Cornell & Diehl Super Balkan

This is an awesome take on a Balkan blend. There is a solid base of earthy Bright Virginias, followed by non-dominating amount of smokey Cyprian Latakia. The Perique content is low but adds some spice to the blend. Now if the blend was finished here it would be a good English. But the inclusion of the spicy, sour Turkish Izmir and the chocolatey Burley is what makes this a complex and unique Balkan. The strength is medium, the room note is enjoyable, and it smokes well in every pipe. Another great bulk offering from C&D.

This blend has a relatively small amount of latakia; it is a lighter type of blend in that sense. Aside from the small smoky notes, I taste grains/oats, hay and a touch of spice. This is very well balanced, and if I don't quite know what I want to light up, I tend to favor this mix. I like it for its versatility and condimental use of latakia. Quality tobacco leaf, too. See JimInks' review for a bit more detail; his review pretty much sums it up. Govern Yourself Accordingly!

I have tried several blends from Cornell & Diehl of the English/Balken variety and haven't found a bad one yet so I took a chance and ordered 80z of their Super Balken. I wish I'd ordered a pound. This stuff is good, very good. The batch I got is kind of chunky so I fill the bowl tap the pipe to let it settle and tamp it lightly and keep doing this till the pipe is full. Room note is great, the wife never complains so that's good. Highly recommended.

After conducting a comparative “Balkanalia” of four bulk Balkans this last weekend, this came close enough to four stars that I’m going to go ahead and give it top marks. Yes, 4 out 5 times I prefer the flavor profile of Arango Balkan Supreme, but somebody else may prefer the flavor profile of C&D Super Balkan. The important thing here is that they are clearly quite distinctive from one another, and both are made from top-quality tobaccos. Arango is the darker richer style, C&D has the pinch of Perique, and offers high-toned incense, juniper, and pronounced sunflower seed. If this had been a blind tasting I probably would have guessed that Syrian Latakia was used. The only giveaway that it wasn’t is that the blend doesn’t taste old enough to have Syrian in it. In fact, I think this blend has potential for aging in the cellar. Since I divided my initial supply from 2020 into two jars, I’m going to wrap the untouched jar in Saran Wrap (just to be sure it remains airtight), and let it sit for another five years. Meanwhile, I might have to buy some more for some short-term cellaring.

A very good. Latakia blend but not an overbearing amount of Latakia. I like to smoke between heavier blends. This blend also re-hydrates well from 4 year old dry as a desert. A very pleasant smoke indeed. A great blend indeed worthy of 4 star rating. Lights well, smokes great to a fine grey ash.

What a terrific tobacco. I was totally delighted with the taste, nico content, english/oriental flavor and impressed with the fact that I could taste each of the ingredients as they blended to perfection. Bravo Mr. Tarler!

Cornell & Diehl
Super Balkan
(bulk)

Blend notes: “A mostly bright flake natural mixture with Perique, Latakia and burley, spiked with pure Turkish high grade leaf. This was an Atlas Blending Corp. mixture. Cornell and Diehl bought the rights of all their old recipes.”

So far this blend has had around 32 TobaccoReviews write ups, and has secured an overall score of 3.78. That’s impressive on its own. So, when I approached Super Balkan, I came with high hopes. It’s not that they have been dashed but neither have those hopes come to fruition.

In my view, Super Balkan is a moderate-strong Latakia-forward one trick pony. The ingredients are Burley, Latakia, Oriental/Turkish, Perique, and Virginia. I don’t doubt for a second that all of these are present, but most of what I am tasting is Latakia. Yet the smell from the plastic (bulk) bag is mellow, more of a sweet smelling Virginia with a bit of Burley here and there.

I would have to disagree with Jiminks here … he suggests the Latakia does not drown out the other ingredients. On my palate, I am not tasting the other ingredients at all, and yes, I am using a good sized bowl. And there is a bite to this blend — and to be candid, I have a generally slow cadence, so if there is a bite, it’s not my puffing.

C&D’s Super Balkan is a blend that does not really come together all that well. If you enjoy Balkans, then I’d suggest Peretti’s Tashkent, Arango’s Balkan Supreme, Odyssey, Sunset Harbor, the Plum Puddings, White Knight, Black House, and From Beyond.

My view is that this is at best a 2 star out of 4 star blend.

I was looking for another tobacco similar to my favorite English tobaccos (965 and Nightcap). This tobacco is not my cup of tea and I discarded after trying to like it for a few weeks. By the way, I expected the strength to be comparable to that of Nightcap, and it is not. I consider it to be medium strength at most. It doesn't have the relaxing quality of Nightcap. I did not like the cut, which is more like a rubbed out flake than a ribbon cut; that made a bad first impression after being conditioned to the superb ribbon cut of the Peterson tobaccos. Flavor was not the rich complex flavor I expect from an English/Balkan tobacco.

This is my favorite Balkan to date. My review will not be as eloquent as this blend deserves, but here goes... I like the extra kick the perique gives to the orientals' spiciness. A lot.

There you have it. My favorite Balkan. Try it and you'll see.