Cornell & Diehl Opening Night

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.

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.

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.

This comes in somewhat of a broken flake. There are flecks of golden and brown. The smell is slightly fermented and with not even that much time it changes to one of the loveliest smells of sweet bread. It remind me of SG Best Brown Flake.

The flavor is sweet Virginia goodness. This has some tangy fruit notes and a lot of bread character with some prominent, assertive honey notes, wheat notes, oats, cinnamon and earthiness that develops and it makes me wonder if there are air-cured Virginias in this as well. It develops a nice aroma of sweet bread. It's just a delight to smoke. It could burn hot if push, and the same goes for harshness. A note on re-lights-- I would get these sublime caramel or toffee-like notes with re-lights on many occasions.

The strength is medium. It's a stronger straight Virginia with some individuality. The nicotine was medium. It surprised me.

I would definitely buy this again. It's readily available for a great price, and it has a noticeable identity without the aid of detectable additives.

What a special virginia flake! This smoke has strong lemon notes, but just enough grass, hay, and spice undertones to provide a full body and rich experience. The sweetness is right "up the middle" for a virginia, not overwhelming, but it leaves you with that happy sugar on your tongue for an hour afterward. I can taste the quality of the pure, genuine, VA tobaccos all through this.

Very little bite to this, which is also a pleasure for a VA. You can get a bit of bite if you really, really freight train your pipe, but the flake helps keep it cool and the moisture level is lovely. The flake breaks apart easily (I like to rub this one out for packing), and seems nicely consistent.

If you're looking for those citrus notes with a pleasant sweetness and a full virginia tobacco flavor, its hard to go wrong here. And its great fairly fresh (I've happily enjoyed it with only a few months of age), and just gets better with cellar time. What a treat!

In terms of comparisons, its sweeter and more lemony than Gawith FVF (I prefer Opening Nights to FVF). Less spicy than Amphora VA (which is extremely full bodied for a virginia). Less sugary and clearer lemon flavors than Yorktown (although I suspect C&D is using a lot of the same base for these two mixtures).

No big nic hit at all. Probably mild+ in terms of vitamin N.

Not much more praise I can heap on this fine, natural VA. It is a fine, fine tobacco.

I was immediately taken by the tin note which hit me with a fantastic burst of orange citrus - I swore there was orange zest in the mix.

A bit richer than Union Square, but possessing the same clean, grassy, light sweetness, this is an easy bowl to enjoy all day, any day.

Excellent loading, lighting and burning characteristics... I can’t think of a single negative. An exemplary Virginia.

Very yeasty tin note. Also sweet citrus fruit, like tangerine and hay which seems to be only the natural tobacco taste.

Could use a few minutes of drying time but it can be smoked as it is. Quite citrucy, ample hay (both green and dry) notes. It is spicy and sweet and earthy. Actually I feel the Bright Virginias dominate with their higher notes while the Red provide a deeper succulent dried fruit undertone. It never gets hot and it won’t bite. It lasts long and smokes dry. Room note, for those who like tobacco is excellent - pure tobacco. Flavour and strength build up as you go making a quite potent tobacco, past medium strength and yet absolutely smooth.

I cannot find enough words to praise this natural Virginia. Suffice it to say that it’s one of the top in the market. Different than both FVF and BBF as it is more on the bright spectrum but comparable to Golden Glow. In any case I dare say Opening Night is definitely easier to handle than all the above, more complex and more flavourful.

An exquisite natural Virginia!!