Cornell & Diehl Constellation No. 411

Cornell & Diehl - Constellation No. 411.

After smoking lots of Nording's Fox Hound, another English, yesterday, I fancied a nice, relaxing aromatic last night. So I grabbed this without checking thinking Constellation sounded like an aro'. But, when I sat down to load my pipe just opening the pouch confirmed an aromatic it wasn't. Nothing sweet, fragrant, or false, the only smell I got was a solid, natural, one. So I grabbed my tin of King Cake, a steadfast aromatic, and set this aside for the morning.

There are a few coarse pieces, but the majority of Constellation doesn't necessarily warrant the title Coarse Cut. Just Ribbon would do. The moisture meets with my expectations for a loosely pouched blend, spot on, it's breathed to perfection.

The lighting only attests this, and then it gives an independent, medium speed, fairly cool, burn. I get enough Latakia for it to quantify as an English, but the Lat's not enough of a powerhouse for it to qualify as a Bomb. The Burley, Virginia and black Cav' go far from unnoticed; but I don't get awash with vanilla from the B.C., it's a 'rougher' variety. The Burley's more of a background flavour until halfway in, then it steadily gains strength until the end. Like the Burley the Virginia builds in strength from halfway.

Nicotine: medium. Room-note: not great, not horrible.

Constellation? I like it, just not enough for a full house. Three stars:

Recommended.

I like the moisture content of my tobacs to be very dry. This sample of #411 is almost crispy.

First third: Burley is evident at the first light, followed quickly by the Latakia and the Virginia tobaccos. There's a hint here of something that reminds me of the Gawith line of Virginias. Burley tends to be the major player, though not by much.

Second third: The Virginia flavor, which leans toward tanginess, tends to take the lead, with an underpinning of play between the Burley and Latakia. I'm not noticing any of the overt sweetness I had expected due to the inclusion of the Cavendish leaf. That faint hint of "Gawith-ness" continues.

Final third: The Latakia has taken the lead in the final part of the bowl. The Burley leaf has taken on its charactristic bitterness which plays well with the smokiness of the Latakia and the tanginess of the Virginias. The Cavendish has lent body to the entire bowl, but has never raised any distinctive flavor. There's still that hint of "Gawith-ness."

If you like Barking Dog, Morley's Best, Easy Times and the like, you'll feel right at home with this tobacco. A very interesting take on the American/English genre which has been mastered by C&D. I get the idea that if you find the right pipe for this blend, it could become an all-day favorite.

Nice usual Latakia tin note, though bought in bulk and jarred. Has a high proportion of black tobacco in the blend but not sure if it is Latakia or the Cavendish or both. This one is kind of moist for a C&D blend. While smoking has that nice leather taste for want of a better word, not much cedar also for want of a better word. I have had around six bowls of this over the past few days and I will say that it is a consistent good smoke and I was surprised that I could walk away for a minute or so and could fire this puppy back up without re-lighting. A little more pizzazz than Mountain Camp but not a Lat Bomb either but honestly, I just ordered these without even knowing much about them. My second review out of the nine I bought during the Labor Day sale. It is a good one to try. I will see if I can force someone at the club to try it. Should I dare say a lot of these Latakia blends are hard to tell much difference from one tobacco company or the other? Sometimes it seems like it, sort of like coffee I can tell the difference but do not ask me to do a blind test. Latakia good, coffee good. Ha.

This is a nice burley english. It seems to be a toned down version of mountain camp but the latakia still takes a marginal lead . The Cavendish and virginia create a nice subtle sweetness and as the bowl progresses and the burley adds strength and a small amount of earthiness. A smidgen of perique adds a delicate spice and works with the latakia to produce a hint of incense like flavor. The fullness is at a medium and the nic hit is a notch below that but more than mild. As a bulk offering and for the price this is nearly a solid 4 stars, a great bulk blend. With a 4 star rating reserved for only the finest tasting tobaccos I would rate Constellation as a 3 star blend. It will not knock your socks off but I find no faults for a bulk blend.