Cornell & Diehl Crooner

Initial 2003: I picked up an ounce of this interesting blend with another order and initially liked it enough to order more. I liked the sweet nutty Burley flavor (yes, smells just a bit of vanilla in the pouch to me too). The ounce sample had quite sparse flecks of "the tongue". Over the course of a day I tried it in three pipes with mixed results. The best was the first, a Peterson's Emerald Half Bent Rhodesian...smallish bowl. I could easily catch the sweet nutty Burley - counterplayed with the occasional Tongue. I'll use the word "interesting". Though there are elements here that I enjoy they never came together for me. Perhaps I'm just looking for a different flavor profile. Also, perhaps if I had one of those "Bing's" Savinelli's (I'm pretty sure we all need at least one more pipe) it would feel more at home and behave better.

Revisited 2008: Tried this again and it did not impress. There are too many other amazing offerings right now to spend more time puffing "tongue-weed".

Most of the previous reviews have covered the various aspects of Crooner. I've had my best luck with it by gravity filling the pipe half full, packing lightly, then gravity filling the pipe full and packing firmly. It can still be a chore to get going, often requiring several relights at the start. Once you do finally get it lit, it burns pretty well. This may be because this is the largest cubed burley I've ever seen.

Crooner has the classic burley nuttiness, with an added bonus of the vanilla notes coming from the deer tongue. Some like it, some don't, I personally find the vanilla flavor adds to the pleasure of the smoke. It is a little more assertive than in blends like Hearth and Home's Old Tartan and Capitol Stairs, and I will say that I prefer the latter two to this blend. If you've read the other reviews, you know that opinions vary widely on this blend, so I would recommend getting a sampler before making a final decision to order a pound.

Scores for Crooner; flavor-13 of 20; packing and burn-7 of 10; value-7 of 10. Crooner gets 27 points and a *** rating.

Update 10/07- After smoking more of this tobacco, I find I am not as fond of the taste as I was at first. I am downgrading it to two stars.

An excellent alternative to goopy aromatics. Try the experience of "DEER TONGUE". It really is wonderful A very Old Timey blend. Cubed Burley is excellent, though a little hot! I found this blend benefits greatly fom tha addition of McClelland' "BLENDING ORIENTAL" . A little bit of this cools down the blend and adds a new dimnsion to the smoke. A wonderful AMERICAN pipe tobacco blend and experience. 4 of 4 stars!

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UPDATE 6/15/17

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I hat to say it but another C&D product that has taken a dive. If you want DEER TONGUE blends of worth check out Fader's Old Mike and Luau. Sorry Craig, you're losing the MAGIC. You cannot keep this stuff lit!

I purchased 4oz. of Crooner about 10 months ago, and I still have an ounce left. Its not too bad, Im sure some guys like it. Not somthing I grab for very often and probably wont re-purchase it. It does have a slight stinging property to it that I believe is the added herb. One good point is the tin aroma. It reminds me of a jar of oatmeal cookies.

Bing was a great singer. However, he was anything but a great blender. This blend has essentially nothing going for it and I cannot figure out why anyone would like it. Cube cut burley with some herb added. The taste is odd, musty and unmemorable. This 4 ounce bag will end up in the trash.

Smokey hit the nail on this one .My pouch was pleasant the packing was good and the lighting was horrible after a few lights fighting with it. some say its like old tartan, but I differ, but they are both good smokes.

Good in small doses. I cannot see myself lighting this up more then once a month. Here is my experiance.

Really enjoyed the aroma of the tobacco, a light semi-aromatic (only because of the DT). Usually a Virginian lover but hey, It's Bing! I let this bled sit for about 3 months before I acutally got around to smoking it. I hear it packs nicley, but I decide to break it down a little bit. I Loded up a small bowel grabbed John Eldridge's "Wild at Heart" and as per my wifes request headed outside to the rainy Jacksonville morn. Pre lite was nice and smokey real dence gray smoke. Which I really like. The taste was nice a little flat but not bad. I set er down and grabbed a pipe cleaner and proceeded to begin my session.

About 30 minutes int the bowel, It started to change, hot and wet. SO I let it sit threw a cleaner through it and dried it out. It was still good, but started to grow board with it. I fineshed it off with this conclusion

6.5 out of 10

Nice but a little bland twords the end. Got wet fast. Nice room note. I cant see smokeing a large bowel. Stick with a small one. Good in small doses. Definitaly unique. Somewhat of a novelty.

Folks, particularly those that favor this blend, I beg your indulgence. Tobacco like many things, is an entirely personal experience and my experience with Crooner is one of extreme bias.

While I find so many of the C&D blends masterful and I'm a good customer ... this wretched weed actually managed to get me angry. While the burley is magnificent and it can be noticed a bit through the smoke, the olfactory assault of deer tongue was vicious. Of an in itself, this is a very pleasant herb, probably suitable for room freshener or rug cleaner but in my honest opinion I found it to be vile.

I'm honestly quite baffled about my shortcoming in appreciating this tobacco blend as so many of you do. Perhaps I'm just allergic. My tastes run the spectrum but not this far off the beaten path. Not for me, even the tin aroma gets me steamed.

Again no offense to those who cherish this blend, you have collectively been so reliant and diligent in your accurate appraisals, I fear I am missing the Crooner gene.

Cheers, VC

Weird stuff... The cubed burley is clearly high-quality, nutty and very reminiscent of the one used for Barbary Coast (obviously!), but the hot topic clearly lies in the green specks you see littering the blend... Deer Tongue! They provide a lightly vanilla-like taste, but not excessively sweet... more herbal and slightly astringent, I can say. It's not nauseating or too intense, it just provides a musky flavor like taking the one you can feel in the air during a walk in the woods in autumn. This blend burns slowly and even, producing a strong, penetrating and characteristic room note: whether you like this smell or not depends on your personal bias (the same applies to the taste, of course). It's actually a nice tobacco, although the deer tongue taste can grow tiresome after a while... Myself, I would smoke it more frequently if I didn't fear about the taste lingering in my pipes.