Cornell & Diehl Old Hollywood

This has been in my cellar since 05. At the start of my pipe smoking career I suspect I did what many others do. I found blends I liked, Cellared them, and moved on to other undiscovered blends like a mad man on walkabout. Now that I am settling down, and revisiting these cellared blends, I opend a tin of Old Hollwood last night, and settled in with a good book. It was hard to keep my mind on the book. The Latakia was easy on the blend. The Red Virginias gave a wonderful spice and subtle sweet to a lightly smokey full bodied smoke. Age has not hurt this at all. Burned clean with very few relights, and nothing but nice white ash to show it had been there. No bitterness at the end. The flavor stayed consistant and even. All Marks for a great Great smoke.

If you like Pipes and Cigars Old Tartan or Altadis Fox and Hound or Count Pulaski try Old Hollywood.

There is nothing here overpowering. The latakia and turkish pique your tastebuds 1st. This tobacco then switches to a cool even burn. Mid bowl the Burley and a little Va spice chime in but don't bite you. They balance just right with the latakia and turkish. It's very cool and smooth, but never gets boring.

Like a lot of people, I have limited time to smoke and must indulge during the workday. It's the perfect lunch-break smoke. Non-smokers and cigarette smokers have positively commented on the aroma.

Appearance: Wide ribbon cut, plus some cube cut, nice variety of colors.

Aroma: Definitely some Latakia in the blend, with a trace of ?Aromatic? quality. Sort of a hybrid Anglo/Yankee blend.

Packing: Packs easily into medium and large bowls. I don?t recommend it for smaller pipes.

Lighting: Like most C&D blends, it lights readily, sometimes one match will get it started.

Initial flavor: OK, now I get it. The flavor is sort of standard English (Virginia, Latakia , Oriental, in that order), with a healthy dose of Craig?s Red Va. Cavendish. It?s naturally sweet, but not scented. It blends with the English components in the same way that Cognac complements Pembroke. Mid-bowl: As I work my way down the bowl, the Burley starts to show up, adding a nice nutty flavor to the mix. Nothing yells for attention here, but all the tobaccos speak quietly together, like old friends who don?t mind being interrupted, and can finish each others sentences. What I?m trying to say is that it?s wonderfully complex, but not excessively.

Finish: I should have mentioned it before, but this blend is COOL. It burns easily, needing very little attention, and it burns dry.

Summary: If you like Latakia, and you aren?t a snob about a bit of Burley and Cavendish, this could be you all-day smoke. It could also be your evening smoke.

I'm still trying to figure this one out. Somehow; I'm a bit too simple for this blend. Orientals are what come to me first. Not that I mind (have a brick of "Pirate Kake" about that I enjoy on my own) but, I somehow envisioned the Cavendish being a bit stronger. Old Hollywood burns nice all the way down to the bottom so physical aspect of its 'draw' are nice. I do get a little zing to the tongue but that may be me puffing away trying to figute this one out.

I've only been smoking for 3 years (pipes only) but, I'd have to say it may be another 3 years before I get my way around decifering "Old Hollywood". I'm on my 7th bowl spread out amongst 3 weeks and its still a puzzle to me.

Then again, perplexing is probably not a bad trait for a tobacco. I hope I can come back to it and review as others have.

I've never really hooked into the concept of the 'all-day blend' as referred to so regularly in past issues of P&T Magazine, but this is the closest thing I've ever gotten to sticking with an 'constant companion' pipe tobacco. Basically I keep my Dunhill Rotator pouch packed with this stuff wherever I go. Like a few other reviewers I'm joyously tiptoeing my way through a half-pound of this marvelous treat and I see many more large tins of Old Hollywood in my future -- C&D: keep this one coming, folks!

As for room note, I haven't done a proper check of this, as I usually smoke outside walking the streets of my Bronx, NY neighborhood or in my car--the two places left for me to smoke freely (besides the few remaining overly-smoky tobacconists in Manhattan). So I haven't had a chance to do a truly objective nose test on this one. But I haven't heard any complaints about OH's scent from those around me when I've enjoyed a bowlful amongst others. And I live in NY City: people speak their minds here!

Medium and smooth in flavor, yet not lacking "oomph" and body, OH is just straight down the middle for a lover of blends containing Latakia and Virginia tabacs. You still get the flavor bounties of those two types of tobacco without some of the darker or more acrid qualities that can come along with, say, a heavier Latakia- based blend. Those who rely on full-impact Latakia-heavy blends should perhaps look elsewhere--but Latakia Lovers like myself, who sometimes like a softer, milder alternative without abandoning the North African leaf altogether, will enjoy OH immensly.

As for burley, this leaf remains something of a mystery to me--it seems to me that burley is more of 'base' leaf, or, one that works in combination with others, without having a clear, powerful character all its' own like VA leaf does, for example. But being a relatively new pipe smoker (5 years), I'll leave the burley assessment in OH to the more experienced kapnismologist. All I know is, Old Hollywood is for my money an excellent marriage of VA, Latatkia, Burley, and cavendish that leaves my pipe ashy and dry and my taste buds satisfied.

C&D has done it again! This is a unique offering. The way that the Turkish tobac interacts with the Red Virginia cavendish is not to be missed. The Burley adds a nutty bitterness that really complements, too. I recommend a big bowl for this one.

Recommended for the Burley lover and the Turkish/Oriental lover.

If you're not a fan of Turkish tobac, head instead to Morley's Best or Easy Times, both from C&D.

I'm surpised that this blend was so well received by reviewers and the fact that I hated it. For me, this is one of the worst C&D blends I have tried. The tin aroma upon opening the tin was reminiscent of chocolate M&Ms candies but with a slight foul quality as if it was spoiled chocolate left out too long. I ascribed this to a casing, most likely a part of the burley component. When I first tried to smoke it the casing came through, which I could not stand. I let it sit for week and tried again. The casing lessened in aroma and taste, much more in the latter. Overall, this blend was rather bland, characterless and unpleasant. There was no central charcter playing here, no underlyng natural sweetness of the leaf with the condimental players placed on top of that. The casing and burley components are just in impossible contrast to the english elelments. This along with the proportions of the various ingredients seem to cancel each other out when it comes to flavor. What flavor was there was airy and a little sooty from the latakia elelment, dry without any sweetness. This blend just striked me as a poor english and mild aromatic hybrid. But,so many of you liked it. That is the mystery of tobacco, it is perceived so differently from one to the next.

*Update 11/28/05 I like this blend so much i purchased an 8oz tin in August that was dated 4/28/05 and i opened it today 11/28/05 after i finished my last 50 gram tin. The additional age on the virginias and cavendish made this blend a little sweeter which accents the smoky latakia and somewhat bitter burley. This has become my favorite C&D blend and at $16.00 for an 8oz tin at cup o joes, very affordable!

7/08/2005

Picked up a tin of this after work one day as a change from Wilke's Nut Brown Burley and i must say i am impressed! The tin aroma is smokey and musty (wonderful) and the blend looks like autumn leaves with black and various shades of brown leaves. A few sticks present but less than most Mcclelland blends. The first third of the bowl was smooth burley and Latakia and then changed flavor midway with the cavendish peeking its head out. This blend never bit me and i savored my second hand / side stream smoke. I will rotate this blend with NBB as it has just as much if not more flavor and much more complexity. The tin was $8.00 so i have no problem stopping in at J&R and getting a tin twice a month. Great blend C&D, your Burley is top notch!

On a side note, my tin had a label around the middle as opposed to the top like the old tins. Great idea, now when the tins are on a high shelf in the tobbaconist's shop, i can read what they are without having to pick them up.

I find this similar to some other C&D blends that contain cubed burley and orientals. Initially not very much sweetness, as the cavendish takes a distant back seat to the Turkish, though it seems to develop through the bowl. The burley gives it a nice fullness, but very little distinct taste. With it's oriental smokinesss, it has a similarity to Rattray's Red Raparee. Give this one a go if you gravitate towards the burley/VA/latakia blends. Smokes cool and burns well. I suggest a large bowl to let all the components meld as you hit the zone.