Cornell & Diehl Crooner

I'm highly suspicious that Bing smoked this since we know for a fact he smoked Hayward Mixture in the 1950s. Anyway, the floral, herbal, vanilla properties of the deer tongue overwhelmed its minor mint notes. The dry, nutty, earthy, woody, sharp, sour white burley is also sublimated by the deer tongue, and the whisky lurks in the background. The strength and nic-hit are almost medium, while the taste is medium. Won't bite, but it does sport some rough edges, and fast puffing may result in a harsh note or two. Burns cool and clean a little slow with a very consistent tart and tangy sweet, floral flavor from top to bottom. Being a cube cut, it requires some relights. Leaves little moisture in the bowl. Has a pleasantly lingering after taste, and pungent room note. Not an all day smoke. The smell just about drove m'lady and friends out of the house when I tried it. It got more complaints from innocent bystanders than anything I have ever smoked.

Update: 2-25-2017: I have given this blend another try. The formula has been tweaked since I last smoked it. The deer tongue seems to have dropped a percentage point or two, which allows a little more of the dry, nutty, earthy, woody, sharp and sour white burley to peek through. While the aforementioned inherent properties of the deer tongue are obvious, they are very mildly less so than before. Also, the cubes are smaller than before, which affects the burn rate, and though it’s not a fast burner, it burns closer to a moderate rate than before. It requires fewer relights than before, but still needs a few. The strength and nic-hit are a slot below the older version. The taste is medium. All other noted aspects remain the same. It will ghost a briar. I have upgraded my rating to two stars to reflect my current thinking regarding this blend. Your proclivity for deer tongue will certainly decide whether or not this blend is for you, which is another reason for the neutral two star rating.

-JimInks

Being a Bing Crosby fan I decided to give Crooner a go, and I must say, Bing had fantastic taste. Crooner has a base of dark burley tobacco which provides a silky, oak and nut flavor to the smoke. The burley alone would make for a fantastic blend but the addition of deer tongue brings this blend into a whole nother dimension. The dark woodsy burleys are sharply contrasted by sweet, floral notes provided by the deer tongue making for a complex, interesting smoke. Deer tongue blends tend to lean toward the love or hate area and this is a definite for Crooner. Personally, I am 100% on the love team. However, I can see why others would not enjoy Crooner. The burleys are very strong, leaning toward harsh while the deer tongue adds a flavor not often found in the tobacco world. Crooner is a blend for those who seek out bold, unique, adventurous flavors and who are not afraid of a bit of a nicotine hit. I urge everyone to try Crooner at least once. You'll either love it or hate it. No in between on this one.

Having never tried a blend with deer tongue, I chose this one as my intro. I think I got lucky. I love this stuff. The Burley is top notch. Earthy and nutty. The DT adds notes of herbs and definitely vanilla. It also gives this a nice freshness that I can see some interpreting as minty. There's also a nice sweetness in the mix. Medium in body and flavor. Can't get enough of this wonderful blend.

One last thing. This blend expands like crazy. I found it best to gravity feed and fill only to the 3/4 mark of the bowl. Otherwise the ashes are spilling out all over the place. Happy smoking.

Definitely a long time favorite. A friend had this blend for a a couple months, and it always kept me interested. It lasted for a while and the room note is still one of the best.

So I had to try it. First time round the strength seemed a little high, but after a while I very much enjoyed it. It turned into almost a daily smoke. Flavor wise it is a strong burley, but its the deer tounge that's different. People look for a vanilla and mint taste but I would say more of a light floral flavor.

The room note is nothing I have smelt before. The wife loves it and can always distinguish it. Can't really describe it however, something you need to experience yourself.

I could go on for hours, but in the end it's a gorgeous smoke and I have the up most respect for both the blender and the man who created it.

This was an epiphanal blend for me upon smoking the first few bowls. A nice vanilla taste without casing - how cool is that??!? The deertongue flavor remains throughout the smoke, although it becomes more subtle as you get down to the last 1/3 bowl where it becomes more of that nutty burley flavor.

Crooner is a high quality tobacco. My rating is less about if I would recommend it than how it hit me. What happened is that after the first 4 or so bowl, the deertongue flavor wore me out. I don't know why or how. Perhaps I'm just not used to it.

Two stars for how I liked it; four stars for recommending it as something everyone should try once. But for God's sake, give it a dedicated pipe! The flavor is hard to remove from a briar pipe.

I am obsessed with Crooner. A 2oz sample quickly became 16oz for the cellar. I have a few pipes now dedicated to this blend (it ghosts) and will most likely dedicate some more. The cube-cut makes this blend easy to pack. A quick gravity fill is all you need. I never dry this one any either it is immediately ready.

The Burley here is nutty sweet and quite strong. It delivers a solid kick with some spice too. The Deer Tongue is delicious. Floral/minty with some vanilla. There's a noticeable cinnamon flavor I get in every bowl. The room note is intoxicating as well. Extremely pleasant.

Wow! What a blend! This is my first time to try deer tongue. In the pouch it is fragrant. The deer tongue (I suppose) has a pouch aroma similar to flowers, mint, herbs and a little vanilla combined. After lighting, it has very full and fresh flavor! It has a "burst in your mouth" kind of feel. I can taste the minty, herby, floral essence of the spice used. The room note is just similar to good pipe tobacco. The aroma is just pleasant burley (to me). The nicotine hit is strong! Perhaps from the burley. I smoked this in a medium billiard. It smokes cool and has no tongue bite. But it does make my tongue feel "numb" a bit, as if an anesthetic was applied to it. It's a good smoke to try in the evenings after dinner. Totally different experience. You must try it and judge for yourself.

While I do enjoy Bing's music, I think I'll take a pass on his tobacco preferences. Yep, I tasted the deer tongue loud and clear while working my way through a recent bowl (and believe me, it WAS work.) And for anyone who cares, I copied the following description of deer tongue from an herbal website:

Description---Herbaceous perennial plant, composite distinguished by a naked receptacle, oblong, imbricated, involucre, and feathery pappus, fleshy basal leaves obolanceolate, terminating in a flattened stalk. The leaves are used to flavour tobacco. Their perfume is largely due to Coumarin, which can be seen in crystals on the upper side of the smooth spatulate leaves.

Now I ask, is the above description going to make you head off lickety split for your nearest tobacconist?

The Burley in Crooner was top-shelf and burned easily. But the strange taste provided by the deer tongue just flat put me off. I don't know, maybe it was the "oblong, imbricated, involucre feathery pappus, fleshly basal leaves" that just didn't work for me.

And finally, Crooner is the only Burley based tobaccos where I had to rub out the chunks before loading up. Now I've got deer tongue all over my fingers....

This blend has all the elements of good, cube cut Burley, but with a little something extra. The deertongue seems to be what everyone focuses on as the make it or break it component to this blend. Between Crooner and plain Cube Cut, I can't say that the flavor is really all that strong, but it is noticable, and I could see how some might not appreciate it. The flavor of Crooner is fairly simple: tobacco forward, a little nutty, subtly sweet at times, with a herbaceous, floral note that weaves throughout. But I think most of the negative response to Crooner comes from whether or not the smoker likes burley, or how it's being smoked and the size of the pipe being used. Crooner seems to just burn and burn. Too wide or too tall a bowl will be overwhelming; For this blend, I usually smoke half bowls, in average sized pipes, and it lasts an hour or longer. The cubes expand quite a bit as you light and smoke it, so the extra space will save you from spilling embers all over yourself. Mind your tamping; too much or too hard and as the cubes expand and you'll reach a point where your draw gets obstructed. Best to just dip your pipe in, tap the side of the bowl a couple of times to settle everything, light it, tamp it gently, and smoke it slow and easy. If you puff too hard or too often, it can heat up fast, and bite you hard. If you smoke a lot of straight pipes, like I do, be aware that this blend can build up moisture. On that note, if you want to color your meerschaums in a hurry, you could do worse than this blend. This is a blend that I've never managed to kept lit the whole way down, so keep your lighter or matches handy.

Appearance: Mostly medium brown cubes, with a few smaller greenish bits. The cubes are substantial in size, but can be rubbed out a little.

Aroma: Mellow Burley aroma, with a hint of sweet herbiness. The aroma is elusive, but puts me in mind of Tarragon, or Summer Savory.

Packing:. Works best in medium and larger bowls. I simply pour the cubes in all the way to the top, add a few bits of rubbed out tobacco and then tamp lightly once.

Lighting:. In spite of the large cubes, the tobacco is not hard to light. Typical char, tamp and relight get it going well.

Initial flavor: The initial taste is good nutlike burley, but there is a hint of the Deer Tongue. The flavor when burning still reminds me of some delicate kitchen herb.

Mid-bowl:. The Deer Tongue provides a layer of flavor which interplays with the Burley in a beguiling manner. The Burley is excellent quality, and can stand on it?s own, but sometimes needs a counterpoint. This combination works for me. The blend burns cool and dry, but stays lit well.

Finish:. No noticeable change at the bottom of the bowl. Generally leaves a clean dry pipe.

Summary:. This is an excellent all day blend for the Burley guy. It would be a great change of pace for anyone willing to broaden his horizons, be he an English fan, a Virginia lover or an Aromatic devotee