Cornell & Diehl Safe Harbor Flake

I have decided to give Safe Harbor Flake a two star rating simply because it is too limp wristed to get me excited. I appreciated the delicate addition of whatever casing was added but sure would have liked more strength. I will certainly smoke the entire contents of the tin and order more. But, I cannot fully recommend this blend to anyone looking for an alternative to the original Edgeworth Slices or any other Burley based blend that packs some punch.

Others here have perfectly described the visuals once the tin is opened (and by the way, mine held its water beautifully - is that a good thing?) I've smoked many a C&D blend over the years and Safe Harbor Flake wins the wet award.

I have been on a Burley binge of late and believe I'll now take Stan's advice (first review of this blend) and try Wessex Burley Slice in the hopes that my palate will get slapped around a little bit.

If you have bothered to read enough of my reviews, you probably noticed I am a Burleyphile.

But not this one.

It is well made, discreetly topped, and smells good in the tin and while it burns.

However, where is the flavor? I smoked it rolled up as a flake, and it burns well. Rubbed out, it burns hot, and tastes like absolutely nothing.

There just isn't much flavor to it, and the cost makes it completely untenable for me.

Update 10 SEP 07

Well, how funny things are, sometimes. I loved Solani Aged Burley Flake in a Meershaum, but could not stand it in a briar. I bet it would be the same with Safe Harbor Flake. And it was! I tried it in my Meershaum, and loved it!

So, as in Solani's, weirdly, I would recommend SHF in a Meershaum, but not in a briar...

Recommendation upgraded to somewhat recommended, in the name of objectivity.

Update 06 SEP

If you were disappointed with Safe Harbor flake and want a real Burley flake, try Solani's aged burley flake; it's absolutely delicious!

Update 18 AUG 07

You guys being pretty keen, I'm sure you noticed the general tendancy for rating is either 4 stars, or 1, with a few 2; I suspect there is an inequality in the tobacco being canned...the reason more for me to reassess later, hoping the next tin will be better...or either it's that the all burley flakes are not for everyone...I'll found out eventually.

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17 JUL 2007

If this is what sailors are looking for after a stormy sea, there would be no navies anywhere in the world! I would rather face the storm that come alongside and smoke that bad, acrid Bakkie!

To start with, this is no flake; this is ready rubbed, so rubbed that tobaccos like Sail or Amphora are superior in quality and look more like flakes, if you can believe this!

I have never indulged myself in a full Burley mixture before, and if this is an American classic, I will stay away from them! If this is what an all Burley tobacco is, I will steer clear from them! Especially at the price that they sell it...

The tin aroma was very nice, of sweet walnut, the tobacco dark brown with just a few lighter shades; filling is easy - of course, it's all broken up to a point that it is half dusty.

Upon lighting, I was welcomed by an acrid smoke coming out from the pipe, a peppery taste, very unpleasant taste that is still leaving a bad breath in my mouth, and a predominant vintage Tongue bite no 5, as one of our colleagues said once about one of the MacBaren blends.

The more I smoke, the worse it gets, to the point that I will not finish my first pipeful: this is one of the worst tobaccos I've ever had and the taste in my mouth is so repulsive that it makes me sick to my stomach!

DEFINITELY NOT RECOMMENDED

Maybe I've had a bad tin; as objective as I am, I will let my two other tins age and reassess in 6 -9 months from now, but this stuff would even turn off the last man on earth that would fill his pipe with this after running out of tobacco for two years! He'd rather go without, or smoke hay or anything else!

Tin: Not exactly a flake cut, but a sliced cake. Each slice crumbles and falls apart in your hand, when touched, into a powder. Brown mahogany. Essence of licorice smell.

Lighting: Took two lights to start it, whereupon, itstayed lit, burning to the bottom of the bowl. The tobacco, being moist, obviously has to be lightly packed. Produced moisture in the stem, the bottom of the bowl burned hot, but the smoke remained warm. May want to air dry, to minimize the moisture in the pipe.

Aroma: Top of bowl--gentle nutty burley. Bottom of bowl--very strong molasses and licorice, nutty.

Taste: Not much, vaguely burley, not sweet. No tongue bite.

Nicotine: light

Room Note: lingering, heavy nutty, licorice, medicinal burley smell; not smoky.

Not as bad as all that, but not a keeper either.

I'm a bit out of my league, as I know nothing about 'lost American classics'. Usually I smoke English blends, sometimes aromatics. My main issue with SHF was that I couldn't taste tobacco. Rum or brandy, yes. Molasses, yup. But not a hint of burley. Might be good as an after-dinner aromatic, but not for my larder.

I think there are a few that have been overly harsh on this tobacco, but I would have to agree I expect more out of C & D. It is a very pleasant smelling tobacco in the tin. Hints of brandy and chocolate. Upon lighting those smells turn into a basically flat burly taste. There is some casing but nothing obnoxious. It burns cleanly and completely, but really does not leave me wanting to come back for more.

Too late for our 2018 NASPC show, I bought three tins of this blend from an Ebay seller (You know, back when we had the freedom to do that sort of thing) and put two of them on my 2019 table. A long term smoking buddy of mine came to the table to help, saw the tins, exclaimed "Oh, you've got these" and scarfed them immediately. This led me to believe that it was a descent blend and people liked it. Then, I read our reviews and all I can say is-wow! Its not often we, as a group, feel this negatively about a blend we have just tried. So, let's open this sucker. Now, I feel I should tell you that I have opened off-gassed tins before that were bulging, but nothing like this tin. With both the white plastic lid and the white background of the paper label yellowed with age, this thing was distended so strongly that it spun around on it's bottom like a top and the pull top was straining at the seam to pop. I have never, in my sixty tears of pipe smoking, seen a pull top so taut. Stupidly, I held it in my hands and pulled and-it exploded! It didn't go "pop", so much as, "pow". In reaction, the tin flew backwards out of my hands and the gas rush hit the bottom of my left index finger and left a red area like I had hit it on something. Now, how's that for an exotic tin opening? So, drama set aside, what do we have? Well, it used to be flakes; now about half rubbed out and damp enough to make me wonder just how wet was this tobacco when new? Very dark umber brown in color, there is very little that is even, somewhat, lighter. Then, there is the aroma. Strong after all these years and smelling like a winey apple spice cake that is well aged. I set a wad of this stuff aside to air out and checked every now and then until ready; about an hour and a half. Every time I checked on it the aroma was weaker until it arrived at a smokable state with an apple aroma. All winey and spicey aromas now gone, we have an apple flavored Burley; not an experience I was looking for. I lit up and discovered that the apple flavor did translate to the smoke in the upper third of the bowl. Then both the apple flavor and my enjoyment went south for the remainder of the smoke. I am in agreement with reviewer Doctor Thoss 2007-11-11 who noted an initial burst of flavor that went limp at the 1/3 point. After the first bowl, I lost any desire to smoke this blend straight out of the tin. I did try blending with it; to limited success. It dominates other tobaccos in mixtures and was not useful in increments > 25%. All in all, a weird experience that never actually offended or anything and I somewhat, hesitantly, recommend it at two stars. Two stars because you will never open another tin with this many sugar crystals in evidence. I removed flakes that were absolutely encrusted with them; to the point that it reminded me of fish scales. And, as if that weren't enough, the paper liner in the tin was festooned with white sugar crystals growing out perpendicularly from the side. If you can find a tin, you will be treated to all of this and more.

I am a huge fan of C&D's virginia's and vapers enjoy the occasional virginia/burley mix. Safe Harbor Flake (SHF) is all burley and I rarely smoke all-burley blends; the closest is GLP's Barbary Coast. I was not taken by SHF, unfortunately, as the natural topping (I believe, rum) and the burley produced an odd taste in my mouth as I smoked. This is odd since I enjoy C&D's Blockage Runner and GLP's Haddos Delight. About mid-bowl, the flavor got harsh and non-descript and never recovered. The tobaccos are top quality and the flake, or at least, the crumble flake, presentation was wonderful. For me, a boring blend.

aj

Bob Runowski has created some of my all-time favorite blends, but this is not one of them. Even brought to proper humidification, I could find no combination of pipe and pack that alleviated the harsh and nippy nature of SHF. It also has a non-descript, medicinal taste despite the truly wonderful tin and room aromas.

I think I'll be in the significant minority not appreciative of this effort (there is no blender that has not struck out in terms of pleasing me with at least one of their blends). However, it is not a wimpy blend if that is what you seek, because you will get a moderate nicotine jolt with SFH.

Two stars for the wonderful aroma and easy crumble cake cut.