Cornell & Diehl Kajun Kake

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.

As a lover of Perique I expected a lot more from this blend. The branding emphasizes the perique as part of the Cajun inspiration for this blend, however the decision to use wholly Red Virginia for the base provides a sweetness that overpowers the spice of the Perique. It's like pouring sugar into a spicy dish. The sweetness cuts the heat, and exposes the bitterness of the peppers.

Even as a fan of Red Virginia, I don't think this is an exemplar of the leaf. There is a sort of ashy bitterness that muddles the breadiness and hinders that sweetness which I want from Red Virginias. Maybe my tin came from a bad harvest year? I tried this in three different pipes including a new one just to make sure this isn't an old ghost haunting the smoke.

The peppery notes from the Perique are more detectable when retrohaling, but I have to search for it in the smoke otherwise. It is not completely absent though, because there is the expected fig and plum as well as a hint of spice left on the tongue after exhaling. I would have preferred these notes to not be overpowered within the smoke itself. That spicy note does linger for a while after you finish your smoke, which seems to cast the illusion that this blend is spicy.

Here I must concede that the flavours of Perique are more pronounced towards the end of the bowl. This still leaves a lot to be desired for a tin that states "just the right touch of everyone's favorite Cajun spice, Louisiana Perique". I might have to crack open Bayou Morning after this tin to get a proper taste of perique.

This blend also seems to be very dry, in the red wine sense. It's a very peculiar sensation, as its not a tongue bite but almost feels like it. This is not a sensation you expect from a good smoke. I could see a dry tobacco working, but not to the degree that this dryness is present here.

My final complaint is that this comes far too wet out of the tin, unusually so. I have never had to relight a bowl of tobacco so often as this one. I personally don't believe I should have to dry out my tobacco for half a day or longer to get it to the right moisture level. You run the risk of forgetting it is open and losing a lot of flavour from the Perique.

This is my first 1 star review for a C&D blend. If I want a more nuanced blending of sweet and spicy in crumble cake form, I would rather reach for their Cellar Series' Bourbon Bleu. That's a blend where the Perique is more harmonious and the sweetness works much better and isn't interrupted by unexpected flavours.

Update: After crumbling the entire cake and allowing it to dry since the moisture is just too overwhelming here (which is suboptimal because you want the cake to continue aging in the jar), I can report that the bitterness and astringent dryness has improved. The blend is much more smokeable and the plum and fig notes are far more pronounced. I will raise my score to 2.5 rounded down to a 2. There is promise in this blend but it needs better execution.

I’m in the midst of rediscovering pipes in a post-McLelland’s world. A world in which both Gawith marques are as elusive as Bigfoot.

I basically cut my teeth, in a pipe smoking sense, on English blends. I eventually found that I prefer Virginias and VaPers. And a little Burley here and there.

As long as it’s flavorful. And as long as it’s at least a little bit strong, Vitamin N-wise.

To be honest, I only recently discovered the wonder of Full Virginia Flake and St. James Flake. Love ‘em both. Especially the latter.

You see, to me, too many blends (especially Virginia and VaPer blends) on the market just don’t pack enough flavor ...for me.

I’ve been searching the landscape for a readily available alternative to St James Flake. Escudo is good, but it’s not quite what I want. Fillmore reeks of Latakia to me. I know. I’m hyper sensitive to latakia. Haddos is just an abomination in my eyes.

Bayou morning is in the ballpark of right, but it’s not quite as flavorful as what I seek. Sutliff Crumble Kake Va Perique is a solid contender, but it seems to fade late in every bowl. Which is disappointing.

This review is currently under construction. I’ve honestly just discovered Kajun Kake, and need more time with it to properly understand and explain it.

After having smoked roughly half a dozen bowls, I find I like it a little less each time. I think I’m finally starting to get what some other reviewers on here mean when they complain of blends being too perique heavy.

And, at this point, both Kajun Kake and its sister blend Bayou Morning are a little too Perique forward for my liking. So I’m reducing this one to three stars for now. I simply prefer VaPers in which the Virginias are clearly the star of the show. Certainly that’s not the case here.

To be continued

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.

Cornell & Diehl - Kajun Kake

Bayou Morning, also from C&D is my main "go to" va/p.  Compared to that one, this one is more earthy, more spicy, and less sweet.  With any C&D offering, I find it just seems to work out better to hold back for at least about three months before opening the tin.  A fresh tin of Kajun Kake strikes me as potent in perique spiciness and nicotine power, while after several months in a jar the Kake is more mellow, the perique comes out with more flavor than spicy mouthfeel and the virginia brings an almost coconut-like note.  Kajun Kake has a certain "old timey" vibe about it, both in regard to taste and ritual that I really enjoy.  More a 3½ star blend than 3.

Lovely smoke. Opening the tin it smelled plummy/raisin like. I liked it. I got a large crumble cake and a small piece that I broke up and stuffed in a peterson system pipe. The tobacco is not as dark as I imagined it would be. There is slight tobacco plume on the sides of the cake. (I first thought it was mold 8/ ) Luckily it was not after google helped me out what mold will smell like and what it looks like on this crumble cake.

Anyway so lighting this tobacco: first impressions, it tasted like i was smoking vulcanite. I was a tad put off. Tamped it down and lit it again. Tastes of plum from the sweet perique came through, this is a real tasty tobacco. No bite at all. Halfway through the bowl you taste the peppery side of the perique. I put it down and let the pipe cool.

I lit it again, and smoked a bit deeper into the bowl but it kept going out. Unfortunately I was not able to smoke right to the bottom. It burns to a fine white/grey ash. Tobacco quality is outstanding. My only concern was that it burns really really hot, might be because the pete was new. Will smoke it again in a few days.

Coming from a cigar guy this is the blend that made me seriously respect pipe tobacco. Cigar smokers, and Maduro lovers rejoice because C&D will show you the light! Like a well seasoned creole dish, Kajun Kake offers up plenty of perique's spicy goodness.. the red Virginia is earthy and tangy and the cavendish is what ties the two together and elleviates any bite or sharpness that can happen with redVa+Perique. This is an earthy blend, the finish is long with notes of dark fruit, coffee, and chocolate pastry. Not the most complex, not flavored, just comfort food for the soul. Doesn't need much drying time and doesn't leave too much moisture in the bowl. If pushed hard, at times the perique can take on this dry club Soda like element which is its only downside. 4 stars for me personally.. but others may not like this kind of blend.

This review is based on a 1 oz sample that I received at the New Orleans Pipe Show. Kajun kake is a mostly dark brown-to-black krumble kake, which has a great tin note and great flavor. It is, from my estimation, mainly stoved red Viriginas and a healthy proportion for Perique, with a bit of unflavored back Cavendish thrown in. The flavors are of smoky Virginia and fruity, musty Perique. It starts out as a medium strength blend, but as it progresses, it can get pretty stout with Perique and Virginia developing in the bowl.

I have to admit, I enjoyed this tobacco quite a bit. I'm just not sure that I will order it again very soon, as there are so many others that I smoke that are similar and I actually like better (Bayou Morning) and are available in bulk. When I do purchase some of this, it will most likely be in the 8 oz tin, where I can smoke a bit of it and also jar the rest to see what aging will do. I may actually revisit this and rate it higher. Only time will tell, but we will see.