Cornell & Diehl Dark Burley

Burley suffers from being too adaptable in a world where strongly independent flavors are prized. Its nutty harvest flavor occupies the middle of the tobacco spectrum, and like a chameleon adopts and accents the flavors of other leaf with which it is blended, but straight Burleys remain popular for their whole and solid flavor. Like Five Brothers and some of the aged Burley flakes, "Dark Burley" stands on its own as a singular flavor which reveals its many components as it burns.

The bowl starts with a strong nut or legume flavor, accented with a small amount of wintry bitterness, then gives way to a slight sweetness and a richer flavor like that of coffee or the smoke of a good wood fire. This melds into a denser and darker tone, giving this leaf its full strength as a wild and natural taste, at which point it fades away slowly into a faint sweetness with overtones of fall. Throughout this process, internal flavors rise from within gifting the smoker with alternating notes of hay, tea, a warmth like mulled wine and undertones of freshly cut vegetation.

A pipeful of "Dark Burley" delivers delivers a kick comparable to a 3/4 bowl of C&D's "Old Joe Krantz," which owes much of its strength -- by legend and lore -- to a mixture of Burleys including this one. This tobacco delivers strong, raw flavor like nature itself, pure untamed wildness. It burns well, smokes clean through, and has a nutty taste with slight bitterness and undertones of cut vegetation.

Although this Burley by itself lacks the spark of more complex blends, it delivers what smokers have relied on from this variety of leaf for aeons, which is a strong but textured flavor with enough nicotine to help with concentration on the most "burly" of tasks. It is better than most see it as, in my humble estimation, and can be the backbone of a powerful mix as well as a thoroughly enjoyable stand-alone smoke.

When I smoke with friends who favor "Prince Albert," I am prone to mix this 60-40 with that venerable tobacco, which both reduces the cocoa top note with undertones of wintergreen and pushes that blend up into the medium to strong category. However it is blended, "Dark Burley" is best packed firmly after a gravity fill and smoked slowly to allow the flavors to mature before tasting.

Deep, rich and dark, but soft on the palate. This is a great blending component. It is somewhat fuller than White Burley, but quite similar in so many fronts. Perhaps one of the main differences is the sea air or salty profile of the latter, which is somewhat missing in this one. Also, Dark Burley seems to be sweater and nuttier, and if you keep an eye on your smoking cadence, it will reward you with cocoa and mocha undertones. Of course, this is highly subjective, but it is important to note the smoking experience is not uni-dimensional and that it will evolve into different layers or nuances here and there. Obviously, depending on what other blending component you might choose to mix it with, it will evolve into one thing or the other, but I believe the potential lies with red virginias, orientals, and perique. I have tried to mix it with bright virginia as well, but the zesty profile of this leaf tends to confuse the palate. The quality of this tobacco is quite good, and Cornell & Dielh presents it to you with no added flavours or casings, which is a bonus that adds up to its blending potential and capabilities.

Well according to my profile, tobacco reviews had deemed that my highest tobacco preference is burley, despite the fact that I've hardly ever smoked burley or burley dominate blends. I do enjoy dark fire burley but I don't smoke it much. I was kind of gun shy to try burley because of its heavy uses in aromatic blends. But I decided to buy 2 ozs of Cornell & Diehl Dark Burley to challenge myself.

The bag aroma is light. A hint of cocoa and nuts. First light I get a mild flavor of cocoa and nuts, but that soon changed to a flavor almost like a Punch maduro cigar. Spicy, black pepper, caramel undertones, creamy, dark, and strong with a touch of earth. The flavors continued as is until the last third were it mellowed out to a light pepper spice with nuts and a touch of sweetness. Burned cool and clean.

Tobacco reviews preference chart may be right after all. I do enjoy a high quality burley. Who knew.

Very nice burley.

My sample must be well-aged and fermented because I could not detect fruitiness in the pouch, just a strong, earthy aroma, and a barn-like scent.

On the match it is wonderful; it gives a full, dark, nicely bitter, cigar-like, earthy, and fruity flavor, with a hint of sweetness.

It smokes cool and doesn't bite. There is a strong flavor of nicotine that coats my tongue, and it gives a burn when exhaled through the nose.

This will nicely complement those thin aromatics that I don't smoke too often, It will give those blends some body and a good "oomph" in flavor.

If smoked neat, I will smoke this in a small pipe so as not to overwhelm the senses.

Nicely done, C&D!

Jar note of nuts, chocolate, and earth. The brown tobacco is about half thin ribbon and half course cut. Moisture content is a little dry, no drying or prep needed. Burns fast with few relights. The strength is strong and nic is medium to strong. No flavoring detected (or casing for that matter). Taste is full and very consistent, with notes of very spicy, very dry, toast, wood, very earthy, molasses, a bitter nutty background note, and a very peppery retro. Room note is strong, and aftertaste is good.