Samuel B.

Reviews


Lane Limited - 1-Q
Definitely has it's place
This blend is fairly moist, but smokes pretty well all things considered. The flavor is almost entirely vanilla/caramel with basically no tobacco flavor at all. That being said, the flavor is quite pleasant and not overpowering or chemically tasting. I don't really like aromatic blends as I'm very susceptible to tongue bite from them, but 1Q is pretty smooth. I see why this blend is so popular, as it's definitely one of the easiest smoking and easiest to taste aromatic, but I still prefer bolder and unflavored blends.

Cornell & Diehl - Shandygaff
The Best C&D Burley Blend
This blend is really amazing, it's my favorite of C&D's burley line up. The smoking experience is great, the bag I got was basically the perfect moisture and it requires few relights. Smoothness wise this blend is pretty middle of the road, not super smooth, but definitely not as harsh as some other burley blends. The flavor is fairly simple with a lot of depth, the burley is front and center, very nutty and bold. The oriental gives it a earthy and umami flavor, and the perique gives it just a little bit of spice; I think it's those flavors that combine into the ginger and salt flavor. I'm getting to the end of my initial 1oz order and will definitely be stocking up on this blend.

Peter Stokkebye - PS402 Luxury Twist Flake
Good but not the best PS Flake
Visually these flake are gorgeous, by far the best looking tobacco you can buy. Moisture wise these flakes are very wet, I dislike rubbing out flakes, but it's very difficult for me to smoke these flakes whole. Even after rubbing them out and drying them I still find this blend requires a more than average amount of relights. Flavor wise this blend is very nice, starting out a little sweet and some citrus acidity. As the bowl progresses I get less acidity and more earthiness and oaky/tannin flavor. Personally I do get a bit of tongue bite from this blend, but that might just be my own biology. On it's own this blend is very good, but I find myself craving and enjoying LNF and LBF a lot more.

Samuel Gawith - Chocolate Flake 50g
Interesting flavor but hard to smoke
I've probably smoked through half this tin over the last year or so. Every time I go to smoke it, I wonder why it's been so long, but it doesn't take me long to remember why. Visually the flakes look incredible, they're super dark and dense and covered in crystalized sugars. The smell is also incredible, rich, meaty and sweet. Between the smell and appearance it almost looks good enough to eat.... The flakes don't feel very wet to me, and they tend to crumble instead of folding/rolling cleanly. Stuffing it into my pipe, it was nearly impossible to get it to stay lit, I ended up emptying my pipe and letting it sit for 10-15 minutes, but even after that I found myself needing to relight every 3-5 puffs. Flavor wise this blend is very unique. I can definitely get the bitter chocolate flavor if I think about it, but to me it tastes like a strong earthy tea with a lot of honey. It's a shame to do so, but I'll probably rub out the rest of the flakes to try and improve the smoking experience. If it smoked better, I would definitely score this above average.

Cornell & Diehl - Dark Chocolate
One of the best aromatics
I don't smoke many aromatic blends anymore, but this blend is very good! I was a big fan of the "Cobblestone : Black Coffee" blend, and wanted to order more but it's no longer in production. My first impression of this blend was that it tasted exactly like the Cobblestone blend, but the more I smoke this one, the more I think this one actually tastes better. The initial light and flavor is very dark and dry, with a little bitterness. As the bowl progresses, the flavor becomes sweeter and richer, the transition is like from black coffee to fudgy brownies. It lights very easily right out of the bag and it seems impossible to get any kind of bite from it. I can see this easily becoming my go to aromatic blend, and will probably order more in the future.

Cornell & Diehl - Belmont Station
Almost Great
I didn't remember this was an aromatic until opening the bag where it was made immediately obvious. It has that syrupy texture and powerful smell that I associate with aromatics. The cut is very coarse and uneven, lots of large pieces of tobacco. Initial light up was very easy. The initial flavor was very smoky, reminiscent of a campfire; with a prominent vanilla after taste. The flavor was very monotone throughout the whole smoke, but the topping became more apparent and left an odd feeling in the back of my throat. I think this blend is trying to be somewhere between a full bodied tobacco and an intensely flavored aromatic, but I can't help but feeling it would be better without any casing at all.

Cornell & Diehl - Engine #113
A good aromatic
I'm not a huge fan of aromatics, but this one is very pleasant. I can taste the vanilla topping, but it's very much subdued and underneath the tobacco flavor. I get a surprising amount of sour and hay flavor from the Virginias, and the Burley and DFK give it some body, as well as some leather and smoky flavor. Overall the flavor is quite nice, but I found myself having to relight often and it burnt on the hotter side. Takes a bit of effort to get this to smoke and taste fully

Granger - Granger 7oz
The best OTC Codger blend
I've tried a lot of Codger blends, but something always pulls me back to Granger. I really enjoy Prince Albert, and Granger is very similar but tastes more pure and high quality. The burley taste is very nice and the topping is mild but smoothens/sweetens things up. It's a simple blend that lights well, tastes good, and smokes easy.

Kramer's - Blend for Danny Kaye
Alright, but not a fan of the topping
I'm a huge fan of Father Dempsey so I was pretty excited to try this blend. It smokes pretty well and fairly slowly. The initial taste is a very pleasant English, but I'm really not a fan of the Irish mist topping as it leaves a kind of sour/perfumey/pungent taste and off-feeling in the back of my throat. Not a bad blend by any means, but I can't see myself picking this blend as opposed to other English blends

Cornell & Diehl - Mountain Camp
Incredibly Unique
I've been trying a lot of English blends lately and this one is completely unique. The bag smell was very fruity with a little bit of sour-ness, to me it had a fired/cured kind of smell as well. Based on the smell and initial taste, I was sure there was DFK in this blend. My first smoke had a bit of bite/spiciness on the tip of my tongue, but that went away toward the middle of the bowl. First 1/3rd of the bowl was very unique, and I couldn't quite place the flavor, except for the the burley is fairly apparent. Toward the mid-end of the bowl it smoothed out and turned very meaty and leathery, and the latakia became more apparent. At the end of the bowl, there was no dottle and the ash was very grey and clean looking. I don't think this blend will join my regular rotation, but it's a nice change of pace if I want to smoke something high quality but completely unique.

Cornell & Diehl - Epiphany
Fantastic!
I'm surprised to see this blend has such poor reviews, I really enjoy it, it reminds me a lot of Nightcap, but much more pleasant. Flavor is a bit of citrus from the Virginias and a nice amount of smokiness with just a bit of spice on the retrohale. A full and bold blend that isn't uneven or too in your face. Very easy to pack and smoke, requiring few relights. Very much a no-nonsense blend, quickly becoming my favorite English

Peter Stokkebye - PS31 Optimum
An interesting blend
Opening the bag, this blend immediately hits you in the face with a smell that's something like vanilla coke. My bag was pretty moist, so I let it sit out for about an hour before packing. The smoking flavor was extremely mild, if not for the bag smell, I'm not sure I would've been able to pick out the flavor of the topping at all. The tobacco flavor is front and center, predominantly the burley; which I was not at all expecting from an aromatic, and then there's a creaminess and bit of sweetness under that. This is one of the blends I would describe as a "high quality codger", it actually reminds me a lot of Prince Albert, but mellower and harder to keep lit.

Peter Stokkebye - PS400 Luxury Navy Flake
Stands out
I very rarely find myself reaching for a blend that's predominantly virginia, I'm much more likely to reach for a burley or a balkan blend; but this blend is very enjoyable. The flakes are visually great looking, they're sliced very thin and overall are soft and probably the easiest to pack and stay lit of any flakes I've ever smoked. The flavor is very mild (and bordering on one note) but it's very good, the brightness of the Virginias is front and center, and the "sour" flavor is very well blended against the perique's spice. This is the first Virginia I have really understood, I'll definitely be stocking up on this blend

Cornell & Diehl - Old Joe Krantz
Different
I know this blend is very well received, and it has all the components I would consider great, but something about it just tastes "off" to me. I can taste the burley, a bit of tang from the perique and a bit of citrus from the virginia, but as whole they mesh in a weird way that I can't quite describe. It leaves a weird taste/feeling in the back of my mouth that I don't find pleasant at all. The closest description I can think of is earthy, bordering on dirt. That all being said, the quality of the tobaccos are obviously quite high so I'd rate this fairly average. I did find it pleasant when mixed 50/50 with some goopy aromatics, it toned the casing down and brought more of a bold/pure tobacco flavor. I probably won't be ordering more, but I plan to try the other variants.

Kramer's - Father Dempsey
Exceptionally Smooth
This might be one of the smoothest and easiest smoking blends I have ever tried. The smoke feels so soft and creamy that the mouth feel alone is enjoyable. The flavor feels perfectly balanced, there's a bit of tanginess and smokey/musty-ness that's very well complemented by a bit of sweet/citrus flavor. It's simple, flavorful, and pleasant to smoke, will definitely be stocking up on this blend.

Cornell & Diehl - Espresso
Delicious but bordering on too intense
I really enjoyed the Sutliff Cobblestone Black Coffee and have been trying lots of coffee/chocolate topped tobaccos to try and find a replacement. This is pretty close in flavor, just much more intense. There's almost no tobacco flavor, it's all chocolate and honey. It's a very nice flavor but can leave a chemically, sticky feeling in the mouth. On its own it smokes beautifully, even without drying while its still very moist and oily. The cut is very odd, almost like a grated texture. Required very few relights and produced almost no dottle. There was a bit of a sizzling sound when smoking, but absolutely no bitterness or harshness. I really think this blend would be fantastic mixed with a strong burley, or anything to knock the toppings intensity down a notch or two.

Peter Stokkebye - PS41 Cube Cut
Best of the best
This is probably one of my favorite blends, everything about it just works. The cube cut makes it easy to pack, light, and tamp throughout the smoke. The burley flavor is mild but pure and there's a subtle tang from the Virginia that works really well together. I'm still smoking through my initial 1oz sample, but even throughout the ounce it seems like it improves every smoke. Definitely worth stocking up on and aging

Cornell & Diehl - Shelbyton
Shelbyton
I'm surprised to see so many low reviews for this blend. The bag smell is very fruity/sweet with a bit of smoky and musty smell I usually get from DFK and Latakia respectively. The initial light was very easy and it only required few relights throughout the bowl, the top of the bowl was predominantly a smoky/vinegar flavor with a bit of saltiness(?), and toward the end of the bowl it shifted to slightly spicy and oaky. It smoked a little on the hot end, but was pretty mild and had no bite for me. Despite not having any components in common, this blend reminds me a lot of Shandygaff. Both of which probably wont be in my regular rotation, but are solid "different" smokes

Old German Clay - Basic Briar Petite Paneled Bulldog with Horn Stem
Nicely made, but nearly impossible to clench
I really wanted to like this pipe, the rusticating is very nice and the finish throughout is nice, especially for the price. However the stem on mine is much more "steep", when I try to clench it, it just slides down so the feeling is more of wedged against the lip of the pipe than being able to hold it securely.

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