Cornell & Diehl Red Virginia Ribbon

Cornell & Diehl - Red Virginia Ribbon.

This was from 4noggins so as always the moisture of it's great, I'm yet to have a bulk blend from them which is too dry! The ribbons are a mixture of medium brown and yellow and some are a little twiggy; a bit twiggy but still smokeable.

The smoke: it's a deeper Virginia than some of the ones that only give sharp citrus, or hay. The smoke has all of the characters I love from a Virginia: tanginess, dark fruit, and sweetness. There's no added flavouring, the smoke's pure and rich. It burns cool, and very independently, albeit quite fast if puffed with vigour.

Nicotine: medium. Room-note: pleasant.

A top quality Virginia. Four stars:

Highly recommended.

I got 4 oz. Of this to play with a few months ago. It's not what I hoped for but it wasnt bad. I got it to try blending my own blends but let's face the cold hard truth, I really suck at it.

The moisture was a little on the dry side. From first light to last puff it is red Virginia, kind of sweet, savory, and a little bit of that virginia spiciness. It smokes cool and clean. It does start to have an almost play dough like character to further you go down the bowl If you case it with some sugar water it helps with the sweetness and brings out more character. I prefer the Red Virginia Cavendish over this.

Edit 3-16-21. Coming back to this, I must say Red Virginia Ribbon has grown on me a lot. I dont get the play dough character anymore. The sweetness is much more pronounced. A nice nuttiness is there during the first 1/3 and the typical red Virginia spiciness is present throughout the bowl. Towards the end, the sweetness turns into a powdery sweetness. There is enough nicotine to keep me well satisfied too. I really like this a lot.

That being said, this has grown so much on me that it's all I've been wanting to smoke the last few days. I've been enjoying it so much that I now have over 2 lbs of it and will be getting more as time goes on. I'm going to press some of it to age for a few months to help with some of the rough edge its has. Hell this has even jumped past Peterson Elizabethan Mixture as a go to.

It brings back memories of the earlier times I started pipe smoking. I like to reference Mcclelland 5100 a lot because it was the first straight Virginia I ever smoked. Samuel Gawith Best Brown Flake ( before the Gawith and Hoggarth take over ) is another one I like referencing. I use both of these as comparisons with other red or darker Virginias because imo nothing else was a unique as them. C&D red Virginia ribbon is 5100 and Best Brown Flake combined. My initial rating was a 2 star but it is now a 4 star.

Like Mike McNeil stated before. " If you really like something then buy as much as you can because who knows what the future holds".

Ribbon cut, straight Red Virginia. Wonderful pure tobacco to blend or smoke on its own. Top quality. Quite dry tasting but with a lot of flavor and some complexity, earthy, even fruity, difficult to describe but it’s an excellent pure tobacco. Comes quite dry and smokes quick but moisture can be adjusted. Wondeful as a blender with Orientals. Highly recommended for what it is, i.e. a pure uncased tobacco mainly for blending.

My first impression is: Wow, this stuff is strong! In the spectrum of Virginias, this would be on the fuller and darker side. It is bready at the beginning, but the flavors develop as you smoke it... full, rich, earthy, and yes... grassy and hay-like. And it smokes cool and doesn't bite. I can imagine blending this in with some of my lighter aromatics to provide some earthy flavors and more depth. It is very good and I like it a lot.

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