The King Street Emporium

Red Carpet

Virginia Perique

Red Carpet is part of Cornell and Diehl's Simply Elegant series and sits in the Virginia/Perique category, built on red Virginia as its foundation rather than the brighter, sweeter leaf that drives most of the blends alongside it in the lineup. Red Virginia brings more depth and earthiness than its bright counterpart, and the Perique pressed alongside it adds the peppery, dark fruit character the category is known for. The flakes are lightly pressed and can break down toward a ribbon in the tin, which makes packing easier for those who prefer not to rub out. Like most Virginia/Perique blends it benefits from a patient cadence and improves noticeably with tin age. One point of historical note: older tins listed Izmir as a component, but when Cornell and Diehl merged with Laudisi Enterprises in 2014, head blender Jeremy Reeves located the original handwritten recipe and confirmed that Izmir was never part of the blend. The labels were corrected. What is in the tin now is what was always intended.