Cornell & Diehl Christmas Blend 2013 (Won't Go Til We Get Some)

I got lucky to find a 100-gram tin of the 2013 Christmas Blend. Of course I bought it to try.

The appearance is a monochromatic ribbon of milk chocolate color. The consistency is perfect. There is no dust. The tobacco is ready to be consumed right out of the tin, which unfortunately had no date on it, but I assume it was released in late 2012.

Despite the many years of aging, I was greeted by a multi-faceted bouquet of fruit and berry flavors, dominated by dried prunes. In addition to figs, dark raisins, dried apricots, dried cherries with salt - and all this is heavily flavored with cognac. The bouquet is so dense that you can barely smell the tobacco from underneath. Nevertheless, I managed to catch a slight spice and a faint bread note.

The taste, surprisingly, is not as bright as it smelled. Moreover, it is quite tobacco-like: a flavor of wheat bread, a faint earthy note, a fair amount of white pepper, as well as some proportion of prunes from topping and cavendish. With sufficient sweetness, the tobacco is, however, somewhat pungent in the beginning of smoking. But afterwards the taste changes to softer, though all the harshness does not go away. The tobacco bouquet also changes: the bread note intensifies, followed by woody notes, a bit of cinnamon, cardamom, and dried apricots. If you can imagine a pie filling by its smell, it tastes like a finished pie with spices and prunes. Towards the end of the pipe the flavor becomes quite tobacco-like, and the topping is barely perceptible. The tobacco smokes medium-hot, so I almost didn't miscalculate when I picked up the biggest pipe I have, the one with the thickest bowl walls. "Almost" because the tobacco turned out to be strong enough for an aromatic. I'd say its strength was slightly above average - somewhere in the middle of the pipe I felt a slight but palpable nicotine kick. The tobacco burns, leaving a dark gray ash and almost no moisture.

The smoke from the tobacco has an earthy, woody note with a raisin complement. It lays a light canopy and disperses quite easily.

What's the result? A very good blend that could be classified as typically American if it weren't for the large amount of topping. It seems light, bribing with its flavor, but be careful if you're lucky enough to buy it - that impression is deceptive. Actually, I can understand, why the rating here is so low - it is very 'complicated' blend.