Recently I had the chance to chat about the new edition of Cornell & Diehl's Small Batch: From Beyond, now available on-site, in a roundtable discussion with Alan Britt, Steve Mawby, and special guest, Jeremy Reeves. We hope you enjoy this style of content as well as the 2025 iteration of From Beyond.

[Andy Wike]: We're smoking the 2025 edition of Cornell & Diehl's Small Batch: From Beyond today, and we're very fortunate and grateful to have Jeremy Reeves here.

[Jeremy Reeves]: Of course.

[Steve Mawby]: Is 2025 the third run of this?

[JR]: That's a great question. I think the first time we did this was just as an exclusive for the Chicago show in 2019. This might be the fourth.

[SM]: Okay. I didn't know the lore went that deep. I think the first commercial release was in 2021. I know we did it in 2023 and now for 2025.

The Background of From Beyond

[AW]: It's a really good blend. I think it's interesting because all of us admittedly don't smoke that many English blends, including Jeremy, so the fact that this is not only an English blend but it's a Small Batch English blend is pretty cool, incorporating all the Small Batch ethos. It's C&D flexing its creative muscles and trying something new, and I remember when you first developed this recipe, Jeremy, you were chasing the experience of a vintage tin of Nightcap.

[JR]: Yeah, it was an old painted top tin in the range of 30 years old. I was really digging it and had this idea to recreate this flavor profile, not by matching the quantities of the specific tobaccos in a blend but trying to use the tobaccos available to me at Cornell & Diehl to replicate the experience I had from that singular tin.

[Alan Britt]: Where did you come across a super vintage tin of Nightcap?

[JR]: At the Chicago show, actually.

[AB]: For those of you who haven't attended a pipe show, like Vegas, Muletown, Chicago, or the others, there are a lot of giving individuals there with old tobacco and you are very likely to smoke something as cool as a really vintage tin of Nightcap. That's just another reason to get out there, support the community, and attend pipe shows.

[SM]: Andy, like you mentioned, we are not English smokers. I think this blend is interesting because there's enough of the Latakia presence here that if you are an English smoker, you'll like this. But it's also just so complex. There's so many other things going on that even if you're like myself, not an English smoker, you can still dig this blend. The Latakia just blends in with everything.

Jeremy, can you tell us a little bit about the blend? What went into it?

[JR]: The reason we age tobacco is because it develops all these weird, transient aromas and flavors that don't stick around. They're volatile. It's the stuff that's happened when the tobacco is compacted in an airtight environment, and when you introduce oxygen, it's the beginning of the death of it all. So everything you're experiencing is that last gasp of it, basically, which makes opening and sharing an old tin really special.

In that pursuit of trying to match this flavor profile, a lot of what I was trying to do was use tobaccos that had really vibrant aromas and give you the sense of that really ethereal flavor.

In doing so, I used a lot of Oriental. I think probably more Oriental than is in Nightcap but it's because Orientals really engage the nasal cavity. So much of the flavor is there. Whereas Burley, you feel that at the back of your palate, or Virginias, you tend to notice at the tip of your tongue.

[AW]: That's so interesting. I feel like we talk about that topic a lot with cigars, like where in your mouth do you feel the flavor? I don't think I've really taken that same approach with pipe tobacco, but that's a really good point. Orientals are far more nasal.

[AB]: The retrohale on this is incredible. Like Steve was saying, it's a complex blend, but I think balanced is how I would best describe it. There is sweetness and this floral, herbal spice from the Orientals, and nothing is out of whack. Everything is harmonious.

[JR]: Everything in this blend is at least three years old. The youngest tobacco in it is three years old in this particular iteration. Then we have this old Latakia that we got our hands on from 2004. This is the first time that I'm really using truly vintage tobacco. Everything else, like whenever we're using it, like three-to-five years is where we try and keep things for the most part. Every once in a while, there's an outlier. This is the first time that's ever been done in From Beyond.

That vintage breaks the main idea of the blend but stays in pursuit of the flavor of a vintage tin because aging in a bale is not the same as aging in a tin. It's just mellowing. It contributes so much more to the softness of that smoky character.

[SM]: And this blend is very smooth. I think soft is a good word for it.

[AB]: I believe I saw a quote from Jeremy where you stated that it tastes like nighttime in the woods, and that's super accurate.

I'm a big lover of the Old Ones series, and I think it ties in perfectly with that. When you initially blended this, did you plan on it being a part of the Old Ones or did that kind of happen from the flavor profile?

[JR]: I can't remember. When I was working on it, this was just like a "Jeremy Reeves against himself" challenge, like, can this be done? From there it was considering how to describe it.

[AW]: It is like an impossible task that you set out to achieve, though. There's this super old tin of Nightcap that has a very distinct experience that you have to enjoy within the first couple days of opening the tin and trying to recreate that at scale seems really hard from only one tin.

[JR]: It was fun. That's so much of the fun about cooking, like going to a restaurant, having something, and then trying to figure out how to recreate it. It was the same idea, just using the tobaccos at hand to create the flavor and experience that you're looking for instead of thinking rigidly about how this tobacco style gets blended or blending components being used in specific quantities.

[AW]: What I find really interesting about Small Batch, as an overall project, is that it's a way for C&D to flex its creative muscles. Whether we're talking about cigars or pipes or whatever, I feel like, historically, consistency has been prioritized over kind of everything. What's something we could replicate and it tastes very identical over time. It's so cool how Small Batch has become just more than the sum of its parts.

This is not the first time we've released From Beyond, but this is a unique expression of this blend that is exclusive to this year. We can see that in Sun Bear. We can see that in Carolina Red Flake. All of these blends have taken on their own identities every year that we release them. Grades change because there's only a certain amount of tobacco in the world and there's access to different leaves in different moments.

Seeing the identity of these blends also evolving with your identity as a blender has been really interesting. I feel like you're constantly challenging yourself to make it a little better next time. It's constant iteration, which I think is really cool.

2025's Edition of From Beyond

[SM]: Speaking of that, can you tell us what is different about this one as far as varietals and grades?

[JR]: Last time we did From Beyond, we would've been using Oriental from 2013 and 2018. That was what we were using at the time. Now we are using Orientals from 2019 and 2022. The Bright Virginia was from 2019, if memory serves. The Latakia was Turkish, which is also present here in cooperation with that 2004 but the Turkish Latakia crop probably would've been from 2020. Then, the Dark Burley component has probably changed a little bit. We're still using the 2014 Dark Burley that we've been using for a long time but also using it in combination with some from 2018 and 2022. And the Perique crop year would've been 2020, but it still was 31 Farms St. James Parish. The crop year is different this year, but the producer is the same.

[AB]: What I've found is that the Perique is obviously prominent on the palate, and that spice comes through, but it can play different roles in blends. Specifically, in some blends, you get this umami, blue cheesy kind of funk whereas in this blend, I definitely get that stereotypical plum or stone fruit flavor. That fermented quality is so present in the tin note. That was the first thing I noticed, and as a Perique lover, I really dug it.

[AW]: Yeah, I think I forgot how noticeable the Perique is in this blend.

[SM]: It's gotten more noticeable as I've worked through this one.

[AB]: But it's still harmonious and plays in tune with everything else.

English Blend Discussion

I have a tobacco philosophy question, Jeremy. Maybe you can end the age-old tobacco debate. What do you classify a Scottish blend as?

[JR]: In general, I don't really subscribe to all of the labels. I don't think that's the way we should think about flavors. Sticking things in a box is not the best way to get the most out of the experience.

[SM]: Jeremy has evolved beyond your question.

[JR]: What are the delineations that we typically think of in English? When I say Balkan, one person's gonna think that means a super heavy English and another person is gonna say, the Balkan region is where we get Orientals, so it would be a blend that is balanced more toward showcasing the Oriental and the Virginia with the Latakia in the background.

[SM]: So there's Balkans and there's sparkling English blends.

[JR]: With Scottish, some people think it's an English blend that includes Black Cavendish. Some people think Perique. Then there's also considerations to be made about Virginia. For example, if some of it has been stoved, is that also a Cavendish component? I think that I would rather think of it in terms of a Latakia blend or a Perique-forward blend. The question is, is it a Virginia/Perique if there's anything else in there? To me, that depends on the percentage and how much of a role it plays.

[SM]: And how prominent it is when you're actually smoking it.

[AB]: I'm a big fan of the Va/Per/Ors, which feels dumb to say, so I just say Va/Pers with extra stuff. Like a little Black Cav.

[AW]: That's a good point, Jeremy. Even the term English is broad. Lots of folks in the community would associate English with Latakia, but then the other half would associate English with just non-cased, non-flavored tobacco, and there's simply tobacco that is from England, right?

[SM]: There's also blends that have Latakia that a lot of people don't consider English or that we don't categorize as English blends.

[AW]: Yeah, that sort of bothers me too. I think because Latakia is such a prominent, noticeable, and distinguishable flavor, we as pipe smokers think that anything that has Latakia in it is an English blend.

[AB]: Bankside from G.L. Pease, for example. I would classify it as a Virginia blend with a literal pinch of Latakia.

[JR]: There's also Laurel Heights and Lombard. Both of those play in the same realm where it's just a whisper of Latakia. Fillmore as well.

[AB]: I think we smoked Bankside on the Mystery Review, and I remember being perplexed at what a pinch of Latakia can do to a Virginia blend. It's good stuff.

[SM]: Yeah, I think so often it's used as the main focus of English blends that people forget that it can also be a very good condimental component as well.

[AW]: Even something like Samuel Gawith Navy Flake. There's not that much Latakia added, but it's more than you would think. I get like smoked meats from it. I'll smoke it in an Old Dominion cob and it's just a very nostalgic experience for me.

[AB]: I like that this turned into tobacco philosophy.

New Tin Art & The Old Ones

What do you think about the new tin artwork, Jeremy?

[JR]: I love it. I think it really is an appropriate reinterpretation of the label artwork to go along with how I was thinking about From Beyond. The image is just really cool. It's spooky and really creepy.

[SM]: It's fitting for October.

[JR]: It is definitely Halloween focused and an honorary member of the Old Ones series while also being Small Batch.

[AB]: Everyone knows I love my Mad Fiddler Flake. It's like a sequel to the Mad Fiddler artwork. You have your tentacles on the Mad Fiddler, and then this is the final boss. The big shebang. I look at From Beyond as the highlight in the Old Ones series. I'm basically the ambassador for this series, unofficially. Innsmouth as well.

I smoke all three of those regularly and just everything in this series. Visions of Celephaïs is insane. It's an experience that, in my opinion, you can't get in any other pipe tobacco, which I think makes it super special. Dreams of Kadath is also a super unique experience, and I think From Beyond also fits in that category.

[AW]: I feel like the Old Ones is a very interesting series. They're all reinterpretations of classic blend types, but there's always a little something there that you wouldn't find anywhere else. It's so unique. Celephaïs is just unlike anything else.

[AB]: As crazy as it sounds, I get like wine and buttered popcorn. It viscerally puts me in a state of mind of being drunk off wine in a movie theater, watching spooky movies. I love the Old Ones series.

[JR]: It's cool to hear that these super weird blends have struck folks. I wanted to try to capture Lovecraftian ideas. Weird stories are the jumping off point and then trying to blend around that and trying to make something that's good but odd.

[AW]: Every blend has a little discordance and eerieness, as if there's something amiss. It's always very subtle. There's something a little other worldly.

[AB]: It takes a little bit of an adventurous spirit for people to buy them. Your guy who smokes Orlik and only Orlik, that's perfectly fine but I don't think that those are the blends that guy is gonna buy. It's a really rewarding experience, I think, for those who want to venture outside the box and, say, hey, I like Va/Pers but I want to try something a little different.

[SM]: Yeah, and really, how many blends out there have Virginia, Burley, Oriental, Latakia, and Perique? There's a lot of unique stuff going on here.

[AB]: I always like to think that I bond with Jeremy and our love for spooky things, and this definitely speaks to that, for me.

From Beyond Flavor Notes

[AW]: As far as what it actually tastes like, it is very woody and I think there is sweetness but it isn't the first thing that comes to mind. There's definitely a foundational background sweetness that props up everything. I get a lot of tangy, herbaceous flavors. It's really nice.

[SM]: It tastes spooky. It takes like nighttime. I'm getting some wine.

[AW]: Yeah, there's a really nice kick of Perique, like stewed fruits, and a mulled wine kind of a vibe.

[AB]: The Oriental is so forward for me, and as someone who loves those types of tobacco, that's what's singing to me. It's just that incense-like quality, with some warming spices, and the tickle on the retrohale. I think those who like Oriental-type tobaccos or Oriental-forward tobaccos, this is something you should try, for sure.

[SM]: I'm getting some sourdough.

[AW]: I can see that. Some pumpernickel.

[JR]: A lot of the tartness is an interplay between the Bright Virginia and the Orientals. With the Burleys, Perique, and Latakia being a little more mellow in the smokiness, it gives me the same experience as flourless chocolate cake. There's a difference between milk chocolate and a flourless chocolate cake where it's so dense, dark, and you really just have to savor these little bites. It's that same profile, but around something like wine. It's a super condensed sort of experience of something like wine.

Pipe Choices For From Beyond

[AW]: Since I know we're gonna get asked, do you wanna talk about what pipes we're enjoying From Beyond in today?

[JR]: I am smoking a Moonshine Hillbilly with the leather sandblast and the white stem. I'm definitely chasing that seven-day set of Hillbillies.

[AW]: They're the perfect size. I am smoking the 2024 Pipe of the Year from Peterson. It's a really cool Rhodesian shape that I love that Giacomo designed.

[SM]: I love that Pipe of the Year.

[JR]: Yeah, and I love the line at the bottom of the pipe. That is just so elegant.

[AW]: It's still insane to me that this shape isn't from the 1896 catalog. It looks like a patent pipe. It has a nice, wide chamber on it. I thought it'd be good for this blend, specifically.

[AB]: I'm smoking what has become my go-to English pipe, a little orangey-stained Pot from our good friend, Pete Prevost. I tried to smoke Virginia in this for a long time and I just felt like I wasn't getting what I wanted, so I finally bent to the pipe's will and tried Latakia in it and I was like, this is what the pipe wants.

[AW]: Sometimes the pipe chooses the blend.

[SM]: I got my sandblasted Alexander Hasty Billiard. It's one of my dedicated English pipes. I'm a big fan of his pipe style.

[AB]: Happy birthday to Hasty. The young man just turned 31, I believe, and he celebrated with some BriarWorks Back Down South, which is a personal favorite of mine. A man of good taste.

[AW]: Yeah, it's a good one.

Thank you all for tuning in. This is a new video style that we're trying, so be sure to leave us a comment and let us know what you think of this format. We'd like to do this sort of thing for new releases, but also some of our favorites, like everyday staples that we reach for a lot.

I think this is something that we could have Jeremy on again, multiple times in the future, or maybe some other special guests. We're really looking forward to seeing how this evolves. I hope that you guys have enjoyed it at home and let us know if you'll be picking up a tin of C&D's Small Batch: From Beyond. Also let us know what you think of the new artwork and if you're excited about 2025's edition. We're always looking for feedback, so thank you.