Cornell & Diehl Blockade Runner

Arrived very dry and very crumbly. I broke a corner off and rubbed it out and stuffed it into my MM Great Dane. I should've known by the black dust on my fingers after rubbing it out that something was wrong. It was like smoking something soaked in Tabasco. Just plain nasty. I will try and rehydrate it a bit with some Pussers Navy Rum and see if that helps. It sure as hell couldn't get much worse. First CD offering I have genuinely disliked.

i did not like this at all. it tasted like whisky from hell mixed with the worst cavendish i hated it every time i had it. that taste was just putrid and it made me and my dad fell sick and we have never felt this in all of the tobaccos we have smoked. i dint like it but to each its own

BR is a krumble kake with a rum aroma. Tried as I might, I could not finish the tin. The bowls were monochromatic from beginning to end and I found the sometimes bitter taste unappealing. This tobacco also tickled my nasal passages.

A cigarette is to be smoked. A cigar is to be enjoyed. A pipe is to be savored.

I rate this tobacco 4.5 out of 10.

Blockade Runner comes as pressed blocks of tobacco. One...well... crumbles a portion of the crumble cake before stuffing and lighting. This tobacco required too much attention to stay lit. And I?ve never been able to get it reduced to white ash. While it never bit my tongue, Blockade Runner never really developed either. The room note and the nicotine were neither strong nor weak. The rum flavor is subtle and only hints at combining flavors with the Virginian throughout the bowl. The Virginian?s flavor is not very robust.

I like most C&D blends and I wanted to like Blockade Runner. While this is not a terrible tobacco, even with my prejudice I can?t recommend Blockade Runner.

The tobacco presentation is very attractive; two pressed bricks. Upon opening, the aroma was overpowering! It does not smell like rum to me....more of a musty aroma. It did not have any mold as previous reviewers encountered. I had to let this stuff air out x 2 days, after rubbing it all out, before I could smoke it (I tried a bowl fresh from the can and could not finish it). Once it had aired out, the topping (rum?) was much more bearable. Mine was stoved to almost black in color. I have to smoke it slowly and in small bowls due to the nicotine content. It lights easily and really billows the white smoke, but it just does not smell nor taste like rum. I cannot taste the virginia either. This tobacco tastes just like Samuel Gawith's 1792 flake (another heavily stoved to blackness tobacco) which is flavored with tonquin. Definitely not an all day smoke, but for a mid-day pick me up it will certainly do the trick.

I'll give it 3-stars for the presentation of the bricks,the nicotine strength, & billowing smoke, but I was dissappointed that it lacked the sweet taste of rum &/or virginia.

Update: 6/3/2007 I will have to downgrade this stuff to 2 stars only. I tried to smoke this a couple of more times and could not enjoy it....maybe I got a bad batch.

Extremely dry out of the tin when opened. The cake was falling apart. Some parts rubbed out to dust even though I was careful. It had a sour oder and left a very bad aftertase in my mouth. Let it sit a few monts and still no change. C&D has to watch their quality control. Make fewer blends and focus on quality blends.