McClelland Royal Cajun Dark

This tobacco has caused sleepless nights for me. It makes me wonder if the tobaccos I prefer are not always the most complex and flavorful. I prefer the taste of Royal Cajun Ebony to this, but I find this one to have many more layers of depth.

RCD had a taste like a fine oriental tobacco to me at times, a taste like a flavored burley at others, and finally a taste like a highly matured straight virginia at others, all the while bringing out the wonderfully rich spicy flavor of the Cajun Black (whatever that really is!). This comes dark in the tin (duh!) and came in a fairly dry state. The flavors were round and full but mild. Alternately spicy and creamy, but always earthy and highly nuanced. I found layer upon layer of complexity and "color" with this one. It almost wore me out when I was smoking purely for tasting notes! I found it difficult to concentrate on anything else while smoking.

What I find truly odd with this one is that I will smoke it only occasionally while RC Ebony will be in my regular rotation. Even so, this is a 4 star blend and I highly recommend it. It's a stunning effort.

My favorite in the Royal Cajun series as this Virginia tobacco has body and strength. The bottom is there in droves, and I am sure some would think it's a little on the strong side. It will absolutely not bite no matter how hard you puff. An almost toasted flavor comes through. I've socked away several tins for future enjoyment.

Pipestud

The Virginias are fruity, sweet, and spicy. The "Periqued"" Kentucky is earthy, smooth and only mildly spicy. I find this to be much better balanced than Ebony. It's sweeter and spicier with a milder earthiness. An outstanding, most enjoyable smoke.

Body is mild to medium. Flavor is medium. Burn was spotty requiring some relights so I pulsed it a few times in my food chopper and improved the burn to excellent.

Oh Holy Zeus this one is yummy! From the very first puff I knew I was smoking something extraordinary.

Unbelievably sweet for a non-aromatic, and yet so marvelously pure and natural. And smooth?! Zounds! I don't know any other smoke that feels and smells so good coming through my nostils. And zero bite, no matter how hard you puff at it (and I tried!).

calavera astutely compared this to another McClelland masterpiece, Dark Star. RCD is like Dark Star's coarse (ie: easy to prep and light), more gregarious cousin: it's just as subtle, but less complex and mysterious, and a lot more playful, with the sweet dark flavor coming front and center.

But it's not a monochromatic sweetness at all, but one suffused with a myriad of wonderful spices -- predominantly sweet ones like clove and nutmeg, but with tiny little hints of something tangy and sour here, something peppery there -- that together form an impeccably balanced melange of flavors that deepens and develops throughout the bowl.

But the flavor never overpowers. It's like emmbee says: "This is one of the most understated tobaccos you could smoke, and yet, the flavor reaches out politely and ubiquitously without offending." emmbee also likens RCD to a "magnificently aged single malt scotch", and I find that another apt comparison.

To contribute my own synaesthetic metaphor: if Dark Star is a Berg String Quartet, then Royal Cajun Dark is a piece by JS Bach in G Major, playfully and serenely joyous.

Great, absolutely great. My congratulations to McClelland for developing a whole new genre that can produce such a sublime concoction! I can't wait to try the other blends in this series.

UPDATE: Two months later, and this seems to have become my default blend. Absolutely love it. I've decided that it is more a fine port than a single malt scotch. I've tried the other Royal Cajun blends (which I will review at some future date), and this one is definitely the best (for my taste buds, at least). My #1 tobacco. Beer (reviewer below) nailed it when he said "if you are into dark but subtle tobaccos, give it a try", for indeed RCD hits the bullseye in my happy spot.

This Cajun Black: the nicest surprise I could get back from the U.S. !!!

The inner disc tells the story: a Virginia seed grown in Kentucky. I would say it's a kind a natural black cavendish, mild, spicey and smokey. Truly delicious. I wouldn't say CB is something to imitate the Perique. This is another thing.

RCD is something dark, very dark, almost black. Not wet. A bit complicate to light, but then it goes his way without great troubles. Mild, but not exagerately. Sweet like stoved virginias can be, without the very minimum bite, no matter how hard you draw. Spicy like the best Orientals can offer. Softly smokey and citrusy like Syrian Latakia, without being leathery.

Before me, Kingcole says it right: RCD smokes like an aromatic without being an aromatic. Nice statement. I would add mine: smokes like a mild english mixture without being an EM. I do think each smoker can find his motto: that's because RCD offers many layers of depth (DK).

I usually prefer blends several notches stronger. Here we are in the mild territory, but that is counterbalanced by a consistent flavour body, which makes RCD a satisfying and contemplative smoke.

I'm of those thinking RCD is a true masterpiece.

A blend that tries to be new and innovative is always interesting to try. And this line from McClelland really is something "different": new recipes, new processing of the leaf, and hopefully new flavours.

Alas, the test of fire showed that while this is a good tobacco, it is a little underwhelming... at least for my taste.

Very dark and stoved, with a fruity sweetness that lurks in the background behind leather, cloves and other spices: not a bad trademark signature. To me, the problem is that even when dried a bit and smoked very very slowly it still tastes a bit watery, face-powderish and too gentle in flavour.

It's not bad, mind my words! And it definitely has body (plus some unplesant astringency and mouth-drying quality typical of several American virginia blends)... but it is so subtle and delicate in its aromas that I am left wanting more (or, better, wanting a bowl of something else to fill my tastebuds).

Anyway, it's finely crafted and if you are into dark but subtle tobaccos, give it a try: you will probably enjoy it more than I did.

It is somewhat a privilege trying something hitherto not attempted until now. Actually, in the case of Cajun Black and the McClelland Tobacco Company's first attempts blending with it, this pipe smoker finds himself at the headwaters of two new streams. One stream is a new process, the other rivulet blending with the resulting component.

Cajun Black and Royal Cajun blends are both interpretations. CB is an interpretation of an idea to double-process tobacco leaf typically flue- or air-cured, using fire and then "stew in ones juices" fermentation ala Perique. Since the constituent leaf is not limited to St. James Parish, look for other tobacco processors giving this a try in years to come along with L.A. Poche. As Latakia produced by different processors varies, it seems reasonable to expect the same about CB, to give but one of many possible analogies.

Royal Cajun blends are also first interpretations with CB in commercial smoking pipe mixtures. Provided other tobacco blending houses have ample access to CB, there's a whole lot of tobacco reviewing to come.

McClelland was smart to release multiple blends using CB, for knowing what CB tastes like as a blending component requires comparison of blends containing the CB common denominator. May there be a day soon when one may buy unadulterated Cajun Black to taste in isolation from other tobaccos and sauces. I am not sure that in any of the inaugural blends with CB anyone but L.A. Poche and the McNeil band know if pipe smokers are tasting CB ?unplugged? or not. Epistemological questions are yet hanging for most.

For now, CB is initially intriguing and what it will be seems at first glance promising. Since it is processed two ways, it has the attributes of a blend within itself. The possibilities of layering, folding, migrating and infusion of flavors with Cajun Black are just dawning. I doubt Latakia and Perique processors need liquidate their assets with the appearance of CB, but label artists will have work in the foreseeable future.

Hmmm, pipes dedicated to aromatics, pipes for English blends, pipes for Virginias and now pipes for Cajun Black. Que bono?

Royal Cajun Dark, what can I say? I am down to my one and only last can. I was going to buy the series but McClelland’s closing down at the end of February caught me completely off guard and I did not find out about it until several months later. I really liked this one. Dark tobacco with medium brown ribbons interspersed throughout. It has (had) a nice earthy smell to it and smoked really well. Can’t really compare it much but I will use the terms dark, smoky, spicy. My tin was dated 2017. I would definitely recommend it but would not pay any inflated price since it is no longer in production along with their 233 other blends.

I previously reviewed Royal Cajan Ebony (RCE) and Royal Cajan Special (RCS). Now for a shot at Royal Cajan Dark (RCD).

By and large, RCD is also tasteful and creamy. But RCE is far creamier than RCS and this blend (RCD) and I find there is some more similarity between RCD and RCS. Yet while smoking RCD, my taste buds 'signal' something additional that tends to distinguish it from RCS. Seems to me that RCD was spiced up some more with Orientals and a pinch of Latakia. But who am I to say for certain?

In the final analysis, this is a pleasant smoke though my heart goes out more to RCE and RCS, in that order.

Updated 1/30/14- Corrected review, I had mistakenly switched reviews for the Dark and Ebony.

I like it ! I believe this also has the "Perique" style, "pressure/stewing" ,processing of the Virginia leaf , it gives a whole new Tobacco. The processing gives the Virginias a more buttery, sweet flavor, smoother. Interesting through the whole bowl, I almost hate to see a bowl end.

There is a slight background cocoa/ flavor but the predominant flavor is a sweet dark Virginia with heavy base notes. I do find this one dimensional like Esoteriaca's "Blackpool" ( without the liquorish) but similar in sweetness.

I would recommend allowing this to breath and dry before trying.