I had the opportunity to sit down with Jeremy Reeves, Head Blender of Cornell & Diehl, to talk about something super special: 2024's edition of Warped Scarecrow.

[Andy Wike]: I know a lot of you guys have been asking about Warped Scarecrow: when it's going to come back, and what the plans for it were. We're very excited to say, yes, it is happening this year. I really like this edition. Warped Scarecrow was released for the first time in 2021, and then we did it again in 2022. We did not do it last year. Last year we did a version of The Haunting, which was really cool. But we wanted to bring it back this year.

Nothing has really changed about the recipe. It's exactly what you can expect. If you guys are low on your tins from a couple of years ago, you're going to be able to pop this and get that same experience right away. And what an experience it is. I mean, when we're talking about autumnal pipe tobacco, my mind immediately goes to Autumn Evening. And then Scarecrow, you know?

[Jeremy Reeves]: Yeah, I agree with that.

[AW]: Even how it smells in the tin is like candy corn mixed with some kettle corn.

[JR]: Yeah. What your whole trick-or-treat bag smelled like at the end of the night. It was a mix of all these different kinds of candies. So yeah, I agree with that. I particularly get the candy corn a lot in the smoke. I think it comes through a lot, but I also taste a lot of Burley.

[AW]: Sure. It's very nutty. I think the actual smoke itself is very dense on the palate. It's very creamy and it leaves a nice finish. I'm getting a lot of dark, brown sugar, sort of like a caramel, lightly toasted sweetness, which is really cool, but there's a lot of natural sweetness in this blend, too. I mean, it's obviously an Aromatic, so there is a top flavoring, but the actual components that go into this blend are all pretty high on the sugar scale, especially when we're talking about the Bright Virginias and the Red Virginias, and even Red Virginia Cavendish.

Scarecrow Components & Cavendish Process

[AW]: So, to get a little bit deeper into the components this year, there's actually some pretty interesting leaf in this blend, more so than you might think, based on what's listed on the tin. There are some very old heirloom White Burleys.

[JR]: Yeah, 2014 Burley, Bright Virginia from Canada from 2022, vintage Virginia in here that is just lovely and dark from 2013, and the Red Virginia Cavendish, which we mentioned. Right now we're using crop year 2017. It's a full-bodied upper stalk mahogany Virginia, and we steam that for several hours and blacken it like Cavendish and then it takes days to dry down from the steaming process. What's left behind is sort of a lightly sweet, more Virginia-toned flavor, but it's very much a Black Cavendish at that point. It's very absorbent and able to take on flavors from other tobaccos that you're adding to it, but it still has that nice little Virginia character to it.

[AW]: Interesting. Yeah, even before C&D was part of the Laudisi family, Red Virginia Cavendish was always this proprietary, unique thing that C&D did, and it really elevates a lot of the blends, including Autumn Evening, which we mentioned earlier. What's the unique experience from doing this as a Virginia instead of something like a Burley that is the base component for most Cavendishes?

[JR]: All Cavendish is going to have a lot less of the overall leaf character than prior to cooking. You're removing a lot of nicotine and the characteristic flavors of those tobaccos, but you are not able to get rid of all of it. A Virginia leaf that has gone through the Cavendish process is still going to have a sweeter smoke. It's still going to evoke that Virginia flavor. It's just reduced.

It's the same with Burley, or with cigar leaf, or even if you Cavendish an Oriental. Pretty much any tobacco that you want to, you can turn into a Cavendish by steaming it into a Black Cavendish. You have to make sure that you have enough sugar, whether naturally in the leaf to begin with, or through adding it. That way, it can go through that Maillard process, the same process that allows you to put a nice hard sear on a steak. That's basically what's happening here to achieve the caramelization of flavors.

Scarecrow Flavor Profile & Strength

[AW]: Flavor profile-wise, as we're getting a little bit further down in the bowl here, I think I'm not sensing anything new per se, but I feel like all those flavors are starting to distill a little bit more.

At first, there are more pronounced highlights of vanilla and chocolate, as well as a boozy quality. And now, as I get further down, I'm getting a little bit more of those Burleys, and then a little bit more of the breadiness of the Virginia, with those top flavors accentuating the natural tobacco taste more than covering over them or something like that.

[JR]: Yeah, I think the tobacco is really building in flavor at the same time that the noticeability of the topping is receding for me. I noticed that the Burley flavor is getting bolder and kind of darker. One thing I really like about this blend is I think it has a really nice nicotine hit. It's not a crazy strong blend, but it's definitely satisfying. And I think it's right in the pocket.

[AW]: That's so true. Personally, I do like some Aromatics. I don't talk about them a whole lot, but I do have a pretty solid stable of Aros that I smoke. One of my biggest qualms with Aromatics, in general, is that they tend to be pretty light in nicotine strength. You guys know me. I'm a nicotine fiend, let's be real. I don't want to feel like I'm smoking air. I want to feel something. And I feel like this blend, in particular, has some good strength. It's surprising because it is so sweet. It is so flavorful. But then like halfway through the bowl, you're feeling the nicotine strength.

[JR]: I would compare it to a medium-bodied cigar in terms of nicotine. I love the mouthfeel of it. I'm to a point where even the added sweetness, with those notes of caramel and candy corn, and the fruity apple notes are weaving in and out. What's really seeming to build is a much more natural base tobacco flavor. For me, if I don't retrohale, it smokes more like a Virginia Burley. It reminds me a bit of Briar Fox.

[AW]: Okay. Yeah, I can see that. It's interesting for me because I do feel that all the flavors are distilled a little bit, but then there are moments where it almost feels like I'm walking through a fall festival. All those small towns have an apple festival or something like that, you know what I mean? And they have all these little vendors. And so you walk and it'll be one guy making kettle corn and then another guy's got some homemade candies, and another is smoking meat.

It's a melange of aromas, with undulations of different autumnal vibes, which is really cool. Particularly with it being October now. I can't believe it, but it is actually October and I feel like this is a much-needed welcome to the season of pumpkin spice lattes and scarecrows.

I also think it's performing really well. It's really cool smoking. Would you recommend any drying time, or preparation to people, or specific pipes or chamber sizes that you might suggest to folks?

[JR]: I mean, my suggestion of chamber size is going to be pretty standard to the size pipes I tend to like, so it probably isn't necessarily more evolved than that for me. As far as preparation, I think all we did was tear off a chunk, rub it out, and pack our pipes from a brand-new tin that we just popped.

[AW]: Yeah, I think the moisture content is perfect. I think because it's a cake, when you rub it out a little bit, it might feel a bit too wet for your comfort zone, but I wouldn't really give it any drying time. I think it's performing super well. Jeremy's only had to relight like a half a time.

[JR]: Yeah. I think the moisture on it is perfect. The cake is really nice and dense. As you're working with your fresh tin, I would take a corner and wiggle that back and forth until it comes loose, and then just rub that out. From there, you'll be able to just find the new corner basically, and that's like your tear-off point. That tends to be how I approach cakes.

[AW]: Warped Scarecrow will be available in only 4,000 tins for this run, so it's a pretty limited quantity. Like all Warped blends, it's only available at Smokingpipes. Be sure to go and check it out on Friday. Thank you guys so much. We'll see you next time.

[JR]: See y'all.