Cornell & Diehl Pennington Gap

(3.09)
Nutty Kentucky cube cut burley & rich black cavendish balance the unique aroma & flavor of Louisiana perique, finished with bourbon.
Notes: From the tip of Virginia, C&D's Pennington Gap is an all-American blend with a Southern accent: nutty Kentucky cube cut burley and rich black cavendish balance the unique aroma and flavor of Louisiana perique, finished with bourbon for that touch of southern hospitality.

Details

Brand Cornell & Diehl
Blended By Craig Tarler
Manufactured By Cornell & Diehl
Blend Type Aromatic
Contents Black Cavendish, Burley, Perique
Flavoring Bourbon
Cut Cube
Packaging 50 grams tin, bulk
Country United States
Production Currently available

Profile

Strength
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
Mild to Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

3.09 / 4
31

31

12

6

Reviews

Please login to post a review.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 80 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 20, 2014 Medium Medium to Strong Medium to Full Pleasant
When I was given this tin in a trade, it was new and fresh and was to me a little too green and overwhelming on my taste buds. I found it also tended to bite a little. I then put it up sealed tight in my cellar and when browsing the other day found it 6 years later and thought I would retry it. Thus my experience here is on a 6 year old tin. I found it to have matured nicely and am quite enjoying it now.

Upon opening it, the first things I noticed was that it is pressed and cut into small square cube cut very dark, almost black in appearance. It has an aroma of dark peat with a spicy sweetness. Looks and smells very rich. It is somewhat wet and sticky so I let it dry until it no longer sticks to my fingers. Like this it packs and lights up very easy and is great for a slow relaxing smoke. The flavor is a rich, deep, full flavor of burley with the bourbon topping present but not overwhelming and the perique adding it's spicy yet subtle character. It is not sweet really, but it is full on the tongue. Smoked fast it is hot but smoked slow it is very nice and cool. The room note is strong but pleasant and I could smell the perique amongst the sweet burly aroma. It smokes slowly down the pipe leaving very little moisture or dottle in the bottom of the pipe. Mostly produces a steely grey ash with white edges.

I like this blend with age on it and think it will appeal to aromatic smokers and non aromatic smokers alike. Because I found it overwhelming right out of the tin without aging, I am giving three out of four stars.
Pipe Used: briar, meers, cobs.
PurchasedFrom: given in trade
Age When Smoked: 6 years
5 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 10, 2004 Medium Very Mild Medium Pleasant
Hey, I like this Pennington Gap! It's slightly aromatic (whiskey flavoring perhaps?)and has a pinch of Perique and black leaf (cased cavendish) but the Burley really shines. And, being the nicotine lover that I am, this one really hit the spot, especially in the evenings right after dinner.

I would especially urge those who enjoy their Perique in small doses to give this blend a try - absolutely delightful.

I should also mention that the cube cut of the leaf and the perfect moisture content makes this one of the easiest blends to pack and light that I've ever found.
20 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 19, 2014 Medium Mild to Medium Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Pennington Gap was a real change of pace for me, as I smoke mostly VaPers and straight Virginias. I was surprised, therefore, to discover how much I enjoyed PG.

Upon opening the tin, I was very pleased with the aroma, which reminded me of Raisinettes (one of my favorite dime-store candies). Being a cube cut, it is easy to pack, although it requires a bit of drying out before it lights easily. Once lit, it burns slowly and evenly, requiring no relights, and leaving a light colored ash at the finish with not goopiness. Despite the casing, PG is a very dry smoke with not even a hint of tongue bite.

PG is a very tasty tobacco throughout the smoke. The Perique predominates for the first third of the bowl. After that, the taste is of a rich, nutty burley (as opposed to the grassiness that I often detect in burley blends) and, toward the end of the bowl, the Cavendish takes over. The casing adds a sweet top note throughout the smoke. However, I wouldn't say that the casing tastes like bourbon -- more like honey and licorice.

A most enjoyable smoke and one that I would recommend to any pipe smoker who likes Perique and sweeter blends. Without a doubt, it is one of the best tobaccos I have smoked in the past year or so. At $4.50/ounce, PG is a fairly expensive pipe tobacco but one that is worth every penny IMO.
Pipe Used: Various briars
PurchasedFrom: JR Cigar
Age When Smoked: Recently purchased
18 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 20, 2014 Medium to Strong Medium to Strong Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
Oh god, This is no good. It suffers the same fate as Haddo's Delight to my tastes. A very good mix of quality leaf that I should enjoy that is doused with a nearly disgusting topping. This is supposed to be a whiskey topping, but doesn't taste like a real whiskey to me. More of one of those whiskey flavored syrups that you would get on a lower quality aromatic.

This one is slightly better than Haddo's, but is still pretty bad to me. I will somewhat recommend it to someone if they like the flavor profile of say, Borkum Riff Whiskey, they may enjoy this one a little more.
10 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 30, 2016 Medium Medium to Strong Medium to Full Tolerable to Strong
This will be a short review.

Tastes bad but does not bite. Never again.

I expect more from Cornell and Diehl, I usually like their burley blends and alcohol toppings, but this is not even close to hitting home.
8 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 05, 2009 Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
It took a while for me to figure out how to smoke this stuff. There were a couple of issues to contend with. As to not bore you I will just give my conclution. 1)This stuff must be dried out almost to the point of being crunchy or you'll just end up with a goopy blob. 2) Due to the cube cut it must not be firmly packed into the bowl but rather loaded loosly to the top and then slightly tamped. If you tamp it down too hard during loading or smoking it will blob up and not draw well. Using these methods, this is a tasty, quality smoke, semi sweet with some complexity. Geared more to the Burley lover rather than aromatic IMHO, it does have the qualities of both. The Perique is an evident and nice addition. The Bourbon does add to a nice tin fragrance but not much to the taste. It does turn a little sour towards the bottom of the bowl, but don't we all LOL.
8 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 24, 2012 Medium Medium to Strong Medium Pleasant
A very interesting tobacco, when you pop the tin it's as though you twisted open the bottle of your favorite bourbon. Right out of the tin you can taste the bourbon coming out. The Perique is there but not over powering this has a nice side stream aroma and very pleasant aroma in general. For some reason it does dry my mouth out a little, I'm guessing it's the flavoring however it has a good flavor that stays through the entire bowl. It packs well and smokes dry producing a nice soft gray ash with minimal re-lights. The flavor seems to get richer and sweeter as you get to the mid bowl and beyond. I feel that this is the Burley and Black Cavendish taking over. Overall a very good smoke!
7 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 24, 2018 Medium to Strong Mild Medium Tolerable
I'll begin by saying that I tried this blend in the interest of finding a suitable replacement for Frog Morton's Cellar in my rotation, and for this task, it won't do, but thankfully it has merits of its own.

A nose in the tin doesn't produce the smell of Bourbon to me, but the aroma does bear a resemblance to whiskey. I'll take Cornell & Diehl's word that it's bourbon they added, but if so, the aroma has changed significantly now mixed with the tobacco. It doesn't smell bad, but it doesn't strike my fancy either.

However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the aroma does translate to the taste a little bit. I detect it as a faint "brown-sugary" accent to the already nutty flavor profile of this tobacco, and they marry quite nicely.

Overall, I'd say this is a blend worth trying, if, like me, you like the idea of an aromatic, but can't stand the goopy stuff. It has a mild flavoring that enhances the already decent tobacco. Well done.
Pipe Used: Peterson System 106, Peterson Filter B10
Age When Smoked: New
5 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 12, 2017 Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Medium Tolerable
Yikes! I think that the repulsive flavor I get from this is a combo of the Bourbon topping and the dark fruit of the Perique. Both are fine by themselves, but the combo makes me want to gag. It tastes like sweet and sour rotting fruit. The second half of the bowl is somewhat bearable because the topping fades a bit, but the first half is just too much for me. Never mind whatever good qualities the Kentucky may have, I can't get past that rotting fruit.

Mild to medium in body. Medium in taste. Mild to medium in rotting fruit. Burns very well.
Pipe Used: MM Little Devil Cutty, Little Devil Acorn, Marcus
PurchasedFrom: smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: fresh
5 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 12, 2017 Mild to Medium Very Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant
I found this tin at the back of a shelf at the local tobacconist where it had been for 4 years and one month. Shelf aged tobaccos are always a good find, so I snatched it up. I wasn't sure if it's aromatic qualities would be a turn off for me, but I bought it anyway. Upon opening the tin, the aroma was pungent and alluring. This cube cut blend was lightly topped and was anything but cloying. The Perique was evident and it just smelled inviting. It packs easy and the flavor was that of tobacco with just a hint of whiskey. I don't know if the smoothness can be attributed to age, but this blend was really smooth. It burned cool and was a genuine pleasure to smoke. No goopiness, just a combination of quality tobaccos that really came together well. I can confidently say that I'll purchase it again.
Pipe Used: Tinsky
PurchasedFrom: Just For Him
Age When Smoked: 4 years
5 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 06, 2008 Medium Medium Full Tolerable
Early in my smoking career I bought a tin of Pennington Gap. It was contained in one of those earlier tins with the metal lid. When I broke the thing open it was dried to a crisp. I promptly rehydrated the contents and consumed the tobacco with few complaints. A few years down the road, I decided to resample Pennington Gap.

Things were a little different this time around. The first thing I noticed when opening the tin was the overwhelming scent of booze. This stuff was dripping in it. The tobacco was wet, very wet. I looked to the date on the bottom of the tin, noticing it was a fresh batch, just two weeks old.

I didn't bother to dry my first bowl out before smoking. I loaded up a small Grabow and fiddled with the light. It burned hot and uneven, which immediately indicated that I was too hasty in my desire to smoke the stuff.

The Burley predominates the entire smoke. I couldn't detect the Perique at all, and that goes the same for the Bourbon topping. Pennington Gap is a fairly heavy smoke. It won't kill you, but you will likely enjoy a nice nicotine hit. No real surprises here. If you like Burley blends, like Edgeworth or Prince Albert, you'll feel right at home.

I'll make sure to air out subsequent bowls before smoking.

Three of Four.
5 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.

target="_blank"