Cornell & Diehl White Burley

Summary: Most will want to blend this tobacco, which has a flavor of sweet roasted nuts and grain but some greenness that most will prefer to balance by spicier ingredients.

Although C&D "White Burley" is sold primarily for blending, smoking this tobacco on its own reveals some of the secrets of Burley. The bowl begins with a slight bitter undertone in a thin grainy taste, but then blooms into a medium-sweet flavor like roasted almonds or fresh honey bread toast and increases strength as the smoke goes on. Throughout the bowl, a faint "green" flavor like lightly-cured vegetative products often have is present, and in addition to the nicotine, something else exists in this blend which manifests itself as a dense feeling in the chest and gut. While it is of medium strength, it is not mild. Imagine stoving this and adding cocoa and small amounts of wintergreen flavor and you have Prince Albert; it is also reminiscent of the many times it appears in other blends as part of the supporting cast. When mixed with another tobacco, it takes on the flavor of the stronger ingredient but then adds its own harmony in the form of a warm, broad and full flavor that picks up and harmonizes the flavor of the other leaf.

Probably few will want to smoke this on a daily basis but it is a better leaf than most estimate, and would not be a terrible all-day smoke. If you mix this 1:4 with dark Burley, that forms an excellent base for whatever condimental tobaccos you wish to add, probably on a 1:3 ratio of condiments to base. That mixture with Tabac Manil "La Brumeuse" Semois as a condiment has proven to be a favorite around here of medium-strong strength, moderate sweetness and a lasting flavor with internal depth of variation.