Cornell & Diehl Old Joe Krantz

Such a disappointment! Ordered 4 oz. and am giving 3 1/2 oz. to my wife for planting fertilizer.

Difficult to keep lit, Keeps raising up at the start and then as the bowl progresses, requires constant attention to keep lit. The taste is harsh with nothing that I can consider flavorful. No distinctive slipstream odor or room note. The worst part is a terrible after odor and taste left in the pipe after just one bowl, and the taste and odor just linger and linger if the bowl is not swabbed. My wife also says that after smoking this blend, I should immediately brush my teeth and use minted mouthwash.

Sorry to all you OJK lovers, this is just not for me.

Highly persuaded by its favourable reviews, I decided to give OJK a shot. Sadly, I imagine I received a terrible batch. Cigarette ashiness was the only thing this smoke, almost void of body, had to offer. Casing it myself with some Jack Daniel’s Old no. 7, some of its sweetness luckily rubbed off on its leaves, making it tolerable. Other than this, I cannot imagine myself investing in this blend again.

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 blend has a very savory, salty, peppery quality with a good nicotine kick. It is visually interesting, in that it looks like autumn leaves, and has a nice earthy, musty smell. It packs well. It lights well. However, tastes being what they are, this blend just didn't do it for me. Just too much perique. It really overwhelmed the other tobaccos. Every once in a while, the burley and Virginia would try to peek out. But the mighty perique held them down. Nevertheless this is a fine quality blend, and if you love perique, this should ring your bell!

Similar to haunted bookshop, I have found this blend to be too harsh and too strong for my own tastes. I plan to keep it and try again in a few years.

I like Burley a lot and oddly enough I find Big’n Burley to be a blend I really enjoy! So I’m mystified at why I can’t seem to get a hold of this and enjoy it.

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 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!

The tin aroma combines darkly musty Perique with sweet almond. When smoked these two elements are combined along with lots of nicotine. I really don't enjoy this one, the flavor just isn't that pleasant and I'm not cut out for the nicotine punch it packs. I might try cutting it with some Latakia.

I bought this in bulk. And was eager to try this because of the great reviews and the fact that I like perique blends a lot. However, the perique in this blend was not spicy, neither did I taste what is often referred to as 'dried fruit'. I just tasted a lot of salt and pepper. Especially the salty taste was very dominant, I got the idea that my mouth was full of sea water. Maybe to much perique?? So now I doubt if I am reviewing the same blend as other reviewers. Sorry, but this classic doesn't reach any further than 1 star, imo that is.