Tom Eltang Virginia

The red Virginia is tangy dark fruit sweet with a little earth and wood, and is the dominant component. The bright Virginia offers a slight tart and tangy citrus and a little grass note. The burley is a little earthy, woody with natural molasses sweetness and nuts, and though a minor addition, gives this blend a tinge of depth. The strength is in the center of mild to medium. The taste barely reaches the medium threshold. The nic-hit is a step past the mild mark. Won't bite or get harsh. Burns at a moderate pace, clean and cool with a very consistent flavor. Leaves little moisture in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Has a short lived, pleasant after taste and room note. An all day, uncomplicated smoke. Two and half stars.

-JimInks

I was given a nice size sample of this from a forum friend. I have mixed feelings on this one. To start with, I would like to pick on the name of the blend. It is named Virginia, so one would expect the Virginia to be the star. It has Burley in it, which is not a surprise as I don't think any blend is allowed to leave C&D without getting some burley in it. 🙂 In this case, I find the burley to be a little more than a condiment. In fact, I think the burley is the star to my tastes.

There were several bowls I had that I could have sworn I was smoking undiluted Semois with strong cigar overtones when smoking this blend. This could be explained by the Virginias being very earthy as opposed to the hay, grassy citrus sweet variety of Virginia that I tend to prefer.

The burley also has the effect of creating a very strong blend. I actually enjoyed the taste of this one alright as I like a good burley, but this was almost too much nicotine for me. I am reminded of the day I packed a group 4 dunhill for my morning ride to work and was unable to finish it as I feeling a little too woozy on the empty stomach.

One thing I did like about it was that it did not burn too fast, which is something I fully expect when I smoke a C&D creation. I would put this somewhere between two and three stars and am going with two for the following reason. This blend reminds a little of Pegasus or Burley Flake #2, both of which I would prefer to this one. But overall, it was an enjoyable sample.

Finished what will definitely be my final bowl of this mostly light colored ribbon with a very pronounced tin note of some kind of topping, brandy perhaps? I've been working on this since last November but haven't been able to stick with it. This review is based on 8 bowls, some very large and some very small. The tin is dated Aug 2014.

Either something happened to C&D around the time of Craig Tarler's passing (RIP, Craig) or my tastes have changed drastically*. This is predominately a Virginia blend, and C&D's Virginias now taste like burley, while their burleys taste like a rope made out of Kentucky leaf. I bought this fresh but had such trouble with C&D blends that I held it for over two years, hoping it would smooth out. If it has, it was unsmokable fresh. There is a whisper of red Virginias tang and crispness and almost zero sweetness from the lemon Virginia. The burley, on the other hand, was very forward, of less than dubious quality, and turned this into a cheap cigarette. The topping, whatever it is, dissipates quickly. Overall, It's a very rough flavor and texture and has no delicacy of taste or measure of skillful blending. It tastes like a slapped-together affair made from tobacco that is very green and unsuitable for smoking. It certainly does not do justice to Tom Eltang, the pipemaker. One star is a gift.

*Without pointing any obvious fingers, I still have my older stashes of various C&D blends (and GLP blends as well) that compare very favorably to their new stuff, which I cannot smoke. So if my tastes have changed, I guess they only changed on the post-Tarler output. Odd. 😉 At any rate, tobacco blends coming out of the Cornell & Diehl company these days hold zero interest for me and I sincerely hope there aren't any more hiding in my cellar. I really miss Oriental Silk and GLP's Picadilly, to name just two. I find whatever change they went through to be nothing short of tragic.

Virginia’s tin note is slightly sweet with a fair amount of sour. After a bit of dry time, the smoke offers a slightly sweet, somewhat nutty flavor. The topping is noticeable, but added with a very light hand and I believe offers the bulk of the sweetness with the Virginia offering a high note to this lightly sweet blend. The Burley is of decent quality, but more forward than I would prefer. Virginia burns clean, without a bite. I really didn’t care for this blend as the Burley was too forward even if it is in the minority of the blend, and the overall quality doesn’t rival some of the other VaBur’s on the market (my favorite being Silver Flake). Possibly with some age, the Virginia's will sweeten up a bit and offer a better balance to the blend. This is not a terrible blend and those that enjoy C&D Burley with their Virginia's may find this to their liking, it simply isn’t for me.