Cornell & Diehl Bow-Legged Bear

I really wanted to like this blend but unfortunately the perique in it made my allergies go crazy. I forced myself to at least try three bowls of it before reviewing so here goes: Ah, crumble cake! This looked promising. Crumbled easily, packed easily, lit easily. The perique immediately made its prescence known!!! argh!!! I forced myself to concentrate, the complexity of this blend was good, with a nice interplay as you smoke down the bowl. Close to end of the bowl the perique finally settles down and there is a nice rich smokiness that I love. The ash has a grey mottled appearance, no dottle, no tongue-bite. A little more nicotine kick than I care for. In ending, this is overall good blend but the perique makes me work too hard to enjoy. I much prefer "Longevity" for a crumble cake blend, or "Midnight Ride" for a blend with Perique that does not trigger my allergies. Ciao!

As a lover of good, strong English mixtures, I read the reviews of Bow-Legged Bear with interest. A potent, full-flavored English? Bring it on! Unfortunately, BLB so far has turned out to be my biggest tobacco disappointment. The tin aroma is enticing, earthy and smoky with hints of dark chocolate. So far, so good. I loaded up a pipe with some BLB, and lit up. Not so good any more; the taste was very much like burnt cardboard. I had a tough time finishing the full bowl, but I persisted, hoping it would get better, but it didn't. Since I'd eaten a garlic-heavy Italian dinner that night, I was inclined to blame that, but my second pipeful of BLB a few days later wasn't a whole lot better; this time, there was an undertone of sweetness, but the overriding flavor was again burnt cardboard. The third attempt was much the same, and I gave up on it halfway through the bowl. I've decided to try aging it a little and see if it gets any better, and will try a pipeful every now and then; if my opinion changes, I'll post an update. But for now, I wouldn't recommend Bow-Legged Bear, nor would I buy it again; my choice for a strong full English would have to be Nightcap. **Update 1/28/07** If aging improves BLB, the extra 4 months I've given it isn't enough (according to the date stamped on the tin, this one's just a year old). After retrying BLB, and re-reading the other reviews here, I'm convinced I was the unwitting victim of a practical joke. Somebody chopped up some old cardboard boxes, crumbled up a stale White Owl cigar and mixed it with the chopped cardboard, pressed it all into small blocks, and sealed it a BLB can-- which I unfortunately bought. I don't get the satisfying smokiness of Latikia, the peppery zing of Perique, or even the mild nuttiness of Burley from BLB-- only burnt cardboard with overtones of stale cigar. A major disappointment.

My piping friend raved about this stuff and its incredible taste, stunning aroma and a finish unlike any other. When I tried it my response was ?um??..err??..uhhhhhhhh,? and a shrug of the shoulders. I can?t figure this one out. The perique is overpowering and literally knocks the taste of out of the box. I don?t detect any aroma other than a huge amount of one dimensional smoke. My friend told me I must lack some sort of refined sense in my taste buds. Well, perhaps I do. Whatever the case, the taste is flat and insipid. What?s the point of this stuff, and especially at its formidable cost? I realize that this is all a matter of individual taste, but with so many great blends out there, I won?t again be smoking any bears, bowlegged or otherwise. yecchhhhhhhhh!!!!!

I have to warn people ot there-This tobacco literally gave me heart palpitations.I normally smoke Penzance and other similar heavy English mixtures but this one really scared me.It starts off with a really woodsy, grassy taste that slowly builds into a a bigger woodsy, grassy taste.I smoked it for about ten minutes and i felt my heartbeat become so irregular I thought I might be in need of medical attention.In all fairness this is the first time I had ever smoked such a heavily Perique laden blend,and I think my system couldn't handle it. I gave some to a friend and although it did not have a similar efeect, it started to make him nauseous. I have never experienced anything like this before but if you like grassy flavors and wish to venture into the realm of a really potent tobacco this might be for you.

Boy, I was looking forward to trying BLB, as I really enjoy the full English blends from C&D, like Pirate Kake and Engine 99.

BLB smells wonderful in the pouch -- earthy and with strong cocoa overtones. Packs well. Then things go downhill. Whether I left it out to dry or not, it is hard to light. The char light causes whiffs of smoke that smell unpleasantly like cigarette tobacco. I expected some Latakia notes, but something else just overpowers it. Not perique -- maybe the VAs tussling against the other ingredients. It all left my throat a bit dry and scratchy.

Perhaps my friends that like VAs better will like this, but I can't recommend it.

Ahhh, here comes the great wet blanket among these favourable reviews. Much as I love my fellow North Carolinians over at C&D I cannot get into this Twelve Gauge English blend. The cake is beautiful inside that cute little tin. The aroma is earthy, smokey. Not so bad so far. It breaks up nicely for loading in the pipe. The match hits the leaf and the dog breaks his chain. This stuff is harsh to me. It starts that familiar burning in my mouth that I so often find with blends containing a signifigant amount of Turkish. Much as I would like to like this blend I cannot. I shall reserve it for tastes more suited than mine.

Bow Legged Bear comes in a very unusual form. It looks as if it was extruded from a tube into crumble cake form. The aroma is overwhelming. The truth is, with the unusual look and overwhelming smell, if I had been handed a piece of this and asked to identify it, I'd have said that it was something a cat left behind. I honestly would not have identified it as pipe tobacco.

In smoking, even I, a confirmed latakia lover, found the taste overwhelming too. I could not complete the bowl. I tried to humidify it some to see if that made a difference and tried it again several days later, but no help.