Cornell & Diehl Bailey's Front Porch

This mixture really surprised me. Smelling it in the jar at my local tobacconist, I really thought this would be a mediocre blend at best. Looking to try new English blends, I decided to give it a try anyway. It was a mellow smoke with subtle earthy tones. Not at all strong, but it was a relaxing experience. The burley really stands out amid the smoky Latakia.

With all of the tobaccos listed in this blend, I thought that there must be something to like, so, after the recommendation of a friend, after smoking two bowls in a sampler kindly sent to me by an ASP member, and after reading the reviews here, I ordered four ounces to give it a real try.

Dull. Exceedingly, almost excruciatingly, dull.

And I could end this review right here. But I'll continue.

I'm not a big Burley fan, so when I do smoke Burleys I expect there to be some interesting tobacco(s) blended with it to give it some taste. BFP seemed right up my alley with the Latakia (of which I am a big fan), Perique (which I enjoy as well) and some smooth, sweet Virginias (which I expected) then, and the first two bowls smoked did seem to have a complexity that was hard to pin down.

When my four ounces arrived there was a good deal of dust in the bag - a result, I suppose, of the dry state of Cornell & Diehl's blends and handling during shipping. I persevered, though, and packed and fired up (almost literally - can't we have a wee bit of moisture before the whole nursing home is aflame?) a bowl.

It wasn't quite the taste I remembered, or expected.

There have been many comparisons here to 'old-fashioned American' blends, but I don't recall ever smoking anything this unexciting. BFP makes Carter Hall seem like an exotic, enticing blend. The description mentions savoring, but for all my love of Latakia and Perique, I can find nothing here to "savor". I taste nothing but cheap Burley, with no undertones of the blended tobaccos. I also find the strength so bland that "mild" is too mild a word to describe the blend.

DoctotThoss compared this to Nightcap - and I hope he does not mean Dunhill's Nightcap as that's a tobacco that I've been in love with for 25 years and through different manufacturers and to compare it to BFP is a disservice to Dunhill. Others have stated that BFP is terrific for lovers of Latakia and Perique and I strongly disagree with that assumption as well. Ducksbreath is spot-on in saying that there is very little Latakia taste and barely detectable Perique.

I suppose some will think I'm being overly harsh here, but this just isn't my cup of tea at all. I'll hold on to the two or so ounces that are remaining to see if it improves with age (and I might add a bit of moisture to the bag), and will revisit it in six months or so. But, as it is, I cannot recommend Bailey's Front Porch.

I find the previous review amusing. This is not a very good English or Balkan, because it isn't either one. It is an American Burley blend. It is reminiscent of numerous old otc blends which once thundered across the plains in herds.

I have read enough of Mr. Runowski's posts on ASP to know he meant to evoke memories of Allen & Unwin when he formulated this. I am too young to know anything about that blend, but if you know anything about America in the 1940s and 1950s, we were all about moderation, conformity... tastes were rather bland.

The progenitor of this blend was probably meant to give the average Prince Albert, Granger, Kentucky Club kind of guy a taste of exotic spice tobaccos. Not too much spice mind you, just enough to make it interesting.

That is precisely what this blend does. It is pleasant, comfortable, with just a little tease of spice, indeed a far cry from Penzance, or Royal Tudor No. 99. I like it a bunch, as I like mildly spiced blends more than the heavy hitters. I also love good Burley blends.

It is typical C&D, no topping or humectants. Add a little water if it is too dry. Some folks like to age them a bit, but I never had any trouble with the fresh stuff. I find their rustic edginess comforting. You might too.

I’ve been sampling through the C&D bulk burley catalog, and this one is right near the top for me. Two minutes in to my first bowl, this reminded me of Burley Flake #4, which is one of my favorite blends. Of course, #4 has Kentucky, this has perique, but the resemblance is uncanny. #4 is more full flavored and BFP comes in around a medium. This blend could be an all day smoke. The cut is mixed with ribbon and some small amounts of broken flake. The burley and Latakia form a soft cocoa flavor profile. The perique is detectable, and in perfect proportion. BFP smokes cool, dry and slow. This actually improves the farther down the bowl it burns, but can get an ashy flavor if over puffed. A very good bulk tobacco at an inexpensive price earns Bailey’s Front Porch 4 stars in my book.

This is an odd blend. Like many C&D blends the burley is the main player and thats fine, but here the other elements, in particular the latakia, seem to lose character somehow. The whole is somehow less than the sum of the parts. Its fine but id not buy it again.

There's nothing particularly wrong with this blend specially if you like burley blends, but for all the ingredients listed on this blend I was expecting a consistent blend during my smoke, at first you get citrusy virginia along with a very mild latakia and very high quality perique,but after the first half of the bowl all I could taste was the burley a very hot prone to tongue bite ashy burley, now this would not bother me if it was for the sole fact that this is been advertised as a american style english. In my humble opinion this blend would benefit more if they switch out the perique and added orientals to the mix. Personally I don't think that aging does anything to this blend.

I'm smoking this blend as I write this review. It's totally satisfying and actually sorta delicious. Full of flavor without any of the tobaccos being overpowering. This is a wonderful english style blend for the experienced piper.

I go back and forth on this blend. It's considerably more complex than most of the American/English blends on the market, with almost enough perique to make it reminiscent of Nightcap. Another reviewer mentioned that it's like smoking all the colors of the rainbow, and I'm inclined to agree. It's a nice smoke, and I've got some cellared to see what aging does to it, but it's not quite as good as other C&D offerings in the same genre. On the plus side, it has good burning characteristics and doesn't bite unless provoked.

Bailey?s Front Porch is where Bailey sits. He is sitting because he will fall over if he stands after smoking his namesake blend. This is as potent as it is cool, rich, full, heavy and deep. I am a little surprised BFP is rated a bit milder by others on this site. TEHO

BFP as burley-based mixture is not really nutty, but cigar-like, somewhat. The tin aroma says there?s some kind of casing or topping, so does smoking it, however faint if not fabled. HFTH vs. BFP, HFTH is brighter in flavor, a bit sweeter (though hardly a sweet blend) and more the all day blend despite its weight, whereas BFP nicely follows dinner with a distilled something. The colors of both blends are in opposite proportions to each other, HFTH being overall lighter, BFP darker. HFTH is the finer cut, while BFP is chunky and meaty.

BFP is to Home for the Hills as Old Joe Krantz is to Haunted Bookshop, though HFTH/BFP are closer in strength than the former two. This could be considered the darker, swarthy cousin of Old Joe Krantz with the addition of latakia. I place this between Nightcap and Mississippi Mud as two notable, fuller latakia & perique blends. BFP is vastly more complex than both, cooler than Nightcap, and more companionable than either.

Bailey?s is a blend for the lover of perique and latakia, because both are present in abundance. If this or OJK have not enough perique for you, consider trying Bayou Night, or better yet, just fill your bowl with McClelland?s blending perique. For all day smoking, I can alternate between HFTH and Haunted Bookshop with immense satisfaction, and end the day with OJK and/or BFP.