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elcome to another episode of "Tasting Notes." Getting to the end of the year here through the holiday season, and I have one of my personally most anticipated releases for the year of 2023: Cornell and Diehl's Anthology 2023.

Anthology 2023: Special Virginias

Anthology was originally released in 2022 as an homage and a tribute to 30 years of history in the premium pipe tobacco business. Last year, for the original release of Anthology while celebrating Cornell and Diehl's 30th anniversary, Jeremy Reeves and his team put together an exceptional blend of components that exemplified and embodied the high-quality tobacco production that Cornell and Diehl was celebrating after 30 years. This year, with the 31st anniversary and the 2023 release of Anthology, Jeremy has put together a blend of solely very special Virginia grades that exemplify and look back on a year of really interesting tobacco production.

C&D's Favorite Virginia Grades

These are grades that you might've heard us mention before throughout 2023. Basically, it's kind of like ... imagine an all-star game of all of Jeremy's top Virginia grades for the year. And I mean, what's not to love there? Before I get into the tin note, the cut, and the tasting notes, I wanted to talk a little bit about the grades used in Anthology 2023. So, like I said, it is basically an all-star team of Virginia grades that Jeremy selected from his favorite projects this year.

First, there's a 2013 Steamed Red. That's a TH-13 with 12% sugar. There's 2019 North Carolina Reds, which is a TBFO-19 and is 10% sugar. And there's 2022 North Carolina Reds, which is a TA-22 at 14% sugar. And in my opinion, the most interesting and most unique component is the 2019 Georgia-grown Red, GAJRL-19 at 18% sugar. For those of you that have been keeping track, that is the same Georgia leaf that has been used this year in both Steamworks and Carolina Red Flake with Perique. I can say comfortably at this point after smoking several iterations using that component that it's one of the most impressive Virginia grades that I've ever smoked personally. Eighteen percent sugar is high, but it's certainly not the highest in the C&D portfolio, and the addition of this Georgia leaf to any blend seems to really amplify the natural sweetness.

Flake Cut & Sweet, Natural Tobacco Tin Note

Let's talk about the cut and the tin note. Anthology 2023 has really beautiful, loose, and typical C&D flakes. They're mostly a chestnut, medium brown, with little flecks of light, but it's mostly dark, and again, I think that gives you an idea that all the components in here are on the darker side for flue-cured leaf. That definitely comes through in the tin note as well.

There's good sweetness right off the bat with some bready and grainy notes, some cereal qualities, a little maltiness, a tangy flavor, and maybe a little bit of earth. Also, it's kind of a silly note to point out, but it has such a pleasing natural tobacco aroma. It kind of reminds me of stepping into the C&D factory or any place that I've ever been that stores tobacco, ages tobacco, or produces tobacco. It's really inviting, if not maybe a little bit unassuming. I think there's definitely much more complexity in the smoke, but the tin note, for a Virginia fan, is going to be heavenly.

C&D's Proprietary Steaming Process

The 2013 TH-13 grade at 12% sugar has been steamed using Cornell and Diehl's proprietary process. So what you get here is the benefit of these Red Virginias of various grades and various sugar contents in their natural state, and this component when steamed adds a little bit of richness and a little bit of body, sort of rounding out the entire blend. This process provides it with a very mature flavor profile straight out of the tin. I also think it sets up the blend to age really well in the long term, which is usually Jeremy's goal with these special Virginia releases. So, like I said, you do have this beautiful medium chestnut- to darker-flake moisture content which, for me, is just slightly higher than I would smoke straight out of the tin. I did give my bowls maybe about five minutes of drying time and a little bit of aeration before I lit up. Personal preference, but I do recommend not going too far past that because you want to keep all of those oils and a little bit of that moisture content to give you the most complexity that Anthology 2023 has to offer.

Anthology 2023 Tasting Notes

Right off the bat, Anthology 2023 offers tangy notes and some of that sourdough bread quality, a little bit of that malty character that I think Virginia smokers love in a Virginia that is primarily darker grades or a Straight Red Virginia. The sweetness is present immediately, but I do find that that builds an intensity as you progress through the bowl. Retrohale gives you sort of what you'd expect, some of that fermented hay character. Again, some of the tanginess and the sweetness. I do, on the retrohale, get something that is a little bit fruity and wine-like. It's not as pronounced as it is with blends that also contain Perique with Virginia/Perique blends, but I just get the faintest hint of something like, again, jammy, you know, maybe black currant and typical red wine-like notes.

There's also a good amount of warming spices here, especially on the retrohale. And one thing that is noteworthy for me with Anthology 2023, especially since we're just talking about grades of Virginias, is the amount of body that it has. I'm going to attribute that probably to the 2013 TH-13 steamed portion of this. But you get this really rich, creamy, pillowy smoke. It produces a lot of smoke, even if you are puffing very sparsely. It's an exceptional Straight Virginia.

Excellent Blend For Virginia Smokers

Virginia smokers are going to love this. And I think that for the rest of us who maybe are only occasional Straight Virginia smokers, it's definitely forgiving, easy to enjoy, and if you're patient and if you puff slowly as you progress through the bowl, you're going to be greeted with a perceived sweetness that, for lack of a better way to put it, exceeds the sugar content of these leaves individually.

Anthology 2023 Affords Complex Sweetness

Today I'm smoking Cornell and Diehl's Anthology 2023 in a Canadian Number One by Clarin Clay Pipes, which is, in my opinion, the absolute pinnacle of a tasting pipe, available now on Smokingpipes. Cornell and Diehl's Anthology 2023 represents 31 years of excellence in premium pipe tobacco. And like I said, you need to give this a shot, especially if you're a Red Virginia smoker, or are a Virginia smoker in general; you're going to really appreciate this blend. Deceptively complex. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it after several tastes. I think that it is something that is going to age extremely well in the long term. It's definitely built for smoking now and again. Think of it like a mix tape of Jeremy Reeves' favorite tobaccos from the year of 2023. What's not to like there? Thank you, Jeremy, thank you, Cornell and Diehl, and thanks everybody for watching.