Cornell & Diehl Sunday Picnic

From the moment I popped the tin, I knew I was in for a real treat. I love Virginia's and I smoke Two Friends-Heritage in my regular rotation. Well, this is different. It is a Flake. With a hurried rub and fold, I quickly packed it in the bowl and did a charring light. Awesome, I thought! Smoked it right down to the bottom. I was surprised that I had no necessity to re-light, as I did not take the time it deserves to rub out, fold and gently pack. I was in a big hurry to smoke this blend.

Smooth, dry, cool smoking, tasty Virginia with the compliment of Turkish and Perique. Perhaps it has a touch of honey to enhance the sweetness. Certainly a no-bite, pleasant, irresitable smoke of mild character and it was very pleasing to the bottom of the bowl. This pipe had been smoked a few times already today and I was surprised the bowl was absolutely dry at the conclusion of this smoke. As soon as the bowl cooled, I was filling it up again. This is really good tobacco.

Moisture in the tin was ideal. I don't like having to dry tobacco. Picnic burns beautifully and its presentation from tin to smoke shows the skill and excellence in preparation of this blend that I have come to expect from Craig Tarler. It is pressed and sliced into perfect portions.

This Golden VA is one you can really enjoy sniffing in the tin. I may just take the tin into a non-smoking environment and sniff it where I can't smoke it! It's really that good. If you like a VA Flake, you don't want to miss this one!

This is a great smoke. A little hay, some dark fruit, a mild sourness, a good bit of spice and sweetness. The overall flavor is very pleasing. Not sure all the sweetness is natural, might be a little addition to this. That's ok. It works very well and wouldn't be as good without it. Top notch flake. Love it.

Medium in body and flavor. If there is added sweetness it's a very mild amount. Burns very well.

Cornell & Diehl - Sunday Picnic.

Me and Gentleman Zombie have done a couple trades with one another up to now, and this is another beauty from one of them. To put it simply, I think it's brilliant!

I wouldn't class the flakes as being either broken or whole: they're breaking apart just enough to enable easy filling, yet they still have the rectangular shape of a flake. The moisture in the tin's just the right quantity to mean that it's fresh, yet not soaked, what's that word?: PERFECT!

With Cornell & Diehl, there are many things that I love, i.e. the art designs on them. But the main characteristic that makes C+D one of my favourite manufacturers is the actual smoke. This one's great: I don't find it gives to many Perique qualities at first, there's a Plum-esc taste, but not a great deal of spice. It takes a quarter of a bowl, or so, for the Perique to wake-up! A steady flavour throughout would be the Oriental/Turkish: from this, I get a good foundation for the smokes profile. This gives some more oomph to the smoke, it fills in for the lesser hit of Perique. The Virginia seems lightly added compared to the other two, it just gives a bit of build to the smoke, rather than actual flavour.

The nicotine's just above medium (to me), and I enjoy the room-note.

Franck, you've done it again, you've sent me something special!

Highly recommended.

This is a masterpiece. Simply Elegant is the right description for this blend. I think VA/Izmir/Perique is one of the finest tobacco combinations possible and this blend nails it. The Izmir is often forward here. It is sour with a mild spice. I get a wonderful pine needle aroma from the smoke. The bright Virginia offers its usual hay notes and the Perique is figgy and peppery. On the whole the blend is more savory than sweet. It pairs delightfully with a morning coffee. Strength is medium with a bit of a kick but can be smoked any time of day.

A go-to flake for me. If this was the only tobacco I had to smoke, I would be happy.

Very nice on a spring or summer day. Puts me in the same mind as a citrus-y drink with some bitters, like Campari and grapefruit/orange or something.

Just prior to opening my current tin of SP and writing this, I calibrated my tastebuds to the taste of Izmir by smoking a tin of McClelland Smyrna No. 1, which includes a leaf in the tin. Sniff, sniff, Izmir is very herbal and aromatic and I have to say that being strongly so, it is best used as a condiment. It works amazingly well with perique, as in Sunday Picnic. In fact, being a little overwhelmed by the strength of the Izmir in the McClelland blend, I mixed it 50/50 with their Top Hat (a VA/Per with a good amount of perique) to create a facsimile of Sunday Picnic/Red Carpet, which worked really well, but not nearly as well as how C&D does it.

In sum, the Izmir in Sunday Picnic is quality and in perfect proportion to the other tobaccos, and did I mention that I love Izmir and perique? It adds a balmy, herbal taste that ramps up to nuttiness and spice towards the end of the bowl, joining with the spice of the perique and the virginias.

C&D's bright virginias are some of my favorites, I like the light citrus notes and solid earthy tobacco taste here.

Have smoked tins of Sunday Picnic of different age, from about five years to fresh. Always good, but aged like that it is completely sublime. Best with a minimum of six months or so of age.

On my initial look, Sunday Picnic's contents seemed mostly similar to Embarcadero--Virginias and Smyrna, or Izmir (depending on your preference), in a flake form. I haven't tried Embarcadero and was thinking about it until I compared the reviews. Sunday Picnic had a wealth of praise, even more than Embarcadero, which I decided to push back to a later time.

I should say that this was my first experience with the newer C&D flakes (the much older Bayou Morning Flake was an early, favorite smoke), and they do it differently, which I like. The thick flakes look beautiful lined up in the protective sleeve, their squarish shape perfectly sized to the C&D two ounce tin. It's a very light press, and they fall apart easily upon handling, reminiscent of Penzance. I can't say whether C&D flakes will get firmer over time, but it's a welcome change, and it's nice to see something other than a ribbon or a compressed ribbon crumble cake. My only complaint would be the paper insert, which embeds little white shards in the tobacco, and can be a pain to fish out of the flakes. I noticed that the newer Samuel Gawith tins also have this problem, and it's annoying.

This blend has some strength to it, though not quite overpowering, certain to give you a nic jolt in a larger bowl. It's rather sweet, though not so much as McClelland's Tudor Castle, another blend that does the Virginia/Turkish/Perique combo very well (and the first to get me on this mix). I've found the Perique there more for power than taste, and having missed its inclusion while reading the tin description, had a bit of an "ahah!" moment while scouring the reviews. The components are enough to vary the flavor through the smoke, beginning with familiar hay-like notes, and deepening as the sugars caramelize into a toasty, slow burning explosion of complimentary flavors, the Turkish leaf contributing a bit of spiciness, but mostly restrained.

Now, with my Sunday Picnic finished, I'm off to Union Square, and I suspect there will be more stops down the line.

Five of Five.

Don't let the tin note stop you, yes, it smells like a barnyard. The moisture level is pretty high and I found that it packed and burned better with a little dry time. Once burning, if you take it slow, you will be treated to a smoke that bounces back and forth between a creamy sweet taste and then a peppery tingle on the palate. If you puff too vigorously you will miss out on the suttle nuiancies and get more of a one dimensional smoke of medium strength. This will not be a daily or all day smoke for me and I can't see that it would fit it into that category for many, but for if you are looking for that unique occasional smoke that rewards the process of perpetration, packing, and cadence then I highly recommend giving this a try.

My first tin of this was when I fell in love with a turk spiked vapor. The tin note is of hay and spice and everything nice. I find myself craving this tobacco and comparing other VaPer blends to it. The Red Carpet blend is similar to this but I find that it lacks the spice and has a harder nic hit. Although I enjoy them both this has been my favorite blend in the elegant series and a close first by c&d as a whole. Also, this flake seems to hold together better than other c&d flakes.

The tobacco looked very attractive with a very nice tin note as well. It rubbed out easily, packed effortlessly and took light with ease.

The first quarter of the pipe was a bit on the harsh/sharp side. Probably the Virginias, but lacking the sweetness I was expecting. It actually felt more like a Burley based smoke initially. I didn't get much of the Perique either. Halfway through the bowl, she calmed down and mellowed out, with the Perique becoming subtly apparent, and a slight sweetness making an appearance along with a very nice nutty flavor. Toward the end of the bowl, the Perique really shined, ever so slightly spicy and just right.

Had the entire smoke been like the first quarter, I would have given it about one and one half stars. Perhaps some aging would eliminate the harshness I experienced initially. After the smoke settled down, it was quite enjoyable with more than a few flavors bouncing around the palate. It smoked quite cool, with zero dottle, but I did feel a very slight tongue bite when finished.

All in all a pleasant smoke made with quality tobaccos. It has just the right amount of nicotine in my opinion to elicit a relaxed mood, and a desire to smoke it whilst perched in a leather recliner as opposed to an all day smoke.

It will not be going into my rotation, but I can definitely see it as an occasional revisit when I open my cellar and want something different. Nice tobacco, this.

Update: I let this one dry out a bit in the tin, got zero tongue bite this time around, but it did seem to dry my mouth out. As mentioned in many other reviews, definitely the hay aroma and flavor going on (quite pleasant actually) with a bit more sweetness than when first tried. This one appears to be growing on me a bit.

Update again: After even more time in the tin, this smoke is steadily grabbing my affections. I find myself alternating it occasionally with my McClelland's Blackwoods Flake which is saying a lot. This is a superior blend and worthy of mention. I have just ordered an 8 ounce tin and extend a bravo and a handshake to Craig Tarler the blender of this outstanding offering. Upgraded to 4 solid stars! Amazing... As Craig Tarler has apparently passed away and left us at the age of 82, I hope he has shared his craft with a worthy study who will continue the fine tradition and art of blending.