Cornell & Diehl Burley Flake #3

Cornell and Diehl list Burley, Kentucky, Perique and Virginia as the ingredients for their Burley Flake #3. Having smoked it, although I can smell and taste all the listed varietals, I must say, here’s a strong blend for those who just can’t get enough Burley. Unless you’ve got a worse itch than mine, this ought to scratch it!

In the tin are perfectly moist, light to dark brown and red-brown broken flakes smelling of musty, earthy, slightly smoky, fermenting barley way over a sort of fermenting, dark fruit compote, mid-band but very deep, almost turgid, with notable sharpness and overtones. IMO, it’s easier and better after some rest and critical drying. For some time I loaded the chunky “ribbons” vertically into a #6 pipe and really took my time with it. Though it burned fine I often let it to go out, so as not to fall over from the nicotine. I came to realize that the “key” for me is not the size of the pipe, per se, rather I prefer it in a “wide-enough” bowl, with a very open draw, in order to burn a fair amount at once while keeping the velocity of air across it slow. This makes for great clouds of cool, highly flavorsome smoke. The sharp, musty, nutty, bitter Burley is on top, followed closely by slightly smoky, deep, tannic, fatty, piquant KY, followed by deep, sour, spicy Perique, with earthy, tart, stoved red and earthy, sweet, air cured brown VAs bringing up the rear. The lot is smoked, bitter nuts along with tastes of the tin notes, top to bottom, and though it’s fairly bluff and almost prickly it’s also very rich. A “trick” I quite like with this one: for the last 1/3 the tastes and aromas both have a sort of “bottomless” quality; very nice. All in all, this one is plenty saturated enough for me, so I have no urge whatsoever to pull for more. Strength is quite strong. Tastes are full. For all its strength, the room note isn’t so bad, really. Aftertaste is the best of the smoke. It remains full and rich as it lingers and loops back from Burley bitter to VA sweet, with most of the bitterness gone from the nuts

In case it’s not already obvious, I will say outright that BF3 is not for beginners or those who are fasting. I suggest to one and all to take it easy with this one until you get your bearings with it. This is a 4 star blend, for sure, but it won’t appeal to everyone, and the incautious may regret it.

Update, 10-12-19: During a recent bout of PAD I wound up with a beautiful, delicate poker that looks like a child's toy. Upon closer inspection, with thin chamber walls and greater depth than usual in proportion to size, I'd say it's close to a traditional #4 in capacity, and it's a terrific smoker. Smoking a load of BF #3 tobacco with this pipe brings to mind the little ray gun Will Smith used in the original Men In Black movie! This is Great Stuff, if you're prepared for it.

This is a very good blend. The burley is definitely the base here. However, there seems to be way more than just merely a dash of perique. It over powers the rest of the blend for me. I get it way out front with its spice and plum and fig notes (oddly no raisin for me). Under this I get the solid base of burley with a slight sharpness although this could be from the dark fired KY too. some earth, nuttiness, notes of chocolate that I expect to find in good burley and a subtle sorghum note. The KY has a woodsy note and adds strength to a blend that is more than strong enough. The VA's trail in the background but I can pick up a very slight citrus and hay note that is slightly sweet, although I would not call this a sweet tobacco by any means. The room note is tolerable for me but others are not fond of it at all. Nic hit is at the edge of strong for me but it is the overall the blend is that really places this in the strong category. If you like big blends this is a great one if you have trouble with the nic in Lane's 1Q this might not be the blend to try. This is a solid 3.5 out of 4 stars.

Tin note is some what sour. I haven't seen such beautiful broke flake, it's more sliced than broken. I smell dark fruit and the Burley to say the least is earthy , it is in fact the leader of the pack and be warn it is strong, not for the timid back it the day we would call it a head rush. Nicotine is like a tidal wave you will not escape unscathed Though strong I did find it to be satisfing, sort'a like a woman you can't leave alone, something draws you back. Enjoy.

I have had my days with burley and some have been wonderful; the day I met this Burley was one of those days. This was a nice, strong, full bodied burley blend. I liked the smoke produced. I liked the tobacco flavor. I liked the restraint used when applying the perique. This came perfectly ready to smoke out of the tin and it lit well while smoking up the air around my head in a dreamlike cloud. The flavor, to me was a little harsh, but not too badly. A good blend to be sure.

Don't ask a boy to smoke a man's tobacco! Burley Flake no 3 is a man's tobacco and for the experienced smoker who enjoys a fair dose of nicotine. The tin aroma is very smoky, suggesting a fair amount of Dark-Fired Kentucky. The flakes rub out fairly easily and it smokes very nicely and evenly. The main taste is of tobacco, completed by the DFK and of unsweetened raisin that comes and goes throughout. An interesting change of pace, I am not sure if I will rebuy but I certainly appreciated the experience.

This is my favorite from the Burley Flake series, not so overwhelming in nicotine conent as #1 and #2 and a bit sweeter, probably due to higher Virginia proportion.

I won't be buying it again since I prefer any of the MacBaren's burleys, but this is quality tobacco.

Another home run from C&D. Agree with most of the comments. I normally stay away from flake tobacco, I just don't want to bother with it, so I just cut the strips in small cubes with a pair of scissors, so its cube cut. A little too moist straight out of the tin however. I dried mine on a sheet of tin foil. For the burley lover without a doubt. The Perique was also very tasty and well done. Didn't taste alot of the Virginia however which was fine, the blend was mixed perfectly. I wished it came in bulk. I really can't say enough about the offering from C&D. The best tobacco people on the planet

My tin presented broken strips ~ 2" long that were easy to pack. However, in my view, the moisture content from the tin was too high and drying made for more consistent packing and allowed easier initial lights and prevented numerous relights. Smoked cool and smooth without any bite or condensation but I didn't sense much contribution from the Perique. I still prefer the taste of my straight VAs or Va/Pers but if you favor Burleys, this is a good one.

This is a super smooth burley with plenty of body. An "OJK Light" in flake form. The perique is very tame and you get a decent, but not over the top dose of vitamin N.