Cornell & Diehl Apples & Cream

As a native of Michigan, a great apple producing state, I consider myself to be a connoisseur of apples. When I was a kid in the 1960s and 1970s there were numerous varieties of good, old-fashioned, flavorful varieties of apples being grown in my home state. by the late 20th-century to the present, most of these old varieties have been replaced in the marketplace by varieties that are grown more for their appearance, and shelf-life than for their flavor and I suspect that most apple-flavored aromatic pipe tobacco blends being produced today try to emulate these tasteless, modern hybrid varieties instead of the old, flavorful heirloom varieties.

My quest for an apple flavored aromatic pipe tobacco has led me to try several different blends and Cornell & Diehl's Apples & Cream is the first apple blend I've found that actually has both the taste and aroma of apples. It's not the crisp, tart apple flavor that I have been searching for like a Granny Smith apple, Spy or Winesap. It's faintly reminiscent of a Johnathon or a MacIntosh but not quite. Despite the advertising, I would not describe the apple essence as "generous" but rather slightly more than subtle. It is, nonetheless, a true apple flavor. Because of that, along with the properties of Cornell and Diehl's tobacco, I am giving this blend the highest rating.

It is an all day smoke; the nicotine is mild to non-existent. It is moist, even oily, but there is something about the casing or C&D's process that makes this a blend that lights easily, and one that stays lit without the need for a re-light except, perhaps, in a pipe with a very deep bowl, such as a Missouri Meerschaum General. It burns without leaving dottle or goop in the bowl, in fact, it leaves very little moisture or none at all depending more upon the relative humidity of the air than the tobacco itself. It's also a great all-year smoke.