Cornell & Diehl Brigadier

Original Review 2/26/2012

This is a strange tobacco. I purchased it from local B&M out of anxiety awaiting my first order from C&D. This happened to be the only blend my local store stocked from C&D. I had repeatedly passed it over based upon these reviews. I first smoked it out of a cob being that the briar in my truck was pluged up at the time.

I really enjoyed it as it was prabably the first quality leaf I had yet to smoke and, based upon this bowl, it spent about a day as my favorite until my order came in and eclipsed Brigadier.

After this first bowl, it got progressively worse for me at times tasting medicinal and just downright terrible. I finally discovered that it was the pipe. This just did not taste good in my briars. I had forgotten that first smoke was in a cob. Only after smoking it in a cob again did I recapture that earler love I had for this blend.

I have read about this with blends on here, but this is my first time actually experiencing it on my own. So my review probably at a 2.5 as I would not recommend it in a briar, but would in a cob. The quality of the leaf and cut round it up to 3 stars for me. I did find it a little fruity, but not overwhelmingly so. I would much rather go to something like this than some full-on drugstore aromatic to satisfy my yearnings for sweetness.

The store has two more tins that don't seem to be going anywhere. I will likely buy more.

Update 11/28/2017

I did end up buying the remaining two tins of this and just finished smoking the last of it and, oddly enough, I feel kind of the same way I did back in early 2012 when I had only been smoking for a couple months. Of course, I now know much more about all things pipe tobacco than I did then.

To start with, this is still an odd blend. It is, no doubt, an aromatic, but it has a lot of different types of leaf in it including latakia, Perique and dark fired Kentucky. All of which are somewhat detectable under the heavy topping. The topping as best I can describe is kind of fruity, but in an artificial way. Perhaps some kind of liquer or two is also used. I really don't like the topping so much, but I do like the strength of this blend.

The Perique and DFK is noticeable and I actually had a hard time finishing a large bowl in one sitting. In terms of strength, I found this to be stronger than Irish flake. If you like strong blends and this topping is to your liking, this could easily be your manna.

Now for the funny part. When I first smoked and reviewed this blend, my pipe collection was very small. I think I may have had one cob and possibly two or three briars. I concluded then that the blend tasted good in a cob. but terrible in a briar.

Now here I am. Smoking for 6 yrs with around 100 pipes and I came to the exact same conclusion, but would add Meerschaum (most of this tin was smoked in my Fikri Baki Volacano) to the list of pipes this smokes well in, but each time I tried a briar it just wasn't good. I think this may be more my tastes and how I feel about the topping than a fault with the blend itself. If feel both cobs and Meers tend to mute toppings a little; whereas, briar doesn't.

I decided to drop this to two stars, because I have too many conditions to recommending this blend to someone. Those conditions are that you like the topping and that you like strong blends.

This won't be a long review; this one just ain't my thing. You can just look at it and tell it's quality leaf, with a nice mixture of black and different browns, but I just don't like cherry. I got my aged tin on Ebay, one of those old metal things that didn't seal too well, and someone had wrapped electrical tape around it. I got it because I got it cheap, and was curious. Tobacco was dry, but not compromised. I'm sure some of the cherry has faded, and that at least is good, because I guess I don't like it! The only cherry tin I have finished was the old Ashton Original Oldchurch, and it took me a while. (At least I thought I remembered getting cherry on top of vanilla from that one, but could be wrong. The other reviewers didn't point out cherry!) This is similar: it's not bad quality, just a flavor that doesn't treat me too well. If you are a cherry smoker, go for it! I'm sure it's better than the drugstore cherrys.

When I opened the tin I smelled cherries, having not expected a cherry tobacco I was surprised. Once lit it tastes of black cherry and Black Cavendish, I tasted none of the Perique other reviewers have tasted at all. This blend consists mostly of Black Cavendish and Burley with a black cherry topping, it is a very good representative of the aromatics based on good tobacco lot of blends.

This is cubed Burley,a little bit of Latakia, flavored cavendish,and Perique. The cut and complexity of this blend reminds me a lot of The House of Windsor brand,"Bourbon Street". The flavoring is good but strange. I found it a little acrid. I think the flavor of fruit,(cherry/strawberry? ...fruit) is over used here. This tobacco is refreshing and sweet, but not too far in that direction because the Latakia gives it back a little smokey heft,and the Burley makes it all well rounded. The room aroma is like an opium den,almost like a fruit incense. This burns well, packs itself,and reminds me of a burning circus tent.

This is a cross-over blend, combining a flavoring with Latakia. The main component is cubed burley, with Latakia, toasted brown Cavendish, and Perique. The flavoring is a very fruity one that could probably work its way into your pipe after a while. The tin aroma smells a lot like fruit punch crystals. With the burley base being supplemented by the Perique, it’s a very strong smoke in terms of nicotine (at least for me). The taste is strong as well—the combination of flavors makes for jarring contrasts at times, with the fruit flavoring fighting it out with the smokiness of the Latakia and pepperiness of the Perique. The burley base can contribute some sour, ashy notes if smoked too fast. The room aroma is very unusual, again a combination of Latakia with that funky fruit overtone; it wasn’t really appreciated by my wife. It’s unusual enough for me to want to try it again, but I can’t see it becoming a staple.