Cornell & Diehl Night Train

Woooo Woooo, it?s time to hop on the train. The C & D Night Train that is.

Everyone who I talked to about this blend had the same response. ?Get ready, you?re in for a ride. I hope you like nicotine!!? And then they would usually chuckle. They all told me that this was one strong smoke and not to smoke it on an empty stomach.

I ordered a 4 oz sample of this from pipesandcigars.com and it arrived in brick form so I quickly started pulling it apart and rubbing it out a little bit. It seems to have the perfect moisture content straight away. I put this in a jar to let it rest a bit after rubbing it out and unfortunately I forgot about it. Now it?s about two months later and I think that it?s about time to break this stuff out and give it a whirl.

Right off the bat this blend gives off a sweet/sour fruity kind of taste. Delicious in my opinion. The spiciness of the Perique also kicks in very early on. Whoa, I can tell already that this one is going to pack a punch. This blend stays lit better than most that I have encountered. But watch out because if you start puffing on this too fast you will regret it. I let it get away from me one time when I was reading and not paying attention. Didn?t really notice anything except the spiciness of the Perique became almost overwhelming and the next thing I know my head starts to swirl from the nicotine. I actually had to put the pipe down and go to bed after that one.

If you take your time with this and sip on it very slowly it is a very, very good smoke. The sweet/sour flavor remains pretty consistent throughout the smoke but the sour takes over a bit near the end but not in a bad way. The spiciness of the Perique is present the whole way through and really adds to this blend I feel. It adds a kind of dark spice that plays in contrast to the sweet/sour flavor that I mentioned.

I assume that the room aroma is as strong as the blend because at one point my wife walked out on the porch and said, ?Man, that stuff smells like it would kick your butt!? She wasn?t far off of the mark.

While I wouldn?t recommend this to a new pipe smoker, if you have a few years under your belt I would highly recommend it. Some people enjoy the stronger stuff and some don?t. I think that I lie somewhere in between. While I will definitely keep this on hand for an occasional smoke there is no way that I could smoke this on a daily basis. For those of you who may be cigar smokers I would compare this blend to the La Flor Dominica Chisel. This is so far the strongest blend that I have smoked so far in this genre but it mixes strength with great taste and that is what sets it apart

I enjoyed this blend very much. It really reminds me of Briar Fox by the same company but with a little tang. I find the Perique really enjoyable until the last third of the bowl when things become as spicy as a curry.

I find the burn rate and temperature very much to my liking and packing was very easy.

The tang and faint sweetness is really tasty and I find this to be a nice change of pace from Briar Fox but not good enough to replace it in my rotation. I say this because I like Briar Fox or blends similar in strength as evening smokes and BF just has that wonderfull right kind of bitterness. Only a piper will understand that last sentence. lol

Its great being a piper isnt it???

Mo, South Africa

If Kajun Kake was a Milky Way Dark, This is a regular Milky Way. Sort of a variation on a theme. Don't get me wrong, I like it- Virginias and Perique make a sweet fruity spicey body- With the Burlies filling out body. comes pressed in a block, which I love. Much more fun to tear a chunk off. Smoke a chunk for those relaxing times, break one up for a quicker burning smoke. This can be strong- So watch yourself.

I may raise the rating after further contemplation but for now this is three and one fourth out of four. Too strong for me. Kudos to C & D for making this though.

4/11/2005: I cut this plug tobacco into small cubes. After drying a while in a zip-lock baggy this tobac is pretty good. A strong un-flavored straight ahead tobacco. An occasional indulgence. Three and one half stars.

Very nice Burley blend, one of CD better blends imho. Fairly strong so be forewarned. Not cubed but flake cut, easy to fill bowl and burns well.

Make sure you have eaten well before you prepare to smoke this tasty crumble cake, made of Burley, Virginia and Perique, otherwise the massive amount of nicotine may make you dizzy. Complete and full flavor that will totally satisfy you. Very sweet at the beginning, as the bowl smokes down the sweetness progressively grants its place to other flavors of dried fruits. I believe this is more of a Burley tobacco and less of Virginia. Perique and Cavendish do not participate with high percentages in the Night Train. Just in order to provide a spicy and simultaneously sweet flavor. It cannot be smoked as an all-day tobacco. It requires calmness and relaxation in order to take pleasure in it. Ideal for those who seek something very “strong” in morning, so that they fill up their nicotine “deposits”.

Good American/VaPer. Forward facing Burley, but the Virginia is noticeably present and sweet. Comparatively, the Perique is in the background. Must be smoked slowly, with a full burn, to receive a great deal of complexity in the flavor. The blend of sweet and bitter is well balanced, rich and strong...more toasty and creamy in last third of the bowl. Best fully rubbed out, and not left in chunks.

Recommended, and would order again.

A companion infusion: a bottle or two of Oxford Class Organic Amber Ale.

No doubt this is very good tobacco. The blocks are easy to break up and are not overly moist. There is some bite in the first third of the bowl but after you get about half way through the bite seems to go away and what you are left with is a very enjoyable smoke. There is a very high level of nicotine, so towards the end of the smoke you definately feel it. All in all, I do like the blend and think it is one of the better product from C&D.

A 1" x 4.25"x 8" inch pressed brick of C&D's Night Train arrived a few days ago. I cut open the plastic wrapper and was greeted with a true yet subtle Virginia aroma. The block is light brown in color with tiny specs of dark and light mixed in. There's plenty of thin blonde Virginia flakes and ribbon in this brick having the texture of dry oatmeal once rubbed out. I pried off a corner plug and rubbed it up, this didn't take much effort. I've smoked four bowls of this tobacco in different shaped pipes with varying bowl sizes since its arrival. It is my experience that the ideal pipe be a Canadian with a larger bowl capacity, read on to find out why. Once loaded in the bowl and settled in my assigned seat the train pulls out of the station with no problems at all. The charring light went fast, in fact I had to let up to get it to die down enough to tamp. This tobacco, like most bright flakes burned very hot the first quarter of the bowl with not much initial excitement. Patience on this journey is paramount; this train will bite you hard if you race down the tracks puffing away. Easing off the throttle about a third of the way into the trip, the city scenes gave way to beautiful Virginia country vistas. First, the mild sweetness of the Virginia bright flakes are in the front, and the slightly heavier ribbon added to this. The subtle Cavendish Cut Burley gave the Virginias it bottom note that they couldn't have achieved on their own, and the combination was seamless. What really makes this blend so special is the role that the small amount of Perique played acting as the caboose on the palette. Halfway into the journey I discovered what Virginia smokers live for, it's sheer bliss, and with a larger bowl and a longer stem on your pipe the trip is non-stop; a fulfilling array of flavorful Virginias. Night Train is a dry mixture to be sure, but your destination can be reached if a large enough bowl is used. Once Night train reaches a metered cruising speed it's a smooth trip indeed. She smokes all the way to the bottom with a bluish white ash, no dottle to speak of. Considering Virginias age so wonderfully, I'm rubbing up 3/4's of this pound for a glorious return trip at a later date, and will be commuting daily with the rest. The quality of the tobacco C&D employs is evident here. This is a first class blend for the Virginia aficionado that enjoys bright to middle Virginias.