Cornell & Diehl Tuskegee Airman

Upon lighting, the Virginias & Turkish lead the show, with a slow sip. Although Latakia is listed , it is in very small quantity, however, the Perique shows itself as hot spice as you go down the bowl. I get the same hot spice from "Sunday Picnic", and "Buffalo Soldier" which I can't tolerate. I'm afraid that additional ageing won't help, we will see . I can't give this a high rating due to the heat, it must be my chemistry from the quantity of excellent reviews listed.

This is better than Buffalo Soldier as it does have more flavor and is smoother but it is still too hard on tongue.

I agree with reviewer "p4p4 03/25/2011 "

Amazing! I'm a “puffer,” it's just the way I've always smoke my pipes. Like many of you I'm on the holy pilgrimage to find great pipe tobacco's. I've smoked many of C&D's blends and like many of them. This one is amazing. Pressed in a wonderful little cube, I'm not going to pretend I know a lot about “pressing” but the one's I've smoked, I like. First, this is a medium English, you can taste the Latakia, and smell it in the tin. Mild and mellow immediately came to mind while smoking it. Note about ‘Room Note' it also is quite wonderful. I smoke A.M. Pipe from McClelland, a bulk, it also is somewhat mild but the Latakia is discernible in it's taste and room note. The room note in Tuskegee does not have much of a Latakia fragrance, I like that. Taste, Oh My Goodness, it must be the VA because there is a slight sweetness both in the taste and especially in the after taste. After puffing there is a slight sweetness in my mouth. Some of you who know much more than I might say that's the Perique or the Turkish. I just know it's a wonderful sweetness. Being a “Puffer” I am prone to burn my mouth, No Way with Tuskegee. 10 minutes after finishing this my mouth is back to normal. I'm testing out some Buffalo Soldier also and will report. I like this a lot.

Let me start by saying that I should have let this dry a bit before I smoked it.

I was given a sample of this from my local tobacconist, consisting of two 'cakes.' I looked forward to this due to the pleasant smell; I expected a flavorful experience. However, I was a tad disappointed. Initially, this tobacco didn't really want to light. (Probably my fault.) After a couple of relights, it did answer with voluminous smoke, but the taste was thin and not what I expected. The virginia didn't come through, nor did the latakia initially. In fact, it wasn't until the second half of the bowl that the flavors began to come through. Once they did, however, there was enough going on to keep me interested. Here's the thing: I believe that the flavors were so balanced, none of them really came through. There were moments when the latakia would peek out, but it would fade just as quickly. The sweetness of the virginia never fully developed, at least not in the way that a VaPer blend would. As the bowl was finishing, the different essences seemed to begin to get their act together, but it was too little, too late. The finishing note was reminiscent of Penzance, but fell short of the performance of that blend by far. All in all, I was relatively disappointed. I recommend it for those who are looking for a subtle smoke, but personally I prefer something a little more flavorful. Two and a half stars.

My tin had one year of age on it.

The cake was pretty neat in presentation with a small separate brick to rub out right away. The smell in the tin was sour and fruity with a touch of smokiness.

I like to slice off some tobacco with a knife and rub it out gently. I didn't find that any particular pipe, or pipe shape worked better than any other.

Taste: In the first third of the bowl the taste was more fruit-forward, and bright. There are tangy, fruity, and floral notes. There is a spicy mouthfeel and on the tongue for about the first two-thirds of the bowl. On retrohales I get some sort of combination of fruit—maybe nectarine, or some other stone fruit, flowers, leaves, and wood. Sometimes it is two or three of those four notes, and sometimes it is all four of the notes. There are dried woody notes, sometimes sweeter woody notes. Sometimes there is a fruity note backed by some smoke that, to me, is like a dark, stewed fruit (I mean like the fruit is cooking in some kind of warm batter). That touch of smoke is actually present throughout the bowl, really bringing some roundness to the taste profile. In the last third I got leather notes. Some of the fruit notes weave in and out, along with less spicy and floral notes, but those tastes become secondary to the leather and wood.

The nicotine content is mild, for me. This is a medium English, maybe Scottish blend, that is somewhat full on your senses, but not overwhelming. It's sweet, tangy, earthy, and slightly smokey.

The price is reasonable for the 2oz tin, and there are no issues with availability.

I recommend this blend for Virginia Perique-lovers that want to try something a little different, or the Latakia blend-lovers who want something different.

A very good Krumble Kake. Smooth, smoker and flavorful. No over the top elements, just a perfect blend of flavors. Excellent blend for after dinner on a cold winter night.

It's an interesting pressed crumble cake sort of cut, with clumps that need to be broken up somewhat before loading. Good flavor, with no single element overwhelming. I'm trying to cut down on the blends I give four stars to, so I'll give this three, but it definitely has four star potential i.e. if you like the ingredients and the overall approach of C&D, try it, you may find it is four stars for you...

After reading other reviews, I would agree that the latakia is in the background, and that there's a bit more perique than in many other English blends, so it's fairly dissimilar to what most people think of when they think of an "English" blend or even read the ingredients. The perique can be pretty dominant at the end of the bowl, the orientals are the most forward at the start of the bowl. The VA and latakia are both obviously present but neither takes things over.

The difference between Tuskegee Airman and a english mixture is the elegance. T.A. is a good crumble cake, but without an english spirit. Normally perique can conterpoint a full english mix, with abundance of latakia. But T.A. is not a full english, and the content of latakia is truly poor. The problem is that with so little latakia....the perique is the king. A king of pepperness and wine-like (or old cheese-like) flavour. Not a good thing, not elegant, not british. A no-sense ! Illogical bland. The fine oriental's flavour .....with the goopy, popular wine-like flavour of red virginia and perique. It's like to eat pizza ....with ketchup. (I don't know if american people can understand the cooking absurde marriage of pizza and ketchup 🙂 I will finish the tin, the tobacco is not bad. Just smkable with a little ironic spirit.

New Years Day...2011. Lat night had Buffalo Soldier. Today, TA. When I opened the tin, I was greeted to the sight of a beautiful block of pressed Latakia, Va, Perique and Turkish....just beautiful. Looks like a fudge brownie and when it breaks up and rubbed out, it's easy to pack and light and stay lit. Very nice room note and a flavor to match. The Oriental in the blend makes it a bit ddifferent than BS and from this sitting (I am comparing two pipe-loads now...BS vs. TA. The TA seems to me more complex and a little more exciting. Currently burning with a very nice ash. This is going to be a regular.

This is the best medium English I have had since the demise of the Murray Dunhill line, and it is my opinion that no blends have ever surpassed the Dunhills. Tuskegee Airman is every bit as good and what really impresses me is that there seems to be nothing but high quality tobacco used here.

Tuskegee has an incredible balance between ingredients so that nothing dominates. The different flavors waft in and out, but you won't find that there is too much of one tobacco or another. A little sweetness from the Virginias, the Perique is light in touch, the Turkish adds balance with the Latakia adding just the right smokey flavor. No tongue bite here even when puffing hard, and believe me, you will have a hard time not puffing away on this stuff since there will be the desire to have that delicious flavor constantly in your mouth.

If you smoked those old Murray blends I think you may find, like me, that TA might lie somewhere between Standard Mixture Medium and 965. A medium English that will be an every-day smoke for me, and in fact I may just smoke very little of anything else. It is indeed a wonderful blend, and gets my highest recommendation.