Cornell & Diehl Sam's Blend

Right off, tin art is one of the best from C&D (and god knows they have some horrible offerings in that regards - see purple cow for instance...).

What distinguishes this blend in a favorable way is it's behavior: straight out of the tin or dried to a crust, I believe this is a blend manufactured for it's consistency and reliability as a smoking experience (a well behaved dog, as such). Keep a tin for years (as have I) and it won't disapoint, as long as you don't expect it to do something it's not meant to. Some dogs don't learn new tricks: you don't love'em less for it.

Asides from it's taste and quality, I believe those who love or hate this blend do so perhaps in regards to an unconscious underlying philosophy of one's smoking habit... Allow me to explain: I can't say I love this blend (part of me doesn't want to admit it for some reason), yet I have nothing bad to say about it. I own many more complex and « enjoyable » latakia-based blends. And yet... At one point I forgot I owned this Tobacco, and upon opening the tin with the relative excitement of a (re)discovery, I was surprised to find I was nearly at the bottom of it: I had smoked it entirely without effort or barely even noticing myself doing so. Some will see this as a bad sign. Other smokers can see it as a sign of it's success depending on what your looking for. What happened for me is that I immediatly wanted to buy more, urgently, even if I can think of dozen's of blends in it's category (English hybrid) which I seemingly prefer. It took me time to realize that I like this blend for qualities different than what I expected from it. It's simplicity as a blend is not it falling short of anything: it's straightforward and intentional. I really enjoy it's coarse cut (of quite small tight pieces): feels unusual for a latakia blend as it packs as easily as a cube-cut burley . It will produce volumes and volumes of smoke, and deliver confidently a rather natural flavor.

Forget the perique: I never detected it in any way (neither visualy, in the tin or in the smoke). Treat this for what it will most likely present your palate in taste and flavor: this is a jet-black blend of unflavored cavendish and latakia. Something else strange goes on here according to me when I put my nose in the tin but I never was able to put my finger on it. Not a topping, yet not the perique as I initialy tought (having aquired since I first opened it more knowledge and experience with perique blends). A « grayness for the nose ». (Go ahead, try it before you call me crazy.) Maybe it's the Cavendish presented in this fashion. Still, I would probably recognize this blend among other latakia mixtures only by smelling it's tin for that reason.

The flavorless Cavendish are interesting, as they burn easy and seem to simply act a neutral dilution method for the ''floral'' spicyness of the latakia. While most would approach a latakia blend the way they would a proper single malt, this is a straight whisky-shot in a glass of tonic water.The result is a somewhat sweet and biteless latakia experience that has yet nothing of the sugary sirupy undertones of, say, a Mccelland mild «English » nor the pepperiness of oriental-heavy mixtures. Imagine this as Mcclelland's Old Dog of which one would magically extract the goopiness in texture and the sugary molasses flavor. What's left may feel empty and dusty to some, yet the perfect no nonesense 'steak n potatoes' for others.

Underrated, most likely because it fall's short of many preconceptions and behaves as an overkill of smokey/neutrality: too tame for orential/English experts, too bland a Cavendish for the aromatic expecting-smoker, no trace of perique in spite of advertisement, little to feel in the nicotine departement. I understand why many would remain unimpress. Still, it makes for a perfect all-day latakia tease and a great to-go English. You can't always mess around with Penzance's delicacy, especially if you smoke a LOT. Easiest blend to pack and smoke in it's category, literaly. I mean...that's gotta be worth something, right?