Cornell & Diehl Oak Alley

I'll side-step redundancy and simply state that I wholly agree with Perique's review of 2015-08-05, only to add that I pick up a wonderful musty component in the blend.

Oak alley is A very decent blend.when you crack the tin a very tence smell of vinegar ,citrus and spices comes out.the plug is very manageable with right moisture.no drying time needed for me.while smoking the flavours are complex and several bowls are needed to get all the flavours.the main player are the virginias offering citruses ,dark fruits and bread notes.the other compoments offer sour notes,spices some plum notes and at last the katerini orientals gives you some earth and woods.the combination is very balanced between the flavours trust me!burns cool and slow leaving perfect ash with a bit moisture at the end of the bowl.the nicotine level is medium.never bit me.the room note is ok.definitelly an all day blend for every smoker.when i cracked the tin the smell reminded me a lot exhausted rooster ,while smoking though i found no similarity.

C&D’s Oak Alley is a complex blend that takes a few words to sum up. The first word that came quickly to mind, and one that stuck, was “Exceptional”. In the tin (mine’s dated 03-23-20) is a firm kake of mid red-brown, mid and dark brown bits smelling of festering old hay and wood, surface leaf mold, barnyard, yeasty bread, and dry Sherry, with traces of dark and other stone fruits. Despite it’s dubbed “Cellar Series”, and I have no doubt it will improve with age, it is very OK to smoke it at 8 months, as I have done, and it opens up with some rest, once it’s jarred. I just pinch a wad off the kake, spindle it, stuff it, and patiently light it. Right off, it starts with my favorite combination of barnyard and flowers, then funky plum that morphs to funky fig, old hay and meadow grasses, along with woody, bitter nuts, zing-y, yeasty bread, fruit leather, and mild-but-savory baking spices. It’s fairly sweet, also quite sour, and bitter, also salty, and the Perique is the sort that reminds one it started out as Burley. There’s lots of fragrant smoke that smells like a more nuanced iteration of the tastes cooking over fruitwood at a distance. Strength builds to between medium and strong, likewise the tastes, strength almost belied by its smoothness, which surprised me because my sample is not really aged. As for the room note, that’s hard to say. It smells great to me, but I suppose not so great to non-piper bystanders. Aftertaste is the best of the smoke, only sweeter, and it lasts and lasts. In case anyone cares, the first pipe I put it in, a small-ish (#4) pot with thick walls, worked a treat. All told, I Love Oak Alley!

It’s not a coincidence that I posted this masterpiece as my 200th review, on Christmas Eve. 4 bright stars, and a spot on my favorites list. Merry Christmas!

On opening the tin, I was greeted by a marvelous, warm, earthy aroma. Chocolate, fruity, nutty, a little French coffee perhaps, complex rich and VERY inviting. The "Krumble Kake" falls apart easily as its name implies with very little rubbing, to a quite fine ribbon cut. There's a risk with such a cut of overstuffing the pipe, but I found it easy to load and it burned evenly, often to the end without relighting. The taste is almost as rich as the odour in the can. I would have sworn there was dark-roasted Virginia, but I think it must be the combination of extra aging and the Orientals. A perfect choice for autumn!

Overall, it reminded me a bit of the discontinued McClelland Personal Reserve series, although much lighter on the Perique than their St. James Wood, my old fave. Definitely a similar aroma. Blended with a generous helping of Périque, it approaches quite closely.

This is one of of the finest tobaccos I have encountered in recent years. If I could give this 5 stars I would. This tobacco is going on my list for the occasional special treat. On second thought (and several pipes later), it just may become a regular item on my menu. I've got six fine tobaccos in my humidor at present, but I keep coming back to this one.

I've decided to review to cellar series blends from C&D upon purchase (or thereabout) and after the recommended amount of aging to see the changes. I intend to update the review after that period of time has elapsed.

Now:

The tin note is an overall light aroma. There's a hint of that trademark Perique smell, but it's nothing like what you get in a VaPer. There's a sense of flowers as well.

This opens sweet and sour, and almost immediately welcomes a mild nutty flavor. In general, this is like a slightly lighter version of 3P's, and there is a mild fruity sweetness. That sweet/sour flavor that came in at the light switches to a floral flavor and back over the course of the bowl.

You can view my review of this blend, unaged, here:

https://youtu.be/4vRa3KZbBF8

Aged:

Stay tuned.

Oak Alley is a blend that I had to learn to smoke, but once I did, it opened up its potential to me. The first few bowls were kind of boiler plate Va/Bur/Per with an odd taste in the background, good but not really memorable. I had tried using different briars, but kept getting the same result. Then, around my sixth or seventh bowl the Katirini showed herself. I found the right sized bowl and just the right puffing cadence and voilá, there was the magic! The Katirini leaf seemed to spice up the whole bowl and it enhanced the Perique as well as softening the Burley, in other words, it really tied the blend together. I don’t think the blend will be so fussy with some age on it, as was the blenders intention. It’s very good now that I’ve learned to smoke it, but I believe that with five or ten years of age on it, Oak Alley will be sublime.

Estimated peak: 10 to 15 years. I would say yes to that but I have a problem with that..... It's too damn good to wait that long! This is what I always imagined what an English blend would taste like without Latakia. Very smooth with no bite. Just a very nice slightly sweet and nutty full flavored. End of the bowl give a tar light flavor just slightly but definitely not complaining. And goes very well with coffee. In the tin it smells just like a pouch of Levi Garret.

The tin say its estimated peak is 10-15 years. Ha. The batch I am smoking was 7 months old when I received it, now 9 as I sit and polish it off to write this. Has a pleasant tin-note of cedar and vingared greens. It consisted of one large cake and a smaller one tucked in beside it. Moisture is perfect upon opening. Crumbles, packs, and lights easily, burns evenly down to a clean powder. The nicotine kick is also decent enough.

Much of the cedar and vinegar in the tin translates into the taste of the smoke. The nuttiness and oily tang of the Burley seems to be the strongest component to me, but it does not mask the sweet hay of the Virginia - both are readily apparent. I get frequent hints of the sour and papery Turkish, but some of that could also be due to the fusion of the former two. I also wonder if that Turkish isn’t the major contributing factor in the delicious and pervading flavor of cedar, but then I think it could also be a combination of all the aforementioned. The Perique presents itself as a ponderous musk not too far in the background, and it no doubt contributes to the taste of vinegar, and to the overall warmth and pepper.

Oak Alley is an exceptionally well-blended and complex smoke, one I look forward to and always come away from satisfied. I am told it “smells like good pipe tobacco”, and it leaves a pleasant taste in my mouth that only lingers for a few minutes. I must say, though - it can be a bit harsh. Even after 7 months, my first impressions were that my batch needed to smooth out a bit. Nah - I would imagine much of that impression was due to the framing of this batch being “nowhere near its peak”, and this is C&D, so I can live with the usual roughness if that also means it’s raw and untampered with. On relights, it can occasionally produce a brief and foul taste somewhat akin to a dirty sock. Perhaps that’s the Perique. Having said all that, though, I still love this stuff - I doubt I’ll ever see it reach its peak, so I’m giving it a high recommendation regardless of these faults. It’s interesting, unique, and packed with flavor, even when it’s still too young.

A hard to work with plug, get out your kitchen chef's knife and start slicing . An American style of tobacco that is , powerful ,and has some interest. This starts a little too tangy and Perique/Burley forward for the first 1/3 of the bowl, for me. It later smoothes out and gets more interesting with some minor Oriental support. A very satisfying smoke, that's nice after a big meal. In a style of 50/50 mix of GLP's Jackknife Plug and Temple bar.

I wouldn't go out of MY way to buy this again, but many might like it. Has a lot of C&D's Burley blending style in this one, with some earthy interest and some N punch. 2 1/2 stars now a full 3 in a year