Cornell & Diehl Carolina Red Flake w/Perique 2020

Just to give you an idea of my palate, I love straight Virginia tobaccos and I also am fairly fond of VaPers with Esoterica Dunbar being my favorite. Carolina Red Flake with Perique (CRFP) is a solid blend that I enjoyed quite a bit when smoking it. The Red Virginia is certainly of high quality and it is very easy to notice that when smoking the blend. The Perique is quite strong in this one and I personally wish it was a little bit less prevalent. It catches you quite strongly in the back of the throat, but did not put me off of the blend either. For my preference, I could do with a little less of it, but it, like the reds, is high quality. The Red Virginias are breadlike and a touch tangy, but not as much as something like Sutliff Matured Red Virginia 515 RC- 1. The smoke is smooth all the way to the bottom and has fewer rough edges than some Red Virginia based blends. The second half of the bowl mellows out considerably and appears to do so even more if you allow the blend to go out and have to relight it. I had the best results when having a slower cadence, but I did not necessarily have to sip the blend like I've had to on other Virginia blends. It's a little more resilient in that area. I do think with time, the perique will mellow out significantly and the Red Virginias will increase quite a bit in the sweetness department. As usual, I'm definitely looking to trying this blend with some age on it, but it is darn good with no age at all. I cannot see a way that CRFP won't age tremendously well. I give it a solid 3.5 stars out of 4 and recommend those that love VaPers or Red Virginia based blends in general to give it a try. Even those that do not know whether they would like something like this could benefit from giving it a try based on the quality of the tobaccos alone. Can't imagine you'd be disappointed when you do. Give it a try!

Being a big fan of the Carolina red flake , I ordered several tins before they get sold out . I was a little worried about the strong Perique smell opening the tin as like my vapers on the light Perique side. No worries smoking this as it didn’t taste as strong as I thought it might . This is very smooth and quite delicious. Fruity creamy bready red wine smooth with not as much spice as i would have expected. Some nice high notes also . Citrus and plum and some grass . This is great right now and should be amazing with age ! This might be my favorite of the small batch series. Highly recommend.Don’t wait too long to order , I don’t think they will be available for long .

Carolina Red Flake with Perique is another first class blend from C&D’s Small Batch series. It’s a good deal stronger than their plain Carolina Red [VA] Flake, owing, I suppose, to a big helping of ancient, St. James Perish Perique in CRFWP. Whatever the reason, I find the nic hit to be significant and worth considering before smoking this blend. In my new tin (03-17-20), prime tobaccos are presented as broken flakes that are mainly red-brown, with a few gold flecks and a fair amount of soft bits that are nearly black. The lot is moist, and it smells like a high quality, health food, whole wheat fig Newton that is fermenting, with slight apricot. The fat “ribbons” can be bundled and dropped vertically into a pipe straight out of the tin for a very substantial smoke, but it burns much better if it’s dried some before lighting up. I’ve played with this blend for some time now, mostly trying to figure out how others have gotten “mild to medium” from it. The mildest I could get it was rubbing it out, then drying it, then gently nursing a loose load in a # 4 pot. It’s a good deal more saturated if whole, moist ribbons are smoked apace. Another thing worth mentioning is that this blend produces a lot of tar while it’s smoked. I keep several pipe cleaners on hand, including one of the bristle type, to keep the airway open over the course of a smoke. No matter how I smoke this blend I find it to be quite fragrant, very floral for red VA, bready, with dark fruit compote down low, also fermenting figs, some mustiness, strong, exotic bakery spices, very sweet (amply cased, I guess) over the sour Perique, and some paprika and pepper. It oozes quality (along with the tar…). Strength builds most of the way to strong, likewise the nicotine. Tastes build to full (rather, they can). Room note is better than tolerable. Aftertaste is a trailing off of the smoke.

I was a little surprised to find CRFWP so different from its straight VA counterpart, but I am pleased with this blend, and IMO it stands out on its own merits. Though CRFWP seems best suited to experienced VA/Per smokers, anyone who’s patient might try it in order to sample a blend comprised entirely of some of the best tobacco on the market today. 4 stars, and it will likely get even better with age.

C&D’s Small Batch Carolina Red Flake with Perique

When I purchased this Small Batch offering, there were no reviews out for this blend yet (it wasn’t even up and/or listed on TR). When my ten tins arrived, it was right in the midst of the Covid Crisis – and so into the hall closet the box went, where it remained sealed, until last night.

I did not check the TR reviews before filling a Cavicchi bent Dublin full of it and taking the stuff for a test drive. I would check it out, and then check to see what others had to say about it.

This was just love-at-first-char for me, and it only got progressively better after that. As I sat on the porch, luxuriating with this most magical stuff, it was easily a slam-dunk, 5-star Va-Per in my book.

So, I was taken aback to find that there were five 4-star reviews as well as five 3-star reviews for this blend. I held off on writing a “one-smoke” review until I sampled the blend again in a clay.

I re-read all of the reviews, and, before offering my own, normative, value-laden opinion, I thought I would put together a hit list of what others had posted that absolutely resonated with me:

-- This blend is delicious.

-- This tobacco was a surprising delight.

-- Another first-class blend from C&D’s Small Batch series.

-- Fruity creamy bready red wine smooth . . .

-- If you are a lover of Perique, this blend will definitely satisfy.

-- The Red Virginias are bread-like and a touch tangy

-- The red Virginias have a tangy sweetness to them with a little earth, while the perique is equal parts pepper and raisin . . . The smoke is creamy and pleasant all the way through.

While I do not consider myself a “lover of Perique” (I mean, I like Perique – don’t get me wrong), the 2002 perique in this batch was/is absolutely first rate, and interwoven/melded perfectly with top-notch Virginias.

If I may use this totally lame (or apt) analogy: different pipe tobaccos – just like Covid-19 – affect people differently. With Covid-19, a lot of people are asymptomatic (meh); some people lose sense of smell and taste; some people have inflammation of their toes; some people crash-and-burn quickly with a fatal pneumonia – it just depends, from person to person.

Very pleased to have caught this strain of viral Va-Per, for we may not see its likes again for some time. Here's hoping for just such another outbreak, soon -- a "second wave" -- but until that time, I suspect this Va-Per is going to age very well, indeed. 5-stars.

This tobacco was a surprising delight. Easy smoking with the sweet Virginia very present. Overall the blend has nice flavor and complexity as well most likely from the added Perique. A pleasant easy smoke for any time of day.

This blend is delicious. The red Virginias have a tangy sweetness to them with a little earth, while the perique is equal parts pepper and raisin, and makes an interesting presence throughout the bowl. The smoke is creamy and pleasant all the way through. Easily 4 stars. This will be an excellent candidate for aging.

I am reviewing tin 07072 out of 10000.

After opening the tin, the tobacco presents dark broken flakes with many sugar crystals that shine when viewed through a magnifying glass, and on the nose it presents the typical aroma of perique ferment. The humidity is quite correct to be able to load the pipe immediately, although a few minutes of airing are not bad for any tobacco. After the first ignition the flavor is very rich, predominantly a lot of dark fruit and with a pleasant bittersweet aftertaste. It burns well, without the need for more than average relighting, and does not bite the tongue even when the smoke is rushed.

In short, a great va/per that has not disappointed me at all, since the small batch series always offers very good quality tobaccos. Having finished the first tin I would say that in my opinion it is one of the best va/per that has been produced in recent years and I am so glad I got a few tins of this. I can't compare it to the 2021 version yet as I haven't tested it. I hope it's as good as this one...