By Bob Tate
The tin aroma of this blend is a nice sweet and tangy smell with a light hint of spice to it. It smells really nice. The moisture content is perfect for smoking right away with no drying time needed. This tobacco is in flake form. I took a couple of flakes, rubbed them out, loaded my pipe, and proceeded to the charring light.
The aroma on the charring light was a straight forward tobacco aroma with a hint of sweetness. The flavor on the charring light was a straight forward tobacco taste. I did not detect much sweetness at all in the flavor on the charring light. I finished lighting the pipe and settled in for the smoke.
As soon as I finished fully lighting the pipe, I picked up a straight tobacco taste with a light hint of nuttiness to it. This caught me a little off guard because I normally pick up a nutty flavor in most Burley blends and not in Virginia and VA/Per blends. The nutty flavor was very light and it took me a second to realize what I was tasting. It also didn’t last very long; only for a few puffs at the beginning. Soon after that, I started picking up on a nice sweetness. There was also a sort of spice flavor that accompanied the sweetness. It was not the typical Perique spiciness, but something different and a little more complex. It was a very nice unique flavor that I enjoyed quite a bit. Around the same time that I was tasting these changes, I also picked on a light hint of black coffee. Like the nuttiness, the coffee taste was very light and didn’t last long. They were both very fleeting flavors.
Around the mid-bowl point, the typical Perique peppery/spiciness started stepping into the mix. The Perique slowly became noticeable and started building up like it is known to do in a typical VA/Per blend. During this entire time, the sweetness slowly but steadily increased so that it ended up matching the pepper/spice from the Perique in a balanced flavor. Around the 3/4 bowl point, the Perique started fading back a bit but it never disappeared. This last change in flavor remained for the remainder of the bowl.
This is a very good blend and I like it a lot. It burned cool, slow, dry, and didn’t bite. It has a very pleasant finish as well. This is a pretty complex blend and it is almost like smoking two different blends at once. The first half of the bowl was nothing like the typical VA/Per blend. It had a lot of complex, unique, and pleasant flavors to it. During the second half of the bowl, it switched over to the more traditional VA/Per blend with the sweet and peppery/spicy flavors that you would normally find. This is a VA/Per with a little something special added to jazz it up and make you take notice. If you like VA/Per blends and are looking for something a little different, but want to stay in the same genre, you should give Sunday Picnic a try.
I will definitely be smoking more of it and I Highly Recommend it!
Brand: Cornell & Diehl
Blend: Sunday Picnic
Description: Golden Virginias are combined with Perique and Izmir Turkish for a delicious and memorable flake tobacco. One of our “Simply Elegant” Series.
Country: US
Cut: Flake
Tobaccos: Virginia, Perique, Turkish
Strength: Medium
Taste: Tobacco, Sweetness, Spicy, Peppery,
Room Note: Pleasant