Cornell & Diehl Old Joe Krantz

Wow, what a great straight forward and stout burley blend. Not an especially complex blend but strong, flavorfull and satisfying. Room note and flavor takes you back to those places in decades past where men gathered smoking their pipes. Nic hit is stout, as it should be; otherwise, what's the point? Of the many blends I've smoked this is the only one that you simply cannot press hard enough to bite or irritate your mouth. Can be smoked hot in a wet pipe and still doesn't bite. Easily an all day smoke. It's availability and bulk pricing make it a no brainer for the guy that smokes several bowls a day. A great American style blend. Flavored cavendish smokers need not apply.

I think you have to be in the right mood for this one-- either that or love burleys. As having been a cigar smoker for a number of years, I think the best comparison is to a medium strength, dry, leathery cigar. It builds strength just like a cigar, and leaves a sour after taste like one too. This is not a cigar blend, it just reminds me of many of my former cigar smokes. The burley is dominant here. Once in awhile the virginia comes through. If you get in a nice slow, cool, cadence, this blend is quite enjoyable, but I would recommend a strong beverage along side to clear the palette, as this will build up on you. It's worth a try as something different, but for me, I will smoke it only occasionally. There are times when I enthusiastically enjoy it, and times when it is just too much. The nic hit is pleasant.

Another blend I have to give credit to YouTube Pipe Community Presenter, "Matches860" for. Watching John's videos has opened me up to some really superb blends, this being one of them.

To my personal taste, Old Joe Krantz is like Haunted Bookshop on steroids!! Be respectful and smoke this one like a gentleman or Old Joe will kick your ass!!

If you haven't already, check out "Matches860" videos on YouTube. Light up a bowl and sit back and enjoy and maybe, like me, you might just learn a thing or two. Great presenter and all around nice guy!

I ordered this as a known very strong nicotine bomb. I did this as a former (well, attempting to be) cigarette smoker. I've found that most pipe tobacco I enjoy doesn't have enough nicotine to keep me from a cigarette later. This is one of the few Burley based blends I've tried as I've mostly stuck with aromatics (Lane BCA, for instance) and English blends (I really enjoy EMP and am learning to enjoy the bolder Nightcap). So honestly I'm not entirely certain that I particularly enjoy non-cased, non-Cavendish burley.

EDIT: I now know that I love the taste of a nice Burley, just not an uncured tasting one such as this.

For me, the bag note and the taste were both strongly vegetal in a way that I did not enjoy. I felt as if I was smoking eggplant or chewing on some nightshade family plant (to which tobacco is related). I did get the characteristic burley nuttiness, but was overwhelmed by the unpleasantness of this blend. I should say that I also have limited experience with perique, though I have enjoyed it in some English and VaPers. It may be that my reaction was related to the strength of perique.

I was unable to make it through even a quarter of a bowl before I was feeling green. Now, I would be tempted to say this was a reaction to the nicotine level, but I think it was a combination of the uncured taste of this tobacco as well as the nic hit. I grew up raising tobacco with my father (two acres of dark-fired Virginia every summer ) and the smell and taste was very reminiscent of my hands after a day in the field of topping or removing and squishing tobacco worms. In fact, this smelled like my childhood memories of totally uncured tobacco fresh from the field, which is as unpleasant as tobacco gets.

I ventured a retrohale near the end of this experience and I regretted it for days. The smell was still in my nasal passages for what seemed like forever and kept me from picking up my pipe for two days.

I've jarred the rest of the ounce I bought hoping it will be smokeable for me at some point.

EDIT: October 2018

In re-reading my original review, I need to update it based on my current view of OJK. I've found in the intervening time that I adore perique and red Virginias. I also love a good burley blend. My reaction then was due to roughshod, rotgut burley.

After a year and a half of aging, I find OJK is indeed smokeable. It still has some rough edges, especially in the burley. The Virginia and Perique are overpowered by the coarseness of the burley. This is not a great blend to me, even though the nicotine level is indeed satisfying. It's a shame to have to jar a blend for so very long to be able to enjoy it somewhat. There's far better burley coming out or European blending houses (K&K for one) and out of Sutliff.

Maybe there was a day, probably when Tarler and Runowski were alive, that C&D didn't continually disappoint with underaged tobacco. For now, OJK is indicative of many of the rest of their blends as I've worked my way through maybe a third of their line: raw, underaged, coarse, and perhaps low quality tobacco. They can also add rampant mold issues to that as well.

This is the other tin I purchased from C&D at our 2014 NASPC show to sample along with Haunted Bookshop; which, I thought, was too weak as a stand alone smoke but blended well and that allowed me to raise its ranking from two to three stars. Old Joe Krantz is in another whole category by itself in comparison. My initial assessment was as a three star offering and here's why. Although nice and toasty and tasty in its burley splendor, every bowl I lit proceeded through the following pattern: I would light, the tobacco would erupt up out of the bowl like a Vesuvius event and I would tamp down and relight - repeatedly. The minimum number of retamps and relights would always number three or more and consume the entire top third of every bowl! I'm giving this blend a high score even though I have only a vague idea what the top third of each bowl tastes like. Interestingly enough, a fellow smoker was over on Christmas day with - what else - an opened tin of Old Joe and we lit it up and it behaved like it was a polite college graduate compared to mine? When I would hit the beginning of the middle third of each bowl, the smoking was so enjoyable and it finished in the same manner. This fact, plus the fact that it micro blended well, has to yield four stars in any realm of the smoking universe - four big ones.

If I could describe this blend in one word at first impression it would certainly be "HARSH", and "addictive" runs in a close second. This blend is definitely not for the uninitiated or novice or occasional pipe smoker; this is a Grizzly Adams faced, Chuck Norris roundhouse with Wild Turkey 101 proof chaser...with perique. At first light this sneaky b*stard greats you kindly with the taste of quality, sweet Virginia; then quickly introduces you to C&D's iconic stout, earthy Burleys; and once the Perique steps in to join the dance you've got a stout smoke indeed. This blend will be mostly Perique and Burley, with the Perique in this blend giving the impression it is unrefined; mostly pepper with with hints of raisin, but I believe that this is mostly due to the heavy handed application of it. The key to this blend is to puff at a very moderate pace. Personally, I hated at first, but I persisted because I noticed this was a favorite of many pipe smokers, and I'll tell you what: it's definitely worth a try. Overall, a great smoke, but not yet my cup of grog. I'll keep this one on hand to lock and load when I want what it has to offer: a heavy dose of nicotine and some great baccy flavor in the rough. Gonna try aging this one. 3 stars.

Ach!! This is some harsh smoke fellas, I need to toughen up.

I liked it, sublime tin note, and once it got going and was warm it was very good. Packs a decent wallop, I found myself giving it a lot of respect the whole way down the bowl, even after it mellowed at little at the halfway mark.

I couldn't get over how harsh the smoke was. It was sharp and intense, and it made me puff slowly and very carefully to get smaller amounts of smoke out of it which I then delicately managed. I don't think I've ever been so cautious about a smoke, maybe my first go-around with the Irish Flake.

Overall, a nice burley, and for a drop-dead price. That is good. I just couldn't relax with it though and found myself having to really focus on how I was smoking it, something I have never had to do to the same degree, even with harsher blends.

This has become my all day smoke, if there is such a thing. This is a full tobacco IMO, however, all the ingredients are in balance. I love Burley, so the nice rich base in greatly appreciated. The Virginia adds a nice sweet note to this blend, subtle but there, and the Perique rounds it out with a nice spicy kick.

This blend is by far one of the best blends I have ever smoked. It is the top of my rotation and is being stocked in my cellar.

OJK (bulk) is a good Burley blend with a rich, old time taste that is, regrettably, cloyed by too much Perique. The high Perique content throws the blend completely out of balance and ruins an otherwise tasty smoke. Condiments should serve to merely tilt the taste of a blend. If a putz like me can understand that, then why couldn't an accomplished pro like Runowski see it? If Runowski had painted the Mona Lisa, her inscrutable smile would be just a silly, toothy grin. Less is more -- and blenders should utilize the properties of condiments to finesse a blend to perfection rather than clobber it with flavoring.

My low rating of this blend reflects not my displeasure with it so much as my disappointment over a lost opportunity for excellence. If you like Perique, and you're one to put a hot dog on your mustard, or add a splash of coffee to your cream, then go for OJK.