Cornell & Diehl Bow-Legged Bear

A very good English heavy on the Latakia. I felt that the Orientals were a little weak for my taste so I mixed this 50/50 with Low Country's Cooper. Wow! The results were more than expected. Got a truly FULL bodied English with nice balance between the Latakia and the Orientals. Try it sometime.

Latakia addicts will love this blend. Those who like a more refined Latakia mixture may want to spend their money elsewhere. This is a dry crumble cake that lights easily. The Perique is so far in the background that I never located it. Pretty unrelenting and one dimensional, but the flavor sure is there and its good.

Bow-Legged Bear? One-Trick Pony would be a better name.

Tin Note: Sour, pungent, Oriental/English aroma.

Cut: Thick crumble cake that seems to vary between one big chunk, sometimes, two small ones, depending on the tin. Very dark with specks of lighter tan leaf. Looks somewhat like a brownie. The moisture is just right as it is not as wet as say Black Frigate but not quite as dry as Briar Fox (Both of which are great C&D cake blends as well)

False Light yields some spicy notes from the perique. I've smoked a good bit of BLB and this always seems to be the case. The next light let loose some of the smokey quality of the latakia.

First Third: The oriental leaf seems to dominate this portion of the bowl with the other components faintly in the background. Still a bit of spice from the perique.

Second Third: Ah, there's the perique. Some nutty burley stops by for a quick visit. Turkish and Va. seem to shine as I move to the final potion...

Final Third: The strength seems to dominate by this point. Not 1792 or Irish Flake strong, but it will get you if you are not used to stronger blends. At this point, each component is working together but none the main player.

Overall, a good, no nonsense smoke. Pure tobacco taste and plenty of nicotine. Though the room note will not win over any friends, I think it is just fine. This one will surely not garner one any of the "Oh, that's just how I remember Granddad's pipe" comments.

Very good blend from C&D. 3.5 stars.

Long write up here, I apologize. Please bear with me.

The name of this blend intrigues me. A bow legged bear? What? How come? Who thought of that? Since I seem to match that description, I?m very comforted by the notion. It?s about time I get some recognition.

This was an out of the norm purchase for me. The LA Tinderbox, my local, yet often maligned (by me) B&M, doesn?t carry C&D blends, and by that extension, they neither carry any Pease blends. I asked one of the shop workers why they would ignore such a prominent force in the pipe tobacco industry. He shrugged it off as to suggest these people are amateurs, then pointed off to a dark corner of the store, where hidden out of view lay two dusty tins of Bow Legged Bear. I suppose he was trying to suggest upon me that C&D blends are impervious to consumer demand. I asked this very early on in my pipe smoking days?all of two years ago. ?Look at those tins,? I thought. My tastes demand only the freshest product.

Two years later, and those tins still sat on the shelf. I got my hands on them not so long ago, and noticed the date?wait for it?August 29, 2001. The guy who helped me out was anxious to get rid of them, and offered each for $5. He told me, ?You?d better open one before you leave, I?m not sure if they?re any good.? For the love of God, this man works in a tobacco establishment and has no idea of anything. ?Should I do him the favor??, I considered. I?d rather have not opened the tin in the shop, but under orders I broke the seal. Mind you, this wasn?t the current C&D tin design with the plastic lid and the air tight container, but the old, all aluminum design. A wonderful aroma of fermented tobacco lifted from the can, and he looked at me, astonished to see a beautiful package of tight, black bricks, wrapped in tissue.

This is the same Jackass that tried to talk me out of buying Escudo quite some time ago.

Having opened this baby up, I didn?t waste much time digging into it. Bow Legged Bear is strong as hell, thank all things Perique. There was a period when I swore off Perique, but I?ve been gradually bringing myself to reappraise its various qualities, and I would go so far as to say it makes all the difference in this blend. I don?t know much about aging, other than a feeling that Perique is some kind of magical presence that must have stewed my sample to new heights. I fear somehow I may go on another binge, and I will not cower this time, I swear it.

There?s something of a controversy regarding Bow Legged Bear. There?s so much crap in this mix, no one can really form a consensus on its taste profile. I can only be subjective regarding this matter. To my senses, Bow Legged Bear does not recall any English mixtures I?m familiar with. The Burley puts it in another category, one that doesn?t quite exist as a defined genre. Being somewhat averse to Burley, physiologically, I suspect, I approached Bow Legged Bear with a short apprehension. In practice, I can?t make heads or tails of the leaf, as to me, it?s been drowned out by nearly everything else that constitutes this blend. I know I?m a lousy person for cursing Burley in my recent Edgeworth review, but I cannot complain here.

There?s such a varied nuance, I feel as though I?d never tire of this bearish fellow, crooked posture and all.

Another tobacco review bow legged bear. Also reviewed it on my YouTube channel.

When I opened this tin of Bow-legged Bear, I was struck by a weird pungent smell and was wondering whether I would've bought this after smelling it in a shop. However, I was glad I did! The smoke is not at all what you smell in the tin. Very pleasant indeed; a light smoke which you can smoke all day.

Tin: Soury almost stable-like (urine). Aroma: As I said, the aroma is not at all bad. In my opinion, not a "full English" blend though, as the tin suggests. More of a light English blend, might even be a good cross-over for someone who would like to try English blends. Latakia not overpowering at all but well-balanced - none of the VA, Perique, Oriental or Burley is trying to be on top.

To the end of the bowl, a more integrated buttery smoke was evident with notes of grassiness come to the fore.

Overall a pleasant smoke. I will order it again.

3 stars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k322aSs-heA

Virginias, Turkish, Latakia, Burley & Perique. Stoved, pressed, and sliced. To quote the late great Archie Bunker: "Now that's what I call a balanced ticket." This blend turned out well IMO. The various & sundry flavors seem a tad muted but they shift nicely, and no one of the gang really runs the show. We have an ever-present earthy burley in the background, while a mild turkish, sweet virginia, and restrained latakia surface then subside in turn. For me the perique was more notable in the realm of mouthfeel / nosefeel than in taste. All finished off by that peculiar feeling of tranquility courtesy of a good vitamin n kick. To me this one was not so much a deeply contemplative english as it was a very good workhorse english. Well done.

Based on a tin with one year of age:

The presentation was decent. It comes in cake form, but not as neat as I'm used to with other cakes I've had in the past. In the tin it smells of cocoa and bread, and a little malty.

The taste is much smoother and rounder than I anticipated. There is a dark, bready sweetness with cereal, cinnamon, and molasses notes. There is some leather in there too, with some pepper and raisins and an overall fermented taste (think blends with Virginia, Burley, and Perique). This is labeled as an English blend (there are a ton of ways to interpret that, or not), but to me, it tastes like a Virginia Burley blend spiced with some other things. It's a dark taste.

To me, the strength is medium and arguably mellow, contrary to other reviews. The nicotine is medium to high though. The taste is medium.

I would recommend this to Virginia Burley smokers who want something slightly different, as well as Virginia Perique smokers. I think the typical lover of the English/Balkan smoker will leave dissatisfied with this blend due to the lack of identifiable Orientals.

**update 10 Oct 2019**

I enjoy this blend, but I'd have to say there is maybe nothing extraordinary about it. It's rich, and has lots going on. I like it with my morning coffee most. I would recommend it. Three stars.

I try to smoke at least 2 oz of a blend before I will give my 2 coppers. Upon opening this tin a few days back(dated 7/08), a sour, albeit pleasant smell filled my nose holes. I do not detect an abundance of Latakia in this blend, althoughh it is mildly detected. I was suprised the 5 different leaves got along so well together, something that is very difficult to achieve. Moisture content was great, easy to prepare and pack. Lghting took a few matches, but most cakes do. I do not know what 3 years of age has done to this, but it didn't seen to do any harm.

Would pair well with Drambuie, 3 ice cubes.

Hey this a very satisfying tobacco to this Briarbrother. It's got a taste that stays with me for a few after the embers fade from a good sized bowl. The taste is strong enough to let you remember it for a while. And, makes me consider two bowls in a row, it's that good. One might think that two bowls being necessary it might not be all 'that'. It's 'allthat' enough to consider a second tin real soon so that I don't run out.

The tobaacco arrives in the tin containing two crumble cakes which crumble very easily, almost two easily. I'm just about halfway through the 2oz tin and I see that i'ts necessary for me to handle the cakes gently. The tobacco is dry to the touch as such it breaks up and forms a dark dust on the table or in the bottom of my pouch. I'd suggest handling it as little as possible and keep it in a small airtight jar being as dry and crumble as it is.

However it's a great smoke once it's in the bowl and fired up! Full enough to do wonders in time of stress or after a nice rich, spicy meal. It may be a latakia blend but the turkish seems to moderate everything. When I hear/see latakia blend I'd hope to experience latakia being predominate in the blend. Here it's a very honorable mention. Despite me finding it necessary to handle with care I'll probably will see it again in my stash. This blend gets Three Stars IMHO!

UPDATE; 1/10/2011 Many folks mention here that BLB has so many tobaccos in it that they can't decern any particular ones. I see this tobacco as unique in it's own rite. All the tobacs here converge to make the taste that it it full, strong, no nonsense English. Yeah there's Burley and some say burley shouldn't be in an English but what I'm seeing, feeling and tasting is English all over the place; a blend of tobacco's with apparently NO flavorings. It seems that it's the way English's ought to be, right? On top of all that this is the time of year to smoke English cold, breezy, stimulating Winter time. At first I commended BLB. Now I highly recommend bow-Legged Bear to English blend smokers. Winter weather just exudes the necessity of a very bold blend like this one.