fruity flavors both, from the side of the taste and from the side of the room note. It is really sweet and pleasant to the palate. Medium strength, with a good level of nicotine. I recommend this blend to the flavored mixtures’ lovers. In my personal system rating (from 1 to 10) my score is 9 and 3 stars.

I was excited to try this 4oz sample I bought after all the 4 star reviews. I am a huge Cornell & Diehl fan, so I thought this would be another home run.

There are many excellent reviews already so I will be brief. As far as aromatics this is 3 stars, many offerings from other companies are better. As far as tobacco taste this is 4 stars, but the topping is a bit too much for the quality of tobacco they use. I would rather they use less topping and allow the quality of the tobacco to speak for itself.

The 4 star qualities of this tobacco are many however, this is a great starter tobacco for friends of mine and the room note is pleasant enough to smoke at my favorite pubs/bars. I have a hard time smoking other Cornell & Diehl offerings at the bar due to their unadulterated nature. Definitely worth a try, you will enjoy this tobacco regardless of where you lie on the experience scale.

When I was young (nearly 50 years ago), I did not have many criteria to choose tobacco, so I went with a try and fail approach with what was imported at that time in Italy. So it happened that I smoked some aromatic tobacco, mainly the Amphora Green and Red. I could finish the green bags, but with the red I had to throw it away. So from that time, every time I saw the aromatic tag, I changed my way. Indeed it was like filling up the pipe with some sort of marmelade hiding totally the natural tobacco attributes. Now that I am older I am looking for milder tobaccos. When I read the reviews of the Autumn Evening from C&D, I though, well maybe I could give it a try, although the aromatic tag. So I did and it was a big surprise. It is aromatic, because the mapple flavour is evident, but firstly it does not cover the Virginia taste, although cavendish. Secondly it is extremely mild, so I can smoke it even in big pipes. The room note is very pleasant to the point that my wife was surprised. It smokes easy and evenly all along the smoke. It is not a 4 star tobacco, but for sure I will buy a few more tins. Maybe it gets you a bit tired at the end of the tin, but after a couple of pipes I can sleep deeply and the mouth in the morning is nice. So it is a good deal. Very pleasant. Reccommended if you look for a pleasant mild tobacco that taste still of tobacco.