Cornell & Diehl Old Hollywood

I suppose I should put in the boiler plate descriptions of the leaf colors, tin scent, whether or not it produces volumes of smoke and the color of the ash. I decline. OK, appearance... Old Hollywood is what I call a Scottish mix, i.e., everything except (hmmm... puff, puff) perique. No perique. Feel free to add it to complete the set. It looks like random leftovers found at a tobacconist shop, and don't doubt it was created that way. I'm glad they reverse-engineered it.

I love the stuff and enjoy picking out the components, provided I had the foresight to select a clean pipe to begin with. It has cased burley sweetness, aged Virginia sweetness, latakia background smokiness, diluted out with toasty cavendish. There's nothing particularly unique about it; it's middle of the road (just right, as Goldilocks might say) on all aspects except taste. I get a lot of taste.

I enjoy the old-fashioned room note particularly, probably from the burley and turkish components. With all the smoke nazis about, I get self-conscious when smoking outdoors in public places, yet I get only smiles when this is in my bowl. Go figure. This is the tobacco I grab for public smoking.

C&D blends (including GLP), at least the ones I buy, always seem to benefit from exposure to air for at least a year. I bought a pound of this blend back in 2009, opened the tins in 2012 and use them to refill smaller tins that always seem to need refilling. I'm convinced that the air exposure alters the tobacco to my liking. One aspect is moisture: I like this blend drier than average- just flexible. I suspect the air also halts certain aging processes that don't benefit this mix beyond a certain point.

This is not my favorite tobacco; there are too many out there to keep each at the top of my list. It definitely is on the next shelf down and is a good go-to smoke.

The particular tin of Old Hollywood I opened was 7 years old and it was bursting from the fermentation, so my review is going to be different than a review of a green tin.

The overall character of the blend is somewhat "muddy" as another reviewer described, as none of the tobaccos really come through in their own right (it isn't a bad mix though; it's robust in its own right, just ambiguous). The taste is great though and particularly satisfying. The aroma is purely a warm tobacco aroma. I would say this is a perfectly enjoyable smoke that you don't have to think too much about but you still want a robust tobacco flavor and aroma.

Appearance and Tin Aroma: Variegated colors with no one leaf dominating.The burley and latakia dominate the tin aroma, but the red Va cavendish is right behind adding a nice sweet note.

Packing and Lighting: easy with both the size of the leaf and the moisture perfect.

Initial Flavor: The burley is in the forefront with the VA close behind.

Mid-bowl: this is a delicious "American" style blend with everything in perfect balance. Yes, the latakia is quite noticable, but it is mainly for support.

Bottom of Bowl: it is a good idea to slow or even DGT to keep the Burley from getting bitter. The Red VA Cavendish is at its best at this point too, adding a nice sweet finish.

Overall: this is a classic American blend and its name is appropriate. All the components are top notch and can be smoked even when the tin date is recent. I liked this blend over "Easy Times" even though that blend is a little fuller in flavor. This won't be a go to blend for me as I am still a "Balkan" man as they say, but I will definitely keep some tins of this blend in my cellar and open from time to time. The component that adds dimension to this blend is the red cavendish VA. I believe C&D has done a stellar job in blending with this leaf and it especially shines in this blend. Lastly, this blend can nip, so restrained puffing is requisite. Enjoy...

This is one of C&D's many American-English hybrids built largely around a burley base with latakia. This is a winning combo in my book. Although this contains red VA cavendish, there's only a hint of added sweetness. Of all C&D hybrids, this one comes the closest to matching a traditional English mixture's flavor, probably due to the turkish leaf (at times it's easy to forget there's much burley in here). This one should be appreciated by both those who like this genre of tobacco as well as those who normally shy away from this type due to the presence of burley.

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.

I smoked my tin of Old Hollywood quite quickly, and always looked forward to smoking it. It is in all respects a quality product, easy to light, with great burning characteristics, and terrific consistency of flavor across styles and types of pipes. I probably won't buy it again, for the following reasons:

1. I'd rather smoke Morley's Best 2. Like BriarLaw, I'd prefer it to be a touch sweeter (it is quite "dry" in taste) 3. The last third of the bowl simply tastes to much of Turkish for me

These are all personal reactions, and no reason at all to discriminate against this tobacco. It is simply a matter of whether or not you like the way it tastes.

Another winner from C&D! The red Va is super tasty, and the Latakia is perfect. I bought this and bridge mixture at the same time and have to say I liked this one better. It has a sophisticated taste that is missing from some of the other latakia/burley mixtures. This tobacco is perfect for a night on the town.

This is an "American blend" very similar to Easy Times but not quite as full or rich. The red va-cavendish does however give this a somewhat unique and pleasent flavor.

This is unique. It is an American-style blend of exceptionally high-quality tobaccos that have been properly aged. A delicious concoction that warrants a second bowl once the first bowl is finished.

I do think that this blend has a nice sweetness all the way down the bowl (though not as sweet as most English blends), along with a Latakia dominance. As a matter of fact, this is not a blend for Latakia lightweights, because it is the main flavor. I'm sure I'd miss the Turkish if it were gone, but its influence is subtle to me. This is true of the excellent Burley, too.

Old Hollywood lights easily with one or two charrings. This burns very cool to a fine, mottled ash. The bowl will be almost completely dry at the end of the smoke.

I rated this as having an extremely mild flavoring, but I detect just something in the tin aroma that does not translate into an artificial flavor or cloak for true, manly tobacco flavor.

I will smoke this as a change-up from my Balkans, Virginia flakes and occasional English favorites.