Cornell & Diehl Burley Flake #3

The tin note is a dark fruit with some earthy tobacco. It smells really good. The "flake" is mostly rubbed out pressed medium ribbon in shades of dark brown and a little tan. It comes a little more moist than most C&D blends. I crumbled it with my fingers into my palm and codger scooped to load. I smoked it as delivered and did not dry it before smoking.

Smoked, this is burley forward as you might guess from the name. I am getting an earthy full taste from the burley. The dark fruit in the tin note comes through slightly in the smoking, and there are a few sweet notes that are the perique/Va contribution. There is a nose tickle which I attribute to the DFK. Mostly this blend is burley goodness.

I found this very good and suited to my tastes. It is only available in a 2 oz tin, and so the price point will mean it is relegated to a treat or change of pace. This is an easy 3. I will get more. If you are a burley fan, you will enjoy this.

Note: This is probably my favorite of the the C&D Burley Flake blends so far. I have not tried #5 yet.

Wow! The tin aroma of this stuff is potent and very complex. The tin says “a dash of Perique” but the ripe cheese and earthy scent of it fills the room when the tin is first opened. Ghostly hints of sweet Virginia and the flat dried-bean, nut-like scent of the Burley play a supporting role to the tasty Perique. Other scents I've picked out in the tin aroma include, cured hay, silage, sour-dough, black tea, mushrooms, damp earth, latex (natural rubber), whole wheat bread, dusty barns, and worn old leather.

Fragile, beautiful flakes, really need little rubbing out. Lights and burns very well.

Smoke has much less complexity on the palate, but it's pleasant. Like over-roasted nuts and notes of cured hay and new-mown grass. Perique flavor is thin and ghostlike. Flavors move through a range of strength from medium to almost non-existent. But remember, this is a mostly Burley flake, so even if the flavor seems mild, there is A LOT of nicotine in this one.

As I smoked more bowls, I noticed a tendency to get cigarette-like near the bowls end. The same ashy cigarette smoke smell dominates the room note, especially a few hours after finishing the pipe. I smoked 3-4 packs a day for twenty years, I finally quit, and I'd rather not taste or smell cigarettes from my pipes.

Tin note smells of yoghourt – I’ve encountered this once again in Hermit Tobacco’s Captain Earl’s Honor blend where the tin was bulging from fermentation taking place within it – the tin here was not compromised nor was it bulging.

The flakes are thick and short and neatly packed in the tin but they are not very compressed, so that I could not take out whole pieces. They have a density which is something in between a traditional flake and a crumble kake. When rubbed the different layers of leafs untangle easily so if rubbed fully you get to load the pipe with ribbons (..and tobacco dust) after all. They are quite dry and light easily. The tobacco burns evenly and surprisingly very(!) slowly.

I find this tobacco quite similar not only in the tin note, but in taste as well, to Honor Blend though stronger and more complex. It has a cigar taste, it’s not at all sweet, rather savoury, bitter, ashy and spicy (black pepper especially through the nostrils) and has some faint black raisin notes. As you might guess the Perique presence is obvious and strong… Now, this being called “Burley Flake”, I was a little disappointed as I did not get any of the Burley nuttiness just some bitterness. As for the Virginia I could not sense it per se. It is a strong tobacco as I mentioned and has a considerable nicotine content but it has a very smooth – and full – mouthfeel which is somehow a redeeming feature.

It’s not going to be a favourite tobacco of mine, but it’s top quality. It leaves a bitter aftertaste so I do not recommend smoking it after a sweet Virginia based mixture as the bitterness is enhanced and it does not compliment its taste. And although this tobacco is not a cigar-leaf based blend I strongly recommend it to those who do like the cigar taste in their tobaccos and do not mind strong smokes. Room-note is very cigar-like as well. A cautious recommendation from me, as I am not a great fan of cigar-like pipe tobaccos, but this is top class tobacco.

--- This tobacco is too strong for me, not harsh, just strong, but so much that it is not pleasant for me to smoke. What I did was to mix it with some nice English style unflavoured Black Cavendish to tone down it's strength, and now I have a perfectly smokable mixture. It also works well with oriental tobaccos, they add aroma, sweetness and cut the strength while the character of Burley Flake#3 remains. I could actually give it a four stars as a blending tobacco to cut with milder tobaccos.

I don't think it's possible for C&D to even make a bad blend. BF #3 is toasty and nutty with just a hint of sweetness from the Virginias. You had better be a fan of Perique however, because it's there; loud and proud. BF #3 is tasty but just doesn't have that "wow" factor like a Kajun Kake or Mississippi River, but it is very good and worth trying. I won't buy it regularly but I will definitely be buying again.

C&D had open tins of almost everything, at the CORPS show in Richmond. After doing my due diligence on tobaccoreviews.com, I made a list of about a dozen to examine in person. After looking them over and sniffing them, this was one of the 4 or 5 that I requested samples to tryout.

All the earlier reviews are right on target. Plenty of vitamin N and a smooth easy smoke ending with white ash. I left with a 8oz tin and finally popped it and jared it today. Pure pleasure. I held off on STAR #4 only because I want to spend some more quality time with the blend before I move it to highest level.

This one is headed into my regular rotation.

Okay, this stuff is strong, I only had a sample of it, but it knocked me off my horse a few times while smoking it. For this reason I prefer this after a big meal or occasionally as a nightcap if I'm a bit wired before bed and want to mellow out a bit. It has a nice earthy full flavor, I'd like to try it again, but I'll probably pick up a tin of one of the other burley flakes instead so I can try all three, plus this one was a bit strong for my normal tastes. Overall recommended, especially if you like heavy nic in your blends! The two burley flakes I've had are probably the best burley's I've ever smoked, so if you like that kind of stuff, give this a try.

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.