Cornell & Diehl Carolina Red Flake

Imagine sourcing the extremely fine Red Virginia’s that McClelland used but then instead of dumping the ketchup sauce (vinegar) on the tobacco, choosing not to do that instead. That is what Carolina Red Flake achieves. It is an exceptional red Virginia in all its natural glory. As we witnessed in the original release the lack of preservatives or vinegar led to the growth of mold but was quickly fixed by C&D. Personally I’d rather risk mold than add vinegar to a tobacco.

CRF is medium-bodied with an initial blast of sugar which subsides a bit throughout the bowl. It is spicy through the nose. Further into the bowl there are lots of dried fruit and earthy/vegetal notes. It does taste like cranberries as they mention. Towards the end of the bowl it usually tastes very bready. This is a great Virginia flake I wish I had more of but if you never got the chance to try it Cornell & Diehl’s regularly available Red Virginia Ribbon is another great smoke.

Was eager to try this with all the hype. I adore Reds especially red flakes. First of all, I'll say the sour room note coming from my wife's pipe lit before mine, did not give me a high expectation. The tobacco is ready to smoke as far as moisture is concerned. To be clear the tin not is so rich, I'm not sure I can understand why it does not translate into the smoke. A monochrome, non eventful, easy burning, dry smoke followed. Then as the last Grey ash was spent. I got an aftertaste that lingered for an hour that reminded me of a cheap Connecticut wrapped cigar. I wish I could enjoy it, but it's going to be gifted for sure.

So you know where I'm coming from...... I've been enjoying pipes for the past 35 years. I am a Virginia fan and most of my favorite smokes are from Virginia laden pipes with an occasional foray into light English blends. How do you get a tobacco to become a loved, best selling, cult followed tobacco? Include "small batch" in the title. I just don't get it....... I smoked this in various pipes from meers to cobs to favorite briars at different times of the day. This is a fantastic tobacco for the first 1/3 of the bowl. Then something goes wrong. Not sure what it is but a strong cigar essence takes over and the wonderful Virginias fall far to the background. By the end of the bowl I feel something I don't feel too often with tobaccos. Tongue bite. My whole mouth feels abused. I don't tend to smoke fast whatsoever so I was very surprised at that outcome. The cigar taste and aroma is not necessarily bad but not what I expected from this tobacco. The tongue bite was a total surprise. It does light easily and stays lit with no need to relight throughout the smoke. I am cellaring a few tins and will try again in a few months but for now, I'd say stay away, which is a totally different opinion from most others that try this blend.

I got some tins for the cellar. Had to try one out and have been at it for a few days.

I rub it out a bit, but not much effort needed for me. No dry time. Smoky and burns well for me with few to zero re-lights.

Rare that I smoke straight through a tin, but I keep coming back as nothing else equals it for me right now.

Once I am done with the tin, it will be a while until I get the distinct pleasure of cracking open another with some years on it.

My clear expectation is that it will age like a champ.

It is a fine blend. As a general matter, as good as a blend gets, and the reviews/ratings reflect that.

If I see it come up again at S.P., I will add to the stack.

Highly recommended if you like straight Virginia.

Edit: Tried the 2020 8.33% sugar as opposed to the 10.49% in the 2016 to 2019 releases. Not saying the differences are 100% sugar content related Still blows back the hair but not as far. Still an excellent choice and four stars which makes the earlier releases an uber four star blend to be treasured.

I will start off this review by stating that this is an excellent Virginia offering from Cornell and Diehl. I've smoked many straight Virginias (FVF, McC 40th, Opening Night, Union Square, Hamborger Veermaster, HH Pure Virginia, just to name a few). The quality of the red Virginia in this blend rivals the McClelland Virginias in their 40th Anniversary and Christmas Cheer offerings, but does not possess nearly the vinegar/ ketchup smell and taste that they (particularly Christmas Cheer and some of their other blends) do.

Mechanically, the blend is perfect out of the tin as far as moisture is concerned. It lights and stays lit wonderfully as you smoke it. As good or better than any tobacco I've had the pleasure of smoking. Comes in a chunky flake format reminiscent of the flakes in G.L. Pease Union Square. Very good all the way around here.

As far as the smoke itself is concerned. The blend is quite smooth with a few harsh spots present. It's not as smooth as McClelland 40th Anniversary by any stretch, but in my opinion, that blend sets the standard as far as a smooth Virginia is concerned. When you light it up, it starts out fairly sweet and is bready while having hints of hay. As you work your way through the bowl, it builds in both sweetness and spiciness and mellows considerably. The sweetness is delicious and brown sugar-like in character while the smoke is almost creamy tasting. It doesn't bite you unless aggressively pushed and is quite forgiving in that regard. It is definitely an all day smoke type of blend. Strangely, but wonderfully, it's a "fill it and forget it" type of blend from a maintenence perspective which is rare for a straight Virginia blend. You don't need to think much about this one. It's straightforward, yet diverse enough to keep you interested all the way through the bowl.

The bottom line: this blend has catapulted itself into one my top 5 blends. I have been smoking the blend with less than a year of age on it and tried a couple bowls with 2 years of age and that was even smoother and sweeter. This one will age terrifically given the time to do so. I don't think you can go wrong with this one. For straight Virginia lovers and the occasional Virginia smoker, this is one of the rare ones to have and cellar. For someone looking to try and quality Virginia blend and can't obtain McClelland 40th Anniversary (which is the gold standard of straight red Virginia blends IMO), this is a great alternative. A rock solid 4 star blend with the highest recommendation from me. I didn't know if another Red Virginia blend of the quality of 40th would hit the market after McClelland closed their doors, but Carolina Red Flake finally makes me not miss them as much. Not the same, but an A+ nonetheless. This is one incredibly solid tobacco...

Moisture is great right out the tin . Hay and earth , tang and spice , dried cranberries. Yes i will say the description is accurate . Sweet with a vinegar casing that gives it the tang i think . Very enjoyable smoke . Smoking the 2019 release . 5 tins in my cellar that I hope will age well . I get some nice bready notes as well . As good as it gets . Highly recommend . Gentlemen zombie nailed it with the fruit punch flavor ! This has also a strong nicotine punch past the medium range . Adjust accordingly. 4

Cornell & Diehl - Carolina Red Flake (Small Batch).

Tin No. 09991 of 10,000.

Wow, I ordered a few tins of this and I'm over the moon I did! It's a spectacular blend!

The presentation's one of a broken flake, quite a dark shade of brown, it has a rich Virginia aroma, and great hydration. Due to the consistency there's no need for too conscientious a rub, just pinch some and stuff it in!

Lighting a bowl's easy and the smoke is fantastic. 'Fruit Bun'. This is a good description of the smoke, for me. I get a hearty amount of sweet, rich, fruit. But there's also a bready, doughy, character behind; like a fruit bun! It burns nicely, is medium in temperature, and doesn't bite me.

Nicotine: medium. Room-note: very nice.

Carolina Red Flake? Perfection! Highly recommended:

Four stars.

Cornell & Diehl’s (2015) Carolina Red Flake is a must try for experienced VA lovers. It presented in my tin as reddish brown, broken flakes, and the tin note is fermenting bread, yeasty, tangy, earthy, dark fruit leather, a little oat-y, and pungent for a VA. It came moist but dried to perfection quickly once the tin was opened. I like to handle the chunky, broken flake “ribbons” carefully and get a bundle of them stood up on end in the bowl of a dedicated VA pipe. It lights easily and smokes down slowly like a dream. It smokes sooty for me, so I keep a couple of pipe cleaners handy. Smoked thoughtfully/kept cool it is very fragrant, adding savory wood resins and something like fragrant, almost floral meadow grasses to tastes that otherwise follow the tin note. It is amazingly sweet for red VA, but it is also fairly pungent (like the tin note), and these contrasting qualities balance this blend beautifully. I suppose this is not “monopol” tobacco, all from one plot, rather I think it’s two or more “similar but not the same” red VAs, because there is a wonderful, very sophisticated complexity available for the seeker of this sort of thing, even as these tobaccos meld very well. There is plenty of smoke, and it gets better and better, right down to nubs. Strength is medium. Tastes are just over medium the way I smoke it. Room note is pleasant. Aftertaste is a lingering, sweet, sweet trailing off of the smoke, which is terrific, top to bottom.

Here is as fine an example of an All American, aged VA flake as I have ever smoked, for whatever that’s worth. It contrasts and compliments more processed, top quality English and European VA flakes in my rotation. IMO it would make a great everyday smoke, and my stash is doomed, for sure. I am pretty sure it will continue to age very nicely. 4 stars.

A little over a week ago a fellow pipe club member sent out an email letting everyone know that this blend was scheduled to be released on 15 Oct 19. A few days prior to the date I called an online store to get more information and found out that they could not reserve me any, etc but that it would be on sale at 1201 EST with a lot of 10,000 tins. One of my first thoughts was that doesn’t sound like a small batch to me but I had already succumbed to the ‘limited edition fever’ as I usually miss out on these and for the sake of my pocket book probably just as well. Ah ha, I thought, I am PST and I can get a 3 hour jump on half the United States. So, on Monday night I sat here at my computer like I am doing now and refreshed the web at exactly 2101 and ordered 7 tins of a tobacco I have never had. The limit was 25 tins a day per customer which I thought was way too high but I did not make the rules. I also ordered a couple of other tins and got the free shipping. A week later I happened to be home when the UPS driver came up and gave me the box. The box had creases on it like an accordion and I told the driver I hope my contents aren’t damaged. Well two had massive creases in the tin so I chose to open the worst one and popped the dent out with my fingers and you could hardly tell the difference. This was tin 03004. I also received in no particular order, 09986, 09987, 03017, 09989, 03008 and 03009. Truthfully the numbers are mean less unless you get maybe 00001 or 10000. I also discovered that there was a release in 2018 of 8000 tins and I wish they would update this information pertaining to this blend on this website. A fantastic sweet Virginia smell, reddish brown and a very broken flake tobacco. I think previous issues at least in the beginning it was an actual flake but can’t swear to it. This is a really great smooth, no bite tobacco which I also learned that Red Virginia usually has a low sugar content and I am sure that is why it is bite free. I am no Virginia expert but this is a really good smoke. Would I be saying this in spite of all the hype, I am almost certain I would. Some have alluded this as one dimensional but also bear in mind this is a straight Virginia and not a blend. On its own merits it is great. The store that I bought this from was sold out in like two days. I did buy 3 more from another site and that will be it. In closing I emailed the company with a picture of my two dented tins and they could not have been nicer. They offered me a refund, etc. and I replied back that I did not want a refund and I was not sending them back. I also said I probably should have emailed UPS also but I just wanted to let them know. I buy for my own personal use and am not a re-seller and as the damage was fixable no big deal. I hope to all those that like Red Virginia you were able to get some. My next visit to the pipe club I am going to bring in the other dented tin and pass it around. Life is too short to get to worked up over a couple of dented tins. Now if I could apply that attitude to the rest of my life…… well until next time.