Cornell & Diehl Pirate Kake

C & D crumble cakes are fantastic. Pirate kake is no exception. Break off a piece of this "dark chocolate" brownie, break it up, and stuff away. This blend is a real treat.

I disagree with a lot of the reviewers that claim that this blend lacks complexity. I think it's loaded with all sorts of nuances. Dispite being mostly latakia it's actually not quite the punch in the mouth you'd think it would be. I get wood smoke, earth, leather, & savory meaty bbq notes from the latakia, which is quite robust, but also well supported by a good bit of floral sweetness & nice incensey notes. I also get some almonds, vanilla, and a bit of anise/licorice. Burns very cool & doesn't require many, if any, relights.

If they are certain that they enjoy latakia in larger quantities, then this would be a fantastic blend for a new pipe smoker. It burns very cool & absolutely refuses to bite. I don't smoke pirate kake very often but a few times a month I do get a CRAVING for it, and it always delivers.

The kake arrived moist. As I break it apart the aromas of latakia fill the room and cover my fingers. The kake breaks apart really easily. I like to rub this one out to be a fine ribbon cut consistency. Pre light draw is sweet latakia and some oriental notes. A few lights required to get it going. The initial flavors are of sweet latakia and incense like orientals. A few more than average relights are required and that is okay with me. I like to pack it a bit more moist than usual as I find that releases more of the flavor. The body of the smoke approaches medium but doesn't seem to ever get there completely. The strength like the body falls short of medium. If you enjoy latakia forward blends that bring hints of incense, I do highly recommend this one.

The tin description says, it contains 75% (!) of Latakia, plus Turkish and Burley. Truly a blend for Latakia aficionados. In the tin you will find a dark square Crumble Cake, very easy to break apart and to load your pipe.

As a Latakia lover I’d say this blend is heavenly. It is a spicy, full-flavour Latakia mixture accompanied by Turkish to add a significant Oriental twist. The Burley just donates body and rounds up the mixture. It is not at all one-dimensional, even if it obviously is a Latakia forward blend, given its 75% proportion. This blend keeps me interested during the whole smoke. In this sense, it is a deep digging mixture, not heavy, quite campfire smoky, not leathery, without horse-stable notes. It deploys a large palette of all distinct aromas you find within the wheelhouses of Latakia and Orientals. Surprisingly it is only medium strong. I can smoke several bowls in a row and enjoy its very full flavour. This mixture is now on my favourites list.

This is a pretty powerful blend that has plenty of flavor as well as Vitamin N. The tin note reminds me of leather and farmland. It lights easily and stays lit. The examples I opened was ready to smoke right out of the tin. The smoke has zero bite and is full of flavor. It is heavy on Latakia which might turn some people off but there are several other strains that come through in the smoke such as the smoothness of the Burley.

Overall a nice smoke. Get some. You won't be sorry.

A velvety, and almost full bodied, smoke with a strong taste of Latakia-woodiness, that’s perfectly balanced by the creamy sweet, buttery burley and cavendish. Leaving a creamy and peppery aftertaste that lingers, this is a modest Latakia bomb, and maybe my favourite Latakia blend yet! It lights and stays lit easily, smokes dry and clean with no bite nor moisture.

Understatement of the year---"This is a blend for the Latakia lover" WOW. I bought a hunk of this looking for a purer form of latakia to decide whether I really was a latakia guy or not. Turns out I am.

PK arrived as a brick or block. Kake is misleading as the pressed tobacco has many of the characteristics of a small piece of 5/4 inch pine decking. Same thickness, same density, and some of the same smell. I could not cut this with my fairly substantial pocketknife, only whittle on it, just like a hunk of decking.

Tin note is great with lots of wood smoke, some pine, oriental tobacco, and slight creosote. Right up my alley as I burn wood to heat the house. Nose is definitely noticeable but not overpowering as some here suggest or like some aromatics. Preparing this one for smoking is a chore. The cake breaks up easiest by hand, first breaking off large chunks of the whole then smaller chunks then rubbing those out into smokable bits. Even the smaller pieces have a remarkable cohesive quality and are really unnecessarily difficult to get prepped. Don't even bother attempting to cut this kake, you'll have to hammer the knife through. Once the kake is rubbed out sufficiently it does need a little drying time maybe only 30 minutes or so. The tobacco seems dry enough when being rubbed out but is hard to keep lit without drying. There are a quite a few stems in my batch, I might go as far as to call it stemmy.

Now for the pipe. This is where the hassle becomes worthwhile. This stuff is the bomb. Lat bomb that is. From char to dregs lots of nice smooth, smoky latakia flavor with hints of minor components at times. This is a cool drawing blend that I cannot get to bite. A drawback for me is the frequent relights, even with a dried tobacco. I might relight this as many as 5 times in the course of a medium sized bowl. This stuff produces huge, thick clouds of smoke which never dissipate. While you are sitting there enjoying the bowl you can watch the smoke accumulate in the room and settle to the floor. It's almost as if the smoke is too heavy to be moved by the imperceptible drafts in a house that will carry most smoke away. Nic dose is fairly low on this one, which surprised the heck out of me because the flavor is so over the top. I'll also add that this tobacco stays with you for a long, long time. Smoke a bowl in the morning and you will taste it all day. You'll have to brush the taste out of your mouth. Smell also stays on your hands for quite some time after rubbing this out.

Although an excellent smoke on it's own this also makes a great blender. Right now I have it blended 50/50 with Prince Albert which mellows the smokiness a little. I also have it blended 50/50 with My Mixture 965. PK dominates the weak tasting 965 but 965 does add quite a bit of oriental and nicotine which makes the combination more interesting than the components. I think you could improve any blend with the addition of PK, most aromatics excepted.

A Latakia lovers stand by for me. I always have a couple brownies of this laying around. The lat is very forward and pronounced in this. It smokes well. Very pleasing billows a white smoke.

Ok here it is pirate kake by cornell and Diehl. This blend is a very heavy latakia blend and is a real treat for latakia lovers. The oriental is noted early on until about mid bowl and then its pretty much the lat that steals the show in pirate kake a very smoky campfire blend. Now this blend is a real treat though because the burley in it. The burley is noticeable not so much for the taste but more so the nicotine hit that it helps provide. This was a blend I have been searching for because I love latakia but it is such a mild to medium and just tends to be low on the nicotine level sadly. Hey its not your fault latakia, burley will help you in this kake. Overall I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves a good English blend this stuff is top notch and is cheap and available. I would truly smoke this over a lot of other sought after blends.

I love this blend. I got a tin dated July 1, 2008 on eBay for $16, and I am more than happy in spending that money.

Upon opening the tin I immediately got the strong smell of Latakia, but there was a little more that just that. There's also a sweet smell to it that mixes with the smokiness very well. The smoke leans a little further to the sweet than the smokiness, and I can definitely pick up on the Perique and Orientals more than I had anticipated. The overall effect is very good, similar to and in my opinion better than Mississippi River. I know, "BLASPHEME!" you declare. But I stand by that assessment.

I'm not sure what the fresh stuff is like, but I can totally recommend that you try some of the aged version if you can.