Grand Croupier Bone Yard

Of the three allsorts blends from C&D's "Grand Croupier" range, Bone Yard is the absolute treasure. My batch contained (guessing by taste) around 15% Latakia, plenty of condimental tobaccos, some peppery/fruity Perique and some grassy and pleasing Virginias. It is gently sour sweet with plenty of chewy mouth feel and fabulous burn characteristics. The price leads me to believe that this is the best value in an English-style blend anywhere. Bar none.

Tongue bite? No, and I wouldn't expect any bite from an English. Mechanically, this weed behaves beautifully in the pipe; its manners are irreproachable. Chars and lights with a single match, and the bowl I just finished required not one relight to burn it down to a medium ash with just a few ticks of charcoal. As this is an allsorts blend (I prefer "allsorts" to "sweepings"), the cuts are a real mix, ranging from little shaggy bits to chuncks of broken flake. I did a bit of rubbing to get it into a uniform cut but found later that it really works best straight from the bag. Moisture in my batch was perfect; the tobacco required no drying before I packed it into a Missouri Meerschaum "Great Dane' spool with a 6 mm. balsa filter.

My batch apparently had a bit more Virginia tobacco than others have reported. Funny thing is, at times this reminded me of Early Morning Pipe...but the bowl I just smoked felt and tasted more like Nightcap. Yesterday's bowl had more Orientals in it, making it take on the aspect of Derbar. Nicotine level is pretty high for me but very manageable. I got a few wee hiccups near the bottom of the bowl from the Vitamin N

I don't care what kind of pipe or tobacco snob you might be; in a blind taste test, you'd be singing this blend's praises and swearing that it is some new boutique blend from the likes of Greg Peas. I would bet cash money that you can fool your pipe expert friends with this one, although you'll want to manicure the tobacco a bit to remove the odd stem and twig encountered here before trying to fool Dr. Pipe Know-it-All. Otherwise, this is among the best English blends I have ever tried and is well worth the bargain basement price. Is it pretty to look at? Not really. Is it a marvelous value? Yes. Should you buy a pound to have on hand, for around $16.00? Absolutely. This is my favorite of all three of the Grand Croupier offerings. I will buy it again...next time, it will be a full pound instead of the paltry four ounces I currently have on hand. .

An intrepid English lover's secret treasure. To review a pot-luck blend is necessarily highly subjective, but I find Boneyard to be fairly consistent from bag to bag. It is typically a peppery, leathery, sweet smoke with a real kick. I detect a lot of different leaf there but mostly Latakia (Cyprian?), dark-fired Kentucky (Burley and/or true Kentucky), Perique, dark Virginia (not seeing or tasting a lot of bright Virginia), and even Black Cavendish. I may miss the mark on a couple of these, but that's my guess at the basic mix. It is strong in flavor and nicotine level. Very close to Dunhill Nightcap. Smoke this one on a full tummy or you'll start spinning. A great after-dinner or evening settle-in smoke. I recommend ensuring proper hydration and then sealing and cellaring a pound or two, but it is great right out of the bag. For the budget-minded: It is a total steal. Stock up before they run the popularity numbers and jack up the price!

Okay, as I understand this it's a bit of a lucky draw....well, I have been lucky then. The contents of the bag I received had a lovely smell, cut tobacco and random larger chunks of all sorts. This made lighting a little tricky but once lit the bowl smoked nice and clean all the way to the bottom. This Boneyard is a well selected and mixed blend with a strong Latakia accent, not based on Latakia but rather a great English mixture with the right amount of Lat to spice it all up. To me this blend is pretty complex in flavours and can easily compete with other tobaccos twice the price. Ordered some more!

Comprised of bag endings and possibly even floor sweepings, this unreasonably good tobacco blend is a hodge podge of various English leftovers. While it's never the same blend twice, it seems to be consistently great. What I received was a mix of every component listed in the ingredients as well as a relatively heavy dose of Latakia. The result is pure deliciousness and at $20 per pound.

Wow what can you say about 16.00 a pound.This is the best deal in America.All high quality tobacco smokes like a dream.Also part of the charm is the variety of cut mix of various tobaccos.Coming from someone who is a Byzantium snob this I highly recommend this.Hopefully it will be available in future .Jar some up today!

I'm not going to go on social media and sound the trumpet for this blend because I don't want it to be perpetually sold out. I bought a pound of Boneyard on IPSD and was so pleased with it that I immediately ordered two more pounds, only two pounds because that was all that left in stock at the time. I'm anxious to see how it is when it acquires some age. At this price, I can easily cellar a good portion of every pound I purchase, and compare the various "vintages" in a year, two years, or more. The tobacco is high quality, just what we expect from Cornell & Diehl. My first pound had all the flavor profiles that I look for in an English or a Balkan blend, just not in the usual proportions. Since it's an ever-changing blend there is no point in trying to describe particular tastes, but I can see a good percentage of flake, sparkling with sugar crystals so, it's a good Virginia, and the Latakia is lighter than I prefer, but it's certainly there as are some spicy Orientals.

I don't find much Latakia in there. The bulk note is sweet and woody, accompanying with some smokey aroma. Comes with ribbon, broken flake, cut plugs and other coarse cuts.

When smoking: No bite, pretty smooth and creamy; medium body with not much refinement or delicateness.

Very good Oriental forward English blend. Considering the price, it is a four-star blend (16 bucks for one pound).

Dominated by the Latakia with a touch of Oriental, it got a little punch in it, if you want some vitamin N, this fits the bill. Lacking a little bit of refinement, but of course, it is a matter of personal taste! Nice for the evening! Absolutely no complaint for the price I paid!

3.5 out of 5