Cornell & Diehl Star of the East.

Very good English blend. Burns better than Night Cap. I also think it taste slightly better. I like Barking Dog and Sutliffs match Balkan Sabranie 759 better though.

it was packaged fine, it came with just the right moisture content. loaded with latakia I think its 50% I've always loved this blend!

I've been in the pipe hobby for about 6 months. I've had 3 or 4 bowls of SOTE since buying a couple ounces last month. The last bowl I had (last night) was one of the most pleasurable smoking experiences I've had yet. Despite there being 50% latakia in this blend, it seems more oriental forward/Balkan-y to me. Certainly not a latakia bomb like Nightcap. SOTE tastes exotic and aromatic - not in the technical sense like a topping, but in the sense of burning aromatic resins and woods. The smoke is plentiful with a good, substantial mouth feel, and has a buttery sweet finish, which was the highlight of this blend for me. Like a buttered biscuit.

I would compare this english/oriental blend to Russ Oulette.s 10 to midnite-without the hassle of having to seperate the pressed chunks of tobacco. Very strong flavour with a slightly smoky overtone. Nice interplay of virginia , cavendish, latakia and turkish. I would place this blending next to Ed Burak, Pickwick as my favorite english oriental blend.

Great

Really enjoyed this

This is a repeat order for me for Star of the East. Burns well, leaves little dottle, nice clean ash. Latakia is in balance for me anyway, the room note not overpowering. Depending on the pipe used, it CAN bite a little bit, so don't get too enthusiastic with your evening pipe. A nice end of day blend with which to review your day!

If you are looking for something a little different this would be it! Amazing flavor!

Blend that never lets me down

Just the right balance of spice and Latakia. I could smoke this one all day....in fact, I do! Highly reccomended.

I expected more Latakia a bit of a bite

A full bodied Balkan. The tin description indicates 50% Latakia but this is no Lat Bomb. The orientals come through as well as sweetness from the Virginia. This blend is now in my rotation.

Yuck. This is like smoking a lump of charcoal, or a campfire. Normally I enjoy Latakia, but this blend either has too much, or not the right blend to balance it.

If you really like English and Balkan blends, star of the East is both familiar and just different enough to be a wonderful mix into the rotation!

I rotate a bowl of Star of the East into my regular all-day Billy Budd journey whenever I feel the need for a little variety. This stuff is good. It's sweeter than BB due to the VA. And of course S of the E has no cigar leaf, which lets the natural VA sweetness come through more easily. If you're an English lover and still haven't tried S of the E, you probably should. If you're an English lover coming from latakia-based tobaccos from blending houses that use a lot of PG, then you definitely should throw a few ounces of S of the E in your next order. You'll no doubt appreciate the purity of the blend.

Very Smokey flavors, love it!

I love smoking this in the morning time as a basis for my pipe mix. It is herby and spicy tasting along with all of the sweeter and finer notes of the stoved tobacco leaves, I found it to be one of my favorites so far.

Surprisingly well balanced for a tobacco that would appear to be a lat bomb. The Virginia's come through just fine, the Orientals are there but not obvious. I don't think anyone newer to pipe smoking or to English blends would enjoy this too much but to each thier own. I can smoke it all day but it's not an all day smoke in my book. I found it to be very, very dry The way it came and it burned entirely too fast. With a pouch button in the bag and a couple days in the humidor it is still dry but quite smokable. It's a decent blend but probably won't be a regular in my personal rotation.

excellent smoke, my go to tobacco. If you enjoy the blends with latakia, as I do, this is my favorite

The Latakia heavy blends are my cup of tea admittedly. I find this one tasty, cool burning English. You'll have to puff hard for it to bite. One of the great values in the bulk bins. I'll buy it regularly.

This has become one of my go to blends. It has just the right amount of oriental spice for my taste. A smoke anytime blend IMO. I love it!

I think this is becoming my favorite blend. It is a nice smoke to relax with. Great flavor and not an aromatic.

One of my go to blends, oriental forward, the latakia content and intensity depend on which one you purchase I.E flake, tined or bulk. All are good

It is my favorite pipe tobacco. It has a genuinely pleasing aroma and taste. I shall buy more.

MY SEARCH IS OVER THIS IS A MUST HAVE, THIS HAS GOT THE FLAVOR

burns slow, no goopy toppings, will buy again.

I have heard fellow smokers state that C&D's Star of the East is an alternative/replacement to Esoterica's Penzance tobacco. I know, I know... what can be a real substitute for Penzance? The gist of these smokers is to give pipe smokers an idea of what you get with Penzance AND a blend that is readily available. I went ahead and wanted to test it out as a Penzance substitute but I recommend that you buy it for what it is and DO NOT GET PULLED IN BY ANY CLAIMS OF A PENZANCE SUBSTITUTE. Overall, this is a mild Latakia based blend with Turkish and VA tobaccos. I personally thought it was dry but this may be due to it being the bulk and not tinned variety of the "Star" tobaccos. A quick rub out and into the cob it went. I would say that it is a good smoke but not exceptional. Overall, this is a good blend (4 star) and would recommend English tobacco lovers have 1/2 pound or more in the cellar.

I actually just started to get some non-aromatic and Star of the East was a first and I really enjoyed the smoke. Had great tobacco flavor and I would definitely recommend Cornell and Diel Star of the East!

First off, what you taste depends as much on your palate as it does the tobacco. My palate is pretty inexperienced, so if youre also new, your experience will be similar to mine. Veteran pipe smokers need not apply. Overall i found the taste to be very similar to the 965 recreations. Sutliff match 20 and or p&c match 965. At 50% latakia it actually didnt seem more intense. If puffed agressively it saturates the mouth with more lat flavor that the others, but thats the only difference I noticed pertaining to the latakie contend. It seemed a bit earthier and stouter as well. The virginia comes through but its in the background. Sweet and hay like. This is something that could be an all day blend. Good but nothing super unique or anything.

Good balance; nice cut

Good but fast burning.

I am a Latikia lover and I recommend this blend; you can't go wrong with a blend that 50% Latikia. This a low strength Latikia blend with a full bodied taste. I will confess there is another reason I bought this, it mixes very well with Picayune (25% Star of the East and 75% Picayune). For me, this makes for a very enjoyable smoke. .

A bowl full of SOTE and a cup full of dark roast coffee is a match made in heaven. Latakia heavy but balanced at the same time. A must try for any Latakia lover.

I love this blend, both the flake and ready rubbed version.

I read that this had 50% Latakia...it is a great Latakia blend for sure. Nicer because of the fact that while there may be a good bit of the smoked leaf there is so much more to the blend. It really is a great one that I have been smoking every day for a while now.

Such a great blend. It was a little more on the dry side. I would have given it 5 stars, but I had to add a broveda pack to the 5oz I bought. Don't let this deter you though. It is a great quality blend.

I bought this as one of the first on my quest to establish a post-McClelland rotation. The goal has not been to replace, but to use the absence of my favorite blends as an opportunity to learn more about tobacco and find new things to enjoy. The phrase that gets thrown around a lot in reference to blends like this is "lat bomb," which can mean a number of different things. If by "lat bomb" one means a blend with a copious amount of latakia, then sure, it's a lat bomb. Often people use "lat bomb" as a pejorative, though, and when they say it, all they mean is "I don't like a lot of latakia." Fair enough, but don't let that deter you if you like that good L. Just to quibble a little more: historically, latakia has not always been exclusively a "condiment tobacco." In Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo, Albert de Morcerf has a jar of plain lat among his collection of fine baccys. I myself smoked some straight latakia at a Renn Faire and was surprised how much I enjoyed it. Sure, straight lat is tantamount to an exclusive diet of beef jerky, but--all this to say--a lat-heavy blend is not the same thing as an overpowering or bad blend. All depends on what you like. The latakia is definitely front and center here, but not at the expense of the other ingredients. The VAs lend a muted sweetness, the orientals a light floral aspect. Especially midway through the bowl, the blend is complex enough to sit with awhile, although I found myself thinking about other better blends during the smoke (I'll forego any double entendres here.) After a few more smokes, I'll cellar this and see if it doesn't endear itself to me a little more after a few months. I've heard C&D blends need a little while to age. Regardless, I highly recommend this blend--especially for the price!

My first bowl of C&D Star of the East. Wow!! Clouds of smoke, tons of flavor! It requires more than one bowl to delve into the depth of this blend. Smoked slowly, it’ll open itself up to discovery. Full on english latakia blend with a healthy dose of orientals and the virginias in it need a slow relaxing smoke. A true pleasure! This blend should age well and be even better!!!

Purchased as my introduction to English blends and was unaware how Latakia heavy it was until I received it and was overwhelmed by the smokey aroma. Come to find out that SotE is 50% Latakia. To say i was intimidated was an understatement, especially since, as i mentioned above, this was my introduction to English blends having primarily smoke aro blends from a B&M locally. I settled into my first bowl on an unusually brisk morning here in south Florida while sipping on a dark roast coffee. I was immediately blown away at how velvety and flavorful this tobacco was. It tasted nothing like the tin note. The smokiness, while upfront at the nose, was subtle and beautifully complimented the orientals and Virginias. The tobacco IMHO was even better while pairing it with my dark roast coffee. I know find myself shunning my aro's and reaching consistently for SotE. I would recommend this to any pipe smoker, especially those interested in English blends.

Good as always

This is a blend for the piper looking for a full bodied English, with a strong 50% Latakia, and Turkish leaf, the other 50% is zesty red Virginia that adds some sweetness and fruit, and a decent amount of spice. This is a pretty full bodied smoke, but Lady N stays about medium. Imho this is not an all day smoke, but more of a in the mood for a English blend bordering on a Balkan. Notes of smokey fruit, dates, raisin, spice, and Earth make up the key players and this dances with those Turkish exotic leaves to bring a fuller more complex smoke. The first 2/3 are pretty tame and distinguished though the last third is all about the Latakia. If this sounds like your bag 💼, then it’s well worth picking that bag up.

This is one of the times I can’t put my finger on what I’m tasteing but it’s not good.

A little too exotic for me. I am a simple man.

Star of the East has so much flavour it is replacing aromatics for me - I am prefering straight tobacco blends these days, and this one is indeed well crafted. It is fine the way it arrived, but I did choose to hydrate it just a tiny bit, and it went milder but still full flavour. I will carry on with my Seven Seas Royal for middle of the day moods, but I am starting and ending my day with C&D, in a Big Ben, Calabash, or MM Patriot pipe. Having tried this, I ordered Pasha's Dream, and will try another C&D next order. I do not care for perique so much and many of their blends have that, but I think I will enjoy all the ones without it. - Rebecca

I love this blend. Smokey, rich, and no bite at all. I stumbled on this blend a while back and ordered a few Oz to try, I quickly bought a large mason jar and ordered up a pound to put on my tobacco shelf. This is a nice afternoon blend when i have moved past the burley tobaccos I like in the morning but I'm not ready for a heavy smoke like nightcap. I highly recommend this blend to any latakia lover

I ordered this after having bought the latakia step ladder from P&C. I really like this blend with its obvious latakia. The tin aroma is very pleasant and this blend smokes nicely. If you like latakia, you will like this blend, which could easily be added to a step ladder as a medium blend.

You gots to love da Latakia likes myself because this blend is fiddy percent latty. With that said, it's a great blend. Worthy of buying in bulk.

I love English blends (Balkans, Orientals, whatever) and I do enjoy this one overall, but it does not burn quite as well as I expected given the high reviews I have read or watched.. It is tasty, and the Latakia is forward in this one without being too much (if there is such a thing). When I have it going well it is one of the best English blends I have ever tasted. However I just cannot get it to burn well, and when it gets too hot it bites hard. I will go back to it after it mellows out in the jar for a while, or maybe let it dry more before smoking.

One of the best I have had. Definitely in my rotation from now on. Wish I had found it years ago.

This is hands down one of the most delicious blends, period. I am more than pleased. I recommend this if you want a tasty, well-smoking English that won't put you on your rear. That Latakia is prevalent in this one, and the Orientals play off of it in nice harmony. The Red Virginias add the perfect amount of sweetness. Buy it!

I hesitate to write this review. I'm very new to pipe smoking so keep that in mind. Not knowing what to expect from my first foray into non-aromatics, I chose to smoke it in my MM Tom Sawyer. I was immediately awed by how thick the smoke coming from the pipe was! It was incredibly thick and creamy. The flavor was much stronger that I was accustomed to and was a bit overwhelming at first. I read a review in which someone wrote that he didn't really care for this tobacco initially, but the more he smoked it, the more he wanted to smoke it. My experience is awfully similar and now I've now enjoyed three bowls of Star and can't wait to dive into another.