Cornell & Diehl King Cake

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.

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.

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.

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!

As I’ve said before there is a ‘tone’ among older reviewers (year of review) that leans against aromatics in general. I wish they would see their pattern and admit the negative bias.

Look, an aromatic is cased or topped. By definition. If you don’t like aromatics why complain about too much casing or topping? Well I have done this too — Cult Blood Moon is to my taste over the top but it clearly hits the mark it’s aiming to hit.

With this blend I taste what others get but I also get hints of pineapple. In the smoking. It’s good, strong tobacco with aromatic character. And it’s enjoyable.

I’m a big fan of Autumn Evening (one of those great aromatics that gets less respect than it deserves). This is equally as good. Well done!

Want an aromatic that tastes like the tin/room note? This is it! The tin reeks of hazelnut, chocolate, plum, and rum when first opened. This changes to hazelnut and plum over time with the rum fading considerably. The hazelnut comes across strongly on the char. There are some nice “cakey” notes on the palate early each bowl. The room note is delicious and identical to how it actually tastes. This is also one of the best smelling room notes I have ever encountered. The wife loved the way it clung to my beard.

This cake crumbles quite easily and smokes surprisingly dry given that it is heavily cased and comes quite wet (by C&D standards anyway) in the tin. The VA takes the lead, and provides some nice bready tones. There are some Carmel/maple sweet notes that danced in and out of each bowl. Mild bodied. Mild in nicotine. It can border on mild to medium if puffed fast. Given the incredible taste, this is an easy thing to do. While made to age, KK smokes beautifully when young. To those who include aromatics in their rotation, this is HIGHLY recommended. This is not necessarily something I would want to smoke regularly, but what a nice tobacco to pull out each year for Mardi Gras.

I've decided to review to cellar series blends from C&D upon purchase (or thereabout) and after the recommended amount of aging to see the changes. I intend to update the review after that period of time has elapsed.

Now:

Sweet beans, like japanese ice cream, dark fruit. Rum/other sweet liquor. Vanilla/chocolate flavor/quality. There's a slight citrus. Like a fruit cake with a rum glaze. Creamy, marvelous balance.

You can see my video review of the unaged blend here:

https://youtu.be/c_sDUlcDwjY

Aged:

Stay tuned.