Cornell & Diehl Habana Daydream

This is really a fine blend, and since purchasing a few ounces on a whim, it has become a steady rotation blend for me.

Sweeter than Billy Budd, Habana Daydream really puts the cigar leaf in the forefront, but with enough support from the VAs, Perique and Latakia to sand off the rough edges a bit.

The Latakia component is second in line flavor wise, combining with the cigar leaf in a way that enhances the darker flavors found in the cigar leaf while providing some extra smokiness.

The VAs are, to my tastes, less the “Citrus” type and more the “dark fruit” type, and add an essential element of sweetness to the smoke-rounding the bitterness of the cigar leaf just enough.

The Perique is way in the background, adding some fig notes and spice, a great compliment against the cigar leaf.

The cavendish serves to thicken the smoke, providing a bit of body and some sweetness of its own, but really just providing a good vehicle for the rest of the flavors to ride on.

Nose in the jar, this smells a little smoky from the Latakia, but mostly smells like a walk-in humidor at a nice cigar shop.

Upon lighting, the main components I taste first are the cigar leaf and Virginia. The Latakia is a minor player, but is noticeable throughout the bowl. The Perique adds a bit of fig and prune background notes, with a little bit of that horseradish/hot mustard twinge in the nose. It is a very minor player, but you know it’s there. The cigar leaf is handled nicely in this blend. It competes with the Virginias for the lead role, which keeps things interesting, and the room note has a touch of stogie. The Cavendish appears to be unsweetened and helps blend everything together with its smoothness. For the pipe guys that hate cigars: as a cigar guy of 20+ years, I can tell you that this is not a cigar shoved into a pipe. If the cigar leaf has been turning you off from trying this blend, you are missing out. Think of it as a Scottish blend with a little added richness. Definitely worth a try. I think many that hate cigars would be pleasantly surprised at this blend.

Habana Daydream is an excellent blend. While you might think that having cigar leaf will make this a "cigar like" mixture, that's not the case. There is cigar leaf, but it's just one more ingredient, it doesn't have a leading role.

There's the virginia and the black cavendish -without flavouring- serving as a base. Then there's the perique that comes out every now and then to give that spicyness and the cigar leaf to round it up. The result is an extremely nice smoke: flavourful, with a nice body, doesn't bite and the nicotine on the milder side. The room note is quite tolerable, from a tobacco with cigar leaf.

The taste is also balanced: there's some sweetness from the virginia, the cavendish gives it a plain -just tobacco- taste, while the cigar adds some earthiness.

It was a pleasant surpirse the first time and it's a blend to go back to.

I recently discovered Cornell & Diehl's “Habana Daydream” -and I love it. We all developed our own discrete perceptions and memories of the distinctive smell and taste of Tobacco. Hence, and obviously, this remains an utterly subjective matter.

Habana Daydream perfectly captures my sensory definition of Tobacco's fragrance and flavor. It is quite exemplary of a genuine, pure leaf, which is neither edulcorated nor adulterated.

The pleasantly sharp cigar notes form the steady scaffolding of the blend, but do not obfuscate its delicate architecture. The texture of the smoke is smooth and creamy. It is not a complex tobacco, but certainly not simple either. I like to think that the purpose of this blend was to conjure precisely the fragrance and flavor of tobacco in a purer state. If so, at least for this enthusiastic reviewer, it has wonderfully accomplished it.

In fact, although the blend resorts to natural spices, Latakia, Perique and unsweetened Cavendish to adorn the Virginias, the addition of “a spoonful of rich Cigar Leaf” seems to dictate the mood of the blend. This is not a cigar in your pipe, but a sophisticated cigar-inspired pipe tobacco blend.

This blend, “Habana Daydreams”, is not for everyone (as no blend could kindle unanimous consent). If one relishes overwhelming flavors, sweet or spicey as they might be, this will prove quite disappointing.

It may be relevant to add that: 1. Nicotine is certainly at the medium level; 2. If carefully kept in check with a gentle temper, it easily burns to the end with no further relights, after the charring ritual; 3. No bite whatsoever, even if hurried.

Let me first say this is an excellent blend, one of the best cigar blends I have ever had. Its bloody brilliant and I will tell you why. First off it burns so nice and cool. You can really taste the VAs and Habana Leaf in this blend. This blend was made for a group size 5 on up. I could really swear it was a cigar Im smoking and not a pipe. A lot of cigar blends are just pipe blends with added cigar leaf. Not this one. I did a lot of comparing to the other cigar blends I have smoked. And this one is at the top of the list.

The tastes of the Habana leaf is complimented by the natural sweetness of the VAs. A lot of the cigar blends have grown on me, not this one it was great from first light to the nice white ash that it burned down to. The blend is nice and light, no tongue bite and no moisture build up. I had 2 one light smokes with this blend already and that has never happened for me on a new blend.

I tested this blend in several pipes, from a group 3 Briar to a very large Gurd Calabash and I must say that the larger pipe lets you taste the different tobaccos more clearly if that makes sense they are more mottled together in a smaller pipe.

I have really enjoyed my several pipe fulls and will buy more of HD in the near future. In my book its a winner.

I've had this tinned tobacco for over a month now and have smoked it mainly in my small Ball shaped pipe.

Opening the tin and looking at the contents was a pleasant surprise to me, as some of the light coloured tobacco leaf is in paper thin sheets, not overly-processed, keeping the natural look of the leaf intact.

The smell of the contents is very nice, what I call, "The Navy Smell", and is a bit peppery, but full of a rich Virginia scent - aged plums. On the medium moisture level, which makes for a fairly easy light.

I smoked this first without knowing what type of tobacco it contained, but for the Cigar leaf.

First light I detect a Red Virginia smell, natural sweetness I like so much! Then, weaving in and out is a slight scent of wonderful Latakia, a buttery smooth Latakia that is like silk playing with the Va's. At first I thought, "Na, there's no Latakia in this!", as it comes and goes. It adds a very nice touch. I detect the peppery Perqiue and the subtle mellow Cigar leaf that adds body to the blend. It is very sniffable, and in that, I mean, I sip it as I smoke it as that is part of the pleasure. As I smoke it further down, I detect the nuttiness of the Burley, so the components of this blend is diversified, but well balanced overall. Other Cigar leaf blends I've tried had a predominant taste of Latakia, so this is in a class all its own. Oooh, ooooh, and there's that Cabbage scent I like so much. Gotta wait for it, as you get towards mid bowl. There are also some grass notes to the blend as you get towards bottom of bowl.

I had to relight a few times, but this doesn't bother me. I use paper matches to not fry the tobacco. I've learned to puff gently, every so gently, to get the most out of a tobacco, and I suggest one do the same with this, as you will be well-rewarded with scents and tastes that will please you.

I'm getting a bit of the head spins as I smoke it, so the nicotine level is there. I've never smoked cigarettes before, just a pipe smoker now for over 2 years.

My first review. I tend to prefer Virginia/Burley blends and Latakia blends. I don't like too many aromatic tobaccos, except for those with berry or floral notes.

Truly a delightful blend, and one I will be ordering by the pound. Great job and thanks to the blenders for coming up with another nice offering from Cornell & Diehl

I have been wanting to try Habana Daydream for years. But just never got around to it. I. Don't really know what to classify this as. Cigar blend? A beefed up VaPer? Hybrid English? Whatever it is, it's damn good to and very unique.

My sample is 2 ozs bulk. The bag aroma is very sweet, smoky, and slightly sour. Moisture is just right. At first light, I get a the.latakia but quickly it starts fading back with the Virginia coming in with a bright, brown sugar sweetness, a nuttiness, and a good dose of creaminess from the cigar leaf and cavendish. The latakia will pop up every now and then but it just adds body instead of smokiness. The spiciness from the perique builds and accents everything but doesn't really pick up in strength until the last 1/3 of the bowl. Burns cool and clean. Has a fuller body and mouth feel. Does have some noticable nicotine as you go down the bowl which I like.

This is a really nice blend. The latakia never gets in the way which is a big plus for me since my latakiaphile days are over with. The cigar leaf never gets skunky. IMO, they both just help accent the VaPer qualities and the cavendish give it all body and kills any harshness.

I believe this is one of best and one of the most unique blends C&D has to offer. As a english-ish blend, it's up there along Sunset Harbor Flake which is my favorite english they offer. As a VaPer, it beats any of their VaPers I've ever had. As a Cigar blend, it's way more refined then Billy Budd, and not over powering and dirty like Gray Ghost.

As I generally like to compare blends and it can be very subjective, this reminds me a lot of McClellands 9 to 5 and Dunhill 965. Why? I don't know. It just fits the bill and hits all of the right notes for me. definitely will keep on hand. Highly recommended

A very smooth and delicious cigar tasting pipe tobacco. This is not a heavy tasting cigar flavor, but creamy and pleasant-tasting flavor with absolutely no bite to it. The flavor is consistent all the way to the ashes at the bottom of the bowl. The tobacco flavor stays in your mouth long after it is smoked.

C&D’s Habana Daydream might be a good choice for someone looking to try out a “cigar blend” for the pipe. Even young it is fairly soft, well melded and civilized, if it’s smoked slowly, which is no problem. My bulk purchase benefited from rest, and I predict HD will be much better from an aged tin, although it still might well benefit from rest after it’s opened. The bag note from my young version is musty, smoky, cigar-spicy, cocoa-ish, dry leaf mulch, with musty, dark, “stewed fruit” way down there. Short ribbons n’ bits range from golden tan to medium brown, to black. Moisture content is fine for smoking on arrival, though it’s tasted better to me after some rest. I pluck the dry veins out and it loads, packs, lights, and burns down effortlessly, at a decent rate. Lit, scents are a more open and fragrant version of the bag note, along with a vaguely floral note. Tastes run parallel, with the soft, dusky, bitter cigar leaf in front, followed by earthy, piquant red VAs that seem to be air cured along with some dark fruit leather from stoved leaf. The Orientals are woody and dry, with savory spices. The Perique is musty and sour, with dried fig and a little peppery spice. Generally, the lot is well melded, and the other tobaccos are complimentary to the cigar leaf. I suppose the Cav smooths and balances this blend, although I must say I could not home in on the Cav at any point. Strength is just over medium. Tastes run over medium. Room note is just tolerable. Aftertaste is like the best of the smoke, only a good deal sweeter, and I’m guessing the Cav has something to do with this.

For the past few years, some of my favorite blends have featured cigar leaf, and at first I wasn’t so sure about Habana Daydream in comparison. But this blend has improved and/or grown on me over time. It’s softer and smoother than young Key Largo (from GLP), and it’s not as complex, but I don’t discount HD for that. Like I said, I am enjoying my current HD more and more, and I’m getting tins to age. Four stars.