Cornell & Diehl Bright Virginia Ribbon

This ribbon cut gold Virginia leaf (bright Virginia) exhibits the same standard properties of any Virginia tobacco you could expect in this category, that is, sweetness with a citrusy background, earthy and hay undertones, grassy, nutty, etc. Exhibiting somewhat similar properties, I believe there is more depth and background flavour in its cousin counterpart (Red Virginia Ribbon), but this brighter version is no mean feat either. This tobacco wants to be sipped and will develop quite nicely as you progress with your smoke. I believe there is plenty of blending potential here and surely enough it will benefit from the addition of perique, but in its own right, I find it to be quite good never the less. Not as complex as other tobaccos that will require all of your attention, this bright leaf might as well be used as an everyday blend that will fit quite nicely in your rotation. This baccy is gonna get 4 stars.

Pleasant Virginia flavor, nice sweetness and citrus flavor. No bite, has a nice lemon note. Bought for blending, but it's not bad on it's own. It arrived on the dry side, but not too dry. Perfect humidity to load and go. I haven't used it in a blend yet, but I think it would tend to lighten and open up a blend that had a bit of a heavier flavor. Outstanding tobacco for what it is... just a plain old Virginia.

Bright Virginia Ribbon, is just what it says. It’s a nice bright thin ribbon with mild honeyed sweetness, hay aromas and it smokes nicely. Actually, very tasty! Strength is mild and it does not produce tongue bite to me. It can be smoked perfectly well on its own though it smokes quick. It can become a little ashy towards the end but I find it a perfectly good tobacco especially for those who like to inhale. Of course, it can be used as blending material and as such it is a four-star tobacco.

Jar note of lemon grass, spices, and mild stewed fruit. Tobacco looks like it was pressed, sliced and mostly rubbed out. a few chunks can be rubbed down further. The yellowish orange-red tobacco has a good moisture content, some may prefer to dry it a bit. Burns slow with few relights. The strength is mild to medium and nic is mild. No flavoring detected. Taste is mild to medium and very consistent, with notes of wood, spice, sweet bread, mild grass, mild earth, mildly floral, slightly bitter, orange peel, slightly dry, lemon zest, a tangy sweet citrus background note, and a peppery retro. Room note is pleasant to tolerable, and aftertaste is great.

While I've become very fond of C&D Red Virginia Ribbon, This Bright Virginia will take a bit to get use to, even though it has proven to be very good. The description of Old Belt virigina's seems misleading due to an interview a few years back that stated their Bright VA comes from Canada.

The bag aroma is sweet, citrus, and oats. It doesn't have hardly any moisture but just enough to keep it from turning to dust. From beginning to end, it smokes consistently with a lot of sweetness, bread, and oats, honey, and a good amount of citrus. This is pretty much the same as Virginia Flake from C&D but it has more rough edges, burns a little hotter and can be a bit bitey.

Since honey is one of the flavors I can pick out, I decided to do a light honey and distilled water ( 4 tbsp of honey to 4 oz of water) casing to re-hydrate and see if it improves the roughness and it did help, but some pressing and aging should help with the rest of the roughness and mature the bite down quite a bit.

Over all this is a nice VA with a lot of potential to be greater. Its similar to Mac Baren VA's but stronger in body and flavor.

Obviously excellent for blending but with time, This will be really good smoked straight.