Cornell & Diehl Opening Night

I will have to agree with the rest of the reviews, this is a fantastic blend and i am smoking it as i write this. The taste is typical Red Virginia and it has a very good finish that is slightly bitter. ( the right kind )

It reminds me of many of my favourite blends rolled into one. LGF, HOTW, Old Gowrie, Briar Fox and Marlin come to mind, i know many reading this will think its a very weird thing to say but i find this blend strangly familiar in a different way as the bowl evolves.

I cannot see how any lover of Virginias cannot like this. The flake is very easy to pack and it does burn slowly for a reasonably long smoke in a biggish pipe.

I am really impressed with C&D offerings and have to say that they understand the pipe smoker and i thank them for that. Enjoy guys

Mo, South Africa

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.

C & D has another winner with these nicely prepared ~ 3" x3/4" flakes that are almost 1/8" thick and are mostly darker VAs with some golden. Although the initial moisure content was greater than my preference, no condensation developed; just the intial lighting was more difficult straight from the tin. However, as typical for me, I didn't do any rub out and just folded the very pliable flakes while packing. A cool, even smoke without any hint of bite resulted accompanied by quite a shot of nicotine. This naturally sweet tobacco should be enjoyed by those who enjoy VA flakes.

Opening Night is presented very well in the tin. It is a little moist out of the tin so you may want to let it air dry for an hour or so. I smoked this as a folded flake and it burns reasonably well with this preparation.

This is a tasty, slightly sweet blend that exhibits no signs of tongue bite. I believe that the bright Virginia play a supporting role to the dominant reds.

I imagine that it would burn slightly better if fully rubbed which I am sure I will try at some point. For now, I am very satisfied with the performance of this blend considering its youth (my tin was less than four months old).

This is yet another winner from the Folks at C&D. I expect that it will age well and get even better.

A stunningly delicious straight Virginia blend. The sugars do not intrude. Just yummy. Medium strength. Burns easily. This is a classic Virginia but tamed by expert blending.

Tin note of grass, sugar and spices. Tobacco is a Flake of brown, yellowish tan and a little dark brown. Moisture content is good. Some pipe smokers will want to dry it a bit. Rubs out easily. Burns slow with a few relights. The strength is medium and nic is mild to medium. No flavoring detected. Taste is medium and very consistent, with notes of sweet hay, earth, spices, floral, tart citrus, wood, savory, bready, orange peel/zest, sugar, tangy dark fruit, mildly sour, mildly spicy, a lemon grass background note, and a peppery retro. Room note is tolerable, and aftertaste is great.

Summary: a nice Virginia flake but rough around the edges.

Red Virginias meld flavors with bright Virginias in this rough flake from C&D similar to their Burley series. The red Virginias really star in their role as the depth of flavor here, while the bright Virginias add a sugar syrup sweetness and a citrus acidity. You need to smoke this really slowly, but even then, the vinegar on your tongue sensation will crackle like Pop Rocks did as a kid (drink water with lemon to lessen this). If they included white Burley and did a full steam press, maybe aged the bright Virginias a bit, this blend would really top the charts, but as it is, these dry flakes burn easily and provide all of the sweet summertime flavor one expects from a Virginia blend.

Opening Night by Cornell & Diehl is Virginia excellence. I sip slowly to get a lower combustion temperature, more flavour and every last bit of Vit. N and Opening Night captivatingly delivers. Comes moist and I leave it that way – scissor cut 2-to-3-millimetres pieces gently rubbed out and packed, then for the top 20% or so of the bowl, really rubbed out, to ensure an even burn. Heaven!

At least medium in terms of hit, although I have a high tolerance and find it satisfying, with a lot of deep and lighter flavours. Almost sweet, but not quite. A real treat for straight Virginia aficionados. Don’t hesitate.

The tin note from this is divine in origin. Grassy fermented hay, vegetative matter, lots of sweet honey, toasted barley grains. It’s great. Broken apart flakes that rub out and pack just fine.

The taste is a lot of the same. Hay, toasted grains, toasted bread, a little sweetness, some tangy stewed fruit. It is a nice combination of bright and red Virginias. Basically everything I like in a Virginia tobacco balanced into one. Is it sweet? I say it has more sweetness than most straight Virginias, but it isn’t like the honey sweet Sun Bear 21 offers at first. For me this is perfect. Whatever it’s cased or topped with does smooth out typically harsh Virginias which is something I very much appreciate.

Smoked as well as a straight Virginia could, a little mouth tingle, no bite, the retrohale was nice with some added sweetness and spice. Did not tingle my nose too bad. Smoked in a Peterson system pipe and it behaved just fine.

TLDR if you like Virginias that are mildly sweet or toned down a bit but still full of flavor grab yourself a tin of this.