Cornell & Diehl Pirate Kake

I guess I must be a real Lat fiend too. This is my favorite Lat-bomb of all time, having tried many that get harsh or bitter. This one stays creamy mild all the way, an occasional sourness & then sweetness, both pleasant, don't really shake up the Latakia's prominence. Seventeen stars

Well I was hoping to find something very strong as it's a Latakia Bomb but NO! It's very mild and I wasn't pleased with it after my first try but I have to say: you must take it slowly because it's really something!
Anyway, you can use it also for blending il you need a richer smoke.
I like it and I will love it, I'm sure.

This review will be simple. If you don't really like Latakia this will not change your mind. Please don't buy it and then tell everyone it's crap.

On the other hand if you like heavy Latakia blends then this may be for you. It is not the smoothest and certainly not the roughest but it is full of flavor and delicious in my opinion. The flavor remains constant with little or no nuances about to happen during the smoke. My wife likes the smell of this tobacco the best of all the tobacco I have, your wife probably won't. This not Old Ironsides of any version it may be better to some and not quite as good to others but if you like OI I can't imagine you not liking this stuff. It is what it is and I enjoy it every time I choose it. I give this 4Stars because it does not pretend to be anything but what it is. Penzance is good but it has no taste next to this. You have been warned.

12-03-2004 Put away your cutlass' maties!

Appearance and Tin aroma: Nice pressed bricks, a little more moist than I'm used to from C&D. Smells like fine, sweet Latakia

Packing and Lighting: It can be time consuming to crumble, but you must, or this will not light well. 3-4 lights to get going.

Initial Flavor: Latakia! It is smooth, no harshness at all.

Mid-Bowl: The other leaves add their support and give this blend nice body. My latakia fix is getting quite satiated.

Bottom of Bowl: A nice build up of strength, still smooth, not quite as complex as Pease's Abingdon, but nevertheless still delicious.

Overall: This is for those who love Latakia, but want something that brings the best out of that fine leaf. This blend does it excellently! Also, this is a big pipe blend, we're talking Group 6 and beyond. Small pipes just do not do this blend justice. The room note is very cigar like, so be careful or get banished to walk the plank! I much prefer this blend over "Old Ironsides" or "Black Frigate" even though those are also worthy of sea rats and scalowags. Where's my jug o'grog? argh!

Rating: 5 out of 5 big hoop earings and cutlass', Enjoy.

There is power in this kake. Lots of power. I first tried this in a Ser Jacapo LB Maxima Maxima. Let me share with you that upon trying to stand after about a half an hour of smoking, I nearly fell over. So, I sat back down and enjoyed the rest of the bowl! After the room stopped swimming, and the tastebuds recovered, I tried it again in a smaller block. Consistent flavor, good body, and lots of smoke...you can almost chew te stuff! Highly recomended...not for the faint of tounge or heart.

I bought a 1/2 lb of this product mail-order w/o first tasting it, based on its description and its reputation in latakia-addict circles. I was not disappointed.

This bulk tobacco came as one large slab, with sharp-cut edges, like it had been hewn from a monster brick. Its superficial appearance and exotic middle-east aroma had an uncanny resemblance to a block of black Lebanese hashish, at least if my fading memory serves me correctly.

This stuff lives up to its reputation as Latakia Central. The latakia overwhelms the other "trace" ingredients. The turkish hides sheepishly in the shadows and the burley taste (if burley really has a taste) is MIA.

The lack of a virginia component is, IMHO, what sets this blend apart from my other latakia-laden favorites: Old Ironsides and Commonwealth Mixture. The result is a kind of monochromatic, but what a great color! Not much subtlety here folks, so do not come expecting a complex blend. Just beaucoup latakia from beginning to end.

One of my favorite after-dinner, sitting on the porch, watching-the-glaciers-move pipes is a "latakia parfait", constructed thusly:

In a tallish bowl combine first Old Ironsides as broken flakes (bottom third), next crumbled Pirate Kake (middle third), and finally Commonwealth Mixture (top third of bowl). To many, this would be a heresy on the order of combining several single-malt scotches (perish the thought) or good wines. Actually though, the experience is more like eating a parfait rather than a torte- one layer at a time. The taste slowly melds from one blend to the next. Sounds weird maybe, but it is a sublime experience for the latakia lover.

How ever you choose to consume it, PK is a GREAT blend. The fact that you can purchase large quantities at bargain prices is also a plus and encourages big purchases for cellaring purposes. I can hardly wait to see how this tastes a couple of years down the road. I'll have to get more soon, or my aging remnants will not last that long!

I should have reviewed this tobacco long ago. While writing a review for Bow Legged Bear, I was reminded of how much it is akin to this. Although BLB is wonderful in its own right, I have to say that this blend takes the cake. This is the closest thing I have found to Latakia heaven at a bulk price. While I may still prefer some other tinned english tobacs, the price is right for this stuff. It burns cool and delivers latakia flavor like nothing else except perhaps for Penzance. There is tons of thick white smoke, and it really is a lot of fun to light up. The turkish tobacco is the perfect counterpoint to keep this from being a one dimesional smoke, and the burley keeps things very cool. I even find myself occasionaly inhaling this, something I rarely ever do when smoking a pipe. If their is a smoother English out there, I have yet to find it. My only gripe is that I have not had much luck in storing it. I think it loses something over time. I'm sure this has something to do with my humidifying skills, so I usually only buy a couple of ounces at a time. Bottom line: If you love a big dose of Latakia, then run and get some, if you don't this one may change your mind!

I was not expecting to like this as much as I did. I love lats but to be honest they mostly taste the same to me (mostly but there are plenty of exceptions) and judging by the aroma I figured that’d be The case. And for the most part, it is. But there is something very special in there that gives me a level of satisfaction that’s hard to find. Usually I only find it in blends with plenty of perique. But I detect none. Just a great meaty smoke.

One of the most popular mixtures of C&D and also among lovers of latakia.

The smell in your tin is strongly smoky, as you would expect. Once the pipe is lit, the flavor is very rich and its sweetness catches my attention, since despite having a smaller amount of virginia, it is sweeter than other English of its kind and this is something that I like in virginia/ latakia. Given the simplicity of its composition, one might think, a priori, that it is easily imitable, and yet, in my opinion, it has its own personality, something that I highly value in a tobacco, since some blends are like "deja vu" of others, but this does not happen with Pirate Kake.

I really enjoy smoking it at night, with the last pipe of the day and paired with a good whiskey.