Cornell & Diehl Apples & Cream

Get into position to catch this one as it is ready to fall! They say Eve tempted Adam with a Honeydew, but hey man I ain’t going for that. It was the promise of sweet fruity loving from Cornell & Diehl’s Apples & Cream, (yes, a little Boss inspired scrawling). Nature’s goodness packaged into an aromatic blend featuring ebon Cavendish and vanilla-kissed Green River, soaked in lavish apple flavoring and a secret loam of extravagant creamed apple brandy.

As a long-time aficionado of that once great Middleton Apple mixture, I was eager to sink my choppers into this one. Being completely open and honest, I have been engaged in a rather unrewarding adventure to find a suitable replacement. No such luck to date, much to my chagrin. As always, I will be as objective in my assessment as humanly possible, so here we go.

With natural excitement in opening the pouch, I discovered Apples & Cream presenting an unassuming grind of terribly moist coarse cut tobaccos, coal black in expression. Okay, so considerable preparation will be necessary to enjoy this apple delight to its core, I understood. Move on sir. Naturally, the scent of fresh apples is a favored personal indulgence. In so much that when I grabbed a whiff of the pouch nose, the anticipation of an alluring experience was stirring inside. Yikes, what in God’s name was that!

Yes on “that,” although a vague sweet apple fragrance, passive sugary vanilla, earthy Cavendish cocoa, and some hints of alcohol struggled to properly register, an overriding stank funk hit me dead center; most surprising. “That smells remotely of jaded Perique,” shot through my mind. Instantly I wondered perhaps if Smoking Pipes had sent me the wrong product.

No question a soured bitter odor like old gym locker room carpet hangs with this blend. I can only imagine that it was the combination of ingredients coming together to form this grueling pungency. More specific it could be attributable to how these particular strains have coalesced during the fermentation process. I suppose on the other hand by unfortunate circumstance perhaps, spoiled flavorings may have tainted the batch? A bit weird and most definitely repulsive when one is expecting tasty Jonagold perfume.

And now on to the taste profile. Despite the sensational Marketing hoopla with its pledge of a generously sponsored apple pie bake-off celebration, Apples & Cream consistently failed to deliver on the praising. The uneventfulness of flavor was nothing at all like apples nor cream but merely a non-distinct sugared nutty spirit. Even with that, the native tobacco impressions were minimalistic at best. Only after experimenting with a series of pipes did the mix finally take a reasonable root, which often is plausible. Ironically, it came to life in the Dandy rusticated Apple shortie that I am clenching now.

Granted that Apples & Cream is a mild and tolerable smoke overall, the featuring of apple taste is extremely unnoticeable is the most accurate way I can label it. Following an intermittent pattern, the eventual registration meagerly offered a lightly tart, gently sweet, marginal note of apple accented by a vague sugary presence resembling something like a sweet fruity cream. With concerted focus, I was able read just a dash of the syrupy brandy relish, as the overall taste profile morphed into a showcase of meek diluted vanilla Cavendish. Not totally disappointing if that’s your thing, just to be fair.

Of odd note, the side stream and the finishing room note do pickup more headway with respect to an apple centric essence. The baseline manifests with as a smoky tart/sweet fruity annotation capped with a blasé native Cavendish closure. Further, the mixture charters along with a slow cool temperament for a 100% Cavendish blend and its imposed intensity is gentle on the palate. Two admirable qualities that warrant decent acknowledgement to be righteous to the cause.

Apples & Cream is not necessary a bad apple hiding in the barrel despite the stenchy pouch rot duly footnoted. What it does present is an easy light bodied aromatic offering a few traits of selective merit, especially for those whose preferences are simple comfortable smoking excursions. The grade of tobaccos used seemed of decent quality based upon the observed mechanicals and recognizable native tasting. Yet the additive flavorings are far too modest in application, which is the worm inside this apple from my take.

Once again, my apple fetish went unsatiated which like stubbing the same toe twice. Much like Sutliff’s counter blend, this one also fell depressingly short from the tree in becoming the apple of my eye. For the life of me I really do not understand why Middleton was able to produce a consistent full-flavored apple concoction while these other reputable houses cannot. Bite off a morsel for yourself and let your own taste buds lend a voice of opinion. I will have to do something creative myself to appease my Appleseed affection it seems. Oh well, I have an idea, so we will see. 1.5 Pipes.

This is a very disappointing tobacco. No taste of apples no taste of anything. Very dull and bland. Don't waste your money. Avoid at all costs and save your money.