Private Cellar: 2021 Cornell & Diehl Byzantium

Byzantium is Cornell & Diehl’s interpretation of a Balkan-style mixture, built around Latakia, Oriental tobaccos, and Perique. Its profile is dark, fragrant, and spicy: Latakia supplies the smoke, the Orientals give it an aromatic and slightly sharp complexity, and Perique adds a bracing accent. It is a good choice when you want the interplay of smoky and fragrant tobaccos to be the focus of the bowl.