Cornell & Diehl Elegant Emu

Elegant Emu is a moderately full-bodied blend. I produce clouds of smoke with this well balanced Virginian, burley, and spice tobacco blend and it never bites my tongue. Like my previous experience with C&D blends, I found Elegant Emu quite dry from the tin. It burns wonderfully down to a fine ash and has more strength than I expected.

I have only recently sampled the burley dominated blends which some categorize as ?American.? I have found American blends to be quite enjoyable if a bit one-dimensional. Elegant Emu improves on the simple(?) American recipe; it balances a pleasant latakia smokiness with a Virginia and burley base. Though, the Perique may be a bit too dominant toward the end of the bowl, this tobacco is eminently enjoyable.

I am consciously giving Elegant Emu three stars instead of four because I want to sample more American-English blends -- mostly from C&D -- before I settle on the one that will enter my permanent rotation.

This is the latest in C&D's long line of American-English hybrids, which also includes Morley's Best, Bailey's Front Porch, Old Hollywood, Home From the Hills, Purple Cow, Easy Times, Junkyard Dawg, plus I'm sure a few more that I haven't tried. I would've thought by now that C&D would have exhausted the potentials of this genre, but to their credit they keep coming up with worthwhile variations on this theme.

This one is somewhat unique in that the latakia flavor seems a bit more muted than in its companion blends -- there's a lot more of a burley taste here, and the cavendish initially adds a lot of sweetness that dissipates as the bowl progresses. When you get to the last half or third of the bowl (about when the perique becomes noticeable) the ingredients all seem to meld together to produce a decidedly unique taste, sort of a musty sweet/sour flavor and aroma.

On the plus side, when this blend is packed loose, it burns flawlessly to the end (it's almost in the same league as Prince Albert, in fact). It also doesn't get too hot unless you abuse it. On the negative side, though, it can bite you, and I'm not at all sure how I feel about the perique component. Don't get me wrong -- I love perique (Old Joe Krantz is my daily standy), but I'm undecided as to whether it adds or subtracts to the overall experience in this particular mixture. Also, the nicotine level is considerably higher than I'd expected here -- not unpleasant, just surprising.

It is correct blend, although my tin had very dry tobacco so maybe taste was not so full and accurate as it was planned.

Easy to smoke to white ash.

My rate: 3.8

I am a new pipe smoker.(some would say still green)but I have tried several different tobaccos already. bearing in mind that my palate may not be as refined as some of yours, I submit my first ever review. I reached for the Emu after I realized that I hate aromatics, and after smoking a couple of mac baren's straight up baccy's. (London blend burley and Mature virgina)what I found in the emu was a very well rounded tobacco with an ecclectic collection of flavors. Simply stated, it reminded me of Frog Morton's roughneck big brother. similar smell, almost as smooth, but hit me a little harder. I liked it alot. Hope my 1st review was helpfull to someone.

Another award winning tin by C&D. The latakia is not upfront and adds a nice smooth taste to the blend. My first pipe full, was not overly impressed but subsequently, liked the light touch of latakia with burely and black cavenidsh. Will continue this review as nothing sticks right out imeediately.

At one point a few years ago, nearly gave up on Cornell & Dielhl blends, after trying a couple in succession, Canal Boat and Cumberland. We could not find a way to get along.

While visiting our son in North Carolina, my wife and I visited the Cornell & Diehl shop. Yes, they do have emus in the front pasture. Craig and his wife Peggy (I believe) along with their staff were wonderful hosts.

Among the freebies I left with was a tin of Elegant Emu. It is an absolutely delightful blend. I found the nicotine content mild, the taste was very satisfying throughout the bowel. The taste is hard to describe: sweet/sour/nutty/woodsy and pleasant throughout the bowel.

Everything one expects of a premium tobacco was present: moisture content was near perfect, no re-lights, no wet heal, no harshness, etc.

Highly recommended.

I really like some of the C+D cubed blends with cubed burley such as pennington Gap and Easy times. This fit right in with those two. The burley predominates, the perique and latakia are present in just the right amounts. What I really enjoyed was what began to happen near the finish. Everything just melded together and it was trancelike.

This is an easy-going all day smoke with a refreshing hint of natural sweetness, a moderate amount of Latakia goodness, and a trace of spice from the Perique. Everything is nicely rounded and smoothed out by the burley and black cavendish. This won't light up the lives of those Balkan aficionados who like to drone on about complexity and layers and the like, but it will serve you well in its own right, as would some of the other similar C&D blends sold in bulk at a lower price point.