Cornell & Diehl Kajun Kake

I opened up my first tin of Kajun Kake recently and this one was pretty fresh with a birthday of 072018. This is a dark soft crumble cake with a pleasant sweet earthy smell. Fires up nice and easy and produces a large volume of white smoke and burns down to a nice white ash. I must be getting soft as this is the second perique blend in the past week that I have caught myself coughing, probably from the perique. This will not deter me as I like the spicy kick it brings to a blend. This is a smooth smoke with nary a bite. I can see why this is so popular.

Yes, it is true, this tobacco has a very distinct flavour and it is quite different from anything I've tried before, namely, the Kajun Spice topping. The cake presentation is very dark in colour and easy to crumble. The topping is quite distinct in the tin note as well, but difficult to describe. I think part of the problem is I have never tried Kajun Spice in my life, and as I don't even know what it tastes like, I have nothing to compare it with. As for the smoking experience, I am not quite sure whether the addition of this spice is a good or a bad idea, but the virginia and perique leaf it contains seems to be really good quality anyway. I cannot detect any cavendish like it says on the description though. It does evolve quite nicely as you progress with your smoke, both in flavour and strength, but it is a quick burner. In its own right, it is a good VaPer, but I am missing the wow factor, so it is 3 stars this time.

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.

Cornell & Diehl Kajun Kake is full, bold and spicy. The Perique gives it some peppery edge, but very interestingly so and you will seldom find a blend showing the true nature of this unique ingredient better than KK. I didn’t get much sweetness, rather hints of cigar and unsweetened black tea. Earthiness, hay and roasted dark bread are the predominant impressions. I found the nicotine content way above medium. KK is one of the view blends, that can be enjoyed with a carbon filter at nearly unchanged, full taste, at a lower nicotine level, though.

If you like satisfactory (nic) tobaccos and the distinct taste of Perique in a high quality crumble cake, this one is a must. If you don’t, leave the tins for the ones who do.

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

Kajan Kake- Wonderful tin note of maple , perfect moisture and kake breaks up with just a touch of finger pressure ( no slicing and dicing required). Perique incense scent is very noticeable along with roasted marshmallows , very pleasant. Very interesting when snorked or French inhaled as Perique makes itself known from the first light along with a flavor of "Chinese Five Spice" . I would call the taste more sour/bitter than sweet but in perfect balance with the Virginias ( a little green, could use some aging). A very nice change of pace from Latakia but I wouldn't call this a "Vaper" as the Virginias are dark and take a background to the Perique, maybe a "PerVa" .

It's not often I can get a full Perique blast without my tongue turning to Tabasco, but this is smooth. Similar blends ??? maybe some of the McC's Royal Cajun line( this is unusual) but I couldn't smoke this all day, a nice change.

Don't miss out on the scent while "mouth breathing", it's the best scent .

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.

Smoking some Kajun Kake right now in my Savinelli Capri. This seemed harsh right out of the tin in March, but just those few months in a jar have mellowed it out quite a bit. It is nice for slow sipping, strong enough without being overpowering, and the dark Virginia (well, actually just checked and it's Red Virginia, but at least the Kake is dark) and generous Perique is nice. I guess they Cavendishize some or all of that Virginia. I like it, as I like all C&D Crumble Cakes. I might like Briar Fox a little more than this, but they are different styles of course, and I am always tweaking my opinions on C&D blends, for some reason. I am a perique fan, and there seems to be plenty in here. This will be spectacular after 10 years in the tin, I'm sure, and it's enjoyable now. Very nice presentation of this cake (Kake). It looks like a perfectly-formed plug, but I have never come across a crumble cake before that holds together so well, yet allows one to easily pinch off enough for a bowl. Well done, as usual, and I still think C&D does best with their Crumble Cakes.

Or should I phrase that:

I don't think this is spectacular stuff or that it stands out from the crowd in any way, except that it might be the best crumble cake presentation I've ever seen. Holds together so well it looks like a plug, yet you can oh-so-easily pinch off the perfect portion and promptly and properly pulverize it for your pipe with no problem at all!

Kajun Kake is a pressed Virginia-Perique-Cavendish block. Typically a few brownie-looking bars of tobacco come in a tin and one breaks off a piece and rubs it out. While the blocks are quite dry, I've never found the tobacco to have unpleasant burning characteristics.

Kajun Kake produces a full volume of sweet unflavored-Cavendish-dominated smoke without ever biting my tongue. I found Kajun Kake to be a naturally mellow sweet blend with a light, yet clearly detectable, Perique spice. I have gone through many tins.

My complaint about Kajun Kake is that my pipe always start off quite bitter. The bitterness last though about a third of the smoke and dissipates to the pleasant flavor I described above.

I read somewhere that burley is the base tobacco used in making Perique. I don't know if it's at all related, but the bitterness I experience in the first third of the bowl reminds me lot of the bitterness one gets from abusing a burley blend.

I tolerated the idiosyncratic nature of this tobacco for years. Recently, I moved to Bullseye Flake which I find to have very similar characteristics without the bitter experience.