Cornell & Diehl Cross Eyed Cricket

Cornell & Diehl - Cross Eyed Cricket.

Some blends, like Mac Baren Virginia Flake, Wessex Burley Slice, or Fribourg & Treyer Cut Virginia Plug have a name which gives a pretty good idea of what type of smoke you'll receive. And then there's the likes of G. L. Pease Stonehenge Flake and Sam Gawith Cannon Plug; not as direct, but at least you know what construction to expect. So, Cross Eyed Cricket? LOL!

It's a very dark mixture, a touch too damp, and comprises well rubbed ribbons. The aroma makes clear that it's been flavoured with rum.

It takes easily to the flame and gives a decent burn: cool and slow. The description says Aromatic. Yes, it is, but don't expect something that could be used to begin the hobby with, it's one of the more hearty varieties of an aromatic. The tobaccos work well with one another, without any taking over. The Latakia's notable, yet not too astringent or harsh. I get a smoothness brought by the black Cavendish, which is the one ingredient which might make this more interesting to the newbie. The Perique and Orientals fill the smoke out, slightly counteracting the black Cav's plight to reduce the exuberance of the blend! The rum punch has a fruity, rummy, flavour, and is easy to taste. I get no tongue bite from beginning to end.

Nicotine: medium. Room-note: quite pleasant.

Cross Eyed Cricket? Recommended:

Three Stars.

I bought this one on a whim. The nice lady who owns the store went and branches out the selection bc I asked if she would. Like I said, nice lady. She bought this and a bunch of others bc she liked the tin art haha.

It’s mostly a dark brown cav in the tin. It has little bits of gold and darker leaf in there too though. Some of the chunks are huge with the cav, so it may need some fiddling. The note is heady. It has a musty, fruity, boozy smell it. Hints of lat are present. I didn’t want to risk ghosting my pipe, so I bought a 30$ basket billiard, that turned out to be a Milano under closer inspection.

It packs well, and takes a few lights to get going. I did like the flavor of it, it was too wet to start out with though. I ultimately left it open overnight and the next day it shone like the sun in comparison. The cav is mellow, the orientals are a suggestion, the lat is more than a suggestion and the perique is an important component. They tie together to make a well rounded blend that would be a nice all day smoke by itself.

The topping is where they get you. It adds a sweetness that is just short of obnoxious for non aromatic smokers. And the flavor adds a good deal of complexity to it also. It sort of reminds me of C&D Mississippi Mud, or Seattle pipe clubs potlatch. Aside from the rum, the punch is hard to figure out. I want to say it’s a mixture of cherry, berries, green apple and some kind of a citrus maybe. I didn’t think this would have had much to offer, but I was wrong.

I smoked the whole 2oz tin in three days lol. Not bad at all. It has a bit of something for everyone. Unless you hate Latakia anyway. It was a nice change of pace for me and gave my palate a bit of a rest from the strong, spicy leaf I normally enjoy. I would suggest trying this one, it may be as interesting for you as it was for me. It gave me something to think about as I smoked at work, which isn’t normal for me.

A very appropriately named blend. Cross-Eyed Crickett will indeed glaze the eyes and goober up your palate.

There is a topping in this dark and moist ribbon cut leaf that boasted a liquor like flavor. It was tough to keep lit and burning. A mild tobacco/nicotine presentation as well. Still, the overall presentation was good and I'm not sure why. Just one of those blends that not only crosses the eyes and palate, but the brain as well.

As another review indicated, it was difficult to identify any particular component other than the Perique.

Okay, so what are this tobacco's endearing qualities? There are none. (IMO, of course.)

You don't really understand why this blend is named as such, until you get yourself a tin. First thoughts when lighting it is definitely the room note. The rum punch they give it is something I haven't seen before. It even over powers the latakia. The taste was different as well, but very nice.

The strength was your average C & D medium to light english. It burns cool as always, and can be pretty lengthy depending on how you pack it.

I would recommend this blend to anyone looking for a outside the box kind of blend.

I absolutely love the fact that the pipe snobs have panned this tobacco. It ensures it will never be on back order like the dog crap in a tin, Penzance. This tobacco is a good English with some sweetness added. It is perfection in a pipe bowl to me. Convincing the self appointed pipe elite of this fact is like trying to convince cigar snobs that there are better cigars than Cuban cigars out there. They'll never listen, despite the overwhelming evidence.

I can see why this cricket is cross eyed. I simply don't understand this blend. Perhaps I received a "bad" tin. I have tried this five times. It gets worse each time I try it. Room note is fine and mixture was damp but not wet. Light up was ok and burned fairly cool. Then the issues began. The taste was simply terrible....very strongly bitter and left a film in my mouth. The aftertaste caused me to seek mouthwash. I just don't understand this blend as all I ever get is a bitter taste. C&D makes good blends and perhaps this is just a bad tin but this is bout the worst aromatic I have ever tried.

Ribbon cut leaning towards dark brown in color with some flecks of medium brown. Musty tin aroma with the sweetened booze casing coming through clearly, if not necessarily loudly. I did not smoke a fresh tin so I have no idea what aging did to this - I scored an aged tin cheap so I decided to take the plunge.

The taste of this is a bit unusual. There is no pure Virginia or burley as the base but rather the "rum punch" Cavendish provides the foundation. As with this tobacco, the latakia is noticeable but not prominent. The orientals and perique are way to the rear and appear to do little but keep this from being just a flavored latakia blend. Very occasionally they would rise up a tad but never threatened to make this a democracy. To me the strength of this one is the flavoring in that it doesn't assert itself too much but rather provides some sweetness to a blend that really doesn't distinguish itself overall. Consider smoking a blend that is just sort of present but that you find mostly tedious. Then add a bit of pleasant sweet flavoring to it to jazz it up. That's CEC and if that interests you, here you go.

I'm Confused. Thats all that can be said for this blend. The tin note smells like fruit punch with a slight whiff of latakia. As for the flavor, It tastes like a well done mild english blend with a little something else appearing from time to time. That something else is the fruit punch casing. In the flavor it adds a lovely fruity note that complements the blend in an odd yet delightful way. Room note wise, It smells amazing. The fruit punch overpowers the latakia in the room note. Is it an aromatic or a english? I have no clue. In some odd inconceivable way its both. Either way there is something about the blend I really like. So for me, Its a keeper.

I truly love so much of what Cornell and Diehl has to offer (and they're really great folks). So the disgust that this blend stirs in me is more than a bit surprising. But I guess that's alright since one of C. and D.'s strengths, as a company, is its eagerness to suit every taste with its own niche blend rather than attempting to make a single blend that suits everyone. Which, in turn, leads me to infer that _somewhere_ there is someone who loves this stuff, and to that person I send my best wishes.

As for me, I had a tin of this weed open for more than two years. I tried a bowl and found it to be like smoking Hawaiian Punch (the red kind), but not in the good way (is there a good way?). Instead of the harmonious blending of rich flavors that I get from other C. and D. blends in which each taste supports and enhances the others, in Cricket the flavors clash in a cacophany of nastiness. Over the course of two years, I tried the stuff over and over, each time hoping that I'd find something about it to like, and each time I got the same horror. After more than two years, with about 1/4 of the tin remaining, a carpeting of mold appeared on what was left and I finally had an excuse to toss the thing out. I have subsequently tried Cricket several more times, at pipe shows, just in case I'd gotten a bad tin. But, no, they're all bad.

A truly unique offering from C&D. It doesn't matter if you like English or aromatics, this is something you will just have to try for yourself to determine if this one is for you. The English blend behind this is fabulous, I'd be curious to know which blend they use as the base. The claim of rum punch is true, a Hawaiian Punch type aroma. Burns and packs decent, burns clean throughout the entire smoke.

Curious? Try it, you may just enjoy it!