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Round Table: Cornell & Diehl Small Batch Midnight Orchard
Produced by Chris Herath and Nicole Weed | Edited by Nicole
We are back for another roundtable discussion with esteemed Head Blender of Cornell & Diehl, Jeremy Reeves, to chat about and smoke the latest Small Batch, the first Aromatic from the line: Midnight Orchard.
Note: The following transcription has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Small Batch Midnight Orchard will be available in limited quantities as of June 23 at 6:00 p.m. ET.
[Alan Britt]: We're super excited to discuss a brand-new product, the latest and some would say greatest addition to the Small Batch line: Midnight Orchard. Always super stoked about these new blends. To toot your horn, Jeremy, you and the team at Cornell & Diehl have been crushing these new additions — Firebird and Fires on the Levee. Steamworks is Steve's favorite blend ever. We're excited to smoke and talk about this new addition.
First Small Batch Aromatic
[Jeremy Reeves]: This is really the first time in the Small Batch line that we've gone full bore on embracing the Aromatic style of blend. That is not to say that this is a big goopy Aromatic.
[Chris Herath]: Not at all.
[JR]: It reminds me of the kumquat tree that we recently put in our front yard. Man, standing in front of that tree and just the smell of the blossoms on it is incredible, and there's a citrus floral note here that I think is reminiscent of that. It has some berry and vanilla notes, and these are really accentuating what the tobaccos in the mix are doing.
It's also the first time we're using this particular Virginia component, blackened Canadian Bright, where we are taking all that high sugar content and caramelizing it. It's so interesting how it smells; nothing on the leaf smells like citrus and floral. That was kind of the kickoff for wondering how we could accentuate those notes but not cover it up, and instead beef it up.
[CH]: There's been a couple of these tins floating around the office for the past few weeks, and we've all been smoking through it and, same as you right now, getting some whiffs of it, and I think we've all just said, SunnyD. It's not a weird, artificial Sunny Delight. It is just, like you said, tobacco forward. It's not this super artificial goopy smell. The Virginias are coming through there. There's definitely that hint of a Sunny Delight.
[Steve Mawby]: The first thing that I thought as I lit this up is that it's definitely more aromatic than the blends that I typically smoke, but it's still very approachable. This isn't outside my wheelhouse.
This is the kind of thing where if you are an Aromatic smoker, there's a lot of good notes that you're really going to like. If you're not really an Aromatic smoker, this is still something that's very approachable for you. That's my take on it. I could still smoke it all day, which I cannot say about most Aromatics.
[AB]: Yeah. Honestly, out of the tin, I think you nailed it with the kumquat comparison of a floral citrus. There is this super pronounced floral citrus, but I expected the blend to be much more on the brighter, zingier side. For me, it is much richer than I assumed it would be, and it could be in part due to that blackened Bright Virginia.
[JR]: Also you've got some very nice crop year '24 St. James Parish Perique that's kind of bringing in some depth.
[CH]: I think that's where the richness is coming from.
[JR]: And then also some really beautiful Empire Virginias from India in 2010, Empire referring to countries that were once part of the British Empire, referring to East African and Indian sources. It's the first time we've used that particular component as a Virginia in a blend.
[SM]: So we have a couple first time things going on here.
Blackened Bright Virginias
What was the idea behind the blackened Bright Virginias? How did that come about?
[JR]: We have been working on perfecting and ramping up Black Cavendish production in-house. We already were doing our own Red Virginia Cavendish, but we're actually using a different machine now. It is basically a steam chamber where we can control temperature and draw a lot of moisture out of the steam. We've just been steaming everything and seeing what we can have.
[SM]: It is like you got a new toy to play with here.
[JR]: That's right. It's been a game changer in a lot of our production, because you don't have to just blacken things in there. You can really quickly heat up and soften tobacco so it's easier to work with more quickly. It's easier to get clean and ready to blend with. At first we thought it smelled amazing, so we thought, what if we took it further?
[CH]: On the blackening of the Bright Virginias, what does that bring to a blend taste-wise?
[JR]: It really softens the leaf quite a bit in terms of its flavor intensity. It caramelizes the sugars that give us the flavor profile that we associate with high sugar Virginia, hay, and citrus, and bright, zesty, and lemony notes. It just darkens those.
It's really interesting how these citrus notes become a bit more floral. The sugar content is still present, but not to the previous degree. It softens that down and just makes the leaf a little bit more savory while still remaining sweet.
An Aromatic for Spring/Summer
[CH]: As far as Aromatics go, a lot of people will realize that Small Batch has not contained an Aromatic blend up until Midnight Orchard. When a lot of people think about Aromatics, they think about fall, Autumn Evening, and a lot of the winter blends that C&D has offered around Christmas time. Why was Midnight Orchard the perfect opportunity to come out with a spring/summer type of Aromatic?
[JR]: Speaking for myself, and I know I'm sort of a weird one in the South Carolina area, but I am not a fan of the spring and summer during the day. It is just oppressive and relentless. During the day, I feel like everything is just hot. Of course, our garden's doing great, which I love, but man, it's just brutal.
At our house, we have a patch of trees, which are a little bit of essentially a forest right behind the house, and then there's swamps just across the road. When the sun goes down at night, there's just this moment where the choir frogs start. You can hear the crickets making noise. Nature comes alive in a way that is really invigorating. It's finally not so punishingly hot out that I can be out there and enjoy it. That's kind of where some of this idea came from: the forest at night in South Carolina.
[SM]: So basically, what Jeremy just said is, summer days, wasting away. But, oh, those summer nights.
[JR]: Well-a, well-a, well-a.
[AB]: I don't know the reference.
[JR]: Tell me more, tell me more. This blend is really smoking like greased lightning.
Otherworldly Tin Art
[CH]: The art's incredible on the tin.
[SM]: The way Andy Wike described this to me was that he wanted the name, the artwork, and the blend to basically capture the feeling of the scene in The Hobbit where, in the book, they're in the woods and they go off the path. The elves are lighting bonfires in the distance, and they stumble into the clearing, and then the bonfires get extinguished. It's this mystical, magical moment where there's this beautiful thing that you're experiencing. I think that is very well captured in the artwork here.
[JR]: Yeah, Ania Nierwinski's painting is beautiful.
[SM]: Very well done. I'm not poetic enough to say if that's what I'm getting from the smoking experience.
[AB]: It just perfectly embodies the smoking experience. There is something slightly ethereal about it. Ethereal as a tasting note I'm a big fan of. My southern roots say that this is something perfect on a summer night in the south. I imagine myself smoking this in a corn cob by a body of water.
Comparisons to Sun Bear Experience
[CH]: Yeah, I don't necessarily associate Aromatics with this time of year. I'm always gravitating more toward those brighter Virginia blends, but I think the aromatic part of this is really, like we talked about earlier, lurking there in the background, but it comes through and gives you something a little bit extra than you would get from just a typical Virginia blend.
In a lot of ways, I think of it as I do with Sun Bear. Sun Bear is arguably the most popular of the Small Batch series, at this point.
[JR]: Absolutely.
[CH]: Sun Bear is really interesting because, to me, it's a Virginia-forward blend, but it has just that little bit extra, which is the honey, in that case, but I would equate this to how a lot of people experience Sun Bear.
[JR]: It's also something that I think is well-suited to the time of year. Smoking it is not heavy. There's richness here, but it's not a powerhouse tobacco by any means. It's really well-suited to being outside in South Carolina during the day.
[AB]: There's something so delicious about the retrohale. It's, for lack of a better term, umami, and I definitely think the Perique comes across in that. You also get the subtle floral, citrus flavors, but also the sweetness from the Virginias. It's balanced, rich, and nuanced. It's pretty amazing, man, for this time of year. It perfectly encompasses the late spring, summer transition we're moving into right now.
[JR]: Thank you. I'm glad to hear that we gave you that impression.
Aging Potential & How the Smoke Progresses
[CH]: Something Jeremy and I spoke about last week was cellaring tobaccos, and we were talking about how most people think of Virginias when it comes to cellaring, and they don't really associate Aromatics as much with it. But you were talking to me a little bit about the sugar content in this blend and how you thought it would age. This is a Small Batch, so not one that somebody's gonna be able to get all-year round. Could you just speak to how you would smoke this now versus how you think it's going to cellar and age over time?
[JR]: Yeah, it is common knowledge that Aromatics supposedly do not age, but it really has to do with whether or not the leaf has basically been shellacked by added flavorings, such that it just can't oxidize. That's certainly not what we've done here. The flavorings that we've added are natural, and the real sugar in the blend is coming from the tobaccos used.
I think that, over time, you'll see some of the brighter floral notes continue to deepen. I think the sweetness is going to continue to darken. It is delicious now, and it's just going to become more fragrant and richer as time goes on.
[SM]: I'm very curious to see what a year or two does to the blackened Virginias. That's going to be a unique experience.
[AB]: Even getting deeper into the bowl now, those zingier sugar notes become much more rich and caramelized, like a brown sugar or even a burnt caramely sugar sweetness to it. I like this a lot.
[CH]: This has changed a lot as the bowl has progressed. When we first lit up, we were all thinking it was a much lighter blend, but I think that's changed a lot.
[SM]: Yeah, it's got some body to it. I'm not really thinking SunnyD anymore. This has changed pretty dramatically as this has gone on in some very good ways.
[JR]: I am a huge fan of the Negroni cocktail. There's some elements here that remind me of that, where the Negroni is sweet, and at first it seems like it's just going to be sweet, and then that bitterness of the Campari kicks in. There's a hidden switchblade in its jacket.
[SM]: Keeps a razor under its tongue.
[JR]: And there are some elements here that are leaning sweet, but still savory, and it becomes more savory as the smoke progresses.
[SM]: Yeah, that's definitely a good way of describing what's going on here.
[CH]: It's a very complex Aromatic blend, which is, I think, what everybody out there is looking for when you look into the Small Batch line-up. You're looking for a different experience than you can get with Cornell & Diehl's other blends, so it's a way to experience something that you're not going to get in the rest of the portfolio.
[JR]: Yeah, absolutely.
[AB]: Yeah, from what I'm assuming is the blackened leaf, there's a roasty quality to it. It's one of those blends where, the more you smoke it, the more things you'll be able to pull out of it.
[SM]: It's giving me the flavor of smoked turkey jerky.
[JR]: Oh, interesting.
[SM]: Smoked, roasted meat with that umami, and kind of peppery as the bowl progresses, which is a pretty far cry from how it started.
A True Crossover Blend
[CH]: Room note-wise, I think it's very pleasant as well. I think a lot of people who are smoking Aromatics out on the patio this summer will find that this is great to have in mixed company. I think it has everything somebody wants as an Aromatic smoker, and also what you would want as a strictly Virginia smoker. If you're looking to maybe crossover into something Aromatic for the spring and summer, Midnight Orchard would be a great way to do so.
[JR]: This would be a perfect fit.
[AB]: It's a true crossover blend, I think, in the way that it can please the Virginia and the Aromatic smokers. I think there's enough richness here that primarily English smokers could really enjoy it too.
[CH]: Yeah, with that Perique.
[SM]: It would scratch a similar itch as Dark-Fired Kentucky does, even without really tasting anything like that.
[AB]: Midnight Orchard has me super excited about the future of Cornell & Diehl and playing with new tobaccos. Like you said, there's some Virginias in here that you have never used, and with this blackened Bright Virginia leaf, I'm super excited to see what else you and the team can come up with. I really appreciate you constantly pushing the boundaries of pipe tobacco and doing new things.
[SM]: Taking some chances. I like it.
[JR]: Thanks, y'all.
[CH]: Only 10,000 tins of Midnight Orchard are about to be on-site on June 23 at 6:00 p.m. ET. It's a great first Small Batch Aromatic. Be sure to let us know when you get your tins and what you think in the comments.
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Comments
great job on making an interesting blend, excited to try this one!
Really hoping to get a tin or two of this one, it sounds right up my alley! Thanks guys!
Do i just keep hitting refresh on the tobacco finder until this pops up?? !!
I got my order in ;) Thanks, guys, Im looking forward to trying it