Cornell & Diehl Black Frigate

I didn?t dislike this tobacco and will probably eventually smoke the whole tin, but I was expecting something more, well, refined. Opening the tin it smells like a Mars Bar thrown into a bonfire. I don?t think I?ve smoked a heavy latakia that was so sweet. It?s not really a good combination. I think this is a well made tobacco with quality components and tastes exactly how C&D intended it too, I just don?t agree with the taste. If I were to compare it to one of my regular latakia smokes, Penzance or Germains Special latakia flake, it would pale by comparison; in fact it?s not really a fair comparison as Black Frigate is closer to an aromatic. However, the price on the tin was premium, in fact spendier than either the Esoterica or the Germains. I?ll give it two stars for effort and respect for Cornell and Diehl and I won?t toss it in with the coffee grounds and eggshells, but I?m thinking it?s going to take a while to smoke it and I might cuss a bit doing it.

This was an interesting one.

I don't usually gravitate to the rum flavored blends. They are often over the top with flavoring. Not that I don't like aromatics, but rum isn't always for me. But this one promised something different -- especially since it had Latakia and other leaves. And different it was.

The rum flavoring was present, but not over the top. Not by a long shot. It added a certain sweetness to the blend. If I didn't know it was there, I'm not even sure I would have known it was supposed to be rum. Just a nice sweetness. However, I found the rest of the experience to be lacking a bit. While the smoke was full, to say that it was harsh is not correct, but it also wasn't smooth either. Had some definite rough edges to it. I'm letting it age a bit more in a pint jar, but that has some concerns too because this one was already really dry. Normally, I like my pipe tobacco on the dryer side, but this was brittle dry and crumbling from the cake. Now, I know this is supposed to be a crumble cake, but I want to be in control of how it crumbles and not just have it falling apart on me because it's so brittle. I'm hoping that this was just an odd tin because I bought a few more to cellar as part of this purchase. Either way, it was a decent smoke, just not great for me.

I bet age will help round out those edges. If it does, I'll come back and update it to bump it up to 3 stars. It's close now, but just a hair under.

Black Frigate is a special blend for me. It's the first C&D blend that I can stand to smoke under their own label. I've given up on the number of C&D blends I've tried and never finished the bowl! This was a pleasant surprise!

BF is a "change-of-pace" blend. It's a good and interesting bridge from a morning VA to something heavier in the afternoon/evening. That said there's a LOT going on in the flavor department.

Not a blend to relax with, it's something that kept my interest with changing flavors, latakia, virginia with notes of rum. It's never ever boring with something always going on, and changing throughout the bowl.

Interesting yes, but I'm not sold on getting my own tin, as my trial tin was gifted to me by a fellow pipe-club member.

Certainly worth a try, but it helps to be in a mood for a flavor bonanza, so it's not a blend for me to relax with after a hard day.

Extremely tasteful smoke, the navy cavendish is soaked in the same rum used by C&D also for other memorable blends (like in the Simply Elegants serie). Crumble cake easy to cut, and the smoke is perfect to ashes with not a single relight. Lastful, complex smoke, quite strong for me and tends to bite a little bit also. I cant feel much latakia (but I am used to smoke 50% blends like Da Vinci with latakia, so no surprise), and whatever is inside does blend wonderfully. I am not using the pipe for latakias, nor the pipe for virginias : I feel this one deserves its own bowl. The only problem with this blend is that there is too much rum in my opinion, and the result is quite overwhelming. The samuel gawith's Navy Flake is just much better.

Update: just too much rum, the tobacco is literally soaked into it.

3rdGuy

This is one of those blends that I would smoke every other year for something different. While it didnt grab me like many others it is different enough to stand strong in the flavor department. My tin was 2 years old the the latakia I presume had mellowed just enough to give a very mild on latakia, very light on rum taste which I did enjoy. Just not enough that I would want this on a regular basis. Worth a try if you enjot latakia and also a mild rum taste in the side car.

Smells great from the tin, contents promise a lot: light application of Latakia, Oriental, Virginia, rum. What's not to like?

The lack of taste is not to like, sadly. The higher you rise the harder you fall, and what fell hard were my overblown expectations.

I smoked it almost back to back with another great disappointment from C&D/GLP: Haddo's Delight.

This one has more flavour for sure, on account of the Orientals and Latakia. The Latakia is very well done, exactly condimental. You may not taste it, but you'll get an aftertaste, and there's a hint of it from the tin. Other than that, not a lot there sadly. I don't know what C&D do to their tobaccos, I am genuinely puzzled. I've only liked two blends from C&D/GLP, all the rest I found tasteless so I put the issue with the blending technique, and how it may differ from European blenders, not faulting the leaf they use. Clearly my tastebuds are more receptive to European blending. To be sure, I've had my share of European tobaccos I didn't like for one reason or other, but NO TASTE only hit me with Capstan blue.

The weird thing is, the room note is pretty bad.

This was a fun tin to open, what awaits you is a large chunk of pressed tobacco with a strangely sweet tin aroma. The tobacco lights with a fair bit of care, and did require a relight which is not a huge deal. The tobacco did start out a bit sweet which is not always the best thing with latakia. About one third of the way down the bowl after relight, it got more smoky and smooth more the way I like my tobacco. Why I will not give this unique tobacco more stars is the fact that it just was not anything special, it had good flavor but nothing that I would call great. And the whole idea of it not being for the faint of heart, is a sales gimmick. Glad I tried it but if I in the future want to try something not for the faint of heart i will stick with 1792 flake.