Cornell & Diehl Bayou Morning

This has a good hefty dose of perique. It lets itself be known. Even still the Virginias still manage to be heard. Not really for beginners because of the intents spiciness of the perique. For me it was Very enjoyable in the morning. The best way to control the spiciness is slow puffs. When it gets to spicy just slow down on you draw and it should mellow out. I'm a lover of VaPer's but for me it a little over Perique. I've noticed lately more and more blends are, if a little is good more is better. More is just more. So highly recommend for anyone that want intense perique. But if you like Dunhill Elizabethan Mixture my want to try something different.

All day Va/Per. A little rough around the edges but it's hard not to like this blend. Buttery smooth, cool, sweet and spicy; just a delight!

Perique is the hot sauce of tobacco. I love Perique, and I love hot sauce.

EDIT: Spent some more time with this one, and I’m upgrading a star. After sitting in a jar for a few months, it appears that the Perique wallop has dissipated to a point where I’m now enjoying things much more. Maybe a little extra time to meld was all this blend needed. These days, I’ve enjoyed the smoke, the Virginias are smooth as butter and the perique compliments in a BIG way.

It could also be that my recent love affair with Old Joe Krantz (oh, that sounds weird, eh?) has sensitized me a bit more to perique, I don’t know. What I do know is that Bayou Morning can be a wonderful and unique perique (I need a third word to rhyme) experience and I would recommend it to someone looking for a blend heavy in the Louisiana stuff.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: Continuing that analogy, I find Bayou Morning to be equivalent to a tablespoon of hot sauce on a saltine cracker—the monstrous amount of Perique just overwhelms the bright and red Virginias, masking their flavors and making this blend just a blast of Perique burn, and I found it to be unpleasant and even a bit uncomfortable to smoke at times.

Now, I’m a big fan of strong blends. Gimme lots of flavor, please, and enough nicotine to kill a moose. I’m also a big fan of hot sauce. But I like my hot sauce to add to the flavor, not as a main dish.

Maybe some age will mellow things out a bit, or allow the flavors to meld a bit. I’ll revisit this blend in a few months.

Over the past several years I have wanted to purchase a poker meerschaum as the poker is my favorite pipe shape but never really saw anything that grabbed me and as I have so many pipes as it is I have not pursued it until last week when I saw one with my name on it. I looked at it for a few days and decided if I did not buy it and it got sold I would be crying like a baby. I ordered it from Altinay. My girlfriend had bought me a small Calabash meerschaum style pipe some ten years ago that is an Altinay and it colors nicely. Four days later it arrived from Eskisehir, Turkey and I decided to smoke Bayou Morning in it. This is really good stuff and definitely is loaded with Perique as over the past week when smoking it I have caught myself coughing at times which rarely happens. The Perique must be tickling my throat and is the dominant player in this blend. Some have alluded this as a rough smoke and I can see their point. Rough yet smooth if that makes sense. I have been on a Perique kick lately and this blend is definitely worth trying. It burns to an ash and produces billows of white clouds as I smoke it.

This blend (perhaps I should say "mixture" as no casing will be found here) is all about the Perique. It is somewhat similar to Old Joe Krantz in both the nicotine and perique departments alike. Just like the latter, it will develop harsh spots, maybe not as sharp, if you don't keep an eye on your smoking cadence. C&D seems to be using its proprietary Virginia leaf in different ratios all across its ranges and different blends. That is to say you can actually purchase their red and bright Virginia leaf, and Perique of course, and have a go at blending your own mixture yourself for a fraction of the price. As a matter of fact, I have achieved similar results to this going down this road. Having said that, Bayou Morning is a good mixture everyone who is into Perique should probably try at list once. This tobacco, because of its high Perique content, leans a little bit onto the more-moist-than-usual side of things, but it smokes perfectly fine straight out of the bag/tin. The red and bright Virginia leaf adds sweet and hearthy undertones, but not as pronounced as in other blends. As for the Perique, it adds a very nice tangy undertone that will get stronger and stronger the more you progress with your bowl. Despite its high nicotine content, it could be an everyday smoke as no tongue-bite is detected, but this of course is down to your personal preferences. Not quite reaching a 4 star rating, but a very good and honest baccy for what it is: no strings attached here.

Cornell & Diehl's flagship VaPer. Bayou Morning is a VaPer in the rough. Rich and satisfying. The perique in this blend is closer to sharing center stage rather than merely being a movie extra in the background as it usually is in most VaPers. Robust from start to finish, this perique is raisin, spicy and full; working in tandem with the earthy Virginias to bring about a slight sweetness and tang. Despite it's strength, this is a great morning smoke, paired with black coffee; or great in the evening paired with a good stout brew. It doesn't get the full 4 stars, but it's damn close- 3.4 stars. This should age very nicely.

On initial presentation, Bayou Morning extends a simple invitation. The silky ribbony texture, a mellow, sweet-and-sour pouch aroma suggestive of dried fruit, forecast a flavorful experience, and that's what you get. Nothing fancy. Good, sweet virginias with a little spiciness from the perique. Steady, even burning with no harshness or bite. Not the driest smoke I've ever had, it always seemed to finish out with a wet dottle at the end, but no problem. The delicious flavor easily makes up for it. I could smoke this exclusively, were I so inclined.

A good tobacco, neither powerful as Dunhill Navy Rolls or Three Nuns, nor tasteful as Treasures of Ireland Limerick, but this is something you can smoke everyday and feel comfortable with. All in all it's a light blend considering its components, and never boring because the Perique jumps in and out throughout the bowl.

One of the first tins I bought as a new pipe smoker was Bayou Morning Flake. To this day, out of the twenty or so tins I've smoked, that remains my favorite. I decided to go bulk because I found a website offering the 067 Bayou Morning at 16oz for $25, and I figured the ribbon cut would be mostly familiar to the flake.

I was entirely wrong on that count. The taste here is less sweet and more earthy, which was noticeable from the aroma the moment I opened the package. Although I much rather prefer Haddo's and Escudo's, you should keep in mind that I've only been smoking for a few months now--so my palette likely prefers the more sugary taste of Virginias.

The perique is well proportioned, it lights and burns quite easy and smooth, and is clearly a product of quality. Any smoker with an interest in VA/Perique blends should definitely give this a shot.

But to be honest, it isn't what I was expecting, and I'm getting a bit tired of it all. I've been smoking this stuff religiously now for about two weeks--three to four bowls a day and it seems I'll never quite get done. I guess I was too ambitious..but still, for the price that I paid for this quality blend, I'm more than happy at the results.