Cornell & Diehl Red Carpet

(3.08)
The perfect blend of red Va.s and perique, pressed and sliced into flake form.
Notes: Part of the Simply Elegant Series Per Jeremy Reeves, head blender at C&D: "Somewhere along the way, older tins of Red Carpet ended up listing Izmir as a component in the description, but the original handwritten recipe, which we still have, does not contain Izmir. We discovered this during the C&D-Laudisi merger and printed new labels that exclude Izmir in the tin description. There is not now, nor should there ever have been, Izmir in Red Carpet."

Details

Brand Cornell & Diehl
Series Simply Elegant Series
Blended By Craig Tarler
Manufactured By Cornell & Diehl
Blend Type Virginia/Perique
Contents Perique, Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Flake
Packaging 2 ounce tin
Country United States
Production Currently available

Profile

Strength
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
None Detected
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

3.08 / 4
18

22

8

3

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 51 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 17, 2017 Mild to Medium None Detected Mild to Medium Pleasant
The tangy dark fruity, earthy, woody red Virginia is the major component, and though it’s not quite as sweet as some red Va.s are, it does have a fair amount of flavor depth. There’s a savory, sour tartness and hints of “vinegar” and spice that hold down that sweet aspect a step. The perique offers light raisins, very mild plum and a little spice in an ever present condimental role. The strength and taste levels fall just short of medium. The nic-hit is a step shy of being mild to medium. Won’t bite or get harsh. A broken flake product that burns cool, clean, and a little slow with a mostly consistent sweet, savory and mildly woody taste, though the sour note is a tad less noticeable toward the finish. Leaves just a little moisture in the bowl, and requires a few relights. Has sweet and lightly sour after taste. Not quite an all day smoke, but it is certainly repeatable.

-JimInks
21 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 07, 2011 Medium None Detected Medium Very Pleasant
As fine a blend as I've ever smoked from the C&D line. The Izmir leaf really shines up the Virginias and the Perique adds another level of spice to really please the palate. Due to the strength in this one I believe it will surprise most Va/Per lovers and may cause a few to swoon.

Simply sublime!
13 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Sep 16, 2014 Medium to Strong Very Mild Medium to Full Pleasant
I basically feel the same way about Sunday Picnic as I do Red Carpet. This is not surprising as the blends are in fact the same proportions of Virginia/Turkish/Perique with the only difference being that Sunday Picnic uses golden Virginia, whereas... Red Carpet uses (you guessed it) red Virginia. For many years the blends that make up the Simply Elegant series have been a favorites of mine and are well-represented in my cellar. Both Sunday Picnic and Red Carpet are medium-strong and full of flavor. A dedicated Virginia smoker could probably make due with just these two blends! Strength, spice, salty-sweetness and cool burn. I tend to appreciate Sunday Picnic during the day (or during the warmer months), and Red Carpet in the evenings after dinner due to the slightly richer flavor profile. To my tastes Sunday Picnic is (of course) brighter and the Turkish shines with the Perique in the supporting role, whereas it is pretty much all about the Perique in Red Carpet, with the Turkish adding enough to keep the blend from being “just another VA/Per”. Both blends are must-haves and age incredibly! I do not believe that this blends gets the attention it deserves.
PurchasedFrom: Smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: Fresh, 5+ years
11 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 28, 2012 Medium None Detected Medium Tolerable to Strong
To me, this is the answer to the question "What do you get when you cross a Kajun Kake with a Riverboat Gambler?". This is a small flake of deep mottled brown with a tin aroma that only C&D can produce... an earthy, toasty blend of dirt and old books with an underlying smell of baked bread. Smoked from a 15 month old tin I've been working on for a few months.

This lacks the sweetness of KK and the bravura of RG but it is still a rather powerful batch of nicotine. The flavor never wavers, which is good and bad. It has only slightly more complexity than RG (not much) and tastes more tangy and earthy than sweet. In fact, I got almost no sweetness from this but the Izmir lent a kind of sourish essence that worked well to offset the grainy mouthfeel. The perique is there but is far to the rear. Red VA's are my favorite but I can't help thinking that a bit of bright VA wouldn't have hurt. This is a fine blend but that cross between KK and RG keeps spinning through my head. I smoke and prefer those two. This one, while good, seems like a compromise. Then again, a lot of folks might prefer a settled down version of those two, so this is recommended for those people. Frankly, this is better than I'm giving credit for it - I just prefer not to mix the strengths of KK and RG... I'd rather smoke them full bore.
11 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 30, 2010 Medium None Detected Medium to Full Pleasant to Tolerable
Coincidentally I am smoking my first tins of both Sunday Picnic and Red Carpet at the same time. Hence I get to closely contrast these two sibling members of C&D's Simply Elegant series and make some other comparisons as well.

My tin of Red Carpet confused me at first. I expected a flake but found what appeared at first to be a ribbon cut. Closer inspection did reveal a lightly pressed product that had been sliced and had fallen back into ribbon. Only slightly moist, these easily packed and readily took fire. The burn cleanly persisted as long as I kept the top clear of ash. I have smoked this in just about every style pipe I own from little MM cobs to large billiards, squat pots, wide mouthed Custombilts and it performed similarly in all.

At first one is struck with a surprisingly sweet smoke, with the spicy components quickly coming on thereafter. The Kadota fig aroma of the tin renders into a slightly fruity taste (not quite to the degree that McClellands Blakeneys Best Arcadian Ribbon does, but close). The Izmir seems to be a condiment in this blend (it seems more pronounced in Sunday Picnic). The spicy tones of the perique may be boosted by the Izmir as well.

This is delicious stuff. It reminded me also of C&D's excellent bulk English 973-Cordial with the Latakia and black cavendish removed. Both effected lip-licking for me just to taste all the juices (wife commented that I looked like one our dogs savoring a tidbit). I have smoked bowl after bowl of Red Carpet over the last three/four weeks trying to place its sweet taste and finally have decided it evokes a fine port wine. Strength is medium but to the heavy side of medium. Excellent VaPer variant and slightly my favorite over Sunday Picnic (a golden Va blend rather than red VA), but only by a very slight edge. I can handle and enjoy several bowls of Red Carpet a day, leisurely puffed, while I can't say that of Sunday Picnic without qualification.
7 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 25, 2018 Medium None Detected Medium to Full Pleasant
Since McClelland has discontinued production of their very fine blends, I have been searching for some suitable replacements and this may be one. The tin note reminds me of the smell of a sweet vinegar with some tomato accents. It is kind of like the McC catsup essence, but not as pronounced. The flakes are moist, but they light straight from the tin. Some drying time may improve the ignition. I've had to relight several times. I rub out the flakes and then stuff them mainly because I am impatient. The red Virginia is sugary good to the palate and there is just enough Perique to give it some fruitiness with a spicy accent. It is a keeper as for as I am concerned. C&D will probably help me with my desire to replace some of my missing McC favorites.
Pipe Used: Several briars
PurchasedFrom: Smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: new
5 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 19, 2018 Strong None Detected Full Pleasant to Tolerable
Comes in broken flakes which need just a little drying. Very easy to rub out though. Tin note is quite intense and very typical of Va/pers with stewed fruit, spice and yeasty pure tobacco aromas.

Red Carpet behaves very well, smokes slowly while producing a fair amount of smoke and it is also very smooth. Strength is past medium but not very strong, nicotine is there to satisfy.

Taste-wise, I find it neither overtly fruity although there is a dark element reminiscent of stewed fruit, nor particularly spicy although there is a mild pepperiness and it does tingle the nose a bit. The Virginias are yeasty and bready and I feel the Perique cancels out much of the juicy sweetness they might possess. So overall it is rather dry, quite full bodied with a satisfying full flavor which lingers.

Concluding this is an excellent Va/per, one of the best surely, depending on taste could easily be one’s favourite.
4 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 29, 2017 Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant
Cornell & Diehl - Red Carpet (Simply Elegant Series).

More of a broken flake than a solid flake. The blend's kept the length of a flake but there isn't one piece in there that has the width of a flake: tobacco strips. The amount of moisture's good and the aroma's almost rustic.

As the expected rubbing of a flake isn't needed, I just take a pinch and stuff it in. It lights easily and burns without the need for re-lights, but the problem with the burn's the speed: it's over too quickly. The flavour's pretty good from R.C.: I get quite a balanced amount of fruit and hay, with a touch of spice. I get no tongue bite and the temperature's medium.

The nicotine's medium and I'm indifferent towards the note.

Red Carpet? A nice smoke, but not a great smoke.

Recommended.

Pipe Used: Erik Nording
PurchasedFrom: Smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: Three months
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 09, 2015 Medium None Detected Medium to Full Pleasant to Tolerable
This is my favorite blend and has remained so since Craig introduced the Simply Elegant line. Something about the mix of red virginias, perique, and barely discernible izmir creates a complex mix of flavors that nothing else does. It is slightly winey in a way that brings out the tangy red VA perfectly. The only other blends that come close to that perfection for me are Embarcadero, Opening Night, and in a very subdued way, McClelland 5100 and McCranie's Red Ribbon. I hope it never gets discontinued.
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
May 05, 2015 Medium None Detected Medium Pleasant
I'm surprised I waited so long to try this one, and wish I'd tried it sooner. Nice and spicy, and with a healthy amount of kick to it. As good as any blend from C&D I've had, and I will be buying more of this. Gives the spice I didn't know I was missing from my Vapers. Very good!
Pipe Used: Briar, meerschaum
PurchasedFrom: Smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: Fresh
3 people found this review helpful.
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