Cornell & Diehl Founding Fathers

The tin note of this blend I found very interesting. A pomegranate and sweet virginia tobacco.

This blend did burn smooth, and was pretty free from tongue bite.

The room note was pleasant and different from other tobaccos. Wouldn't really know how to describe it. The taste was alright, but not as good as I would hope for. I think this blend was kind of hard to pull off, even for such a great blender such as C & D.

I wouldn't say to not try this blend, but not one I would buy again.

Founding Fathers is easy to smoke albeit not easy to like. It's unnaturally moist which makes filling your pipe a delicate business. There's a very fine point between packing it too loose and too tight. And because the baccy won't dry the problem persists.

I suspect it's made of crushed plastic pellets. The flavour is dubiously chemical.

Having said that it's a harmless, middle of the road, everyday, everyman smoke. The fun bit is playing word games with the name as you get increasingly bored with it. Foundering Fathers, Floundering Fathers, Fondling Fathers etc.

Let me start by saying, Cornell & Diehl are the best at what they do. So much respect it owed to them for the hundreds of fantastic blends. However, this blend was a bit of a let down. I've been on the hunt for a good aromatic as a break from my steady diet of heavy English, Virginia and Deer Tongue blends. This blend was yet another one I can check off the list of candidates. For the positives it is very well cased. Didn't leave a pool of aromatic goo as most cased blends seem to do. It also burned very cool with no tongue bite and gave a fantastic room note. On the down side there is no noticeable flavor to the smoke. The cavendish is bland while the burleys go unnoticed. The pomegranate casing is also not very noticeable in the flavor. Its was there but you really have to do some searching to find it. I enjoy strong bold flavors in my tobacco and this blend just did not cut if for me. However if all you are looking for is a blend with a fantastic room note for smoking around non smokers then this would be a suitable choice. For me though, my hunt for a suitable aromatic continues.

Cornell & Diehl - Founding Fathers.

This morning I stumbled around sleepily wanting an English. I saw the loose pouch of Founding Fathers in my cupboard, wrongly thought 'English', and filled my morning bowl. An English it is not. A middle ground, somewhat boring, aromatic, it is.

Burley accounts for a higher proportion of F.F., black Cavendish takes credit for less than a quarter. Because I bought this bulk the moisture's decent, albeit that's a useless fact should you buy a full 2oz tin.

As expected the Burley outweighs the black Cavendish, but has a pleasant flavour: sweet, nutty, and toasty. The topping doesn't warrant as much applause, though: quite sharp and sour. The vanilla from the small amount of black cavendish removes some of the causticity, but not enough. The burn from it's a better feature as it's relatively cool.

Nicotine: mild. Room-note: pleasant.

Founding Fathers? Two stars:

Somewhat recommended.

This is a good aromatic blend. It does have the right amount of Burley and cav. to allow you to taste the tobacco and still burn evenly all the way to the bottom of the bowl, clean and dry. The topping is pomegranate and while sweet has that slight bitterness to it as well. It is always present throughout the bowl but at times is stronger than others. This is not a bad blend I would be good from time to time as a change of pace. However, the wife did not care for the room note and as I near the end of the tin I find it harder to go back to. I doubt I will order another soon.

After 5 good pipes of Founding Fathers, I feel better able to give an accurate assessment. I used the same pipe for all five puffs, a Savinelli Oscar Aries 122 billiard.

After my first 3 bowls I would have given it 3 stars, but after settling in to the last 2, I would back off a bit and give it a solid 2 stars. For me, the newness of a blend tends towards the extremes, and by about the 5th bowl I usually, but not always, migrate toward the middle.

What this blend does best is mix the right amount of burley and cavendish to achieve a consistent burn all the way to the bottom of the bowl, while retaining the flavors of the tobacco throughout. The pomegranate flavoring presents most in the first quarter of the bowl. Unlike other reviewers, I never noted the flavoring after that, which is fine because it does not interfere with the tobacco.

As others have noted, the blend does not burn too hot or wet and therefore does not leave the stereotypical aromatic "goop" in the bottom of the bowl.

Now, while the blend of tobaccos and topping is just right, I found something lacking in the overall flavor. It was not unsatisfying, but it was not completely satisfying in overall experience. Perhaps a wee bit of Virginia may give a bit more to the body of the smoke.

I do recommend this for aromatic smokers who are migrating toward the Virginia/Burley/Perique blends as a way to transition their palate, but I will probably not buy another tin as a personal puff. I would like to have had more of the flavoring present throughout the smoke in the absence of the missing element.

Overall, very good, and I will enjoy the rest of tin, but it did not leave a lasting impression.

Well, I do like C&D aros for several reasons and this does satisfy all the elements. First and foremost, they have a lot of nicotine. Second, the base burleys and Cavendish are rich with plenty of body to remind the smoker that it is tobacco not candy they are smoking. Third, they smoke cool and lack any potential to bite. Finally, the lack of a chemical taste leads many to have a natural type taste to the desired aroma.

So Founding Fathers is right on board with this. If this were all that were required then all C&D aros would carry four stars. To differentiate these aros all comes down to how the individual toppings taste to me. Four stars = I love this (Autumn Evening). Three Stars = This is pretty good (Nutty Irishman). Pretty much all else is a two star to my taste and this is where this one lies.

Pomegranate is a flavor I enjoy in juice, but I despise the fruit as the seeds are bitter and the fruity part around each seed is so small to not be worth the effort. However, Founding Fathers just doesn't taste very pomegranate to me. Maybe a little like the concentrate juice that requires dilution. The bottom line is that this topping was not too agreeable to my tastes.

My reviews are always based on how the tobacco strikes me and this is why I give it two stars, but based on my opening praising of C&D aros, this may likely be a four star blend to someone who does like this topping and it would be to me, if I liked the topping.

I received a tin of this in the SPC C&D "Aromatic Sampler" package.

Tin note is very pleasant with lots of pomegranate amongst the tobacco aroma. The burly is noticeable with a bit of nuttiness you would expect. There isn't a whole lot of sweetness which I kind of expected there to be and for me the pomegranate topping comes and goes through the first half of the bowl or so. Every now and then you'll get a burst of the flavoring and then it's gone again. Toward the end of the smoke I don't notice it at all.

The Cavendish tames the burley some, and adds a little vanilla-ish taste.

The tobacco is high quality (it's C&D after all) but I can't say as there's anything stand out about this blend. It's a good absent minded smoke as it packs and burns well and doesn't need much attention. Worth trying I think, but I don't know that I'll purchase it again.

Vastly different in flavor with Pomegranate used as the topping. At first you might say, WOW! Keep in mind this is an aromatic - and it's not your founding father's actual tobacco. You'll have to burn this extremely slow in order to keep the flavor as noticeable for any length of time. Like many C&D aromatics as of late, for me, this one tends to fall short of being one that I would repurchase. Nice to try it out once, I guess, but it's not a very intriguing blend for me. This might work as a first tobacco for the new pipe smoker as I didn't have any issues with tongue bite and it burned fairly well.