Cornell & Diehl Exclusive

I agree with most of the members here, the tobacco strength is really medium to Strong. If you smokes this in a hot place (Like Brazil) sometimes can not be a good idea because certain you will feel the recoil or a nic hit... The perique smell are fully present in the package like the pipe. For perique lovers, this is a full bowl. And one more time Cornell & Diehl made a very good tobacco. Recommended!

I've had this sealed in a jar for a few years as I do all my C&D products, which I normally love by the way. Upon opening, the aroma was almost too much. Too much what? Too much cheap chocolate topping, or whatever it is on the Cavendish, perhaps? Too much perique? Not likely for me, but reports claim Exclusive contains upwards of 50% perique. I have smoked perique undiluted, directly from Percy Martin's farm and I found the aromas quite different. Too much red Virginia? I don't think so. Whatever it is I don't find it particularly enticing, but once lit tin aromas can be moot, and in this case "almost" is.

My second problem is it would not dry out. I left it out to dry in my air conditioned home for 13 days on a piece of newspaper before giving up. If I squeezed it between my thumb and fingers it would stick in a big clump. PG? Not what I'm used to from my friends at C&D.

I packed a pipe, a large for me GBD 135, a medium billiard from the 50's-70's. One of my favorite and best performers. It didn't want to light very easily so I sat it down overnight for a little DGT. Upon lighting this morning everything is going smoothly, performance-wise. It's burning nice and slowly, but not going out either, as I type this review.

The taste is fair, leaning a little too much to the aromatic side for me, but not without redeeming values. A somewhat pleasant chocolate flavor with some perique "figginess". I can't seem to find the Virginia in there. It has a somewhat nice nicotine effect for an "aromatic" type blend.

Exclusive will probably never be in my daily rotation, but one I'll surely finish given enough time. I'll give it 2.5 stars and call it "somewhat recommended"; it will surely find an audience. Try a small sample if you think this is too strange for you. Who knows you just might like it.

As a replacement for Escudo, forget about it. Judge it on its own merits.

Nothing exceeds like excess, as Cornell and Diehl firmly show. Whilst making up my annual bulk restock order, I found myself wanting something new. Something... Intimidating. I may smoke Bayou Morning every morning (for the last 2 years), but it's losing its Wow Factor. I've tweaked it this way and that; added more Perique (up to 60%, and never below 25%), adding dark Virginias, adding this, adding that. Given all that, why not search out a new morning eye-opener? Enter Exclusive. Tin note would put off neophytes, and give the knowledgeable reason for pause; it truly does smell like a newly-cracked wheel of Parmigiano-Regiano. Nutty, sweaty, a little floral, a little rancid; the hallmarks of fresh Perique in near-lethal quantities. Delightful. Packing and lighting is effortless. Smokes to the heel without effort. If not retrohaled constantly, you might doubt the purported Perique percentage; although there is a touch of horseradish-type heat, the primary notes are of nuts, toast, grass, and the wine-like perfume of Tabasco. A little snork, however, and... WHOAH! There it is! Again, delightful. Room note is surprisingly inoffensive; maybe not a crowd-drawer, but nor will it send bystanders fleeing in terror. As to why anyone would think to compare this to Escudo, I have no idea. Perhaps the Escudo of old was a much more formidable beast. The only resemblance this shares with modern Escudo is that they are both pipe tobaccos. Paired with my usual nightshift-strength cafe au lait, I can no longer think of starting my day any other way. If you aren't afraid to swim the blood-warm back bayous by the light of the moon, give it a try. You may find a new (slightly dangerous) friend.

I bought it in bulk, and it arrived fairly quickly. I smoked it as a first bowl of the day the first time. I just wanted to try to it, so I loaded a pipe and left for work. By the time I got there I wished I had filled my pouch for the day.

Nice ribbons with excellent moisture content. Sweet, strong and spicy. Nice grassy, earthy taste. Has some good sweet fruit notes to it if you smoke it slowly. I smoked this with a cup of black rawandan coffee. A bit dominant on the retrohale. Definitely a good amount of perique in this, as well as nic. When I was jarring it, I let my curious 4 yr old smell it, he said it smelled like raisins. Burns very well and doesn’t leave much moisture after. I’ve found works best when packed a bit lightly into the bowl. Definitely good for a wake up smoke, or a goodnight smoke for that matter. I’ve never tried escudo, so I don’t know what to say about that description. It reminds me of old joe krantz without the heady burley, if you’ve tried that blend. Well worth the time to try this, I’m going to be buying more soon.

C & D Exclusive has a jar note that is sweet and spicy. This is based on a 1 oz sample instead of the usual 2 oz so take it for what it is worth. The jar date is 4/14/21 so about 3.5 months. I tried it ROTT and all I got get was perique. It had been out of stock for quite a while and I picked it up as soon as it came in so that might have something to do with it. I left it in the jar until now, and it is nothing short of marvelous! The perique is out front for me still but not so much to overpower the other tobaccos. It has notes of plum, raisins and figs as well as its normal spice that I love. The red VA's have a tangy dark fruit note and I do pick up some grass along the way. It is more than a little earthy with a note or two of wood here and there. The cav, does not have that brown sugar note so it must not be dark whatever it is it has a light grass and citrus note to it and follows behind the others. I love this blend! The strength is a solid med. and offers plenty of smoke. I prefer this in a wide bowl and I like it packed just a little lighter than I would normally pack most blends. The nic starts out med. but builds to just short of med. strong and will satisfy. The taste is med. full with the notes above easily picked out in every sip. The room note is pleasant to me but others found it tolerable with comments that it did not smell as good as some of my other blends but was not too strong. This is a winner in my book, I don't need that second oz to know that. I will be picking up a couple of lbs soon.

Perhaps quite a lot of Perique,but I like it.50%? I don´t think so,anyway enough for Perique lovers.Not the usual VaPer,instead we must include this stuff in the PerVa category.Cavendish,there is certainly, but hiden in this powerful blend.Not for everybody and everyday,but is really good.

3rdguy

I would say it seems around 40% Perique but that is just my opinion. If you are affected by perique it will seem more. I would also say the more frequently I smoked it the less the perique stood out. Really solid blend, unflavored cavendish adds some body and smoke to the blend. Red Virginia’s are always present. Nice addition to my rotation, affordable and available in bulk. Ages great.

Feb/2020: I have smoked a few lbs of this now. I will upgrade it to 4 Stars.

What's not to like? Nice strong blend. Very tasty, especially with the Perique. No tongue bite. It's a little moist, but that can be cured. Love this blend.

Cornell & Diehl
Exclusive
(2 oz tin or bulk)

Blend notes: “A heavy perique based blend with red Virginia and mild cavendish that comes close to the famous Escudo. The combination of red Virginias, mellow cavendish, and a full 50% perique make C&D's Exclusive a naturally sweet and incredibly spicy blend, perfect for the lovers of the Bayou-based tobacco. Exclusive was introduced in August, 1996.”

One of the interesting elements I have discovered in tasting (and reviewing) pipe tobacco blends has been that quantity of an ingredient does not always equate to greater strength in the overall taste profile. That seems counter-intuitive.

For example, even though I love a strong English blend, the approximately 70% Latakia in Pirate Kake does not, on my palate, translate into a lat bomb. Similarly the 50% Perique in C&D’s Exclusive does not come across as Perique heavy.

This blend is … well, ok. Not that tasty really. Not interesting. Nothing particularly nuanced. I get the Perique for sure, but have you ever tried straight Perique? Not as pleasant as straight Virginia. The balancing act of blending disperate elements into a unified whole is the art of blending.

Exclusive is nowhere near as good as Escudo or Windjammer or Haddo’s Delight or Chenet’s Cake or Penny Farthing or Viprati.

Won’t be on my short list.

2 stars out of 4.