Cornell & Diehl Black Duck

I am a fan of C&D and this blend while showing the commitment to quality that C&D is known for, just didn't do it for me. It smells wonderful in the tin, you are greeted by medium cut dark and medium brown leaf. It lights easy, stays lit, you may need one swipe of a pipe cleaner in your pipe while you smoke this. The reason it didn't do it for me was that the flavor just did not mix well with me. I think that there is too much of the cavendish in it . The latakia and burley just never came out and said "here I am!". The turkish never came out either. I tried this blend in different sized pipes to see if it was size sensitive, but to no avail. On the positive, there was no tongue-bite, smoked cool, left no dottle, is as advertized: a straight forward blend. I will go back to "Canal Boat", "Longevity", and "Da Vinci" instead. Sorry........

I've dedicated a pipe to this blend for over a month now, and have noticed a difference from my first reaction to this blend. As I found to begin with, it ends flat, but the real complexity of the blend is now apparent from the charring light. It starts out with an earthy body but a noticeably mossy-sweet overtone. (This combination of tastes somehow reminds me of sweet beef jerky.) These qualities of earthiness and sweetness play at each other throughout most of the smoke, but by the very last portion of the bowl the play is dead and the smoke becomes boring. I don't find this blend to be exactly pleasant, nor do I find it repugnant. Black Duck is, for the most part, intriguing--the interplay of contrasting flavors keeps my attention through most of the bowl. I would recommend trying C&D's _Black Duck_, but be willing to let your pipe and palate adjust if you don't like it at first.

I had high hopes for this one. C&D blends have been hit or miss for me. This one I put on the left side of decent.

Some bowls that I have the ingredients marry and its a pleasurable smoke. Other bowls just never mesh and it feels like the tobaccos are fighting for a divorce.

I found it to be on the higher side for nicotine and it did behave well in the pipe.

Just not my thing, with all the English blends out there I won't buy it again.

Personalmente adoro il Latakia. I C&D sono davvero eccellenti, peccato si debba andare oltreconfine. La Scatola è simpatica col paperotto con la pipa in mano. Il tabacco è giustamente umido e ben tagliato. All’olfatto si percepisce subito il terroso del Latakia però superato dal Cavendish più fruttato, zuccherato quasi. Il taglio ribbon è però irregolare.

Accendiamolo siamo avvolti dal sentore terroso, quasi muffito del Latakia quasi immediatamente superato dai sentori di stalla del Kentucky e poi dal Cavendish che amalgama e attenua questi sapori maschi.

La fumata è regolare, praticamente un tabacco che si fuma da solo. Questo non vuol dire che sia un tabacco semplice, anzi è un tabacco nobile, complesso. forte, da non sottovalutare. Non fortissimo, ma un prodotto da non sottovalutare.

Questo tabacco regala un fumo molto setoso, cremoso. Per setosità, intendo un fumo che scorre appena sopra la lingua con un ottimo gusto. In bocca rimane un sapere ottimamente persistente, mai amaro La nota della stanza per me è paradisiaca, mi piace l'aroma tipo falò di Latakia, che sicuramente non è apprezzato dai non fumatori. Il Cavendish in questa miscela gli conferisce morbidezza e rotondità al fumo e aggiunge una dolcezza all'aroma della stanza.

Posso facilmente consigliarlo a chiunque ami le miscele in stile inglese, ottimo tuttogiorno, eccellente anche quando ci si cimenti in una fumata senza bisogno di essere concentrati sulla stessa.

Il giudizio finale 4,5/5 stelle.

When i try this blend at the 1st time, at the 1st light i can taste a quite strong the smell of Kerosene (i'm using a zippo lighter or wooden match when im smoking a pipe), i think this came from the lighter that i use to light it but at the other chance at my 2nd and 3rd bowl i get the same smell even im using wooden matches to light it. This blend feel's so natural, earthy and sometimes little bit salty. But i like this blend to smoke it at night time.