Cornell & Diehl Manhattan Afternoon

Yet another fantastic virginia blend from the Simply Elegant Series. Smooth, Sweet with a bold spice that lingers on your tongue. This blend is an excellent example of why virginia flake tobaccos are so popular. The addition of honey makes this a mouth wateringly sweet smoke while still retaining that spicy tang that C&D virginias are known for. An excellent all day smoke. Light, Sweet and interesting.

The blenders at C&D, not to mention their many happy customers, must have very different palates to mine. I won't judge their taste, and trust they'll extend me the same courtesy. This was yet again a disappointment to me. Imagine making a sandwich out of untoasted white bread and hay. That's about the flavor I got from this, no matter how dry or wet or rubbed out I smoked it. Toward the end of the tin, after it had dried out too much and had to be re-hydrated, there was more sweetness (perhaps really a muting of the other flavors, allowing the sweetness to come to the forefront) and more nicotene. That was better, but still nothing to write home about. I still have some C&D blends in my cellar and in my list to try, but so far my luck with them is dismal.

Good tobacco; basically Briar Fox with a light honey casing. The honey seems to mute any underlying complexity. So don't expect nuances of flavor. But it burns pretty well and doesn't bite. All in all, a solid choice but not a bell-ringer.

This somewhat reminds me of MacBaren burleys, but I like the Macs better because I find they have more depth. The Macs are, to me, just more interesting and satisfying.

Govern Yourself Accordingly,

SmokeKing David

Had this particular tin since 06/07. Somehow this escaped being reviewed! Been smoking through this tin the last few days, and I am quite happy with how it has aged. Tin notes of pure tobacco and sour Virginas, with that honey sweetness in the background. Even at 11 years old, these flake are still moist and must be dried a bit after rubbing out. Packs nice and firm, the initial charring light requires a few attempts. Sipped slowly, this flake is nice and sweet, grassy VA notes with some tanginess. I had some company stop by while I was writing this review, so I set my pipe down for about an hour. This also DGT'd quite well. It can sting the tongue a bit if puffed too hard, even with this amount of age on it. If you love sweet and sour Va's, I have no doubt you'll enjoy this flake.

I must divide this review in two parts. I was impatient and I first smoked it fresh out of the tin: the taste was nothing to write home about, too plain. It burned too hot, I found the nicotine content to be too strong...I finished the bowl and the bad expience was certainly my fault, I didn't let it dry enough, but it left a bad impression.

I stored the flakes in a mason jar with the rest and forgot about it for five years.

Second try. I rubbed a flake -now very dry, but still ready to smoke-, packed the pipe and lighted it. The smoke was nice: mild taste, sweetness and grass, a rich smoke. The true surprise came at the middle of the bowl, when I truly detected some light hints of honey that persisted until the end. The pipe needed only a couple of relights, but other than this, it burned well and cool until the end and left just a light gray ash.

Let it dry a bit and smoke slowly, this flake will reward you with a cool, light and pleasant smoke. It's not strong and lacks the deep rich flavour of english blends, but it's a great mellow tobacco.

Not what I expected, there are many better Virginia blends on the market, this was way too mild for my taste with hardly any note of honey. Has a somewhat barn taste - like wet grass clippings, didn't even finish the bowl.

Searching through hordes of aromatics, I finally found a tobacco that could be smoked indoors, yet that still retained the "pure" tobacco taste. I enjoy a true aromatic on occasion, but this is great--it just straddles the line between aromatic and straight virginia, and allows me to get away with smoking it in the home without offending company. The flakes in the tin I received were lovely to look at, but did fall apart fairly easily. I will admit I am still a flake rookie, but I was able to get a nice bowl going. Upon lighting up, I was surprised to find that although the golden virginias were prominent, the honey was also more noticeable than I expected. However, this is not a negative trait about this tobacco--the honey and the golden virginia marry very nicely together and the experience as a whole was both pleasant and calming. The honey was by no means overpowering and lent itself nicely to a pleasing room note. This might still be too mild for some, and the virginias might not be "unspoilt" enough for the virginia purist. Still, I consistently enjoy it when it is too cold to smoke one of my more robust blends and makes for a nice variation and a peaceful evening. If you are interested in flakes, virginias, and don't mind a drop of honey in your pipe, do try this.

An anecdote: I sat on the landing over my building's mailboxes waiting for the postman to arrive. This is a blend I've wanted to try for six months, and yet I couldn't wait for it to get here.

The tin: I prefer the European-style screw-lid tins, and this was my first American tin. The artwork is lovely, and the neat little note inside made me overjoyed to try know the work that went into this blend. I took a big whiff. Plums plums plums. Almost the same smell as opening a bag of prunes. The flakes are thick and mostly intact, which I can't say from when I buy loose flakes from my tobacconist.

Packing and lighting: the flakes were moist and springy. I usually like mine a bit drier, but went ahead anyway...too excited to wait. They folded well and crumbled a bit, which made it easier to get into a small conical Kirsten bowl. It took a little work getting it lit, but it stayed lit and burned evenly.

The smoke: Again, plums. A very rich taste. No sign of any honey that I can detect. this burns very cool and no bite (my tongue is sensitive, so that's saying a lot), with no drying. Occasional hints of citrus, and a little bit of hay, but not as much as PS Luxury Navy, my usual go-to. Burns to a grey-white ash.

Room note: I gave that rating because I find that inevitably, with a few exceptions, pipe smoke goes stale very fast: aromatics smell like acrid chemicals and virginias smell a bit like cigarettes, so I'm being more objective than the average piper. The sidestream is strong, but the room during the smoke is leafy and sweet and really adds to the experience.

This is a very nice Virginian flake. The flakes rubbed out easily and the moisture content was just right.

In both the tin and in the smoke the Honey casing is barely noticeable but, it adds a subtle sweetness to your pallete. Try it with some Drambuie or nice cup of tea to enhance the honey effect even more. I got to bite at all from this one.

This is a nice light blend to relax with and enjoy your surroundings.