Cornell & Diehl Mississippi Mud

I hate to say it, but I absolutely hate this tobacco. I love Latakia, I love Perique, and black cavendish is okay...but for some reason this blend of these ingredients actually gags me. It's as if I'm puffing on second-hand smoke through a dirty sock in a humid room.

It might be best described as a weak and washed out Dunhill 965.

I think it may just be a high amount of black cavendish. It washes out the body of the smoke and makes a mouthful of staleness that I just can't convince myself to like, even after smoking nearly a whole tin. I tried to like it, I really did! But I just can't.

Is it crap? No. Is it for me? Absolutely not.

A lot of smoke and smoky taste, nothing else. No flavor, no zing, could be the Cavandash and lack of Virginia. One good thing, NO BITE. I finally mixed what was left of my 2 oz can with Mac Baron Plumcake. Good mixer, really wakes up the Plumcake.

I've heard a lot about this blend, it seems to have a bit of a following. I can't for the life of me figure out why.

To my taste, the Black Cavendish just seems to clash with the Latakia.

Mississippi Mud brought about a first: My wife, who usually likes Latakia, asked me to dump the bowl at about the halfway mark the first time I smoked it around her.

Oooooh Woooowww, Deja Vu! Look at all the colors!

Yes, folks, this is some strong tobaccy!

Appearance: Dark ribbon only, hence the name:MM

Tin Aroma: Reminds me of strong fudge and prunes.

Moisture: a little moist, but not overly.

Packing: easy.

Lighting: Two vestas, easy.

Initial Flavor: whoa! The cavendish and perique dominate with the latakia slightly behind. The cavendish is not overly sweet or cloying though.

Mid-Bowl: intensifying with my throat telling me that there is lots o' perique.

Bottom of Bowl: The world is spinning, my stomach is turning, get me a bed quick! The flavor of this blend will stay with you the rest of the day. You will not be able to taste anything else.

Overall: this is a very strong flavored blend, but ironically, I could not distinguish the latakia very well. I knew it was there, but the other leaves overwhelmed it. The flavor is very monochromatic, at least to me, with it just intensifying until all you have left is a dry, dark mottled ash left. Due to the high quantities of perique, my allergies were triggered with a vengeance. The nicotine in this blend is also very high, too much for me. It left me sick for the rest of the day. I know that there are some of you who like this kind of "in your face" blend, more power to you. The quality of leaf is unquestionable, but this just was not my style. After 1.25 oz's, gave the rest away.

Rating: 2 out of 5 Points

Opening the tin brought out a musty smell. The Latakia is clearly there, but not overpowering, the Perique is also there but somewhat hidden from me, and there was a third note that must be the Cavendish. Overall once the initial smell of the tin calms down I got a pretty unpleasant smell of pet droppings, and unfortunately this smell instantly coloured the tobacco in my mind. Any other time I've opened the tin, or even smelled the pipes it's been in I get this smell.

The tobacco was at perfect moisture, a tad on the wet side, but that's never a bad thing. Overall I like the C&D tins.

I've been smoking it for a week now, as I have an OCD to finish open tins, counter-intuitively the tins I like the least are the ones I smoke fastest, while whatever I really like I try to savour as much as possible so tins last much longer.

The predominant taste is of Latakia, but that might just be me, I'm going through a period of sensitivity to Latakia and feel that it overpowers everything. There's some sweetness here and there, and the Perique shows up only once every couple of puffs for my unrefined palate. The pity is that the stars don't align often while smoking it - because when the sweetness came up, along with the Perique the taste was wonderful, so overall my impression is that it's a mildish Latakia blend. It does coat the mouth though, and thankfully the...other smell does not translate a lot into the smoke. I have a feeling that while smoking Mississippi Mud I'm safe from muggers and robbers though.

I left the tin open on the balcony for three days, the other smell subsided quite a bit - but it is still there - and overall it has become more enjoyable. Still my impression is what it was at the start, that it is a mild Latakia blend. Interesting experiment perhaps, really makes me understand the purpose and value of orientals in combination with Latakia though so not all is lost.

I'll finish the tin, likely will donate some to a friend who also smokes a pipe if he's interested to try it, but won't miss it.

I won't be buying it again.

Well it burns very cool, overall not really my cup tea though. Too much black Cavendish for me which mutes the Latakia and the Perique making it well . . . muddy.

Not complex which is fine, although there are many bulk blends which achieve the same hohum/humdrum result.

I'll finish the tin but won't buy another, simply not enough to captivate my palate.

Tin note has some chocolate that was more pronounced upon initial opening. That's since faded. I was quite excited about this blend, but after smoking it for a bit I cannot warm up to it. I think that's too bad, because I would really like to like this one. For me, Squadron Leader is better.

I gather that some folks actually like this vile concoction and I truly can't understand why. Mississippi Mud is, in my opinion, an example of the tobacco blender gone wild and over the top. Bad Craig, bad dog!

I will admit that I haven?t had the nerve to sample no more than a half dozen bowls or so. Frankly, I just can't get past the tin aroma. It smells like canned pig farts.

Regarding the smoking qualities of the blend, the best thing I can say is that it packs easliy and stays lit well. The taste is all goopy topping seasoned with a very large dose of perique and little to no flavor emerging from the latakia and other tobaccos. I like perique, and a little Louisiana leaf is a good thing. But this "mud" is like being served a 2 oz. steak covered w/ 8 oz. of cracked pepper and smothered in sweet & sour sauce. Try this tobacco at your own risk.

Mississippi Mud (aptly named based solely upon appearance) manages to amalgamate the worst aspects of both lat and perique. The first third of the bowl is an semi-acidic overdose of too much perique, drowning out all other aspects of the blend. This unfortunate effect persists until mid-bowl whereupon the lat finally becomes dominant. Surprisingly, the room note is entirely latakia throughout, and a strong one at that; extremely leathery and lacking the complexity of Syrian lat. It is certainly not a crowd-pleaser, unless you are at a pipe convention.

On the positive site, Mud packs and smokes easily and requires few re-lights. Even this could be construed as a negative though since it doesn?t force you to take enough oxygen breaks. By the last third of the bowl, anyone with any sensitivity to nicotine (myself included) should be looking for a fallout shelter; this stuff will send your head reeling. Perhaps it shows my relative inexperience with a briar, but I do not wish to try another bowl of this. I?ll relegate it to the same bin of evil as Blue Note and Erinmore.