Cornell & Diehl Exhausted Rooster

When I first popped this tin and took my initial whiff, I thought they had mislabeled one of their aromatics. Sure, perique blends have the tin aroma of figs and such, but who are they kidding with this stuff??? This smelled like Granny's kitchen at Christmas!

The good news is that the aroma doesn't transfer to the taste nearly as much as I feared. It burns off fairly quickly except for an underlying sweet flavor that definitely heightens the experience. The virginia is the lead player, followed by the burley and the two mesh wonderfully, giving us a nutty, sweet taste. The perique is kind of a jack-in-the-box that adds some spice periodically and noticeably, then retreats back into the mix. That final third of the bowl, the burley and perique square off with the virginia subsiding. But the sweetness remains and I think it's due to the expert blending of the casing with all the tobaccos.

Well done! I liked this well enough that I will revisit from time to time. It's different, and in a world of sameness, that's a good thing.

Opened my first tin of Exhausted Rooster today. The tin has about 8 months of age on it and smells of sweet rum & raisin. I'm half way through the bowl and the smoke has been very good. The perique is subtle and I can taste the sweetness of the Virginia. I would put this at medium-light in strength and a must try for the Vaper lovers.

EDIT: 2nd half of the bowl was just as good but the perique did pick up in strength. I

It's not marketed as a navy flake, but boy does it ring that bell for me... is that rum? That being said.. it's most definitely the burly component that jumps out as you work your way down the bowl... makes it something that pairs well with coffee rather than tea... perique is there but not in a bayou morning type dose... bravo. Somewhere between 3 and 4 stars... if you are in the right mood it's a 4... falling in love with Cornell and Diehl I must confess.

Addition... one of the best 'flavored ' tobacco on the market... you taste all the tobacco components.. the flavoring is slightly stronger than I would personally go for.. but it's delicious without being interfering

I considered myself lucky to find a Aug '12 can hidden in the back shelf of my local tobacconist. I rushed home and blew off the dust and popped the top. ahhhh that smell.. Had a bit of vinegar smell to it. But underneath the white lid was a beautiful row of golden looking tobacco pressed to perfection at the right moisture content. (Reminds me of Sunday Picnic) I went large and reached for my Peterson XL305.

Holy cock-a-doodle doo! The tin art gives you the impression this is a lazy rooster but this rooster is a fighter! The smell of the Va's start it off, but then it gets spicy. However, the perique is a bit in the background. The burley drives the blend. Then the nicotine jumps in the fight… and I mean Nicotine. I can handle my nicotine but boy this was a shock. I've smoked long enough to know when to the put the pipe down and going large at first smoke didn't help matters. I like the N drug but my knees buckled when I got out of the car after running some errands. This is a great old school smoke with some great flavor. Though the ingredients are common the blend and taste have a refreshing twist and freshness to it. I like it! However, newbies beware this Rooster likes a good fight. Smoke it up!

I bought this bc I like va/pers and I like to expand my experience of the range in a blend style. And, of course the tin art lol. Poor bastard. At least he gets a smoke break. Initially they were out when I ordered it, and they got back to me by email when the had it again. Btw, the people at just for him are second to none on customer service. Actually got back me by way of a personal email. Thanks Amanda.

Tin note is not what I thought it would be. Very sweet, raisins, ketchup kind do of smell too. Presentation in the can is a mess. Not a bad one, but still. All chunks and such. Interesting color layering. You can a few different browns and golds in there. The flakes must be huge when they cut them. Doesn't matter too much to me as I prefer to rub it out.

The flavor is pretty full after about the first third. I think I'm beginning to pick up on the dark fired Kentucky flavor now. The perique pops up only here and there in the first half and makes itself better known in the second. Peppery goodness and hot a bit like cinnamon. (I put my finger on that after reading sillyoldbears review). I like this one a great deal now that I have gotten about halfway through the can I bought. It's grown on me. Also, I get a nice nic buzz off this one.

The last quarter of the bowl is turning out to be delicious. Full and earthy. I would definitely recommend this to va/per fan, or a full bodied tobacco smoker. I will most likely order more of this in the future, if not just try others from c&d. Happy smoking.

Update: it does much better in my opinion having some age on it. I left a tin of it in a jar for the last 8 yrs, and it’s wonderful now. I think the flavors came together a more. It wasn't as much of a slap on the charring light and smoked down easy, with a nice peppery flavor that I find to be delicious.

I keep finding myself reaching for c&d blends. Lately they just seem to hit the spot. Anyway enough about that.

The two tins I had of this had a couple of years on them so that might sway this review.

Tin note: ketchup,sugar and spiced rum.

This blend is rather sweet to me, in a good way. I mostly get the sweetness from the Virginias followed by the rum and raisin of the perique. I don't find much of the burley in there. This blend is medium in the nicotine department.

I enjoy this blend. Not my go to blend but would like to try some young and see the difference.

The Exhausted Rooster, is it too tired to crow? I received a tin of C&D ER a while ago in a hit back trade and put it in my “smoking box”. While searching today for something a bit different the tin came out with a why not, the artwork is cool and my two favorite words in tobacco… Virginian and Perique. On opening it and working my way through the 3 layers of cardboard I'm searching for some tin notes. To say it had a rum aroma would be an insult to rum. This was almost vinegar. This mostly past and some hay from the burley started to show.

What surprised me was the cut. Listed as a broken flake it seems more like the intent was to produce a flake and with too much burley or not enough time, it was basically your first quarter inch cuts for cubing. Fairly dry with only a few minutes after finishing the cubing job, the bowl was filled and the char lit. A flash of spice from the Perique some nut from the burley but no Virginian to be found. First light became what the bowl was about. This was another blend of burley adding a little Virginian and Perique to make it sound different. Thankfully the alcohol smell was gone in the smoke.

The smoke has quality to it mostly added by the cut. Cubing this is the saving grace here. If this was a ribbon and the Virginian and Perique quickly burning off, a total fail. The cubes allow for an even release of a hint of sweetness from the Virginian and the occasional hit of Perique. With a little more of both would make this a smoke for the burley man's rotation. Towards the bottom the Perique steps up and matches with the hay and nut of the burley. The quality of the burley is defiantly above average and the tin should have listed it first. There's nothing Virginian about this, and it's a quality burley, so marketing this as a Virginian I believe hurt the blend for those looking for a burley. The finish unloads the vitamin N with a force, and the quality of the burley and the cut left a white and gray finish with a single tamp and one re-light. So I recommend this to a burley smoker looking for a quality burley that is really a full flake that fell apart into strips and a little Perique and heavy N. This is the first time I've run across a burly that could be cubed nicely and it does make a big difference. I'll be hitting back my traders with this as it was a surprise to enjoy a long smoke with a cube cut BURper.

This one is a knock out. I expect flavor from my pipe and this delivers. My experience was very simillar to the previous reviews except the initial perique kick only lasted a couple minutes then it smoothed out quite nicely. Firey is a good way to describe this. I mean that in a very good way.

As far as tin aroma I can't figure exactly what it smells like but it made me rush to get it in a pipe, I'll put it that way. I have smoked mcclellands a lot but am finding the C&D products to smell and taste better to me in most instances. A lot of perique out there gets at my throat like burning tree leaves in an unpleasent way but this C&D is not like that at all. Until now I disliked perique, I think I am converted in this case.

This has a good kick to it but remains soft enough to enjoy. It smoked dry all the way to the bottom with no dottle, just ash. This tobac is the exact opposite of many others in the fact that it starts off sharp and gets better and better till it's over. Never dissapoints at the end and that often makes all the difference to me.

This is not a dark flake unless yours was aged a lot more than mine. I got mine straight from C&D at the pipe show and it was golden brown with small bits of stoved burley scattered about. The tobac is extreme high quality leaf but honestly I had to pick out more stem than I thought I should have.

I believe the magic in this one comes from the fired burley. It ties it all together. Very Nice, Firey and spicy yet smooth at the same time. Superb balance of flavors and does have some complexity. Perique complements the burley and the va keeps it from going sour. So very well thought out. I smoked it straight from the tin with no drying and was very surprised it stayed lit well and burned dry and cool, leaving my pipe dry and clean. I'll try a little air time but it is delivered at very nice moisture level and the tobac is springy when rubbed out.

Very nice and highly reccomended to someone who has a little experience. This could be a little too much for a beginner. My friend who smokes aromatics could not smoke this more than 5 min at a time. Said it was too much for him and I know he wanted to dump it but did'nt want to offend me after what I paid for it so he probablly is hurting right now in the tongue. Again it is a superb blend if you have a few bowls of english or straight va under your belt. If you are an aromatic smoker it might bite you hard and is not a good starting point to cross over- comprable to a good red va as far as tongue bite issues go.

I think you owe it to yourself to try this.

Update: not really smoking this anymore, I just can't find long term satisfaction in a burley. Still for those who like this kind of thing great tobacco.

I haven't tried a new blend in a while and when I found this in a pass-around-box I thought I'd give it a try.. I love C&D Burleys, and the Bayou series also isn't too bad to my palate, so, why not?! 😉

Opening the tin note makes it very clear this is a flavored blend! A fruity and sweet scent welcomed me, quickly to be followed by some sour-smoky dark fired leaf, as well as some very nice and warm bready quality that I really like. It's hard to pin-point the added flavoring, but after the tin aired out for a moment it's not too strong and it somewhat contributes to the warmth of the tin note.

First few puffs tickled my nostrils as I blew out the smoke and a pleasing aroma started developing. Bready and nutty sweetness (an interplay between the burleys and Virginas?) with some nice fruitiness inbetween (Perique?). The initial sweetness fades a bit and leaves room for a pleasing spiciness to show. The flavoring may contribute to the fruity-sweet notes, but it's definetly far less obvious than in the tin-note, well done! Notes of earth and pepper linger.

Interesting enough for me to consider smoking it again and see, if this could become a companion to me. Not burley-ish enough for me to instantly fall in love with it. Yet I can see its fruity-sweet and bready/nutty and spicy aroma could be a nice change of pace for warmer summer days.