In a dream, I sat amidst the most luscious nature, teeming with fragrant earth and ancient roots.
Life within this grove was otherworldly, forever held at perfection — unchanging.
I felt that I belonged there eternally, among winding branches and succulent fruits.
Time was no longer present as I stood up and reached for a bright lantern, exchanging my restless mind for something ineffably beautiful, yet strange; a wonderfully peculiar sense of nostalgia and familiarity, though in waking, I never encountered that place.
The moon was shining impossibly white, illuminating the forest floor so brilliantly.
In an instant, I awoke in the Midnight Orchard, its splendor now shining upon my face.

Experience the Midnight Orchard — the first true Aromatic blend in Cornell & Diehl's celebrated Small Batch line. This blend was an opportunity for Jeremy Reeves and the team at C&D to innovate and re-imagine the Aromatic genre through the experimental and creative lens of Small Batch. Midnight Orchard will be available in limited quantities on June 23 at 6:00 p.m. ET.

Concept & Art Inspiration

Jeremy Reeves' experience standing outside of his home sparked the idea for Midnight Orchard and informed its concept and direction along the way. "We have a kumquat tree that we added to the yard this year, and it's covered in blossoms right now," he says. "Just standing in front of the plant, it's incredibly fragrant, both with recognizable orange citrus notes and underlying delicate floral notes." He wanted to capture this experience in a blend; late nights in summer, where nature comes alive in a hauntingly beautiful manner.

"I think that some of those flavor notes come through, especially early on in the smoke. But as things darken, it's akin to the difference between, say, fresh orange fruit and peel and the way that orange deepens when you cook it to make marmalade or duck à l'orange. There's a savoriness that comes through to these at-first brighter, sweet, and citrus notes as you smoke."

"Midnight Orchard" as a blend name evokes beautiful imagery, and the tin art matches it remarkably well. The art inspiration was twofold; first, it rooted the blend in reality, like an orchard teeming with fruits, and displaced it into the second, something otherworldly, like darkness and the unseen.

The resulting label holds that same tension. The hand painting displayed on the tin was crafted by Ania Nierwinski, our Graphic Designer. The painting features a glade at the heart of an ancient forest during Midsummer, with the moon full and high in the deeply dark sky. The blossoms on the trees are more luminescent than actual fruit of this world, depicting someplace else. It evokes a sense of quiet awe through rich, saturated colors of blue, green, and black flooding the scene with Ania's confident brushwork.

While creating the tin label art, she was guided by Andy Wike's creative notes; he wanted the label to be like nostalgia meeting wonder. The result masterfully presents this experience, and the visual display complements the experience of smoking the blend just as well.

Midnight Orchard Components

This ready-rubbed Aromatic is comprised of carefully blackened 2023 Canadian Bright Virginias, 2019 and 2023 Lemon Bright Virginias, 2010 Indian Empire Virginias — Empire referring to countries that were once part of the British Empire; East African and Indian sources, — 2019 and 2022 Old Belt Red Virginias, and St. James Parish Perique from 31 Farms. The experience of smoking Midnight Orchard is much like what the label evokes: orchard fruit and warm spice that transports you to someplace beautiful and strange, yet familiar all the same.

Generally, when people think about Aromatics, they think of a monochromatic tobacco base with heavy topping and casing applications. "When we say that we made this an Aromatic in the mindset and ethos of Small Batch, we mean we're using special ingredients and working first with tobacco and then crafting the aromatic qualities to accentuate that tobacco, not to cover it up."

The result is a very tobacco-forward flavor that still features bright citrus and floral notes. The tobacco base of vintage 2010 Empire Virginias from India pairs well with very high sugar Canadian Bright leaf from crop year '23 and the warm spiciness of the St. James Parish Perique.

"We applied very steady temperature and the driest steam possible for 24 hours on the Bright Virginia leaf in order to caramelize and blacken it." This is the first time this particular method of blackened Virginia has been used prominently within a C&D blend, and this new process amplifies the tobacco-forward notes within this Aromatic.

These carefully blackened Bright Virginias benefit from the Maillard reaction, which is a complex chemical process that results in savory and toasty flavors, aromas, and the golden-brown crust on top of cooked foods, named after Louis-Camille Maillard, the French chemist who first described this reaction in 1912. "The Maillard reaction is the process of deep caramelization," says Jeremy, "that turns sugar into syrup, sugar cane into molasses, or produces that beautiful charred crust in a steak. Not burning, but getting right up to that point."

It's a form of non-enzymatic browning occurring when amino acids and reducing sugars in foods are heated, resulting in hundreds of new flavor compounds. "It's that reaction that is employed when we use steam and pressure to turn high-sugar Bright Virginias black." These blackened Virginias add a unique dynamism to this Aromatic blend, giving it the Small Batch feeling in a true Aromatic presentation.

Jeremy notes that the components aren't your typical Aromatic ones. "They're certainly not comprised to try and cover anything up. It's more to celebrate the tobacco."

A Crossover Blend For Every Palate

Midnight Orchard is a great choice for various palates. "Whether a person got into pipe tobacco because of Aromatic blends," says Jeremy, "or they have not ventured into Aromatics but they like Virginia/Periques with meatier, more savory flavors, I think this is a blend that could draw crowds from one side or the other." The flavor profile is naturally sweet, and also provides savory and umami flavors. "It is not your grandfather's Aromatic. This is something that is elevated and refined."

Wonder awaits you in the Midnight Orchard. Whether in dreaming or in waking, it's a delightful Small Batch blend, marking C&D's foray into the world of Aromatics within the Small Batch ethos.