Cornell & Diehl Opening Night

This is pretty good, but it's not great. You need not to smoke anything else beforehand, it will marr the taste. Smells promising, but smoking is a little bit of a different story. Condenses into a fine fine ash; came up through my pipe halfway down! The taste is pretty nice, some milder and stronger Virginias mixed. Overall I think it needs some aging, but I'd try it again (in a really bent pipe!).

After sampling a few of C&D's new flakes at the Chicago show in 2007, I wrote down Opening Night as one I would order when I got home. I also ordered Red Carpet and Interlude. After aging for a year, I started with this one, remembering that I liked it best. It was hard to tell then, however, because they were all so green. You had to use some imagination and speculate how a little time would help them.

After opening it was clear that C&D had mastered the flake. It is much better than the dreadful Safe Harbor Flake from a couple of years ago. The moisture was fine, but I dried mine a little more due to personal preference. I have smoked Opening Night in a variety of briar pipes, but nothing over a Group 4; it performed well in all. Opening Night is a beautiful tobacco, mostly red or brown with streaks of lighter colored leaf. You can rub it out, stuff the whole flakes into bowl, or make small balls of tobacco and stuff them in; I liked it each way. The burn is excellent all the way down the bowl. Relights are easy and it performs well with DGT. Opening Night is not an overly sweet blend, but more on the grassy, hay-like end of the spectrum. It can burn the tongue a little if you're smoking too fast. The taste is fairly monochromatic (not a bad thing at all) and that flavor deepens as you progress through the bowl.

If you like straight Virginias that are grassy, bright and slightly sweet, I can't imagine you not liking Opening Night, a rock-solid Virginia that should age well. I like it best in the morning, but it's great any time of day.

I bought this tin a few months ago and have been trying it on and off ever since. The tin is dated 010920. This has the C&D trademark of broken flakes in the tin, at least that is my experience from buying some of their other blends. I bought this one as I like Red Virginias. This has the usual tin note of sweet hay, etc. Smokes consistently smooth with a semi-sweetness in taste. This blend has been around awhile with reviews dating back to 2007. I have smoked this primarily in my Meerschaums and while good I do not have the time to age this to see if it improves. Good but not something that I am drawn to very often. It was blended as intended but I kind of wish it had more Red in it but then it would probably be called by another name. As for this one, the curtain closed on Opening Night for me.

One of my buddies advised me to look into American-made pure Virginia blends. Among my stash, I found a tin of Cornell & Diehl Opening Night, released in March 2020, and decided I might as well open it and try it.

The appearance of the tobacco made it clear that the introduction would be a pleasant one - fluffy strips of flake, almost broken, light brown shade of wheat bread crust. The tobacco does not contain any flecks of other varieties - it is just a very good Virginia. Because of its consistency, you can take the tobacco in pinches and fill the pipe without kneading, old flaky plates put vertically. Especially for this tobacco I chose a new uncorked pipe with a deep and slightly narrower bowl, stuffed it this way and smoked in it only this mixture a little at a time over several days to get a full impression.

The tobacco smells of bread, variegated sweetish hay, a slight apple note. Very simple and uncomplicated - what else would you expect from a tobacco with only Virginia?

Taste - muffin bread, with a bit of dark raisins and malt mixed in. The taste is also very simple, smooth, slightly sweeter than the Capstan, and even slightly sweeter than the five-year-old Curly Cut De Luxe - but not so full. I suspect if you let this tobacco rest for five or six years (or even ten), it will become very sweet. The flavor is quite even, there is only a slight roughness, which goes away after the first third of the pipe. The tobacco smokes quite smoothly and coolly, does not require additional puffs, does not go out, smokes slowly. Nevertheless you should not get carried away, the flake is quite capable to get so hot that the pipe becomes hot. The strength of the tobacco is somewhat below average, the nicotine strike is not a threat to the smoker. The tobacco is smoked into a fine light ash, leaving some moisture in the pipe. The aftertaste is similar to a baked apple.

The smoke is light, light and smells of hay. Doesn't stay in the room for long, doesn't irritate those around you.

Bottom line: a pleasant enough mono blend, which probably still should have been left for at least three years in order to gain the taste. If possible I'll put a tin or two in storage to compare the matured tobacco with Capstan. My impression so far is that this is a good everyday tobacco which tastes right in the middle between the other mono blends I mentioned, Curly Cut De Luxe and Capstan. The first one is inferior in the richness of taste, which will surely come to him when the tobacco is mature. The second, on the other hand, is much more neutral in flavor and more suitable as a "just-for-smoking" tobacco if you prefer pure Virginia. In any case, I liked the tobacco - it's not strong, soft, easy to digest. What more could you want for a regular blend?

Very nice straight VA. Mixture of red and bright VAs. Some spice, bread and sweetness from the red, some citrus from the brights. Flavor is consistent all the way through the bowl. Loose flake, very easy to load. Burns very well, few relights. Some rough spots, but smooths out with some age. NIC hit is mild to medium. 3 stars.

On opening the tin a Virginia sweetness is apparent with the distinct note of tart apple peel, followed by a hint of sawdust. Smoking the bowl it is full of picante sweet Virginia flavour that is consistent to mid bowl then a welcome note of cinnamon is present with a pinch of pepper to the bottom of the bowl. This is a broken flake wich rubs out easy and like all of my tobaccos I prefer to let dry for atleast 30 minutes depending on the baccy. All in all a good Virginia smoke that likes to be sipped.

Good stuff. There is a nice aroma of orange peel in the tin and the tobacco is dry enough to smoke pretty much right off the bat. The smoke is medium-sweet and some pleasant sour notes are present throughout the bowl. Being a bit on the delicate side (even for a straight VA), disregard for gentle puffing can produce a harsh smoke fairly readily.

Did not find a progression or deepening of sweetness and flavor as I smoked it down to ash. Tried it in various pipes and rubbed out to different degrees, concluding it was a respectable but not outstanding Virginia smoke.

Update: 11/2017: I opened a 6 year old tin. Fresh, the tobaccos were not so well married. I have found that to be the case for several C&D blends. With this amount of age, the edges had smoothed and I enjoyed a more satisfying, more flavorful smoke. The tobacco ages well and would rate “recommended” or three stars for cellaring if you like a Virginia flake with a bright flavor profile. I have added a star.

Sweet smokey bread flavors, tangy, a little grassy and very spicy. If yer into strait Virginia's tuck some away for aging.