Cornell & Diehl Haunted Bookshop Cake

The unflavored burleys produce plenty of earth, wood, nuts, bread, some sourness, light sweetness, and a hint of spice as the lead components. The very peppery, earthy, woody, plumy perique also produces light raisins as an important supporting player. The red Virginia offers some tangy, ripe dark fruit, earth, wood, bread, vegetation, some sugar, mild floralness, tart citrus, and hints of vinegar and spice. It’s a couple of steps above the condiment level. The strength is just past the center of medium to strong. The taste just edges past that mark. The strength and taste aspects start out a little less, but reach the levels I mentioned by the first third of the experience. The nic-hit is a slot behind the overall strength position. There’s no chance of bite or harshness. Has a few rough edges. This cake version is a tad less potent, a little more nuanced and sweeter with a fermentation note, lightly less floral, and is smoother than the regular version. The cake easily breaks apart, and needs no dry time. Deeply rich, it burns cool, clean, and a touch slow with a very consistent sweet and sour, nutty, peppery, mildly floral flavor that extends to the pleasantly lingering after taste. The room note is very pungent. Barely leaves any dampness in the bowl, and requires a couple more than an average number of relights, although that number really depends on your tobacco preparation. Not an all day smoke, and as I noted in my review of the other HB manufacture, don’t smoke it on an empty stomach. I gave three and a half stars to that production. This gets four full stars.

-JimInks

Cornell & Diehl - Haunted Bookshop Cake.

This is some awesome stuff! Barring having a couple of bowls left, I've nearly smoked the whole tin in a few days. That said, I think I've formed a decent opinion, so time to review it!!

The blend arrives as a single piece. It's well-pressed, but some can easily be broken off and loaded. This tin's a touch damp but not wet. Break some off, stuff it in, light up straight away!

The moment it's lit the Burley comes over. It's nutty, but also has a sweet, chocolate-note to it. This is the front-of-house flavour. I find the Virginia has more volume than in the regular version. A succulent, fruity flavour comes from it. The Perique is a definite presence; spicy, some vinegar, slightly sharp. But, just like in the ready rubbed version, it doesn't take things over. I get a decent burn, needing little maintenance, making a mid-temp smoke.

Nicotine: medium. Room-note: not bad.

Haunted Bookshop Cake? During the first pipe I was ordering more to cellar. Highly recommended.

Four stars.

Easy to break cake. Rub it too to mix the tobaccos more fully.

Burley forward of course. Rugged but no bite. Some autumn leaf in background. Occasional spice hit from perique.

Smooth enough. Rich. Not hot. Not too heavy ( like OJK is heavy). Dry.

A much appreciated step up. Smoked two tins back to back. A fun month.

More rounded and complex, than the ribbon cut version.

C&D Haunted Bookshop Cake - It is burley forward blend with no casing . No bite because it isn’t cased with licorice or molasses or anything else that tends to want to bite my tongue just a little . Yes it is a little rough around the edges but sometimes I am in a mood for that . It is nutty with a slight cocoa note . A little bit of sweetness and earthy and a little hay . Funky barnyard notes . Perique comes in and out with a little bit of raison and spice . The pressing mellows it out a bit . I like to smoke it late at night . What other tobacco company makes a blend like this ? 4

I won’t go into the flavor profiles and all that as there’s so many already and better than I can do. Haunted Bookshop has grown on me slowly over the last several years. My one issue was it burned fast despite packing. When cake came out, I hoped it would perhaps be a bit more consistent with moisture and slower burning. This so far seems to be the case and I’ve gone from smoking it once a week or so to daily. I’m on my 4th tin a few months or so after its release and already bought more. I smoke mostly Virginia with burleys coming in second and English after that. This blend to me, is the quintessential burley blend. Of course, I like Solani Aged Burley Flake, Stonehaven and a couple others but the dark flakes with cocoa or other toppings are in a slightly different category for me. I may even press some HB into a plug and slice it to see if I can slow the burn rate even more and how it smokes that way. Right now, HB Cake and Paradoxical are my two fave burleys. While this isn’t a typical review, I hope it assists in some way.

Tin note of pungent, vegetation, and stewed fruit. Tobacco is a medium brown crumble cake, moisture is good, though some may prefer to dry it out a bit. Prep is easy, break some off and rub it out. Burns slow with a few relights. The strength is medium and nic is medium. No flavoring detected. Taste is medium to full and consistent, with notes of earth, sour, musty vegetation, wood, tart, bitter nuts, sweet, dry, cigar, mildly spicy, toasted bread, citrus, a tangy fermented fruit background note, and a peppery retro. Burley is leading with Perique, and Virginia supporting. Room note is pleasant to tolerable, and aftertaste is great.