Cornell & Diehl Old Joe Krantz

Old Joe Krantz.18/03/07. This blend remind's of a dryer version of some balkan blends, that are out there.(But,they say there's no latakia?) After two light's and some tampering occasionally,your well on your way to a rather pleasant experience."Providing that you enjoy a dryer smoke" There wasn't any nasty drama in smoking this at all.Though I do doubt that I would really go out of my way to revisit this blend. I really didn't notice the perique,very much,if at all??? At bowl's end,I was left with a very dark grey ash and almost no goop at all. Not really a bell ringer for me,but,maybe it will chime out loudly for you.

I was not a fan of the C&D Old Joe Krantz. The burley was just too overwhelming for me and had sort of a cigarette-like taste that most burley has. Burley was the only thing I could get my head wrapped around in this blend.

C&D Old Joe Kranz just doesn't do it for me. Yes, I can taste the perique and the Virginias and the burley, but they don't meld well and, frankly, none of them have a lot of flavor. The perique is spicy rather than raisinous or fruity and quickly burns off. The Virginias are more grassy than sweet and/or tangy, and don't show up until the middle of the smoke. Moreover, I wouldn't know that they were red Virginias if I hadn't been told. The burley is always present but a bit rough, and it fails deliver the molasses and cocoa notes that a good burley should. They also get somewhat bitter toward the end of the bowl.

The pro is that it provides lots of Vitamin N, if that's your thing, but I prefer a little more sweetness and flavor with my nicotine. It's not a bad tobacco, just an uninteresting one IMO, so I've given it two stars.

The burley is sweet, reminds me a little of PA in the similarity of sweetness that is present but that is where this blend reminds me of PA ends. The perique is a major player and I get more pepper than dried fruits. The Red VA's are slightly sweet bread like, a little roasted grain. These elements seem like they would make for a great blend, yet the sum of their parts are not in harmony. The flavor is full and overall not bad. Nice thick smoke and the nic is okay as well. I do think that the burley at lest has a top note as stated above but all things aside this could be someones all day smoke it just missed my palate. It did bite a little and it was sneaky in how it did it. No indicators while smoking but the next day I could tell that it had. I smoke this as my only blend for several days to confirm this. Finally, I do not often give a strong rating for room note but this earned that mark. I smoke outside only and it was still noticeable on the porch hours after a bowl. The wife complained about it stinking up the house too and while I almost never smell smoke on myself I could smell this stuff on me too. Still I don't want to sound down on the blend it was not bad overall but will not make a rotation and I see no need to revisit it at this time.

Well, it is a good strong blend which kicks you with all the pleasure, the pharmacological nicotine can bring. And yes, I did enjoy these physiological effects, but wait, did I enjoy the smoking as well? I can hardly say yes, because this blend doesn't have anything really special, it is so ordinary, that I can recommend it to the most conservative smokers only.

While it is strong, not doubt about that, it wasn't completely overpowering. One needs to be prepared for it though. The taste was decent but it had some cigar notes to it that I didn't care for.

I can't pinpoint why but I didn't much care for this blend. It has quality components but something about it put me off. I did manage to finish the tin though.

The overall flavor and aroma is good. Unfortunately I am finding out that I do not care for perique. Just a little to spicy for my taste. To each his own though. Im sure some people will really like it judging by the number of spicy blends I have run across. Just not for me.

This blend came to me with a perfect moisture level but the blend looked like randomly chewed up mulch. There were some very fine pieces and some quite large partial leaves. The smell of the mix was unremarkable. This lit well and produced a good volume of smoke, but the flavor was quite unremarkable as well. It was full bodied and strong, but just not very good. Maybe I got the bottom of the bulk bag from which this came...who knows?! I have only tried 2 C&D blends and this is the first time I have seen poor quality control...I'm disappointed. OJK is a harsh old man and I'm not willing to take his poor behavior and shabby appearance again.