In this video, Jeremy Reeves, Head Blender of Cornell & Diehl, discusses a category of blends that may have an image problem with some pipe smokers, and that is Aromatics. Stay on the lookout for a new Small Batch blend, coming soon, inspired by the concept of a midnight forest in bloom.

[Jeremy Reeves]: I think Aromatics are oddly divisive, but I wanted to talk about some of the Aromatics in the Cornell & Diehl line that I think are particularly nice, that first showcase the tobacco and that the flavors that are used aid and support that flavor, but the tobacco is at the forefront of these blends.

Challenges with Aromatics

In blending Aromatics, there are a few challenges associated with it. Not just the concoction of the blend, where I really want the tobacco to be first and foremost, in most instances, but in actually making Aromatic tobaccos, one of the big aspects is it really takes a lot of time once you've applied your top note for the tobacco to soak it in. Then you have a long time waiting for it to slowly dry down to a moisture level that we can put into a tin, and that you'll find easy to smoke straight out of that tin.

A lot of times we're working with flavors that are really concentrated. As a blender, every tobacco table that you're working on has different aromas and leaf textures. Aromatics can follow you around as it gets on your clothes or work apron. Every once in a while, walking through the building, I'll actually catch a whiff of chocolate or a cherry note, and the doors are all closed. Walking through the stock shelves at Smokingpipes, I can tell when someone's walked through there from C&D because they've left a perfume trail behind them. It's fun.

Aromas Matching the Seasons

Certain smells from Aromatic tobaccos are appealing because they can take you to certain memories or settings, even if it's not actually a direct memory, and make you think of a concept, place, or type of weather. I think they're really tied, in some people's minds, to seasons. It's why every year for a Christmas blend we have a different Aromatic that we bring out that is really focused on aromas of the season that I think are really evocative of that time of year.

Autumn Evening

Autumn Evening is perfectly suited to a fall or autumn smoke; not that you couldn't smoke it any time of year, but there is something campfire-cozy feeling with Autumn Evening. Most of you have definitely heard of this, if not smoked it. I think that it is one of the truest Aromatics to its aroma that I've ever tasted. It truly tastes like it smells.

The thing with Aromatics that I think is really important is that sometimes people smell a tobacco blend and then they don't find that same taste, and that can be for a few reasons. At least in the Cornell & Diehl line and the way we think about Aromatic tobaccos, the tobacco blend is put together first and then the Aromatic topping is crafted around the flavor profile of those tobaccos themselves. In the case of Autumn Evening, it is a Red Virginia. It's the same Red Virginia that we use in lots of other blends, but we've used it here to steam into a Red Virginia Cavendish.

That Cavendishing process does a few things. One, it caramelizes the sugars, which gives you a darker leaf, and two, it makes that tobacco more absorbent of flavors around it. The flavor and nicotine impact of that Red Virginia are present, and the maple, caramel, scotch, and vanilla that are on top just accentuate the natural, deep, molasses-y sweetness that this Virginia has.

Black Gold Maple

Moving on to Black Gold Maple. It's a wonderful amalgam of Virginias, Burleys, and a touch of Black Cavendish. Black Cavendish is, in this case, made from a Burley base, and again, it's used in Aromatics a lot of times because it's very absorbent of flavor. It also is a flavor diluter, or spreader, so it can actually take flavors of tobaccos around it, meld them together, and smooth them out. It's like adding flour to a roux to make a sauce more sticky; there's more palate stick.

The Black Cavendish with some Burley and Virginia offer some nice nuttiness and citric kind of notes, and then on top of it, a wonderful maple flavor. It too, I think, has a very evocative maple flavor, but the tobaccos are still the thrust of the blend.

Cross-Eyed Cricket

This next one is a weird one for some: Cross-Eyed Cricket. It is an English Aromatic, meaning that it has Latakia and it is an Aromatic blend. It also has Black Cavendish and some Perique. It is a robust blend that has a really nice smoky character from Latakia that actually plays nicely with the fruit punch aromatic topping that we've put on top. The fruitiness really draws out some of the sweeter notes in the Latakia, and it also accentuates some of those berry notes and deep stone fruit notes that you get from the Perique. Cross-Eyed Cricket is a bit of a sleeper blend, but I think it is absolutely excellent, and we're starting to see other people pick up on it too.

King Cake

Next, King Cake, as in all of our other Aromatics, was a blend that I put together of Virginia, Oriental, and Perique. I started with the base blend and found the structure of the blend that I wanted to showcase, and then added to that some rum, maple, and walnut in proportions that actually worked with and accentuated the flavors that the Virginia, the Oriental, and the Perique were bringing to the mix. It is, again, a robust blend, very tobacco-forward, has a lovely aroma, and it ages beautifully. There's also sometimes a misconception out there that no Aromatic will age; That's not necessarily true.

It's true if the tobacco is completely coated in something like propylene glycol as a humectant, but if you're using natural food-grade flavors in small quantities on natural tobacco, those sugars in the flavors are just more sugar to go through the fermentation process with the rest of the tobaccos in the blend.

I love the way that King Cake is fresh, but it really cellars nicely, and I've got some in my cellar now that I've occasionally enjoyed, and man, it's nice stuff. I really enjoy it.

Nutty Irishman

Lastly is Nutty Irishman. Like Autumn Evening, it almost needs no introduction. If you are a savvy pipe smoker, you've probably come across Nutty Irishman. It is, again, a blend base of Virginia, Burley, and Black Cavendish, and then the sauce that we've added on top is reminiscent of, say, Irish cream. There's some whiskey there. There's some walnut there. It's quite complex, actually. It has a bunch of different tiny amounts of flavors that go into making that sauce. The aroma is wonderful out of the tin, and the flavor is sweet, nutty, and lightly boozy, but also rich in tobacco flavor.

C&D's Aromatics

These are just a few of the Aromatics in the C&D line that I personally really enjoy smoking, and I hope that this gives you some ideas of blends that you might not have otherwise tried that maybe you'd give a shot. Just be sure and take note that a proper, slow smoking cadence is the best way to actually get the flavor that is there so that you're not just burning off those top notes and only tasting char. To actually experience the blend, you really need to slow down and be methodical in your smoking. But I think it's rewarding if you do so. I hope you'll go and enjoy some of these in the future!