Cornell & Diehl Perique

This, of course, is not the real perique that people speak of. It is the perique that nearly all the blenders are using. I purchased the granulated version of C&D perique and had a ball with it. It really does change the taste of anything you put it in. I typically used this to kick up some blends that were previously lifeless to my tastes.

This is a blending product, so my review is for that purpose. Having limited experience with other blending periques makes for a difficult comparison. Of course, I tried a bowl of this straight and it was almost unsmokable. I just had to try it. Before I purchased this I did ask around a little about it. I was told by someone, who does know what they are talking about, that this perique and all the perique available from all the etailers in the us is the same thing from the same source.

I also asked him why the McClelland tinned perique was more expensive. He stated that McClelland buys a higher grade than everyone else and thus, the premium is justified. But it still comes from the same source. I also had the luxury of trying some pure perique in whole leaf form that a forum friend let me try and that was actually smokable by itself and was very tasty that friend claimed that that was the real stuff. The only real experience I had with a blend that was the real stuff was some old three nuns that I had the luxury of tasting and that stuff was the nectar of the gods. My self blending with this product never brought me anything close to that.

So rating this is kind of easy. Since there is better alternatives, it can't be a four star. Since it is pretty much the same stuff as everything else out there is selling, it is recommended as to the leaf itself; as it is available in bulk and not very expensive. In fact, it stands to reason, that perique shopping should be done on price alone with all of that in mind.

The only thing left to contemplate is the granulated form versus the ribbon. Having only had the granulated form, I can't speak with authority on that either, but will say that I think it would blend better in ribbon form at least in the ways that I used it anyway. I will reorder in ribbon form and come back to this review.