Cornell & Diehl Kajun Kake

I'm smoking my first-ever bowlful of this as I type, in a meer. It is described on the tin as "red Virginia cavendish and a little Perique". First impressions: In the tin, it's a loose cake, dark brown, and smelling of molasses. It crumbles easily for packing in the pipe. It is medium strength, pleasantly sweet, with the perique tang coming through more as the smoke progresses (which is what I find with all periques). The other characteristic of perique is a fruity flavour, and that develops as well, and by the time you're half-way through the bowl, it's a veritable fruit salad of a smoke, with a smidgen of lemon providing the tang. Delicious. Being a mixture of Cavendish and Perique, I suppose one could call it a "Caper". Having now read Bluenoser's review, I will buy some more tins, for ageing.

My first C&D tobacco. Opening the tin was a great pleasure, the discovery of the cake was delayed by the three paper discs. Since this was my first tobacco with this cut, I felt like a kid in a candy store. Of course, smelling this brownie continued the illusion for a few more seconds.

The red Virginia Cavendish imparts a fruity and tart smell that makes you wanna eat it for desert. The strength is a bit more than medium, making it ideal for an after meal smoke.

The moisture is perfect from the start and it lights without a fuss. I get a bread like toasted flavor, a slight fruit sweetness with some spicy finish. Each draw gives you a creamy, velvety, full bodied smoke that is also dry, a sign that these tobaccos are of very good quality, balanced and uncased.

Virginia lover

This mixture in tin is offered in a dark brown Crumble Cake Cut with a nice smell, easy to shatter and stuff, providing a good, steady burn. All three ingredients, Red Virginia, Black Cavendish and Perique, marry up very well, forming a powerful, harmonious blend. Virginia is the backbone and the healthy dose of Perique is fruity, spicy and a little peppery. The Black Cavendish mellows this salubrious blend and donates softness and sweetness. Nicotine is at a high level. Lingering aftertaste. Succinct, a flavourful, characterful, enjoyable high-end Va/Per mixture.

First let me say that Kajun Kake is deserving of every glowing review that it has received, as Kajun Kake is an absolutely wonderful Virginia and Perique blend. Popping the lid off of a sealed tin dated 3/14, I am greeted with a wonderfully sweet, yet strong smell of the Virginias, and a nice compact 2 oz cake of tobacco. It is obvious while looking at the cake, that the tobacco is of high quality and due to the presentation, there will be no twiggy or woody bits mixed in the tobacco. I’ve had these tins both fresh and with some age on them and I have to say that as they age they become much darker in appearance, almost jet black, and the sweetness of the Virginia tobaccos just keeps increasing. The tin note is rather enticing, with aromas of tea, or sweet grassy or hay like notes that come from the Virginias. As for the Perique there is an underlying smokiness that I can detect in the tin but it is thin or faint and much harder to detect as the tobacco ages. The moisture level of this particular tin is spot on perfect and there was no drying time needed before being able to smoke. I have also noticed that the cake becomes much more firm as it ages and instead of being able to crumble the cake, I have had to cut thin slivers off of one side of the cake much like you would a plug. The first flavors that I notice are those from the Virginias, the sweet straw like or hay like tastes, but they are followed rather quickly by the natural sweetness, nuttiness, and spiciness from the Perique. The Perique definitely lets you know it’s in the mixture with its spicy mouth feel as well. As for burn characteristics, I did not have to tend this blend at all, and when finished, the tobacco burned down to a fine white powdery ash which made cleaning the pipe rather simple, only requiring that I run a pipe cleaner through the stem and around the inside of the bowl to remove any remaining moisture. As for the room note, those around me made mention that the tobacco smelled rather sweet, so I take that to mean that it is tolerable. Overall, I have been very satisfied with Kajun Kake, and can only imagine what it will continue to become with ten years or more of age. My best guess is that the Virginias will continue to sweeten, becoming more fig like as time goes on. With this in mind, I purchased several tins so that I could smoke a tin now, and cellar several, comparing my notes later on down the road. I would recommend this blend to anyone who enjoys a good Virginia and Perique blend.

First of all this is my first Virginia blend and I have to say WOW! The Virginia tobacco is such a great burner and is so sweet. But more on this blend... The red cavendish Virginias add great sweetness and help the combustion, while the Louisiana perique add a great earthy, dried fruit note which is amazing. All in all my first true VaPer and am looking forward to more blends like this.

Update** So just finished my first bowl of a Virginia blend about a half hour from the review you see above and I have to say I'm a big fan of this blend type. I do love my English blends but I now have realized the potential of a VA blend this one was sweet, earthy and see myself smoking more VA blends especially ones like Kajun Kake. One thing I loved was how easy it was to keep lit. Can't wait to try more Virginia blend weather they are blended with Perique, burley or whatever... What great nuances a good quality Virginia tobacco brings to smoking a pipe tobacco period!!

2nd update. One recommendation to C&D is that I wish the cut size before pressing was more like pirate cake nice big ribbons which I find smokes better than the cut they used for KK but still a great VA/PR

Now this is more like it! After being thoroughly disappointed with Bayou Morning Flake and it's rather odd and "meh" nature, I opened the tin of Kajun Kake ready to be very underenthused. Nicely incorrect. This is a much better rendering of a VaPer for my taste buds. The kake is easy to pinch off and rub out (excellent aesthetic quality I must say) and it has that nice fruity tangy hint to it that I like in my VaPer's (AJ's VaPer from Hearth and Home being my runaway favorite). This is a nice smoke, easily lit, stays lit, doesn't require a lot of fiddling about and leaves nice ash and little dottle. Lots of sugar crystals in the bowl afterwards........the Virginia is very sweet, but again, nicely balanced by the Perique. This is definitely in the rotation.

I love this stuff, I get a fruity red wine taste (a bit like Spanish Sangria) with a spicy hint of charcoal. It is a wonderful experience opening a tin of this and seeing two big chunky blocks, and from there it only gets better, a moist but crumbly texture as you fill your bowl, it's smokable straight from the tin, but not dried out...outstanding! There really is nothing out there like it...treat yourself to this unique perique experience.

Been smoking this for years. One of my top favorites. Does very well with age. The Red Virginias are robust, but not overwhelming. The Perique is a background player, but adds a nice plum flavor to the blend. The profile remains pretty constant throughout the bowl. Just a good no nonsense VaPer. If I could only have on tobacco to smoke, this would be one for serious consideration.

Who needs sweet?

Its funny to read the reviews complaining about a lack of sweetness, and moaning that it tastes like unsweetened cocoa. Um, yep. And it's lovely!

This is perique forward in an extreme way. I've smoked pure perique, and probably would do so more often except that it tends to be muddled and earthy in flavor. Kajun Kake is as close to a pure perique flavor as you can get, IMO, with other varietals added for the sake of clarity. It is a thick, rich, unsweet, savory smoke, definitely to be sipped and smoked slowly, in fairly small bowls.

But, what a big cool flavor profile. I definitely agree that the unsweet cocoa notes dominate, and I think that's awesome. Some dark fruit and a hearty spice on the retrohale particularly. It's got a HUGE mouthfeel, even when sipped.

Out of the tin, the cake does look like a brownie, smells awesome. It breaks up nicely, and the blend seems pretty even throughout. The sweetness comes up somewhat with age, but its never going to be the highlight.

This is not an "all day" smoke. At all. It's a special treat smoke for me, in a nice small bowl, when I can sit and marvel at the richness of the perique flavors. And for that purpose, its a 4 star smoke.