If you follow the Mississippi River as it saunters between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, you will eventually stumble upon a Christmas sight so peculiar, so gloriously unreasonable, that it could only have been invented by people who know the river well and are on friendly terms with fire. Along those great earthen shoulders we call levees, the Christmas lights are not made of wires and bulbs. They are made of timber and flame.
On Christmas Eve, the residents of Louisiana’s River Parishes summon the holiday not with blinking decorations, but with bonfires—magnificent wooden mountains rising twenty and even thirty feet into the winter sky. These blazing beacons are lit to guide Papa Noël, the Cajun Santa Claus himself, safely along the river and straight to the waiting homes of his people. It is navigation by fire, and it works just fine.
Weeks beforehand, families, friends, and coworkers begin their cheerful conspiracy of construction, stacking logs into towering cones and fantastic sculptures along the levees of St. James and St. John the Baptist parishes. Some bonfires take on the familiar lines of pyramids; others grow into paddlewheel steamships, alligators, pelicans, and even fire trucks—proof that imagination, once supplied with lumber, is a hard thing to contain. When Christmas Eve arrives, the riverbank fills with food, laughter, smoke, and visitors who came out of curiosity and stayed because the spell worked on them.
It is a tradition older than any one generation and stubborn enough to outlast them all—an annual reminder that the river gives, the river takes, and on one night each year, the river also glows.
Inspired by this fiery celebration, the newest Small Batch release from Cornell & Diehl captures the warmth, sweetness, and woodsmoke of that legendary evening. Fires On The Levee begins with naturally sweet, top-tier Virginias, deepened by the dark, stone-fruit richness of locally sourced St. James Perique from 31 Farms, and finished with the sturdy, nostalgic campfire character of two exceptional Dark-Fired Kentucky tobaccos. It is a blend that burns bright, slow, and memorable—just like the levee fires themselves.
Size: 2oz
Components: 2003 Red Virginia • 2015 and 2021 Dark-Fired Kentucky • 2023 Bright Virginia • 2023 Brazilian Dark Virginia • St. James Parish Perique
Cut: Flake
Strength: ★★★☆☆
Room Note: ★★★☆☆
Taste: ★★★★☆
OUR PRICE / MSRP: $19.82
Maryland buyers add $3.02 in OTP tax
We’ll have a very limited number of this Small Batch available starting December 16th at 6 PM (during our Holiday Party.)
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