Cornell & Diehl Crooner

I usually give a tobacco more than one test before writing a review. With Bings' blend (Did he really smoke something like this?) I don't have the guts for a rematch! The tobacco might be great but the Deer tongue is pretty bad! By the way, if you are a glutton for punishment and have to see what Bing was up to, my advise is smoke it in something disposable!

This is a great nightcap smoke. The burleys are woody, earthy, and nutty. The deertongue is nice compliment to them, offering an earthy grassy vanilla note. The deertongue enhances the room note. Crooner has a fairly strong nic hit, and I am no stranger to powerful blends. Despite being a strong burley-based blend it will only bite if you smoke it too fast.

The deer tongue will ghost your pipe, so pick a dedicated pipe for this blend. If this really is from Bing Crosby's private stash, I can see why. The deertongue does turn this from a simple burley blend into something far more interesting.

The review immediately preceding this one (chronologically, at least) calls it "The American Cousin of 1792 Flake", and backs that claim up quite well. Is it the same? No; I think I prefer Crooner, truth to tell. Not for least of which reasons the fact that it is quite readily available Stateside, while 1792 is harder to find than spring morels in a drought year. In my opinion, Crooner is also less temperamental to smoke, needing zero dry time and less attention paid to cadence. The rooms note is also more broadly favorable; while my wife doesn't mind 1792, she adores Crooner. 1792 might have a slight edge in terms of strength, but it's almost splitting hairs; would you rather be clocked with a 10-pound sledgehammer or a 9-pounder? In either case, best to brace yourself. I'm both cases, the flavoring is a love/hate affair; it's a bit odd, but it's something that I -personally- crave. I'd say that they are cousins in the same sense that American and British "Roast Beef Dinners" are cousins. They fill similar functions, while being almost wholly distinct from one another. Crooner is a bit more rustic and brash, but it satisfies the same cravings just as well as it's upper-crust cousin from Across the Pond. Perhaps it's my last crumbs of Yankee Doodle pride, but I- for one- will be cellaring this in bulk.

Vanilla and nutty burley flavors. The burley is harsh and the deer tongue seemed to irritating to my palette.. Would not recommend. One half of a star. On par with half and half.

I have just started to explore different casing ,and additives,. Deer tongue, and tonquin ect. I thought crooner it be a place to start,deer tongue has been use as a herbal medicine so I figured what the hell

Although deer tongue was interesting Crooner in my opinion had way to much, I used LL Dark Red too cut the harshness. It worked like a gem. Now the deer tongue is pleasant and enjoyable.The burley was earthly and ful of flavor. Did not notice any tongue burn ,lights easy, had to tend up more so than other tobacco

Way to harsh without cutting so I am going 2.5 stars.

This was the first deer tongue I had ever smoked, wow was it ever strong,I had to cut with some LL Dark red. It did the trick, use 4oz. To a pound

After the cut I found smokable,enjoyable . Also found if pipe cleaner is left in while packing cuts out cubes from jamming.

Burley's are delicious, Virginia 's hard to distinguish and deer tongue always present.Will not buy crooner again, just a lot of work for a fast burnig Tobacco that's not to say it is a bad blend just way to much deer tongue for my liking.

It has been many years since I have smoked this blend. Originally I thought it to be an aromatic, and as an aromatic smoker at that time, I happily puffed away at it. It's potency soon became apparent. It is not a potent mixture by English standards, but certainly by aromatic standards. I remember it having the scent and flavor of raisins. It was quite enjoyable.

In a word, "Yuck!" Not to diss deer tongue nor burley, nor even cube cut, but this stuff is gross. I wouldn't give this to the meanest one-eyed junkyard dog, even if he bit me! You are much better off with 4noggins' Imagine, by a long shot. This Crooner, though - nasty, nasty stuff. Be warned. Made me want a codger OTC, man. Anything! Not worth your money. Didn't even finish a third of a bowl, and I can dig sock-em tobacco. Too aggressive and just not right, man. Felt like a baby dragon was trying to poop in my mouth! Fortunately I had the good sense to dump it early, and smoke a bowl of Beck's Ol' Limey Bastard instead. You take the quality of the great ones for granted until they come to save the day!! Thank goodness I had the hero on hand. Don't spend your money on Crooner - not even as a novelty or curiosity. You will regret it. Blech! (I am going to try a little for mixing, and see how that works. I really hate to waste a full bag. Perhaps it works better in a blend...but straightforward, no.) UPDATE: Terrible for mixing. Overpowers everything.

I just don't know about this.

Smells fine in the tin/bag/pouch. However you buy it. The aroma is an invitation to dabble into the unknown. It actually makes you overly curious about what it will taste like in the bowl. There's no way you can stop yourself once you smell this tin note.

1st lite had me wondering if the flame got to close to my knuckles and i had burnt a few hairs. But this stuff is hard to lite let alone keep lit. A bunch of puffs latter confirmed to me that I wasn't burning the hair off my knuckles. Thats the deer tongue. But once I keep smoking the bowl that pretty much went away. But its still a very weird flavor to put it bluntly.

The room note reminded me of growing up. As a child running through the hot and humid meadows of Up state new york. You can literally smell every weed, flower, every blade of tall grass. Take that as good or bad. For me its a fond memory.

Over all I can't handle the flavor. Its just too ..... alien. Its like nothing you've ever smoked. In fact to be completely honest it made my head spin and gave me nausea for 8 hours. The deer tongue is definately the cuplrit there.

I fail to grasp the old fashioned use of this in tobacco. Some say it was used to give toby more of a vanilla flavor. But it sure does exactly the opposite here.

Gee grandpa what were you thinking?

I won't give this one star when a few people do like it. So I'll give it 2 by saying...... I somewhat reccomend this for curiosity sake only. If you can get past one bowl and want another your a tougher SOB than I am. You'd had to pay me to give it more than the 2 stars.