Cornell & Diehl Riverboat Gambler

I took a gamble on this blend. (I actually doubled-down by cellaring two tins three years ago.) I lost.

I believe my first bowl may have been the most vile bowl of 'baccy I've ever had, a vomit of flavors that had nothing in common, no harmony, no balance, just a harsh melange of dry, sour, and bitter notes, like smoking stale dessicant in a deadmall vitamin store. I know the use of the word vomit is highly charged, but it was carefully chosen: I think this blend succeeds quite admirably as a smoky homage to gastric regurgitant. But I will say, in its defense, and with all sincerity, that it was quality vomit, having the piquancy of a five-star dinner churned with too much libation. To enhance my experience, after-effects included a sore throat, a mild headache, a sour stomach, and restless leg syndrome... Not due to the strength of the blend, which isn't nearly as strong as some of my favorites, it's that this blend doesn't seem to agree with me (like how certain liquors may disagree with someone). Later, adding insult to injury, I discovered that my briar was thoroughly ghosted with this stuff. The best thing about this blend is that it burns unbelievably fast, so that I didn't have to suffer for long.

Yes, I really hated it, like no other tobacco I've ever tried. But I wasn't about to give up. I didn't want to write a review after just one bowl — it takes time to get to know a tobacco (even though, in this case, the phrase “you don't get a second chance to make a first impression” comes to mind). I suppose I'm a glutton for punishment, like Steve-O snorting more wasabi. This blend is obviously prized by some reviewers I esteem, so I felt I owed it to them to try to see what they enjoy about it.

I smoked my second bowl in a cob. The cob seemed to suit it better. But the experience was largely a repeat of the first bowl, including the after-effects. I did a get a sense of the flavor profile that others may appreciate about it — the smoothness and strength of the burley, the sour plums of the perique, the hint of oriental spiciness, the complete absence of anything sweet -- but the way they're put together in this blend seems to me terrifically unbalanced, and even repellent. After my second bowl I decided I just couldn't do any more.

RG reminds me in some ways of SG's Westmoreland, which is also a very strange flavor and just as dry. But Westmoreland works because the condiments function as condiments, and the elements work harmoniously to produce a strange flavor that works. RG is just a cacophony of dry, savory, sour and bitter flavors, the Merzbow of tobacco blends (not to dis Merzbow, whose music I like). Basically, what RG has done is to make the condiments into a main course, which doesn't suit my taste buds at all. I may love capers, horseradish, and dijon mustard, but I wouldn't mix them together and call it dinner.

I definitely do not recommend this. However, these condiment leaves are of very high quality, and some excellent reviewers here attest this blend a winner. This could be a winner for you. My advice: read all the reviews before you put your money down on a tin. I would say the odds are against a win, but it seems that for some of us RG hits the jackpot. Your odds are improved if you adore burley and perique (and maybe oriental) moreso than virginia and latakia. Good luck!

UPDATE 12/03/13: I mentioned that the leafs used in this blend were of a very high quality, and that this blend really is more of a condiment than a main course. So I decided it might be worth a try to mix RG with a quality pure virginia and see what happens: I mixed some with (very well rubbed out) Solani's Silver Flake. It was promising, but the proportions were off -- RG has a very strong flavor profile that easily overwhelmed the delicate purity of the virginia. So I tried it again, with really only a pinch of RG... and what do you know? It worked beautifully!

So though I would definitely not recommend a bowlful of RG on its own, it functions very nicely as an excellent burley/perique condiment to give a pure virginia some spice. I think I'm going to keep it around after all. RG gets 4 stars as a condiment.

UPDATE 12/18/13: I've mixed it with a couple of other blends. RG definitely makes a most delicious condiment. However this stuff leaves a truly supernatural ghost that I pray can be exorcised from my poor, possessed Chacom Monza billiard via the sacred salting ritual... :{