Cornell & Diehl Opening Night

I am not impressed with most of C&D's offerings. However, Opening Night was love at first puff. As a fan of C&D's Carolina Red flake and most other red Virginia blends in general, I began a journey of finding a readily available red Virginia flake that had a bit of that Mcclelland tang, and that deep red Virginia flavor. On a whim, I ordered a 2oz tin of Opening Night on a recent order. Upon opening the tin, the note was very similar to Carolina Red Flake, with a tangy, almost piney, IPA scent. In the smoke, Opening Night had both that tang and rich full flavor that only good red virginias can provide. The first half of the bowl is rich, full, and flavorful, while the last half of the bowl is candy sweet nirvana. I believe this to be the best tobacco C&D produces, and would also go as far to say that Opening Night rivals SG Full Virginia Flake and is vaguely reminiscent of the old Mcclelland's No. 27 matured virginia. I can only imagine that this flake will age beautifully and only get better with time. The tin I ripped through was only 6 months old and was already spectacular.

Here is an analogy... this is either union square with more brights.. or Dunhill flake with more darker reds.. the whole spectrum is there.. this is more alto than tenor... very nice caramelized grassy notes.. very nice Virginia.. can't argue with it.. It shares a really nice sweetness with union square (perhaps the only comparable Virginia this side of the pond - post mcclelland.. Should age well.. fresh it is maybe slightly 'green' but not an issue. If union square is 10/10 this is a solid 9/10

With the demise of McClelland Tobacco Company, I have been wondering what I might find to replace their fine Virginia smokes. After reading many online reviews, and after a lot of head scratching and chin rubbing, I ordered some "Opening Night" tobacco produced by Cornel and Diehl. "Opening Night" is advertised as a blend of pure Red and Bright Lemon Virginia flake tobaccos. It comes from the tin ready to rub out or stuff in the old burner - I smoked a first bowl in an English Tilshead Freehand briar, taking the weed straight from the tin, and it was one fine puffing experience. After a lunch of vegetarian pizza (give us this day our daily pizza) I rubbed out and dried a bowlful for 20 (twenty minutes) before smoking. It wasn't wet out of the tin, but sometimes I think letting certain tobaccos breathe a bit helps bring out the flavors. Anyway and anyhow, after the 20 (twenty) minutes had elapsed, I gently stuffed the stuff in the old Wilmer 3 (three) star flame grain briar - a pipe that loves those Virginny tobacs. This second bowl was smoking nirvana! The smoke started out subtly sweet and spicy, at mid bowl it developed a yeasty oaty flavor and finished with a nutty and lemonade flavor burst. And it all comes with absolutely no bite, no matter how you sip it or puff it. This is one of the finest Virginias I ever smoked! It has the spice of a gentle Oriental (without any Oriental tobacco - all Virginia), it has the tang of the best McClelland Virginia Red Tobacco (just not as pronounced as the McClellands' were), it has the yeasty oats of Rattray's Hal o the Wynd, and it has as much nuttiness as Gawith's Skiff Mixture. THIS OPENING NIGHT WEED IS ONE OF THE BEST VIRGINIA TOBACCOS EVER, EVER, EVER!!! And it has a good amount of nicotine - SmokeDawg said this mixture has the punch of a Tyson hook to the jaw and after smoking the second bowl, I had to eat a spoonful of sugar and lay down for a bit - it snuck up on me, I never saw the nic hit coming; just like SmokeDawg says a booming left hook from Mike Tyson. GOOD STUFF, this stuff.

The tin aroma of this stuff is lovely, like a hayloft on a hot day in July. Add to that the smell of fall fruit and the delicious smell of hard apple cider, sniff a little more and find dried apricots, prunes and raisins, dried grain and curing hay, and after a day or so of the seal being broken, a delicious aroma like white wine develops. A beautiful Virginia blend with an extraordinary aroma in the tin.

Practically rubs itself out. Lights OK, burns well, only a few relights.

Nice balance, warm flavors of well cured Virginia fill the mouth. The bright Virginia provides sweetness with a little tangy note. (It also makes this blend bite a little if you rush it.) The red Virginia seems rich, sweet, and warm. I wish I could try the red Virginia in this stuff by itself, bet it would be interesting.

A bit middle-of-the-road, but still a tasty little VA blend, another fine example of the style, complex on the nose - more straightforward in the smoking.

I like this series from C&D, so far my favorite is “Sunday Picnic”. This one is very good too, if you enjoy a descent straight Virginia - this is the a good example.

Every now and then when smoking a good Va blend, you can taste the sugar in the blend in that you get a chrystalized caramel taste of burned sugar. I like this taste and I got it right off the bat with this blend. It is simply delicious! It is a medium brown colored flake of very thin ribbon cut Va tobaccos. The baggie I got was the perfect moisture level and tastes fine right off, though it is a little easier to roll and stuff into the pipe when it is dried for a few hours. It rolls fantastically easy and as I was smoking it in a fairly large pipe, it took two large flakes easily. It lights quite easy, a two match light, and remains burning in a nice smoldering all the way down to the bottom of the pipe. It burns into a light grey ash and almost no dottle at the finish. It is a very sweet smoke, obviously has a lot of natural sugar content, and though it does have the haylike taste of a VA, it is like fresh sweet hay. The smoke is rich and creamy, non biting of any kind and while not a real strong blend like FVF, it has every bit the taste and enjoyment. This is another that as soon as I finished the bowl, I wanted and did smoke another. IT'S THAT GOOD! Kudos to C and D for this one, but then I never expect less than great from Mr. Tarlar. Highly recommended!

I love these C&D “soft “ flakes . So easy to prepare any way you like . A full flavored Virginia flake for sure . It has the fruitiness of FVF with so much more ! The sweetness is natural tasting . Tangy and spicy . Bready with some slight grassy citrus floral notes in the background. A great Virginia smoke . Satisfies in the nic department. No bite . Just great tobacco! 4 stars

Add another thumbs up and 4 more stars for C&D’s Opening Night Virginia blend. The reviewed tin is dated 01-09-20, quite young to be so good. This is a typical C&D “broken flake”, effectively nicely stacked, chunky “ribbons” that result from cutting the flakes, with tobaccos ranging from golden to medium and dark red-brown. Tin note is boutique wheat muffin, with some orange, poppy seeds and honey, and subdued dark fruit leather way down. It’s easy to load some ribbons vertically, light and smoke down straight from the tin. Dried, it’s world class, naturally aromatic, with freshly mown hay and fragrant meadow, with grasses and faint, woodland incense, along with dark fruit leather, a little earth, and more muffin. I let clouds of smoke surround my head for total immersion. Strength is medium by the end of a bowl. Tastes are medium by the end of a bowl the way I smoke it. Room note seems quite pleasant to me, but my wife and daughter strongly disagree. Aftertaste is a long trailing off of the best of the smoke.

Easy-peasy, just take it slow. Another great VA flake for VA lovers, and no doubt it will age beautifully.

Classic VA graham-cracker sweetness and delightful room note but to my taste a bit rough around the edges (harsh) and prone to nip the tongue. This lacks the refinement I enjoy in VAs like Blackwoods Flake or Orlik Golden Slices. This one also packs a pretty solid dose of nicotine - not overwhelming, but definitely in the stout category. Not my cup of tea but could be a winner if you enjoy bold VA tobacco with a kick.

Wonderful tobacco, with a sweet heavenly Virginia taste. In my tin the flakes were broken, so I tried first rubbing them out: the smoke was satisfying, but it burned a little too fast for me. So I experimented breaking one slice in chunks and filling the bowl without pressure (here in Italy we call this method with the quaint term "catafottimento" and I'm not sure about the English translation ...) and this gave me the best result: full taste and slow burning. Highly recommended.