Cornell & Diehl Safe Harbor Flake

(2.11)
The sea is a bewitching mistress, beautiful but always unpredictable and apt to turn stormy at a moment's notice. Those who have experienced her tempests know what a blessing it is to drop anchor in a safe harbor after a troubled and storm filled day. We invite you to add to the enjoyment of finding a safe harbor with a bowlful of this Burley flake reminiscent of a lost American classic.

Details

Brand Cornell & Diehl
Blended By Bob Runowski
Manufactured By Cornell & Diehl
Blend Type American
Contents Burley
Flavoring
Cut Flake
Packaging 2 ounce tin, bulk
Country United States
Production No longer in production

Profile

Strength
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
Mild
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant to Tolerable
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

2.11 / 4
9

7

10

20

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 11 of 46 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 20, 2015 Extremely Strong None Detected Extra Full Tolerable
I am not used to giving C and D low ratings as. I usually really enjoy their tobaccos. This one however is just a very strong burly with an unusual flavor that I don't like at all.

It states it is a flake but came mostly broken in the tin. It has a very peaty pouch note and very moist. The color is a dark brown and even looks ominous. After rubbing out and letting dry, it packed easy enough in my pipe but upon lighting it had a very unusual flavor that I still can't describe, was very strong and rather harsh. As I smoked down the bowl, it just intensifies, and by the bottom of my bowl I felt like I had sanded my tongue. I have since smoked half the tin and get the same experience every time. This is just not one of their better blends, I normally like their burly but if this had been the first blend of theirs I had tried I would never buy any of their blends which I do a lot. Can not recommend at all. fun from this one.
Pipe Used: briars
PurchasedFrom: in trade unopened
Age When Smoked: 6 months
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 02, 2010 Mild to Medium Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant
UPDATE 8/8/10

Ok, relief! A friend sent me a large sample of this and what I bought was NOT Safe Harbor Flake. I can't imagine what was in my original tin, and I hope to never smoke it again. The sample was a very good burley with tons of flavor. Nice flake cut that crumbled when rubbed out. Made it easy to plug a draft hole but that's a small complaint. The topping was discreet and the burley flavor and aroma came through. I'd buy this again but only a tin at a time until I'm sure of what I'm getting. If you like burley and prefer something mild in strength and taste, give this one a try. Upgrading to 3 stars

ORIGINAL REVIEW

I sincerely hope that this tin was mis-marked! I see no reference to this blend having latakia in it, yet my tin contained this condiment. The cut was nowhere near a flake; not even a broken flake. It was sort of a rough cut. The smell of latakia was very noticeable amidst the burley. One of the worst tin aromas I've ever experienced but then again, so was Burley Flake #2 and that was an excellent smoke.

Nothing wrong with latakia in a burley blend... except maybe in this one. The latakia seemed an afterthought in the taste department but certainly took over the room via its aroma. Even though it wasn't easy to taste (but was still obviously latakia), it totally covered up the burley's typical nuttiness and body. I've seen references to this blend having no character. Believe me, no character would have been an improvement! This seemed like a blend that failed and yet was released. I'm keeping this tin and I challenge anyone to smoke it and like it. What happened on this one, C&D? You're WAY better than this! I can't read the date on the tin - did I get one from 2007 when you took it off the shelves???

Sorry for the snotty review, but I have great experiences with C&D in the past. Even their blends that I do not like have enough character to make me understand that tobacco taste is personal. But I can't believe they put their name on this blend and I can't believe it's really the same SHF that others have smoked since it definitely contains latakia.
5 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 22, 2011 Medium Extremely Mild Mild Tolerable
Let me start this review by saying that I am an unabashed fan of C&D tobaccos. Even since my first bowl of Morley's Best, I've been very fond of most of their blends. Sadly, this string comes to an end with Safe Harbor Flake.

SHF arrives in the tin very moist, completely unlike most C&D tobaccos. It is mostly a broken flake, even though it is supposed to be in flake form. I don't hold this against it, as I rub out most of my flakes. What is unacceptable is the moisture level, which gathers in the bottom of the bowl and requires several pipe cleaners throughout the smoke. I suppose I could spread each bowlful out and allow it several hours of drying time but this is just too much trouble with so many superior burleys on the market.

The taste of SHF is to me an unpleasant burnt flavor, possibly caused by the excess moisture and steam of the tobacco. It requires a lot of relights, too, match and lighter fluid companies will love this one. If there is one redeeming factor to SHF it is the pouch note. It has a very pleasant baking bread aroma. So if you buy your tobacco to sniff, this one may be for you.

I notice that C&D has four new burley flakes on the market and I will eventually try these. Hopefully they have learned some lessons from SHF.

Scores for SHF: flavor- 6 of 20; lighting and burn- 5 of 10; value- 4 of 10. 15 points equals a sad * for Safe Harbor Flake.
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 01, 2015 Medium Medium to Strong Medium Tolerable
I will begin with saying I like most C.& D. blends . Having said, that this is NOT your fathers Burley blend ! I think he would have better tastes in Burley! The only thing I can think of positive to say it burns evenly with at most with only 2 lights. That and an attractive container! I was given a tin of this and I now know what he was doing he was getting rid of it . After trying to smoke it I cellared the rest hoping it would get better with aging, WRONG. I have passed it on to another and his response was similar to my own. He said he " it was so bad he was tempted to lick his cats butt to try to get the taste off his palate". It was flake cut and looked good but that was IT. Knowing that everyone does not have the same opinion of Blends and this is mine just try it and I will be surprised if your opinion differs. I know NOW why C&D. discontinued it, This is some god awful stuff! .....again my opinion!
Age When Smoked: nothing helps!
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 03, 2015 Very Strong None Detected Full Very Strong
Safe Harbor Flake comes in a beautiful tin, presented as a broken flake. Mine came a bit moist, too, but I just left the tin open over night to get it right. The tin note was of wet hay, grass, earthy, roasted bread and very reminiscent of a cigar. I did not sense a topping, fermented Burley tobaccos only. So far so good.

When I smoked it felt like sand paper treatment for my palate. Rough, bity, very high on nicotine and awful tasting of a bad cigar. Slow sipping does improve digesting it a little, using a carbon filter doesn’t change much. In several pipes, sizes, shapes I couldn’t get it to a comfort level and I had even trouble to get past half the bowl. It does ghost your pipe(s) and the after taste is intense.

The closest description I came up with, is when you finished a cigar to the slightly moist remaining quarter, put that in your pipe and relight, you'll get pretty much SHF. The room note indicates the same. If you find this thought appealing, SHF is for you, but I certainly do not and much prefer Germain's Brown Flake or even a real cigar.
Pipe Used: Several briars with and without filter, corn cob
Age When Smoked: fresh to 2yrs
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 13, 2011 Medium Very Mild Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
I gave this blend a good run with a half ounce sample from a friend and never could bring myself to enjoy it. The closest I came to liking this blend was when it dried out a bit, but even then I found it to be somewhat boring and it would always get to be very bitter about half way through the bowl, suppose that was because it smoked to wet or something, but I'm not sure. Bottom line, this one was not for me. It tasted like wet hay, some blends can pull this type of flavor off, but for me this one was not a success. After trying it in a few different pipes I've come to the conclusion that I would not recommend this blend nor would I purchase it again.
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 16, 2011 Very Strong None Detected Full Tolerable to Strong
I wish I would've known about Tobacco Reviews before I bought this tobacco. The flakes rubbed out perfectly, and the tobacco burned well, but other than that, it was horrible! It tasted like a bad cigar. The nicotine content was very strong which is not to my liking. I couldn't even get through half a bowl. I would not recommend it to anyone, but there's no accounting for taste (perhaps some people would like it).
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 01, 2008 Mild to Medium Very Mild Extremely Mild (Flat) Tolerable
I am just plain stubborn. Despite many disappointing, and some downright awful, experiences with Cornell & Diehl, I have persisted in believing that this American company is capable of manufacturing a quality tobacco. Well, I am afraid that my most recent experience, this time with Safe Harbor Flake, has led me to finally conclude that I can now buy imported tobacco with a guilt free conscience.

While I acknowledge that I'm not a real huge fan of most burleys, I do ocassionally enjoy indulging in a simple and robust smoke. I have an affection for Carter Hall, and smoke this when I'm out and about running errands, or doing yard work. So I'm not a burlyphile, but neither do I harbor any ill will toward burley. This stuff, however, is quite simply downright crappy. If it is simply due to the fact that there were some bad cans that got out to the public, then I would be curious to know why C&D never bothered to issue a general recall.

Upon opening the can, I was greeted with a warm, slightly fruity aroma; something like Prince Albert on steroids. The even brown flakes were extremely moist, even in a can more than a year old. I dried a couple flakes for awhile, just to get them to smokability, and then loaded up and lit. The initial flavor was actually a lot like Carter Hall, only with a slight peppery feel on the tongue. The flavor bloomed and filled out for about a minute, and then disappeared. It seems that whatever flavoring agent used that resembled Carter Hall had quickly burned off. I was left with what I can only describe as "very Sir Walter Raleigh Like" (the regular, not the aromatic); very disappointing given the price.

About halfway through the bowl, the tobacco finally left SWR behind, and became absolutely chemical tasting. I realize that C&D creates a lot of their blends to be similar to some of the classic American blends of old, but I think they came too close to creating a classic drugstore blend. It lacked any real flavor; it created a very harsh smelling smoke; and it had the same acrid chemical taste found in the OTC drugstore blends. They have managed to create an exact replica of a $1.89 drugstore burley, but packaged in a $4 an ounce can. By the time I got toward the bottom of the bowl, this stuff was tasting like a bad bowl of Granger; same icky plastic like taste.

I'm not sure what the folks over at Cornell & Diehl are doing, that they have had so much trouble with the quality of so many of their blends. I cannot believe that they intentionally produced this blend to taste the way it does. And I cannot believe that they intended for Haunted Bookshop to be so dry that it nearly all blows away when you open the can. Nor do I believe they intended for cans of Kajun Kake to swell and pop while sitting on store shelves. I am now afraid to even open the remaining tins of other C&D blends I have cellaring. This experience has shown me once and for all that C&D is a company that still has many problems to work through.
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 11, 2007 Mild Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Update: I'm afraid I'm downgrading this one. The tin aroma and initial burst of flavor are remarkable, but after a third of a bowl or so it just seems to go limp. No real taste other than a hint of bitterness, although the room note stays good. This is realistically about 1.5 stars. I'm "rounding up" to two stars, however, because it excels as a blending agent, especially with sweet virginias.



Initial review: This is about as pleasant a burley blend as you're going to find. It would be a perfect "all day" blend if it were cheaper or available in bulk. I wouldn't really call this a flake -- it's more like a loose crumble cake. Just tear off little chunks and let them crumble into your pipe, light and you're off! This stuff burns very well (if a little bit hot) but seems to have no ability whatsoever to bite. It does, however, dry my mouth out somewhat (most burlies do that to me, however). It seems to have a mild topping, but the topping has little impact on the flavor or room note. I never sampled the "slices" it's supposedly reminiscent of, but I can definitely say this is the highest-quality burley blend I've encountered except for Stonehaven (which is a different beast entirely).
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 26, 2007 Medium to Strong None Detected Overwhelming Overwhelming
In case everyone hasn't already heard, a good many tins of this tobacco were tainted due to God-knows-what disgusting chemical reaction. There might be some good ones floating around on the market, but not the one I was sent.

Don't fool yourself, if it tastes like all hell, it's not because it hasn't had time to grow on you. This was a single mistake amid a host of Classics from Cornell & Diehl and I have no doubt that it was only a sad fluke.
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 31, 2007 Very Mild Mild Very Mild Pleasant
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.
3 people found this review helpful.
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