Cornell & Diehl Old College

Boy, is this stuff good. I love American Englishes and this is one of the best I've had in a long time. I've been smoking it in a variety of MacArthur and General cobs and if I were ever to choose an "all-day smoke," this would among my top choices.

Burley, latakia, black cavendish, and Virginia. Those are the ingredients according to C&D's website. I don't know if the cavendish is sweetened or not, but there's only a pinch of it in this blend, which has an undercurrent of unobtrusive sweetness that I quite like. It's got a nice strength, too--not too powerful, but by no means weak. Perfect for smoking bowl after bowl, which I've been doing. If you like the combination of earthy burley and latakia, you'll like this.

Old College packs and lights with ease, and I don't go through very many matches while smoking it. This is classic stuff and you should try it if you haven't already.

Old College is a well balanced English/American blend. I don't have the palate to describe nuances of blends [As an inhaler I'm told that I'm missing out on subtleties of flavour] but I can say that no one leaf dominates the other. It's just really well balanced. 7formy1911 makes a good point that OC does benefit from a few months jarred [I've found that many blends taste much better several days after being jarred] for the leaves to harmonise.

The latakia is noticeable in every puff but it certainly does not dominate. It's the right amount for my tastes. Closer to mild to medium than medium. It's a rather smooth smoke.

Nicotine is a couple of steps past mild. As I'm used to smoking blends with mild nicotine, OC is not an all day smoke for me but for those who like a touch of Lady N this could be an all day satisfying smoke for sure. [I'm very sensitive to Vit N so please don't get the wrong impression. There's just enough for me to notice]

Old College is best for me smoked in an MM cob. A smooth satisfying well balanced English/American. 3.5 stars.

I am new at the pipe, so I am not supposed to like this kind of tobacco, right? Well, I do. I saw this on the local shelf and "ghast", liked the name. When I opened it, I felt the tobacco was a bit dry. The smell was a little on the spicy side to my nose, but hints of sweet in there too. When lit, it has a bit of smokey, but it is much more complex than that. Not too smokey, not real sweet, but pleasant to smoke. The smoke takes on the word "creamy" fairly well. The room note was nice, but subdued. It stayed lit easy and smoked down consistently to me. I tend to like really dark coffee and espresso in the morning and I think this may do nicely to get me going. I suspect that for a hard core English person, this blend will be too mild, but I think it is a good beginning for smokers wanting to try this type of blend. There is a mild hit from it, but not enough to concern me approaching a work day. I think this can be smoked daily in a larger pipe. That is what I plan to do.

I am certainly experimenting and there may come a day when I go for a stronger English and I am certainly liking flakes right now too, but I am happy I chose this to start with to see if I could handle something with Latakia.

This is an excellent mild English. The Latikia isn't overpowering; it's pretty light but present. The burley and black cavendish smooth out the Virginia, which gives it a bit of sweetness. I find this blend well-balanced. Nothing really overpowering the rest of the components. I like this one a lot, and I find myself smoking it more regularly of late.