I bought a few tins of the 2019 CRF release (and the 2020, and some of the CRF with Perique), and immediately opened a tin when they were delivered. I smoked a few bowls and thought it was decent, but I couldn't get past a pervasive harshness in the smoke that overpowered everything. I put the rest of the tin in a jar and left it alone. I'm currently smoking a bowl now, the first one in at least a year. That harshness is completely gone, and without it getting in the way, there's a great cinnamon sugar thing going on, and the smoke is very smooth. C&D should have written "just add time" on the tin. This bodes very well for the rest of my stash and the CRF with Perique. In 5 years this stuff is going to be amazing.
Cornell & Diehl Carolina Red Flake
- Thread starter krizzose
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This is good news. I assumed this would need aging from the get-go and I have still not opened a tin from any of those batches. I am going to keep letting it age and hope for eventual nirvana. I am inclined to do the same with the new batch of Sun Bear that is on its way.
Definitely. The degree of difference, at least how I'm perceiving it, is really [pleasantly] surprising.
In general I find that C&D tins should have at least 3-6 months on them to round out some of the rough edges. Then I also find that air time helps as well. 5y/o Bijou and 2019 Sun Bear smoked this year both started to come alive at about the 3rd bowl.
Bijou gets a fair amount of praise, but not as much as I would expect. In my [remarkably astute and well-informed 
] opinion, it's by far C&Ds best regular production Virginia blend.
] opinion, it's by far C&Ds best regular production Virginia blend.Yeah, really surprised me but again I might have dismissed it after the first bowl. I will be cellaring deep on that one. I think I have 4 tins from 2016.Bijou gets a fair amount of praise, but not as much as I would expect. In my [remarkably astute and well-informed
2016 was C&D's year of mold, and some of the 2016 Bijou was affected. I've gone through 2 tins of 2016 with no issues, so hopefully yours is good to go.
I also did something I don’t usually do - smoke it in the same pipe day after day. Pretty much the whole tin in my Jack Howell Rakish Acorn
So far so good. Guess we’ll see what the future brings. Probably won’t crack a tin for a few years.
Red Va is little too intense for me. However, letting it sit in a jar for few months mellow it out of a good smoke.
I've smoked a couple of tins from 2018, the improvement is significant. I've got over 50 tins in the cellar, I probably won't open any more for another year or two.
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