Cornell & Diehl Old Joe Krantz

I really enjoyed this blend. It just had an outstanding flavor with no bite whatsoever. I would consider this a burley blend, which is good. I might got a touch of the Perique, but it's small. The strength was good, almost perfect.

What a wonderful burley blend! It is well balanced with perique and other things. The earthiness, combined with the peppy nature.It has a lot of Vitamin N , with some Virginia that is quality.

A strong, stout tasting, basically Burley smoke. High on the vitamin N department. Not my cup of tea, but a skilfully blended mixture: strong, manly, and assertive. If you like good old Burley and have the strength for it, it must be Amercian heaven.

I find this blend to be harsh and boring. Not much in the way of enjoyment for me, aside from the generous nic hit provided. Crank up the Va's a little..bring some sweetness into the equation to drown out the cigarette similarities..and perhaps C&D would be onto something.

Not horrible...just there, for me anyway.

Sure, there's burley in this, yeah, but it's no burley blend—that is to say, the burley does not dominate here. I got such a perique slam with this; it filled my sinuses up with pepper! Wasn't catching the burley at all. So, I don't know where burley enthusiasts get off saying this is a burley blend; not for me.

If you want the superb nuttiness of a quality burley, you will not find it in this blend (May I recommend Storm Front or even Bald Headed Teacher). Old Joe Krantz disappoints on the burley front (if you're a perique nut you'll probably love it).

And, now for some tongue and cheek fun:

Old Joe Krantz sittin' on his porch – He's a big man, mean and surley – Old Joe Krantz sittin' on his porch – I've found the perique – but not the burley!

(that about sums it up for me. Oh, FYI, this is a 1.5 stars; not a sub 1 star rank)

Keep on Pipin'

I really enjoy Burleys. It delivers a full taste but in a completely different way vs. Latakia (which I also love). Burleys deliver a more earthy flavor that get me in touch with the outdoors. This is a very flavorful blend, but not as much punch as Haunted Bookshop. That is OK with me because it makes it more of an all-day type of blend. Packed well. Smokes well. No tongue bite (and I puff like a locomotive). No relighting. Wife found the room note somewhat enjoyable. C&D in my opinion has mastered Burley blends. I don't think you can go wrong with any of them if you like Burleys.

Old Joe Krantz… I finely got around to trying this blend after so many years. As it turned out, blends like this one, that are heavy on perique are not my favorites, between the high nic level and OJK’s spicy flavor, I gave up after smoking only about half of my new tin. When I need a solid nicotine punch in the head, I already have that covered with C/D burly flake #2, without the pepper. Of course this only my personal take on OJK, looking around this web-site, it looks like many of my fellow pipesters just love this stuff, so I guess my taste may run a little bit (old school) on the basic blend side. But for those that enjoy a SOLID Nic hit” and a nice spicy smoke, look no further, OJK is for you.

This might be my first 2 star awarded to a C & D blend. I really love their tobaccos, but this one just did not do it for me. Probably pushing this rating is how much I enjoyed Back Porch, the blend made by C & D for the Yahoo Pipe Smokers Club that contains the same constituent tobaccos.

The one thing this has over Back Porch is its availability in bulk. I know that Haunted Bookshop and some other blends containing Va, Bur and Per are available in bulk; I will need to try these out to see if one of them compares to Back Porch, but in a bulk option.

As to this blend specifically, it is strong in Nicotine which is almost to be expected from C & D and is a plus for me. It is also very stout in flavor which can be good at times. The quality of leaf is good and burning properties are fair, but that is where the positives end for me.

As to the negatives, it takes a lot of concentration to get a good smoke out of it and the good taste is fleeting, at least to my tastes. The one ounce I purchased was from the bottom of the bag. I know this because I originally ordered 4 oz, but P&C did not have that much left. To speed my order along I took one ounce and some other tobacco to equal the value, so I received more than an ounce, but the appearance of the same made it obvious that it was from the bottom of the bag. What does this mean? Well, I don't know, but perhaps the mixture at the bottom did not resemble what would have been on top and maybe I got too much perique or something was out of equilibrium. All this means I may try it again, but only after trying the others referenced above.

8/26/14 EDIT

I just finished up another two ounces of this blend and will be adding a star. I found it much more enjoyable and think what I first received may have been crumbs at the bottom containing too much perique.

I found this one really sang in my Dunhill 5103 shell, but had the potential to leave me floored if I had not enough in my stomach. I still would not recommend starting the day with this one, but it is a nice nightcap. So three stars.

Update 12-1-2023

I happened upon an aged tin of this that was 15 years old at the time I opened it. I was excited to try this as the memory of my last bowl had long since faded. Upon popping the tin the smell of aged virginia, that dried fruit smell that I love, overwhelmed me. This had me even more excited.

My excitement essentially ended as I started smoking it. It wasn\'t bad, but the taste did not live up to that smell. That wonderful smelling aged virginia was overwhelmed by the burley and perique. As I said this does not make it bad, but it was a letdown as my nose had so raised my expectations. I do not plan on changing my rating of this tobacco, but thought I would leave my impression as to what a 15 year old tin of this was like.

One thing I have learned about C&D over the years is that consistency is not their hallmark, at least it wasn't the whole time I had been purchasing tobacco. I haven't purchased any new tobacco in four years, so hopefully that ship has been righted. I say this, because it makes it hard to objectively review a blend by C&D from any era as it likely changed and when that change occurred is never known. My suggestion is that if you are looking to try a fresh C&D blend, only read the recent reviews.

I have six ounces remaining of Old Joe cellared, bulk in jars, from a pound I purchased in 2007. I recently purchased another pound to cellar. Gentlemen, this is not even the same tobacco! It looks completely different and tastes nothing like the prior offering. I realize that the aging has changed the tobacco somewhat but i'm sorry, not to this extent. I cannot recommend this current offering of OJK. It is harsh, tastes like a cheap cigar and the room note is appalling. In fact, I can see what appears to be pieces of cigar wrapper leaf mixed in. The perique doesn't seem to be there like my previous batch, if at all. I dunno. I'm just like a big league umpire folks......I just calls 'em as I sees 'em!