For more than two thousand years, steam has been driving mechanical applications. The first steam device in recorded history was invented in 1st-century Alexandria and was called Hero's engine, or the aeolipile. It had no practical use aside from entertainment and experimentation. It consisted of a reservoir that when heated produced steam that exited the container via jets and spun the turbine on an axis, demonstrating that steam could be utilized to move physical objects.

It was a start that indicated the potential for steam, but we did nothing with it. A thousand years would pass before another application arose and a church organ was powered with steam, built by Pope Sylvester II, who also promoted math and astronomy, and introduced the decimal system to Europe, along with building the first clock in the year 996. The clock was not steam-powered but was still cool. After Sylvester's steam organ, steam as a power source again receded into virtual nonexistence.

In 1551, steam was employed to power a spit to automatically turn meat for cooking over a fire, a practical application at last. Things were accelerating now, and it was only 250 years later that the first steam engine was invented: In 1804, Richard Trevethick built a single-cylinder flywheel locomotive, and from there, other inventive folks improved steam engines and the 19th century saw steam admirably improving manufacturing and transportation. Steam-powered railroad engines and steamboats dominated transportation. It could be argued that steam heralded and encouraged the Industrial Revolution.

However, as important as steam was in conquering continents and providing essential modern conveniences, those attributes are insignificant in comparison to steam's most important and satisfying application, reaching the pinnacle of its potential for the advancement of humankind: Steam can improve our tobacco.

Finally, we're using steam for the power of good and its finest application has manifested at long last: Steamworks by Cornell & Diehl has arrived.

Hyperbole? Extravagance? Exaggeration? Wait till you taste it.

How Steam Improves Pipe Tobacco

"Steam provides a marriage of flavors and a softness that contributes to an irresistibly creamy mouthfeel," says Jeremy Reeves, Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl. Just as steam can smooth wrinkled clothing, it smooths tobacco flavors. Steaming helps to mute the potentially shrill notes of high-sugar-content leaf, and Steamworks is a complex blend that takes advantage of two separate steaming processes of different durations to leverage the best qualities of its components.

It could be argued that steam heralded and encouraged the Industrial Revolution.

"Steamworks is a Virginia/Oriental/Perique blend," says Jeremy, "but the components are very special. The Orientals include vintage Black Sea Sokhoum from 2005, Turkish Izmir grade AG [the most expensive grade of Oriental tobacco, from the very top of the plant and with the most pronounced aromatic complexity] from 2005, and Katerini grade AB [also from the highest and most prized stalk position], it, too, from 2006. Then we have six different steamed Virginia components and one unsteamed Virginia, plus a decent little dash of 31 Farms' Perique. I think the blend is delightfully nuanced, and it's especially slow-burning, an attribute that provides the most condensed and enjoyable release of flavors."

Jeremy experienced the slow-burning properties of this blend during the normal course of work one day. "I was smoking one of the prototypes for Steamworks," he says. "I am definitely a slower smoker than a lot of folks, so I was barely keeping it lit, and someone came into my office with their son, so I set down my pipe and went over and talked with them. When I got back up a few minutes later and picked up my pipe, it was still lit. I've never had that happen. Usually, because I smoke so slowly, when I set my pipe down I expect it to go out within 10 or 15 seconds. But this stayed lit just enough that when I put it to my lips, it came right back to life. It was about seven minutes or so. This stuff burns really slowly."

The Components That Make Steamworks Unique

The reason for the different steaming durations is for consistency of flavor. "Two Virginias are steamed together for a longer time, and four are steamed together for a shorter time," says Jeremy. "The black-leaf portion, which is steamed longer to get that color, is from a Virginia-grown Virginia from 2017 and a grade of tips and leaf that range from Orange to Orange/Red to Lemon, grown in NC in 2019."

The four Virginias steamed to a lesser degree include a Red Virginia from North Carolina grown in 2021, an Orange Virginia grown in North Carolina in 2020; a North Carolina Orange and Orange/Red Virginia from 2019; and a Georgia-grown Orange Virginia from 2019.

we have six different steamed Virginia components and one unsteamed Virginia

The one unsteamed Virginia component is the same Georgia-grown leaf and is particularly important. "When you steam tobacco that has a high sugar content, you remove some of its natural sweetness. Its brightness and vibrancy are toned down but including some unsteamed leaf drives that sweetness back up a notch. You still have the steaming effect with significant mellowness for the majority, but with Steamworks, the unsteamed Georgia leaf bolsters the original sweetness and takes it to the next level."

Different Virginias have different flavor profiles, and blending different styles of Virginias can create a very pronounced and nuanced, individualistic Virginia flavor. As can be imagined, a tobacco of this complexity takes considerable time to develop, even when knowing, as Jeremy does, the flavors of each component and how they interact.

Expertise is Necessary for Blending Steamed Components

"We went through many iterations," says Jeremy. "I don't know how many prototypes we went through, but it took several weeks because when you steam, you're adding a lot of moisture, and afterward, it needs to be dried back down to a moisture level that can be handled and blended and pressed. After pressing and cutting it into flakes, it has to be dried down again to a moisture level that could go into a tin, which takes considerable time, so it required weeks for us just to process the leaf necessary for this tobacco."

with Steamworks, the unsteamed Georgia leaf bolsters the original sweetness

With the Virginia components working as they should, Jeremy began developing the characteristics of the Orientals. "The lovely thing about vintage Orientals, and especially Orientals of this particular age — two of them just shy of 20 years old — is the vibrant, natural aromatic characteristics that Orientals have but toned down to become more subtle and deep. They possess a really individual character. Younger Orientals tend to be very vibrant in their aroma and very pronounced in their flavors, while the older leaf that we're using here is more subdued and rounded on the edges and softer in Oriental perfume. So, it worked well in conjunction with the steamed leaf. The components melded very nicely."

While it took some experimentation, the three Orientals in Steamworks are provided in equal parts, with no single Oriental taking precedence. "The aged Orientals have a pronounced mellowness, and they taste vintage; they taste like something well-aged and special. The sweetness is there, but it is deepened and more complex, and the aromatic qualities are there, but they are subdued, more nuanced, and less strident. You have the sense that you're coaxing flavor out of the blend instead of it jumping out and dramatically making itself known. There's something about these vintage Orientals that is mysterious and distinct, like the difference between a well-aged Bordeaux and that same Bordeaux when it's fresh, before its prime."

What Jeremy found surprising about his blend was the character of the Georgian leaf from 2019 and its pronounced sweetness. "It's really pleasant to smoke straight, but I can't smoke a big bowl of it because it is so concentratedly sweet that it can almost become cloying. In one of the earlier iterations, I used a larger portion of that leaf in the steamed component, thinking that it would impart a greater degree of sweetness to the end product. I was surprised to realize that when we steamed it, it diminished the overall sweetness of the blend more than I expected, even though I was using a larger quantity of this particular leaf in the steamed mix. So I experimented with using a portion of it unsteamed in the blend, and it really didn't take very much. A little over 10 percent of that unsteamed leaf was enough to drive the sweetness back up."

The Overall Flavor Profile of Steamworks

Steamworks provides a smoking experience that is most noticeably mellow with a creamy and smooth mouthfeel, and naturally sweet. There are no flavorings to modify the natural tobacco. "There are different varieties of sweetness," says Jeremy. "Some of it is tart sweetness, citrusy. Some of it is more akin to the deep, satisfying sweetness of bourbon and molasses. The sweet aspects are delivered from many directions: the steamed leaf has plenty of sugar in it, just a little less pronounced, and the vintage Orientals contribute considerable sweet character."

Younger Orientals tend to be very vibrant in their aroma and very pronounced in their flavors, while the older leaf that we're using here is more subdued and rounded

This blend leverages the attributes of tobacco to deliver a natural sweetness completely different from that of some Aromatics that depend on cloying candy toppings. "I find it to be very noticeably sweet, right from the first light," says Jeremy. "Sometimes, with Virginias, it takes the bowl cooling down a little bit before you settle into the sweetness, and here, it's front and center as soon as you light your pipe. The burn is remarkably cool and slow. It's easy to light, and it's very easy to keep lit."

Steamworks provides an impressive volume of dense, savory, comfortable smoke. "It feels almost as if the smoke has weight," says Jeremy. "It has a mouthfeel that is simultaneously creamy and a little spicy, and those attributes work together without contradiction. There's a sort of cinnamon-spice attribute that's especially noticeable in the nose. For anyone smoking Steamworks, it should be very clear that there is no flavoring whatsoever used in any part of this blend." These are natural, high-grade tobaccos uniquely complementing one another to provide a smoking experience similar to but more profoundly natural than those offered by Aromatic blends. It is multi-dimensional as well, evolving and expanding in character as it's smoked.

"Multiple interesting flavor changes develop throughout the bowl," says Jeremy. "Spicy qualities ease in and out of the profile from the Perique, and it projects tea-like characteristics from the Orientals, while the Virginias offer everything from fruity to meaty to dark rye bread aspects, all held together by a buttery mouthfeel and a really wonderful sweetness."

Steaming opens the pores of the tobacco, providing more surface area at the micro-level to maintain an easy burn without overheating, and also helping the blend to deliver thicker, more fluid, and more flavor-rich smoke. This attribute does not arrive without caution, however. "You don't want to over-dry it," says Jeremy. "If it's over-dried, the pores will close, making it difficult to light and to keep lit." It can be dried to less than the original tin humidity, but for those who like their tobaccos on the crunchy-dry side, this may be a blend to avoid drying quite so much. "It takes a lot of careful attention to the moisture content when blending," says Jeremy. "You don't want it over-dry because the pores will be difficult to open again, resulting in a loss of flavor and less ease of smoking."

The burn is remarkably cool and slow

Steamworks Will Appeal to a Variety of Tastes

A singularly individualistic tobacco, Steamworks still possesses characteristics that are recognizable for those wondering if they might like to try it. "I would unreservedly recommend this tobacco," says Jeremy, "for those who enjoy aged Virginias, Va/Pers, and Virginia/Orientals. If you're a fan of Bijou, if you're a fan of John Marr, if you're a fan of Carolina Red Flake with Perique, if you're a fan of Sun Bear, I would definitely advocate for this blend. If you enjoy English-style tobaccos, there's a lot here to find appealing — I think that the character of the Orientals harkens to the way Orientals are used in many of Germain's products and a number of Samuel Gawith's blends. I think that if you're a fan of Full Virginia Flake, this is probably something for you, as well as for anyone interested in sweeter tobaccos. If you gravitate to Aromatics, there's a lot of compelling sweetness to this blend and a lot of really interesting nuance and flavor that will satisfy that preference and satisfy it all day long. The nicotine level is medium, and it has a very deep flavor without being at all overpowering. It can easily be an all-day smoke."

there's a lot of compelling sweetness to this blend and a lot of really interesting nuance

A stunningly complicated blend to develop and manufacture, Small Batch: Steamworks is easy to smoke, smooth and creamy on the palate, and delivers a multitude of flavors to maintain long-term interest. Should you decide to give it a try, this artisanal tobacco will be available Tuesday, May 7, at 6:00 p.m. ET.