Cornell & Diehl Anthology 1992-2022

The various red Virginias have steady competition from the Canadian bright Virginias. All of them produce a wealth of tart and tangy, mildly sweet citrus, grass/hay, vegetation, bread, some floralness, a modest amount of dark fruit, earth, wood, sugar, dry sour lemon, and light spicy, vinegary, acidic notes. The Saint James Perique offers a fair amount of earth, wood, tingly spice, dried plums, and a hint of dried figs as a supporting player. The overall strength, including the nic-hit, are a step past the medium mark. The taste level is a notch past that mark. It won’t bite or get harsh, but it does have a few rough edges. The broken flakes are mildly moist, and need no dry time. Deeply rich, it burns cool, clean and a tad slow with a very consistent tartly sweet and sour, spicy, floral, zesty, slightly acidic flavor that extends to the lingering after taste. The room note is a bit stronger. Barely leaves any dampness in the bowl, and requires a couple more than an average number of relights. Not an all day smoke, but it is repeatable for those who want a VaPer with some punch and depth. Three stars.

-JimInks

Cornell and Diehl Anthology 1992-2022- I really like the C&D style of Virginias that have that slighly rough , rustic strong taste . They have a very natural taste . I get some sweet sugar and fruity spice also . A little Vinegar tart and floral notes . I tend to like Virginia blends that have Red and Brights . Just the right amount of Perique for me . 4

First impressions after smoking my first bowl:

The tin note reminds me of Parmesan cheese. It’s a pungent, fermented, yeasty, musty, smell. Some dark fruit and tangy citrus. Pretty moist, in fact I’m not going to jar it but leave it in the tin. Broken soft flakes that break apart with some effort as they are moist.

The flavor… bready, yeast, sourdough, some tangy citrus fruit, some lemon tartness, and plenty of dark fruit. A bit of hay, but no grassy fresh flavor. Fair amount of sweetness. Almost no peppery tingle which is to my liking. Even on the retrohale. The perique C&D uses is phenomenal, it’s more figgy than peppery. This is different enough from CRFwP to be worth while getting. I’m so glad I did. It is slightly one dimensional, but a consistent and nice flavor. Hardly an after taste. Little harshness, or mouth tingle, and no bite. Room note around non pipe smokers drew no complaints. Lots of relights but some dry time will help with that. It smokes slow, nic hit is probably past medium.

Looking forward to this aging as no doubt it’ll be great.

This one is definitely a close relative of red flake with perique.. Although it is considerably softened by the bijou virginia as well as the dose of brights.. while the red tips still come through very distinctly, this is really well blended to deliver a very well rounded and approachable yet complex enough va/per.. Jeremy Reeves has certainly come a long way in recent years.. Cornell and Diehl despite the criticisms it occasionally gets is undoubtedly releasing many of the greatest and most pure tobaccos amongst its perhaps over extended portfolio.. but we are lucky for it.. other than the Mac Baren HH series we have nothing else like this.. at least in the states.. A well done 30th anniversary release.. And this perique is fantastic.

This one really clicked for me. I tend to find other C&D blends lack subtlety, but not this one. The Virginias have both sweetness and depth. There is just enough perique to keep things interesting without dominating, and it presents itself with dried fruit sweetness and mild spice. There's a lot going on here that hits you as the bowl progresses, from fruit, bread, honey, red wine, and a rich chocolate note that becomes more prominent as the bowl progresses.

I actually dreamt about this tobacco the night after my first bowl, and promptly ordered more tins the next day. I had low expectations but this one lived up to the hype, and then some.

This tobacco has some flaws. It burns on the faster side, has a small amount of bite (common with most VaPers), and the aftertaste isn't so great.

However, all of those pale in comparison next to the taste of this tobacco. It is an intoxicating dance between sweetness, earthiness, toastiness, and perique. It floors me every time. If it didn't have the above mentioned drawbacks it might even be in the running for the greatest VaPer out there, but even so it is up there.

I highly recommend this for everyone to try. If you enjoy the aftertaste then you are in for a major treat.

Anthrology review

Tin note was kinda nasty. I was expecting a nice fruity smell but was met with a certain mustiness and a hint of vinegar.

This blend has little to no tangy/citrus/vinegar notes. I get plum & fig fruit notes along with nice bready notes. This blend is slightly sweet and a joy to retrohale. Composed of 12% perique, the perique is not always present but is very welcome when it comes around.

The broken flakes come pretty moist out the tin. I dry mine for 30-60 mine before smoking. There is no bite with this blend, and it is well behaved.

Honestly one of the best VA blends I’ve smoked in a while. I’ve been looking for a darker virginia blend that’s like the polar opposite of Orlik Golden Sliced’s light tangy floral citrusy characters. Anthrology bangs.

I’m gonna say something crazy, but I’m not even mad that I have less than 50 grams of McClelland’s christmas cheer left. I have Anthrology to back me up!

4/4 star rating for me.

https://imgur.com/a/ZWCOqcW

I enjoyed it, but after I went past the first quarter of my bowl. The tobacco is nice, but nothing to be excited about. I had a sample by sheer chance because I usually tend to avoid Virginia leaf, and I thought it was OK. If it was up to me, I would have had more perique, but the rest of the ingredients combined quite well. I did not detect any bright virginia, but I am not sure if it had any. The red virginias were grassy with hay-like notes, but I guess I missed the aged and cellared aspects of it. To my palate, it just tasted like one of your ordinary and day-to-day smokes.

Sweet with hints of tang and spice, raisins and dark chocolate. Probably could have used a bit of drying time but was too anxious to try it…multiple relights. Medium in strength and above medium in flavor. Nic hit is about medium at most. Very enjoyable.

A pleasant red Virginia/mild Perique blend, with all the tang that all implies. I've little doubt the slight rough edges with smooth out and the flavors will deepen over time. The flakes seem a little crumbly, so I do wonder if they'll hold together as this ages, but we'll see.