Cornell & Diehl Mountain Camp

This is my second review of the nine bulk blends I bought during the Labor Day Sale. I have all of these jarred. It has a nice mild Latakia tin note and puts out a ton of smoke. I personally do not find this to be a heavy Latakia blend but milder to medium. I realize that obviously my review is mine and mine alone. I also know that my sense of smell and taste buds are shot. I even add more coffee grounds than I use to, to make the same pot of coffee. Sort of like eating peppers, you start out with the mild chilis and work your way up to the Habanero and Ghost Peppers. So, what I am getting at is that what my not be a Lat Bomb to me could very well be one to you. This is a good smoke but I just wasn’t feeling the love. Tastes good, smokes like a good Lat blend but no wow factor. I smoked this listening to Bill Withers. Look him up. About half way down the bowl the Lat starting fading away and the other tobacco took over. I will try to remember to take it to the club and let the other members way in on this one. The enjoyment I get out of this ‘hobby’ is that who knows, a few months jarred and the next time I try this one it might completely blow me away. P.S. Maybe I got the bottom of the barrel and all the Lat was gone. 🙂

I love Latakia, Perique not so much. I fail to find balance in this blend. Nice and sweet virginia with a strong peppery background topped with the smokiness of the latakia. At times the peppery perique is a bite overwhelming, but the inconsistent smoke of this blends makes it, actually, easier to smoke; sometimes the perique seems gone and the result is very good and tasty smoke and then it appears and breaks smokiness of the latakia and dulls the sweet virginia. It´s just weird. It´s difficult not to like this blend, but even more difficult to love it.

If you love latakia this one will please. While a quality blend, the latakia is a solo act.

my first admission is that i am not a Latakia bomb fan--i enjoy Latakia in small quantities--

so, what am i doing reviewing Mountain Camp?--i ordered it on a whim--when i first received it i fired it up right away--didn't care for it--way too dry and smoky for me--seemed harsh and bitter--seemed like the Latakia and Burley didn't want to play together nicely--

had just about decided to put the remainder on the trading block--but decided to let it age for a short while, so in the jar and up on the shelf it went--

two months later i tried another bowl--big difference--very much subdued compared to my original impression--smoother, easier on the throat and nose--sweeter, no dry mouth after finishing a bowl--

the blend seems to have melded and turned into a very acceptable smoke--all the sharp edges are gone--maybe it was really raw and uncured from C&D--whatever; aging just a bit made a great difference--

i won't ever use it as a day in, day out smoke, but think i will keep a bit on hand for when i want a decent Lat fix //edit--now 2018//this stuff seemed to change monthly on me--i changed, not the tobacco--finally after about a year it went south on me and never did recover--just too much latakia for me i think--changing my observation to:: the only C&D blend that i just couldn't like--if you favor blends with big latakia presence, go for it--you'll likely enjoy Mountain Camp

Mountain Camp is Bayou Night with the Perique toned down and the Latakia amped up. I definitely like this better than SOTE, probably better than Engine #99 too. This is Burley, Va, Perique, Turkish and Latakia. The Perique adds some tang, but it isn't fruity and only slightly peppery here. The Orientals are just casually there, enough to add a subtle sour note underneath. Like SOTE, this has a nice interplay between Va and Latakia, making for a smoky, leathery blend. Room note is heavenly to me, very dark, rich and the Perique adds a mystery to the traditional mixture's room note. Great aroma here.

On the tongue, this stops short of being spicy, but it is a nice medium-full mixture where all the components contribute. Not stellar, but you could do a lot worse, and since this tobacco is $36/lb it is a great candidate for rotation material for Lat lovers looking to flesh out their rotation on the cheap. This is good, but I found my inexpensive C&D bulk, and this ain't it. (Hint: the tobacco I refer to starts with C&D #505 Super Balkan). If I hadn't found that one already and ordered my first pound of it, I just might be buying a pound of this as it is both tasty and cheap.

20230428 edit: coming back to this after a while, and it's really not great. "Ashy" is the first thing that comes to mind, and some perique influence which I'm not generally a fan of. Think I'm done testing this one, definitely not for me.

Mostly taste the Latakia, but the perique is noticed in biting qualities and must. I want to say I can detect the Orientals, but I can't really describe them except to say they lighten things up some. There's some complexity here, but not in a way I'm really looking for. Latakia tends to overwhelm my palate, and when I get a craving for it, there are many other options I'd prefer -- included among them straight C&D Latakia. I don't love the additions here, but I can see how someone else might.