Cornell & Diehl, Small Batch, Carolina Red Flake w/ Perique (2020)
Really nice presentation: One of their finest presentations to date. The tin is wrapped in a sort of woven paper, like an art paper - almost half fabric half paper. On the paper is a detailed writeup of the blend's constituents and their hopes for it, plus some scientific analysis/information on the Red Virginia including its grade and sugar content.
In the tin is a sort of broken crumble cake - seems to be sliced flakes but the plug from which the flakes were sliced wasn't pressed hard enough to keep the slices discreet, and all sort of melds together. Nothing wrong with that. Bits of brown and yellow hues with dark brown to black flecks.
I've been taking out about a bowl's worth and rubbing it softly into a ball in my hands and allowing the crumble to complete, falling from my hands to the table, before loading my pipe.
The blend is very soft - no bite. Very easy to smoke. A nice smokey/peppery flavor. The expected dance between a little bit of sweet and bread from the Virginias and a peppery quality from the Perique. And all of that is good, however I thought this would be sweeter - given that they elucidate the sugar content and high grade of the Red Virginias, I was expecting a sort of McClelland sweetness, but its not there. I don't know how to feel about that exactly as I enjoy the blend a lot, and I've been enjoying it more, the more time I spend with it. I'm just sort of "shocked" that it's not a lot sweeter. That said, accepting that it's not a sugar bomb, this is one of the most gentle Va/Per's I've smoked and there's a lot to be said for that. I've got quite a few tins squirreled away and I won't be letting them go.
Carolina Red Flake w/ Perique (C&D Small Batch)
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Carolina Red Flake w/ Perique (C&D Small Batch)
Very good review. I went through a couple of tins of this, gave a tin to a pipe smoking nephew of mine, and currently have 1 tin remaining, dated 3/19/20. The bottom of the tin appears to be slightly swollen, or bulging. I'm not sure if that's a good thing, or bad. But I can recall going through one of the tins all summer, mainly smoking while working in the garage, and singing or humming the tune "She's About a Mover", substituting the words with "Carolina Red Flake" . Good times. Good smoke. Even if locked down for Covid.
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Carolina Red Flake w/ Perique (C&D Small Batch)
Slightly swollen tin of aged virginia = Very Good Thing.sweetandsour wrote: 21 Jan 2025, 19:22 Very good review. I went through a couple of tins of this, gave a tin to a pipe smoking nephew of mine, and currently have 1 tin remaining, dated 3/19/20. The bottom of the tin appears to be slightly swollen, or bulging. I'm not sure if that's a good thing, or bad. But I can recall going through one of the tins all summer, mainly smoking while working in the garage, and singing or humming the tune "She's About a Mover", substituting the words with "Carolina Red Flake" . Good times. Good smoke. Even if locked down for Covid.
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Carolina Red Flake w/ Perique (C&D Small Batch)
sweetandsour wrote: 21 Jan 2025, 19:22 I can recall going through one of the tins all summer, mainly smoking while working in the garage, and singing or humming the tune "She's About a Mover", substituting the words with "Carolina Red Flake."