Cornell & Diehl Black Frigate

A great compilation of latakia, with rum added. The latakia flavor is the strongest, but the rum buttresses the blend and is always present. A top choice.

A must try for the latakia lovers. Very complex baccy.

I'm a smoker of latakia blends mostly, and have a briar that I was never able to get a good smoke out of. Decided to try something a little sweeter to correct the problem, and I went with this due to the rum-soaked cavendish business.

I chose wisely. This is the only thing that has ever tasted good in that particular pipe. The latakia I love is ever-present, and there is a beatiful nutty sweetness throughout the smoke. Amazing how the right blend can fix a dud of a pipe.

Also smokes very well in a meer.

Black Frigate is easily in my "top 5" of favorite blends. In addition to the usual smokiness one gets from the latakia, it has a wonderfully "sharp" almost salty taste to the smoke that I can't get enough of. You can definitely pick up the rum in the tin note as well.

Gentleman Zombie summed it up best when he said: "Rummy and Yummy!" I'll just add to the chorus of fans here and emphasize that for lovers of all things rum: Dis da bomb!

You can probably skip Seattle Pipe Club's pricey Rum Barrel Aged Mississippi River with its teasing wafts of rum vapor, skip the various goopy rum creations from Sutliff, and you'll definitely want to avoid Gawith Hoggarth's Rum Flake with its funky Lakeland undertones.

All that said, you will have to like a solid medium-strength Latakia-based blend as a foundation for all the "rummy and yummy." This is a deeply flavored crumble cake packed with flavor from start to finish. So much flavor you probably won't need to draw deep to get satisfaction. No harsh notes at all and leaves a pleasant and slightly muted aftertaste; nothing ashy or like you've just smoked a Lat-bomb. One of my favorites for sure!

Tin arrived a bit moist. After breaking some off I let it dry for a few minutes. I found that this performed better with a bit of moisture as opposed to crispy. The tin notes are excellent. Rum and latakia are dominant but neither one is overwhelming. Packing and lighting are easy. A few more relights than usual due to the moisture content. Initial flavors are rum and latakia. The latakia is soft and smoky. The rum soaked Virginia's are smooth and sweet. The body is medium and well balanced. The sweetness is not overpowering and the latakia is only a bit more than a condiment. Overall this is a fantastic blend that is balanced and cool smoking. Nicotine is mild plus, maybe hits medium based on your sensitivity. Not an all day smoke for me but I have smoked it multiple times in a day.

Presentation: A mottled crumble cake with an arrangement of brights, browns and dark tobaccos with no uniform pattern. The same form factor as many of C&D crumble cakes. Pinch off less than you need as most of the time it expands out into a decent amount.

Palate: As one might assume of it being a lat bomb, it most certainly is not. The initial aroma is definitely oriental and latakia forward, but offers a unique experience. I have never smelled a blend this entrancing. The latakia is not super heavy but provides a nice smokiness, more an oiled leather, musk smoke than a toasty campfire. The Turkish and orientals allow the semi sour and dry, woody aromatic features to shine. What really sets this blend apart is the navy cavendish that offers such a smooth and creamy quality to bring the whole blend together. You'll definitely smell the rum on the blend and taste it, but it doesn't take away from the character, just adds a little class. It's tangy, rustic, sweet and smoky all in one. Not going to win any air freshener contests, but for some like me, I could stick my nose in this all day.

Performance: Like most crumble cakes I smoke, I like to leave some of the pieces in larger chunks and then top it with more rubbed out cake. I feel this provides an effortless smoke that prevents tobacco from reaching your mouth. Burns at a more than moderate pace and tamps down easily. Leaves most of the time no moisture and a lovely grey ash. Mild nicotine hit. Not quite an all day blend, but can be smoked more than once. This was the only blend I have smoked four bowls in a row. The flavor lingers on the roof of your mouth and your clothes and your hair and... well, you get the picture.

Conclusion: I recommend dedicating a pipe to this blend, as you may find that your other pipes could get a slight ghost. This blend is like no tobacco I have had. When you smell Virginia blends, you know what it is. When you smell an English blend, you know what it is. When you smell this blend, your nose runs wild. It's admirable and mysterious but isn't something to be afraid of. Some say that Black Frigate is intimidating, and at first it is, but once you light it up, you will start to understand why this blend is something that you should have tried sooner. I love smoking this on cold rainy days the most.

My tin came in a neat cake. The smell was very alcoholic. I always wonder what brands C&D uses for these alcoholic toppings and flavorings.

The cake comes moist and I preferred to do some drying to reduce the heat in the smoke.

Time in a jar, or in the tin, helped this one, in my opinion. The smoke is kind of alcoholic, tangy and juicy and woody, with the hint of leather and smoke one might expect. Its really an interesting flavor. It's a pretty strong taste towards the end of the bowl, and I enjoyed this most in a smaller bowl.

Strength is medium, maybe even strong. Nicotine is the same.

I would recommend this to the adventurous piper. I highly recommend this for its uniqueness in this genre of blends.

I'm still new to pipe smoking, I can't necessarily taste all of the things other folks taste, yet; but, this is one tasty blend. The tin note is pure rum, and you can taste the rum throughout the smoke, but it isn't intrusive. It almost seems to act as an agent to meld and smooth the tobaccos.

The latakia is there, but, again, it seems smoother than most other latakia blends. This is a smooth, smoky, dark (can dark be a flavor? Sure, lets run with it). There are a slew of flavors that I'm not nuanced enough to identify...but its pleasantly complex.

It also seems to smoke very cool. As I said, I'm new and I still have a terrible tendency to smoke fast and hot. This did not seem to get hot at all, despite my puffing away.

This has immediately jumped to one of my top three blends to smoke.