Cornell & Diehl King Cake

(3.50)
In the New Orleans Mardi Gras tradition, no confection is quite as synonymous with the season as the colorful King Cake. Beginning on Epiphany, January 6, the streets explode with parties and festivals, bringing together family and friends in the spirit of Mardi Gras. With that very same intent, Cornell & Diehl created this Cellar Series blend to honor the New Orleans staple. Experience Mardi Gras like never before with King Cake. Estimated peak: 10-15 years.
Notes: First introduced in July, 2016.

Details

Brand Cornell & Diehl
Series Cellar Series
Blended By Jeremy Reeves
Manufactured By Cornell & Diehl
Blend Type Aromatic
Contents Black Cavendish, Oriental/Turkish, Perique, Virginia
Flavoring Nuts / Beans, Plum, Rum
Cut Krumble Kake
Packaging 2oz Tin
Country United States
Production Currently available

Profile

Strength
Mild to Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
Medium to Strong
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Very Pleasant
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Mild to Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

3.50 / 4
8

5

1

0

Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 10 of 14 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 17, 2017 Mild to Medium Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
The dark and lighter Virginias offer some citrus, mildly tangy dark fruit with some grass and a little earth with a small spice hit. They form the base of the blend, and sport a slight fermentation. The woody, dry, smoky, lightly buttery sweet Izmir plays a strong second lead. The unsweetened black cavendish adds a little brown sugar in the background for some smoothness. The raisiny, figgy, plumy perique is lightly more noticeable than the black cavendish. The hazelnut topping is mild, and is less prevalent than the plum and sweet rum. The aroma of the hazelnut when you open the tin is stronger than it is in the smoking experience. The toppings do tone down the tobaccos just a little, and hold on to the finish.The nic-hit is mild to medium. The strength and taste levels lean a little closer to medium than they do to mild. Doesn’t bite, and has no harsh notes. This crumble kake is easy to break apart to suit your smoking preference, but no matter how you do it, it’ll burn cool and clean at a slightly slow pace with a fairly smooth, mostly consistent deep, complex flavor. Leaves a little moisture in the bowl, and requires just a little more than an average number of relights. Has a pleasant after taste, and room aroma. As the taste has a bit of depth, I would not say this is an all day smoke, but it’s repeatable.

-JimInks
27 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 29, 2017 Mild to Medium Mild Mild to Medium Very Pleasant
I'll try a Krumble Kake blend just about anytime. I love the way the leaf just melts in your hand as you load up. I'm not sure if King Cake is going to stick around due to the FDA thing, but I wish I had gotten more than just one tin. I really like this weed. Black Cavendish played a much larger role than I expected, offering some backbone and complimenting the Orientals and Perique nicely. The Virginia, which usually benefits from the good old Bayou Blessing (Perique), was more of a background supporter for the Black Cav. The Orientals had trouble peeking through the other stuff, but I did catch wisps of flavor from them on occasion. I think I would have liked this one better had it not been cased. It left sort of an aftertaste of fermented fruit and rum cake. I tried hard to like this one and think the moderate Aromatic crowd will enjoy it more.
13 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 23, 2018 Medium Medium to Strong Medium Very Pleasant
Cornell & Diehl - King Cake (Cellar Series).

Inside the tin sits only one block of kake, it isn't part-broken. The aroma from the tin imminently reminds me of Christmas Cake: plummy, rummy, and sweet. The kake prepares easily, and although a touch moist there's no problem with smoking it fresh.

'Rich': a great descriptive word to use for the smoke. The Perique has a deep fruitiness and this flavour is a match made in heaven for the added plums. The Virginia also gives a heavier fruity flavour, rather than fresh, sharp, citrus. The black Cavendish and Orientals join together to give the smoke a creamy, buttery, smoothness. The alcoholic side of the rum seems to be more for the first quarter, after the initial part the alcohol settles down and gives way to the molasses from the rum. The plum and rum are more notable than the hazelnut, the hazel' only offers a light support throughout a bowl. The burn from it can't be faulted, giving a medium temperature, bite-free, smoke.

Nicotine: medium. Room-note: pleasant.

King Cake? Worthy of four stars:

Highly recommended.

Pipe Used: Chacom
PurchasedFrom: Tammy, my wife.
Age When Smoked: Stamped 4/26/17
12 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Oct 12, 2017 Mild to Medium Medium Full Pleasant
This has become my favorite aromatic. The moderately sweet topping pairs perfectly with the savory tobaccos. I taste mostly earthy Virginias with some hay. The perique has a mild spice while the Izmir is woody and sour. The black cavendish keeps the smoke very cool and bite free. The topping is a complex work of art. It's nutty with cocoa and fruit. Cherries, plum, and rum notes pop up periodically and in some bowls I've gotten a maple flavor. King Cake may improve with age but it's already highly recommended by me.
10 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 24, 2018 Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Very Pleasant
Very nice tobacco, with a really good taste and room note. I'm a C&D fan, and also hail from New Orleans, so I was very intrigued when this hit the market, as I'm a homer and anything New Orleans I have to try. A very well constructed cake, with an amazing scent out of the tin. Once rubbed out it's easy to pack. First few draws yielded the nutty flavor immediately followed by the plum and subtle rum flavoring. Stays lit, and burns very cool in all the pipes I've enjoyed it in. Finishes well on the palate, and no bite or aftertaste. I smoked it again a year later and it's even better after some aging time.
Pipe Used: Aldo Velani, MM Cob, Paronelli Billiard
PurchasedFrom: smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: 6 months
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jan 22, 2018 Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Medium Very Pleasant
Opening the tin and you are hit with a smell of cake. More specifically it smells of vanilla, hazelnut, and fermented tobacco with a slight hay hint. What you see if a large brick of mostly medium brown with dark brown bits of tobacco combined a nice and neat cake. It smells so good that one is almost tempted to eat it.

It's easy to break of chunks and rub out. Loading is easy and I found that it took the regular/normal amount of lights. It easy to keep lit with light tamping and I didn't require relights often, if at all.

I have to say that I'm not a fan of highly cased/topped blends. This one smells heavily cased/topped when you open the tin. It reminded me a bit of Capt'n'Crunch actually, but it doesn't smoke like a heavily cased blend. The smoke is creamy and rich with flavor from both the tobaccos as well as from the casing. The casing flavors seem to reduce as you proceed through the bowl, but are present during the whole smoke. The hazlenut and vanilla flavors seem to compliment the slightly tangy, earthy, dark fruit notes of the tobaccos. I get some slight wood and grass notes as well, but they are brief as the nutty sweet cake flavor takes over. There is a slight spice and nut flavor from the tobaccos as well that accent the sweet cake flavors that are present from the casing and the tobaccos. Multiple people mention Perique in this blend, even though it is not stated anywhere that this is one of the component tobaccos. I can see where they get that from. This is a good tobacco and recommended, give it a spin for something quite tasty and unique.
Pipe Used: cob, billard, poker
PurchasedFrom: Smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: 1 year
3 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 05, 2019 Medium Medium to Strong Medium to Full Pleasant
Happy Mardi Gras 2019

In honor of the day, I popped a tin of King Cake which I just happened to get in the mailcall today. I know the Cellar series is supposed to age for 10 years or whatever, but I couldn't wait that long.

Once you pop the can and open it up, you find one typical C&D "Brownie" in the can. The tin note is incredible sweet and fruity. It does actually remind me of King Cake (minus the baby).

I picked a few pieces from the top of the cake and crumbled them into a smaller Belge shaped Morgan Bones. They were moist to the touch but not soaking wet. A quick charring lite, tamp, and then true light.

the fruitiness was on top which I'm guessing is the casing. I quickly got some stewed fruit which I'll say is the Perique. Sweetness came through which added to that sweet cake experience. The aftertaste and retrohale had more nuttiness in it.

I can't say this is a blend that I'd want to smoke everyday, but much like the holiday blends at Christmas it will be a nice treat.
Pipe Used: Morgan Bones Belge
PurchasedFrom: Smokingpipes.com
Age When Smoked: Fresh from Tin (2/19 tinning)
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Aug 25, 2017 Medium Extra Strong Medium Very Pleasant
Amazing aromas, exactly as the tin lists. Love the Krumble Kake consistency. A bit miffed by the other reviews describing this Baccy as over the top and too heavily topped. It was SPECIFICALLY produced to be long term aged. The assumption would logically be that C&D produced this amazing blend for those heavily applied toppings to "age off" or mellow in tandem with the tobaccos blending and maturing IN THE CAN.

So here is the caveat, I adore this AROs flavor profile. It's a strong dose of toppings on an incredibly well blended mix. IF you open it pre-aged range it will be deeply aromatic. I expect that a blend this masterfully produced will Age with poise and grace, way more then I have!
Pipe Used: Dunhill, cob, Askwith, Larryson
PurchasedFrom: P&C
Age When Smoked: 3 months in the jar
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 16, 2017 Mild to Medium Medium to Strong Mild to Medium Pleasant
I was gifted this by a good friend and I appreciate the gift wholeheartedly. However, this tobacco won't be made a permanent member of my rotation. I like a good topped tobacco and most "aromatic" blends that contain full tobaccos without the bane of goopy black cavendish. This blend, though, is in no way goopy or even have a constituent of a majority black cav, but C&D was a bit too overly zealous with the flavorings. I have to disagree respectfully with JimInks who noted that the hazelnut was not as apparent in the smoke as the rum and plum. Hazelnut was all I tasted for over half the bowl. The next night I broke some up and left it on the dresser overnight to air out. This helped the blend immensely and toned down the hazelnut flavor to a tolerable level. It was actually enjoyable after some of the casing had dissipated. The Virginias, Perique, and Turkish are wonderful in this blend and work together quite well.

I know this seems like a negative review and there are problems I do have with this blend. However, it is really good for a change of pace from my usual VAs, VaPers, and Burleys. I do think the casing is overdone in my opinion. I also wonder why they included a blend with such a low percentage of Virginias in a series that consists of tobaccos formulated to aged. Oh, well. I do like it, but it's over the top for me.
Pipe Used: Tinderbox Christmas Pipe
Age When Smoked: New
2 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Dec 18, 2023 Mild to Medium Very Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant
A really nice take on a Vaper. The plum/liquor flavor is very mild and does not overshadow the Perique. The cavendish and Virginia smoke sweet and cool. There is still a good amount of tobacco taste. I have a hard time picking out the Orientals in this blend. The best part is that this is a great cross over tobacco- smokers of all genres will find something to love about it.
Pipe Used: Corn cob
PurchasedFrom: Tobacco Leaf Store. Lakewood Colorado
Age When Smoked: new
1 person found this review helpful.
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