Cornell & Diehl After Hours Flake

Meet Carolina Cream Flake! This real sleeper from C&D, which is the only one of their blends (of the several I have tried so far) that I really like, has many similarities to Kendal Cream Flake, one of my favorites. There is a sweet topping/casing here, noticable especially in the tin, but less so (usually) in the smoke. Weirdly, I noticed the topping more in the earlier smokes when I left the tobacco rather wet. Then it was sweet and tart, somewhat vinegar-like. But later in the tin, I noticed the rum more if the flake was dry. Then it was simply mild, smooth and sweet. Don't have any clue why that is. But otherwise (i.e., dry at first and wetter later on), the rum is definitely in the background, smoothing out the virginia more than adding a distinctly noticable sweetness. Then the virginias come to the fore, and here again is a similarity to Kendal Cream: the tobaccos are earthy, dark, coffee- and cigar-like. Pipestud is right that there is a sharpness to these base tobaccos. I wouldn't call it "harsh," but there's a certain edge that was actually very pleasant to me. A kind of heavy, substantial "presence," if you will. A rough smoothness?

Thus it varies, as I said, in terms of flavor, but it is always cool-burning, always smooth (in its way), always satisfying. Because of the contents, this could arguably be called a navy flake, but I liked it a lot better than the "navy flake" tobaccos I've tried so far.

If I had to choose one and only one tobacco, this would at least be on the short list. Hurrah for C&D!

This is another great tobacco in the Simply Elegant series by C and D. I have been trying the blends in this series and so far I have to say I have been enjoying them very much, this one included.

First off, upon opening my tin, I am presented with very loosely packed flakes of ribbon cut tobacco of a thicker variety. The flakes are composed of a sweet and moist tobacco running from light khaki to dark brown coloring. The tin note is sweet but not the hay like sweetness of Virginias. The rum topping applied here instead has it more of a sugar flavor with a little spice added to the sweetness. The flakes were easy to break up and as they were very moist, I broke the flakes up onto a bowl and set it out to air dry for a few days. Upon doing this, I was rewarded with a very easy to pack and light tobacco that is very pleasing to smoke. It stays easy to keep lit after the drying out and burns nice and slow down the pipe with a sweetness on the palette of a nice virginia with the added sugar flavor of the rum. The rim topping gives the blend a rich fullness on the tongue, yet the rum was not overwhelming in any way. While it did mask some of the flavor of the virginia, it added it's own element to the blend and makes for a very enjoyable smoke. To add to the goodness of this blend, it smokes bite free, in fact it is very cool smoking. The room note is pleasant, a little heavier than most straight Virginia blends but with a pleasing sweetness to the aroma of the smoke. It burns down the pipe slow but nice leaving a steely grey ash. Most of the time it leaves just a touch of dottle in the bottom of the pipe bowl, but not a lot. Overall, this is a very nice blend that I enjoyed very much. I struggled with a three or four star rating as it is right on the edge but after realizing that it is a very well represented example of this type type of flake, I decided to give it a four and highly recommend.

Perfection. Rum va flake, nothing more or nothing less. This is me. A blend made for smoking.

This my gang is one helluva good flake. Juicy red flakes spiced up with a bit of rum flavoring. Easy to fold and burn.

Burns steady and is not a wet smoke. I ripped opened a new tin and found it quite smokable immediately.

The red virginia is subdued a bit by the rum but the flavoring keeps it a deep, seductive, cool, and quite tasty.

Not as sweet as something like McCraines older Red Flake or G&H Ennerdale Flake or Rum Flake, but those vintage blends have lots of age. Seems almost like the same quality red leaf as Mc but the rum brings it to a different level.

The rum does not taste like an aromatic additive per se, and the flavor is deeply embued in the red virginia. It is slighty spicy at times too as noted below--like a dose of rum, but I regard it as smooth enough if you don't puff her fast.

For the red flake fancier who wants a note of something extra.

C&D After Hours Review

The sea-faring swashbuckler in me heard Rum soaked Virginia flake? I was ready to set sail. It was not at all like that, but, that was ok, because this is an exceptional smoke.

I am a VA flake fanatic, PS Luxury is my all day, and I use blends like this for after dinner and special times. I have smoked almost a whole tin, and cannot say enough on how good this is.

Not a sweet blend, and if no one told me there was rum in, I wouldn?t know. So the last bowl I smoked I tried to stay in conjunction to the theme ?after hours? (a sneaky pete club) I threw on some Dean Martin, Frank, Tony Bennett and some of my jazz CD?s.

This is not Virginia Flake, this is Virginia Steak au Poivre

Top of bowl - Immediately you are met with a green & black peppercorn affect. It is Peppery and spicy. It has a good underlying fullness and aroma of good smooth Virginia. Not hard to get started at all, and allows you to settle right in.

Mid Bowl - The pepperiness backs off but doesn?t disappear and now it is just plain meaty. Yes, meaty, like NY Strip steak in your mouth. There are mouthfuls of smoke that smell very unique and have a very good taste. I swear it reminds of steak. I even smell and taste slight A1 sauce but not in a Latakia way, more of a open flame grill way.

Bottom Bowl - what? Huh? Where am I? Sorry, the CD changed to Sonny Clark and I got lost for about 30 mins. Oh yeah, I was in a back alley Jazz lounge, where you hear great music and drink gasoline. The Nic level is a good heavy-medium, and will make you relaxed, big time. Not strong, but a good fighting champ. I feel like I just ate dinner! Very full taste.

My compliments to C&D, this is the best blend I have tried from them in a looong time. Congrats to Mr. Tarler! A sure winner, can?t wait to see what aging does to this.

***** 5 out of 5 stars

The tin note is reminiscent of the sweet fragrance of my favorite chewing gum when I was a child, and I found it closer to the smell coming out of the freshly opened can of “Peace” cigarettes I often smoked when I was a cigarette smoker. When lit, the fusion of VA and the added flavoring is superb. I cannot detect ostentatious flavor of caramel & rum. A perfect fusion of natural sweetness and artificial sweet flavoring. As is often the case with flavored, scented tobaccos, inconsistency is a problem. After Hours, however, stays consistent, or precisely speaking, it unnoticeably loses the first sweetness and mildness within the tolerance range.