Cornell & Diehl Izmir Turkish

C&D Izmir Turkish is a perfectly respectable Oriental tobacco that's clearly intended for blending but is also enjoyable smoked by itself. I chose the latter route. This tobacco is cut in a fine ribbon (almost but not quite a shag) that doesn't burn too fast in a pipe and that I would suspect would work very will in a cigarette.

Its flavor is lightly woody, more than a little bit peppery, and just fruity enough to keep things interesting. I was honestly hoping for a more tangy/piquant flavor (though as it is, Izmir Turkish is certainly not too sweet). The body is definitely a mild one with little in the way of a nicotine hit.

It's really more of a 2.5-star tobacco for smoking on its own, but I imagine that it is a solid 3 for blending.

At the moment this is the best Oriental tobacco I have tried. Very good aroma and taste. The scent of the raw tobacco is scent of tea, pleasant. It is a true natural aromatic. My mark is 7/8.

Izmir straight is a little buttery, woodsy, a little sour and peppery. Not overly sweet. The smoke is dry and has a rough edge but does not bite. Overall a nice uncomplicated profile that works well as a blender, which is what its primary purpose is, as long as you add it with a light touch. Once I get it over the 20% mark it will come forward a little more than I think it should but it works great with lat blends that need some oriental to spice them up, goes fine with VA/Per's as well. Worth keeping a few oz. on hand to add to blends that need a little spice and woodsy note.

I bought this strictly as a blending component and my review is based on that aspect only. I have had considerable results doing this with some basic research on the net. My approach is simply to blend enough to fill a pipe and adjust accordingly. This Izmer is a fantastic choice for your blending needs. I love latakia so I used 50% along with 25% izmer and 25% red virginia. An attempt at making my own Star of the East and it came out satisfactory. Happy blending!

I bought a pound of this in mid-2018 as a blending tobacco. It works great to add some "spice" to boring blends and/or making my own variants.

Smoked by itself I found it easy to pack and light. The flavor reminds me of the camels I used to smoke years ago. I get quite a bit of mouth "tingle" but no tongue bite even if pushed.

A favorite blend of mine is about 20% Izmir to 80% CD VA flake pressed down in a noodle press for a couple of weeks. Sometimes I'll dust it with some perique or some blending latakia depending on my mood.

I've bought a selection of blending tobaccos, mainly in order to better understand the components of my favourite blends. I'll try my hand at blending in due course but for now I'm just trying the pure tobaccos.

So the Izmir. Medium brown ribbon arrived on the dry side, the bag aroma is very sour, spicy, rich leafmould with a hint of incense.

It has a delicate sweetness on lighting, with a sour and herbal in character. The sourness develops with smoking quite early in the bowl, and progressively gains strength throughout, becoming somewhat overpowering towards the finish. It is spicy, and this too is progressive through the bowl, becoming very potent indeed at the end. The tobacco also has a background earthy character which I quite enjoy. It also offers occasional blasts of a rather raw, green herbal quality, and the flavour and mouthfeel is slightly astringent.

It's not very strong on the nicotine front but is certainly full in flavour, and the room aroma is pungent. I smoked it all to ash, no wet dottle at all, although the flavour in the final quarter was rather strong.

Alone then, this is a strong tasting and aromatic leaf. I've gained an appreciation of the potency of the Orientals in a blend - I suspect that just a little can go a long way, and perhaps my favourite English mixtures (those with a prominent Oriental character) contain less of it than I had supposed. I'll explore this more in due course when I get to blending with it.

This is great tobacco whether smoked straight or mixed with C$D Virginia flake or a VaPerique blend. Very complex and burns cool and clean. Leaves no moisture in the bowl and since I get this in bulk from City Tobaccos the price is better than buying tins as this type of blend can get pricey. I would recommend this for the more veteran smokers because there’s no flavoring or cloying sweet additives that beginners gravitate to.

I’m a huge fan of great aromatics (Autumn Evening) and English with heavy doses of Latakia and the Balkans too. This is a lovely but mellow smoke. I get the butter and the spice and the medium strength but this Izmir feels like the character actor not the main star.

Izmir Turkish is fully approachable on its own and can be used to blend. I’m sure many people are like me in purchasing tins or loose and then scratching your head as to how different the choice feels or tastes compared to the packaging or review. Right? We keep these and think maybe a self blending of this and that.

I think I expected a pure Izmir to have a stronger taste with a more interesting room note. Yet I am not very disappointed because this is a very pleasant tobacco with strong credentials. It’s good!

Tin note: sort of a lightly sour, lightly sweet, musty (almost perique adjacent), maybe floral scent. In the smoke, mainly grassy and floral. Not sweet to speak of, maybe the barest hint of sweetness. Not strong by any stretch of the imagination, but it is pretty interesting for being plain oriental leaf. I could see smoking this regularly.