Cornell & Diehl Billy Budd

First let me say that I like strong tobacco. I am also a twenty year cigar smoker. I find myself torn with this blend. First, at the risk of redundancy this is a full bodied, smooth, cool burning tobacco. I find it also has a slight sweetness. It packs well and comes pouch ready to smoke. My issue with this is that it simply has too much cigar leaf. If I want that much cigar taste, I'll smoke a cigar. It leaves a very strong ghost in the pipe. I do like blends with cigar leaf, especially the like Compton's Cuban Style. But I prefer cigar leaf in blends that are more balenced. This weed is worth a try, just be sure to dedicate a specific pipe to it. Two and a half stars.

Wow, yet another winner from our friends at C&D. Sailorman Jack really knew how to smoke, cause this stuff is the "bee's knees". Not an all day, or even everyday smoke for me, but definitely in my list of tobacco to stockpile.

I ordered a sample of this from one of the e-tailers that offers bulk samples. It is hard to find bulk samples of the C&D blends, but they are out there. It came a bit dry and with shipping for the 4 oz. was quite pricey. I tossed a few moisture discs into the bag and let it sit for a couple days. I wasn't looking for wet, but just a bit more moisture to make sure the tobacco didn't burn like a hay field.

You can see the cigar leaf in this blend. Though it isn't predominant, it is noticeable in the blended ribbons. The smell of the bag is delicious, but I love strong blends and I enjoy a good cigar here and there. The tobacco packs easy, burns well and will leave just ash in the bottom of your bowl. This one packs a wallop, there is a lot of flavor and if you don't like cigars, don't buy it. I don't think you will make any friends with the room note either, so use caution when smoking around crowds. Overall, a good stout blend. A lot smoother than I expected.

If you are a lover of strong, rich tobacco, you should enjoy this, if you don't like cigars, stay away. Those that say it tastes too much like a cigar ... It's a cigar blend, hello!

Update 2/6/2010:

Raising my recommendation to 4 stars. Time is very kind to this blend. I have a mason jar full which is 2 years old and boy is it great. The sweetness is a bit greater, it is utterly biteless, and the latakia more balanced by the other tobaccos. I also think the nicotine is a bit more subdued, but it could also be I have a higher tolerance. Smoke it in a large bore pipe and it will burn well and taste great with big billows of smoke. Definitely one for cellaring.

Original review 12/30/2008:

This is about as full and in your face as a tobacco can get, kind of like America's answer to Dunhill Nightcap. The burley, latakia, and cigar leaf really marry together well, though latakia runs the show despite all the cigar leaf I see in there. This is a manly, meaty, tough-guy smoke which is full and rich yet very smooth on the palate. The aroma will clear a room full of non-smokers in an instant, though I love the scent of the latakia and cigar leaf. The high nicotine level will have you up and jumping in no time.

I have had this tobacco in both pressed and loose form and recommend you get it pressed as it is immediately ready to smoke (a first for C&D). In loose form, you really need to age it for at least 6 months or it will have some bite to it. After 6 months, it tastes pretty much the same as when pressed, so you might as well take the shortcut.

My only criticism of this blend is the crazy cut. There are 6" strips of cigar leaf mixed with big chunks of other tobaccos, making this difficult to evenly pack and pretty much impossible to pack into a small bore pipe. Still, this is one of the better cigar leaf blends I've tried, far better than GL Pease Robusto or Mclelland's offerings. It's use of burley really sets it apart from the crowd. I would rank it third behind the now defunct Mr. Alfred's Own and Peretti's Cuban Mix. Goes great with a Guinness Stout.

Okay, I admit it, I do not have a palate and don't taste all the exquisite flavors some of the guys on this forum do. Normally tobacco tastes like tobacco. However, if I might digress a moment I did taste what seemed to be toasted oats in this mixture. That was the only flavor I had but the blend has a lot of wonderful things going for it. It's easy to pack, burns with few relights and has a teriffic cigar note. It doesn't bite and has a nice finish with no aftertaste in your mouth. It burned to a nice white ash. It was an all around wonderful smoke. Oh, and before I forget it, where does everyone get off saying how strong the Nic hit is on this blend. To me it was mild to medium at best. I remember having to crawl off the floor with Dunhill's Nightcap. Anyways, I think this blend should be rated highly and that's just what I did.

This is my go-to blend when I'm ready for a full, broad, no-holds-barred smoke. Lots of latakia smokiness and the burley adds a wonderful sharpness. I always have this in my rotation.

This tobacco is not to be underestimated -- strong, rich, complex -- good strength and powerful aroma. I picked up an ounce from my tobacconist after taking a few whiffs. Packs well, smokes well, and so far my favorite English blend.

A warning: my girlfriend describes it as an "old man" tobacco and doesn't let me smoke it around her!

I still remember my first bowl of Billy Budd. I was still almost exclusively a cigar smoker, but had been playing around with a pipe on occasion for a few months. I honestly don't remember now what I had tried and what I hadn't up to that point, but I do recall thinking that almost everything I had tried seemed wimpy and bland compared to cigars. Then I tried Billy Budd. It was my first go with a big latakia blend, and I was blown away. Love at first puff. A true watershed moment for me. I remember standing in my driveway, taking a puff, staring at the pipe in disbelief, and thinking "WOW! That's FANTASTIC!!"

How our tastes change

I smoked a *lot* of Billy Budd over the coming weeks/months after that, and eventually got a little tired of it as I started foraying into other things. I revisited it a few months ago....and though I wasn't floored, I certainly questioned the wisdom of going so long without it, and immediately ordered myself another 4 ounces.

So, anyway....on to the review.

BB is ready rubbed, I'd call it rough cut, I guess. C&D tobaccos are often a bit on the dry side, certainly never goopy, and BB is no exception to that. Packs easy, takes a flame quick, and is well behaved in the pipe. Nicotine is on the strong-ish side.

Latakia is definitely up front. I detect a lot of burley. I guess there is Virginia there, since C&D's description say there is....but it's certainly not at the forefront. My taste buds really zone in on the cigar leaf....and here's where things get weird. Mostly, the cigar leaf seems to meld quite well (though still easily distinguishable), and complement the other components. Occasionally, though.....BB just tastes like a cheap cigar to me. I haven't zeroed in on what the issue is. I always smoke it in a cob....so I don't think it's my choice of pipe. I guess it's just me. Kinda like corn flakes taste better in the morning and beer tastes better in the evening and desert tastes better at the end of a meal. There's some time of day or circumstance or something that occasionally makes this blend just not taste good at all to me. Thankfully, that unpleasant "cheap cigar" taste doesn't crop up very often.

Unfortunately, even when it's good, BB just doesn't excite me like it used to. I still smoke cigars occasionally, and when I want a cigar, I want a cigar, not a pipe that tastes like a cigar. When I want a pipe, I want a pipe that tastes like a pipe. As much as I want to like BB because of the nostalgia it holds for me, it just doesn't rock my world anymore.

I really hate the way this review is written. It makes it sound like I don't like BB at all...and that's not true! Objectively, I think it's really great at what it is, a burley-lat-cigar blend. And I still think it's a fantastic transitional tobacco for cigar smokers who are pipe curious, and will continue to recommend it as such. Mostly, I think, I've just smoked so much of it in the last year that it has begun to lose it's novelty for me.

originally reviewed 10/4/2012

Cornell & Diehl - Billy Bud.

This is a review based on the bulk variety.

Perfectly moist, fairly dark, and rugged are the first things to come to mind. There's also a negative that fits in with one of these descriptions: it contains a few twigs. As well as the twigs, it contains a myriad of sizes and shapes. It's mostly dark brown, but as well as the brown there's a small amount of black pieces, and a few lighter ones.

I like the smoke enough to award it two points, but I find it somewhat boring. The Cigar Leaf blocks the way quite heavily for the other flavours. The Latakia can only offer a very mild spice, and the Burley gives just a little nuts. For me the Cigar leaf hogs the profile; this is one for lovers of Cigar Leaf. The nicotine's strong but I wouldn't say it's any more. The best feature of Billy Bud, for me, is the burn: it's very reliable.

This is a well made blend, but you'll need to like Cigar Leaf:

Somewhat recommended.

I am also fond of the occasional cigar and i like English blends.

I am not too fond of mild English blends as I dont find them too rewarding.

For me Billy Budd Is what I consider my "go to " English blend as the cigar leaf adds enough to keep things interesting. Other leafs provide medium + level of Nicotine . Does not smoke too hot but it does seem to smoke fast so I like with large bowl pipes. Ages well so I keep in bulk mason jar. Low maintenance smoke.