|
|
Cornell & Diehl's Jolly Old St. Nicholas Returns: A Christmas Classic
Filmed by Nicole Weed | Edited by Ardit Hushi
Jeremy Reeves of Cornell & Diehl shares the story behind this year's holiday blend, Jolly Old St. Nicholas, inspired by a Christmas memory from his childhood.
Note: The following has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Cornell & Diehl Jolly Old St. Nicholas will be available in limited quantities as of August 25 at 6:00 p.m. ET.
Inspiration for Jolly Old St. Nicholas
[Jeremy Reeves]: This blend was inspired by the smell and taste of a champagne punch that my parents made when I was growing up. It was a mock champagne punch — they were teetotalers at the time — but it was basically a sugar base with almond, citrus, and ginger, mixed with Vernor's original ginger beer. That was something that my mom made every Christmas for as long as I can remember.
The aromas of almondine, lemon, orange, and ginger have always had a place in my memory bank where Christmas is concerned, and this blend was very much inspired by trying to bring those flavors and aromas together.
Blend Components & Redesigned Label
The blend comprises Virginias and a couple of different Black Cavendishes — the Dominican cigar leaf Black Cavendish that we've used, and also Black Cavendish that we've made in-house from Burley. It's topped with an orange liqueur and with ginger spice, giving it this wonderful sort of citrusy, slightly boozy, spicy, ginger aroma.
We also redid the labels this year, and you can actually see a slice of orange, a slice of lemon, and a big chunk of ginger root underneath the name of the blend in front of Santa.
How Jolly Old St. Nicholas Ages
Historically, people have held to this idea that all Aromatics just won't age, and I don't think that is true all the time. I do think, in this case, you will find that the tobacco is a little more static year-on-year. There are tobaccos in here that will ferment, but the amount of flavor used to get those characters through in the aroma and the flavor, I do think will mute it.
It is beautiful fresh, though, and it will store for a long time — I've got tins from the first two releases, and they're still smoking great. But you don't see the kind of fermentation that you might in, say, a Virginia flake.
A Returning Christmas Classic
As many of you know — and some of you may not — we don't make our Christmas blends every year. Every year, we make a different Christmas blend from our carousel catalog of Christmas blends. We haven't made Jolly Old St. Nicholas in quite some time, so if you haven't gotten a chance to try this, or you remember it from previous times and wanted to try it again, now's your chance.
I really appreciate all of you, and I hope that you enjoy this little Christmas memory of mine, and make Christmas memories of your own while smoking it.
Tagged in: Cornell and Diehl Holiday Jeremy Reeves Tobacco Tobacco Selections Video
You may also enjoy:
Comments
How can Smokingpipes.com put out C&D Saint Nicholas with NO TIN LIMIT???
Even i haven't a clue how I only bought 6 tins.