Cornell & Diehl

Cornell & Diehl (C&D for short) is regarded as one of the most prolific names in American boutique pipe tobacco blending. Started by Craig and Patty Tarler as a retirement pursuit, the firm is known for its small-batch approach, an unusually wide range of blends, and hands-on methods. The brand name comes from combining Craig's middle name, Cornell, with Patty's maiden name, Diehl.

Founding and Growth

The firm was born in the early 1990s — sources give the founding year variously as 1990 to 1992 — through the purchase of the inventory of a closing blending house called Amar Blending Company. Production first ran out of the Tarlers' garage in Pennsylvania, then, after 1994, out of a garage in Morganton, North Carolina; the brand did not get its first true production facility until 2005.

Following Craig Tarler's death in 2012, the company merged in 2014 with Laudisi Enterprises, the parent organization of Smokingpipes.com, and moved to South Carolina. The brand moved to its current facility near Longs in 2023; the company's history notes that production volume grew many times over under Laudisi, without the small-batch approach being abandoned.

Production Philosophy

What sets C&D apart is that it has kept hands-on craftsmanship as it has scaled up: blends are prepared in small quantities to order, mixed and pressed by hand. This approach both keeps the tobacco fresh and allows the firm to keep hundreds of different blends alive at once. As against large factories' single-type, high-volume production, the C&D catalog offers a wide variety that reflects the experimental curiosity left over from the garage days; in this respect the brand is counted among the pioneers of the American "boutique blending" movement.

The firm has also been the manufacturer of every blend carrying the G.L. Pease label since 2000; the two brands' partnership, spanning more than a quarter century, is considered the best-known collaboration in American boutique blending.

Notable Blends

• Star of the East: A dark-character English blend in which Cyprus Latakia makes up roughly half the mix, rounded out with Izmir Oriental tobacco and red Virginia.

• Bayou Morning: A spicy Virginia-Perique blend with a high proportion of Perique.

• Autumn Evening: A maple-flavored blend, the brand's best-known aromatic.

• Small Batch series: Limited yearly special releases, such as Carolina Red Flake, known for quickly selling out among collectors.

The brand also has a notable angle from a Turkish perspective: C&D gives Oriental leaf — Izmir foremost among them — a place in many of its English-type blends. This choice is cited as an example of Turkish tobacco's visibility in contemporary American blending.