Cornell & Diehl Dark Burley

I have been working through a 4 oz sample of this. It is an irregular cut similar to Big -n- Burley. The tobacco was delivered bone dry, and after a couple of bowls smoked this way, I began exhaling into the bowl to give it a little more moisture - John Patton style.

This is a nice burley taste. It is nutty and a little earthy. There is a slightly sweet, slightly bitter taste that works well for me. The aftertaste is a little sweet. My palate may not be refined enough to identify these mild toppings, but the sweet is too light to be molasses, and there may be a note of cocoa in there.

This was an easy smoke. It stayed lit and delivered a consistent flavor. It was not especially exciting, but it was a good basic burley smoke. This one is easy to recommend.

I find it a little stronger than most reviewers it seems, and I find it more in the category of ODF or HB with regard to nicotine.

Edit: 10/24/17 This is a great thing to have around to beef up something you like but find a little thin or weak on the tobacco end of things. Mixed 1:1 with an aromatic or Winchester (for example) gives them some muscle. I find I am using this more to mix than smoke straight these days.

I have smoked over a pound of this, so it is really a 3.5 on my scale.

This is very earthy, slightly nutty, with notes of toasted marshmallow and toasted bread/grains. There is a slight cocoa note and there seems to be a very light note of molasses as well.

Looking at the other reviews it seems the strength in this one varies widely so perhaps a note about how I determine strength would be helpful. Strength is to include all aspects of the smoke including the nic. So this would include the body of the smoke itself. For me something mild has a silky mouth feel and the smoke is rather light (some might call this thin) mild to med more often than not the mouth feel is creamy (not necessarily a creamy taste just what it feels like over the tongue) as the smoke gets thicker this changes and I get a wide variety of sensations up to a strong strength which is very thick almost chewy. The nic also plays a part and at the med to strong level it will start to tickle the nose just a little. For me this smoke offers fairly thick body and it does start to tickle the nose so I am placing it overall in the med to strong category. The body itself is at the upper end of med. the nic at the bottom end of med strong but all things considered a med. strong tobacco.

This is great straight and in fact most of the 4oz has been smoked straight. Something that very few all dark burley's can be said of for me. That said, it is not quite a 4 star blend I would place this more at 3.5. I will reorder at some point and see if it grows on me. As a blender it seems very well suited to adding body to a blend. a 50/50 mix of it and C&D's Dark Fired KY brings out more of the molasses note than it has straight for example but also tones down some of the woodsy smokey and spiciness of the KY. Unlike many burley's this one does not smoke out ghosts all that well like 5 Brothers, Carter Hall, or Kendal KY does for me either.

This is about as close as I want to get to unadorned burley. Maybe my batch sat in a bin too long and lost it's casing, but I didn't pick up on any sweetness. This is real deal burley and has a wonderfully rustic dryness and strength. I mixed a little sweeter burley blend to it and made it perfect. I recommend it to burley lovers and blenders.

I am reviewing several C+D blending tobaccos as a precursor to some blending experiments. I know not many people blend, but these reviews may provide some hints to those wanting to do so.

A good baseline burley - a slight wood taste and aroma of burnt marshmallow. Only a bit nutty and not harsh. Arrived very dry so smokes a bit quickly. A faint hint of cigar towards mid bowl. Enough body to be consumed on its own if you would like. Smokes very cool.

Dark Burley is a wonderful tobacco to mix with other tobacco or smoked by itself. It smokes cool, leaving gray ashes, and no moisture at the bottom of the bowl. I smoke this blend in public because no one complains about the odor.