Cornell & Diehl Red Carpet

I have tried probaly 40 Virginia blends in the last 6 months. Most I have liked....some I LOVE. I have sampled the best blenders from England, Ireland, Germany, Denmark, and America. IMHO the Tarlers at C&D hold thier on with the very best. Out of the 8-10 C&D blends that I have tried they have each recieved a 3 or 4 star rating.

Red Carpet is 'bout as good as a VAPER gets. After drying, and rubbing out this blend packs, lights, burns great. The Va. have the lead, supported by the Perique/Izmar. Mildly sweet, peppery taste with no bight when sipped. This is not my favorite from the "Simply Elegant" series....but it's close.....good enough that I have orderd a couple of pounds to consume/cellar.

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**"Rosebud"

One look at the one pound tin's attention to detail clearly demonstrates C&D's love of ingredients and pride in craft. The two tissue wrapped bundles of joy show the superior care that elevates a mere blender into maestro status. Bravo! The contents are very good too.

Youth is wasted on the young, but in this case it became the center of attention. This tadpole needs some aging. But its youthful exuberance is so much fun to tangle with. Bright, Sassy and full of promise.

As an infant, it smokes with brassy high notes from the Orientals and the tang of Virginia. The Perique aroma in the tin doesn't translate into the flavor of the smoke...it merely plays peek-a-boo. The deeper flavors of red virginia don't come into their own until mid-bowl, but are delicious.

**My nickname for this tobacco, and Citizen Kane's final word on his deathbed. I hope I utter the same word while puffing on this wonderful weed on my deathbed..... In about forty years.

I want to go quietly like my great-grandfather did. Not screaming and wailing like all his passengers.

I found this blend to be as good as could be expected, after having tried other similar C&D products. That is, after I found the right pipe for it. Let me just throw this in- after trying the best that England, Denmark and Germany had to offer, then bringing it back home to put these guys up against McClellands...aside from the Grand Orientals, C&D wins my vote as best blenders IN THE WORLD. First I tried RC in my Peterson Barrel because I love to smoke Sunday Picnic out of it. Seeing as how the blends are siblings from the same series, and different only in the type of virginia used, I thought it would be close. Oddly enough, these siblings don't get along in the same pipe. At this time, I only have so many Petersons and clays that I will smoke, so I try to keep similar blends labeled for specific pipes.(This is probably not uncommon.) Eventually, I'd like to have one for each, but for now this blend works very well in my Peterson 150, which is dedicated to Fillmore, Kajun Kake and Bayou Morning Flake. I'm trying to keep the training wheels on my new pipes a while, so I'm only packing half a pipe for the sake of the cake building process. So far, it's been fantastic. I'm just as pleased as I was with Sunday Picnic from the "Simply Elegant" series, when I christened the Barrel with it. It starts off just mildly sweet in the VA department, with a gentle perique presence. Halfway through the half-packed bowl, the turkish spoke up a bit and the gingery spice of perique moved aside. For a moment, the turkish brought forth a slight curry-like sensation that merely presented itself and drifted back as though it were part of a good bluegrass trio. A little nicotine tingle, (less than Fillmore) but nothing to go running downstairs for a glass of milk to coat my stomach over. I really can't say say a bad thing about it, other than 2oz will not be enough now. Great change up for the die hard VaPer fans. And before you know it, the show is over. No fuss, easy lighting, no glop and a nice powdery ash. If I have something I don't like at first, I try again later. That happens to me and my pallet...what's bad today seems good tomorrow. Who knows, the sinuses and condition of your tastebuds can drastically change the way you experience something. Sometimes some C&D blends seem a little off at first, but the more I smoke them, the more I like them. Find the right pipe, and I bet they're all winners.

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Petersons Rule!

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(especially with C&D blends in them!)

This one struck me as being relatively unflavorful when compared to many other Va. I was barely able to taste the Oriental or Perique, and I've now opted to use the rest of this tin for blending. I think that many others, however, might really enjoy this well-presented Va., so I'm giving this two stars instead of one. The quality really seems to be top-notch.

If you have a poker card, these pieces are not a problem at all, the pieces are gathered together like toothpicks (the whole Flake can also be crumbled in this way), put in and gently squeeze to flatten, ignite,

I tasted the shadow of G. L. Pease Telegraph Hill, only the fermentation was not as deep, the nicotine was satisfactory, and whether you were used to its aroma determined your rating.

The tin note is a lot like C&D's Opening Nights, which is a good thing because Opening Nights' has been my go to since McClelland went out of business. Because of the tin note I thought Oh Boy this stuff might be pretty good! Boy was I wrong! Very harsh! It was so harsh I can't even comment on the flavor. Terrible! I tossed the tin. I've been smoking a fair amount of Escudo lately but I'm still looking for a better VaPer, something a little closer to St. James Woods... The search continues.

This is a miss for me. Ok flavored VA with a slight muddied taste absent of Perique. Very mediocre, dull tobacco. There are many, many VA/Per tobaccos more enjoyable than this "Red Carpet". Does light and burn nicely though.

A rich red VA blend with predominantly bready & woodsy notes. A bit of cocoa, black pepper, & citrus. A little rough around the edges and a bit of harshness at times. Strength is medium.

My tin came rather dry, but it smokes well, albeit that bit of harshness. I have good luck simply balling up flakes and just shoving them in the pipe. Burns well with few relights. A very simple and minimally processed VaPer with a satisfying amount of body. Well suited for the fall/winter months.

Firstly, I got to say that smoking an American blend is somewhat rare to my available options. So there it is a nicely appeal to the blend cause of its rarity to me. I find the smoke pretty pleasant, almost peppery stout but on the medium to light strength. If that makes sense the red Virginia and perique on this one reminds me a mixture of marlin flake( rattray's ) and university flake( peterson's ) but rather a more elegant light version of them (ageing ain't the factor here ,cause it's compared to similarly aged blends of those three). I could recommend it for a more official evening smoke occasion, perhaps before a main event (like weddings etc). Highly recommended to 3.7 out of 4!