Cornell & Diehl Golden Days of Yore

Well, i usually don't care for aromatics but i was looking for a Christmas mixture and watched the C&D's Youtube video so I decided to give it a try. When i opened the tin the tin note was very light. Thanks to dixcreek's review i poured the tin content into a jar and left the jar in my shelf for two weeks. When i opened the jar the tin note was stronger. I could smell the rum and hints of other sauce components.

The tobacco smells delicious and natural. It burns well and don't overheat easily. I experienced no tongue bite. You can taste sweet-sour taste of Turkish tobacco and tangy Virginias. The burley gives body to the mixture and aromatic casing doesn't overwhelm the tobacco taste, just complements.

I finished the 2oz tin and hoarded an 8 oz one. I am wondering if aging will improve this already delicious aromatic.

Every year Cornell & Diehl (as well as many others) invent a special blend of tobaccos for Christmas, celebrating the occasion. In 2015, they released "Golden Days of Yore," a blend of red and golden Virginia with additions of burley, Kentucky smoked tobacco, some Orientals from Turkey, and black Cavendish. Seemingly nothing special? But add to that the unique complex flavoring and you get something incomparable. Happily, the manufacturer continued to release it after this holiday. I got about 50 grams of tobacco to try from a 227g jar of the 2016 release. I opened this can myself, so I immediately felt a very complex and interesting flavor: cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger played at once, like the smell of gingerbread. I know this combination well, because when my wife makes muffins, so I mix these very ingredients and spices for them every time. Added to that was the bready flavor of Virginia, a little bit of Kentucky smoke, a fruity note of Cavendish, and on the far side came rum and chocolate. I can't say anything about the presence of licorice - I didn't feel it, although I don't like licorice at all. The flavor was indeed very complex, but also very calm. The tobacco was sliced in ribbons of the same size. The different varieties were well identified: there were few Burleys, and Kentucky, Orientals and Cavendish were almost lost in the mass of Virginia - so few of them were there.

I stuffed a small pipe, rested after the aromatics, and smoked. The tobacco seemed sweet, with a distinct flavor of the same ingredients: bread Virginia, some smoked Kentucky, a fruity, heady note of cavendish, slightly bitter nutmeg, a hint of cinnamon and ginger. As it burned, the bitterness went away and rum notes emerged. I quickly ran out of tobacco, so I decided I hadn't tasted it.

So I filled another, larger pipe. I was surprised when in the bigger pipe the tobacco took on a different color: the nutty flavor and spicy oriental notes appeared, while the taste became more complex and richer. Rum and chocolate were immediately noticeable, while nutmeg and ginger took second place, complementing the taste of tobacco. The tobacco flavor reminded me of something very familiar that I smoked a long time ago.

The strength of the tobacco was clearly below average. I easily finished the second pipe. The tobacco smoked cool, didn't go out, left almost no moisture. The pipe after it is dry, but for a while smells like a nut, this is worth considering.

The smoke from the tobacco is persistent, the smell is pleasant - the same Virginia bread smell, quite bright nuttiness from the burley and spice.

I really liked this blend, although it's obviously not for every day and not for every pipe - in small pipes to feel it in its entirety, most likely, you can't. I wish I could remember what it tastes like, but I'm sure I'll take a jar of it as part of my collection on occasion.

Great tin art. Tin note is mild. Somewhat pleasant. I can’t make out any specifics, maybe the ginger and liquor. Tobacco is quite dry and smokable right out of the tin with a few min dry time. The black canvendish is pretty hard and dry, and there’s some large chunks of it mixed in. The first 1/3 of the bowl is quite enjoyable. The topping is flavorful enough to keep me interested, but not overpowering. Again, I can’t pick out specific flavors except possibly an orange liquor and a soft pine note. Maybe some ginger. At the half way point the topping has gone flat. I just get a mild burley taste that reminds me of a OTC blend, with the topping way in the background. Almost undetectable at this point. I was hoping that the true tobacco flavors would take over near the end of the bowl. No such luck. I love C&D Kentucky tobaccos. I didn’t get any of that in this blend unfortunately. The smoke ended very mild with that pine and orange ginger note only on the retro now. The room note and aftertaste was nice. Overall, just a very mild blend. Not offensive, but not impressive. 1.5 stars.

Egg nog, the tin note on opening definitely gives me the impression of Egg nog. By the way Egg nog is one of my favorite things. I got this as a gift in December 2016 and enjoyed several bowls. I then jarred and have smoked it occasionally since then. The note in the jar is even more pronounced after 15 months of aging. There's nutmeg, vanilla, whiskey, cocoa. It's quite the melange and they do all come to the fore on the smoke. And everything works well together, in addition to the topping, there are moments when the tobacco flavor comes to the front. The room note definitely has a holiday feel to it.

Typically a C&D fan, but this one left me unimpressed. The casing was evident in the tin, rum, vanilla, spices...but not in the smoke. The flavor was mainly just the tobaccos used. Not what I was expecting. I love the Christmas blends, but this one won't come back to my holidays.

The tin note for this blend is full of holiday nostalgia, cinnamon and nutmeg and vanilla give you connotations of cookies and eggnog. The flavor on light and through the bowl is mostly sweetness from the virginias and creaminess from the turkish coindimental leaf.

I think a sipping on this blend slowly will yield the most flavor and limit its capacity to bite.

I think this is a fantastic blend for those that want a quality aromatic.

I really wanted to like this, but it didn't do it for me. I love Christmas blends, but this one was not at all like what I was hoping for. The tin note was amazing!!! Smelled like incredible Egg-Nog and Spiced Cider. I was excited until i took the first cold sip from the pipe. Nothing... Hmmm, I charred it and still nothing...... Then I waited until midway through the bowl, and then I got a little bit of vanilla??? But mostly I still got nothing.... I asked the friends around me for a word or two about room note, and they couldn't smell anything at all other than a bland smoke that almost smelled like cigarettes. In truth, I have yet to experiment with a C&D blend that I like. I don't recommend this blend at all, but try it if you want to based on other reviews. Update.... After aging the tin for a bit, it got slightly better, but not much, and definitely not enough to make me buy another tin.

2020 Edition

I was surprised by this one as it has a lot of tobacco flavor with the toppings playing on top. The flavoring seems to die in the 2nd half of the bowl and the orientals then take the lead.

The moisture level in the tin is perfect to light it up on arrival. Packing and lighting is easy with the ribbon cut. Tin note is stronger than the flavor comes across.

I'm enjoying the tin and will pick up a few more for the holidays to alternate with my favorite Corn Cob Pipe.

The key part of the name is "days of yore". It comes across as a very old-fashioned tobacco, very sparse on the aromatics.

The flavors I detect distinctly are a bready taste, with a hint of golden plums for sweetness, and a bit of baking spices to fill it out. From the description I was expecting a more aromatic tobacco with the spices taking a lead role, but that is not the case. On the retrohale, all the above flavors are a bit stronger. The texture of the smoke is a bit thin. I suspect that a bit of age might greatly enhance this tobacco.

I consider this to be a nice all-day tobacco for during the winter holidays, where in the evening you might perhaps switch to something richer in flavor.

The room note if very pleasant, mellow and sweet. Like someone is baking some nice baked goods for the holidays. To get the full sweetness, I find that sipping it slowly works well; if smoked fast, it can start tasting a bit ashy and unpleasant.

If you're normally smoking natural tobacco blends and want a little bit of aromatic for the holidays, this might be just right for you. If you want full-bodied, full-flavored sweetness, this might not be your cup of tea.