Cornell & Diehl Crooner

The burleys are both earthy and nutty. The deer tongue helps to smooth out any harshness from the burley. It also adds a floral and somewhat sweet dimension. As crazy as it may sound, I occasionally even picked up a spearmint note. Despite the unique quality of the deertongue, Crooner is not very complex. However, it was able to keep my interest all the way down. This is a unique blend and is certainly worth the try.

Let me start by saying that when I first started pipe smoking I used to spend Saturday mornings at my local B&M hanging out with the "old guys" smoking pipes and solving the world's problems (this was before a local smoking ban made it illegal to smoke in any business, including a smoke shop, but I digress). Anyway, one Saturday morning we were talking and one of the guys asked me if I had ever tried a tobacco with deer tongue in it; I had not. As we were continuing to talk the pipes manager said "I think I may have some deer tongue in the back" and he went to check. When he returned he had a small canister with a very small amount in the bottom and he passed it around to let everyone see and smell it, then took it to the back to mix up a quick blend so we could try it. I don't remember exactly what was in that blend, but I remember that it was a quite pleasant smoke and that I very much enjoyed it.

That brings us to this blend. Being that this is a copy of the blend that Bing Crosby blended and smoked I thought that the best pipe for this blend would be my Savinelli Bing's Favorite - I was wrong; I actually don't like this blend in that pipe at all . What I found is that this blend is rather dull in that pipe, but in a little Jobey bent bulldog it is spectacular. Also, the other night while smoking it I had the thought that what this really needed was some Latikia, so I pulled out an English blend that is a Burley/Latakia mixture and I mixed (about 50/50) enough for one bowl, and it was fantastic!

So, while I recommend that you try this one at least once, I have two recommendations: 1, Be sure try it in different pipes if you can (but be careful, the deer tongue can ghost your pipe); and, 2, Don't be afraid to throw in a little Latakia, it does wonders for this blend.

Enjoy

A cube cut mix of mostly dark burleys with a fair proportion of light green deer tongue. Pouch note is strongly of the deer tongue which is reminiscent of wet hay, oregano, green tea and vanilla. There seems to be some kind of alcohol topping but I do not say this with any confidence.

My tobacco arrived tinder dry and burned easily without preparation.

This is an uncomplicated burley that has no bitterness of any kind. The deer tongue is dominant throughout. I found this made my mouth tender, tho nothing like tongue bite, and as such I would describe it as astringent. I quite enjoyed the fragrance.

This tobacco is quite hefty nicotine wise and the complete experience is on the intense side. Would suit an after breakfast smoke to kick start your day.

This is another one of those tobaccos that could spark a riot. I wouldn't kill anyone over this stuff, but I might bust a few heads. No, seriously. I wasn't brave enough to order anything more than a one ounce sample, and I don't regret it a bit.

Crooner is a piece of work. It's the best looking and tasting Burley I've ever come across. Dark, giant cubes, soft to the touch, and easy for the packing. And dried, broken, olive colored leaves with a stem here and there. It's an intimidating batch to look at, and when I sampled it for the first time, I was careful to only pack half a bowl in a throw-away cob.

My expectations were something along the lines of 1792--a robust tobacco with a strange, overwhelming vanilla-like taste that would pervade the entire experience. Although that might be the characterization of some, my actual reaction differed quite a bit.

The Deer Tongue wasn't as strong or out of place as I suspected. It's in there alright, and it does have a kind of vanilla quality, but it's muted. I found the Burley to drive this blend all the way through, and I am a convert in many ways. This is the first Burley blend that I didn't have any problems with. It's such high quality stuff, it almost takes on other characteristics that I don't typically associate with the leaf. Because Burley is low in sugar content, the Deer Tongue makes an excellent compliment--they work so well together that I didn't bother to question their coexistence.

Would I smoke this every day? No. But would I buy it again? Certainly. And I will be sure to keep some on hand for those moments that I need to question why I have no idea who Bing Crosby might be. Seriously. He directed movies, right?

Being a big Bing fan I have wanted to try this for a while. Never had the original so this rating in for this match. Even smoked it while listening to the Bing himself and in a Canadian to boot.

When I opened the bag the following aroma met me. A pleasing light earthy, woody aroma with a tough of nut with a background of whiskey. It seemed a bit dry but I put it out on a paper towel for about 45 minutes for I like to make sure excess moisture is gone and I find a brief airing seems to help the experience a bit.

This is a cube cut so i poured it in, tamped it an poured and lightly tamped it again. I was pleasantly surprised when I lit it, the charring lit stayed lit and the tobacco for some reason seems to expand greatly so it was like one of those old snakes we used to light during the 4th of July that used to smoke and crawl out of the package as it burned. So I tamped it down and we kept going. The smoke was medium and the room note pleasant. While this doesn't bite it does sometimes give a tingle and it burns medium and steady with very few relights. I see a lot of ppl claim it does't bite but it seemed to me if it was pushed it would bite, but it's tendency is not to unless pushed hard although I sipped and did get a couple of tingles. This left a little bit of moisture in the bowl. This burnt to a nice gray ash and most of the relighting happened in the last quarter of the bowl.

When lit I was met by mild nutty, earthy, woody flavors that were slightly tart, slightly sweet, and a almost unnoticed sour taste that was not a bad sour but a complimentary sour taste while in the background was a whiskey flavor. Several sips later a very faint taste of vanilla joined the and then suddenly a mild mint flavor appeared and after several sips was very faint. The mint which I am told is the Deer Tongue would dance back into the picture on and off through the smoke and I found it very pleasant. As the bowl progressed the the sweet taste became slightly sweeter and the tart taste slightly more tart and they complimented each other nicely. About a quarter into the bowl the different flavors would join the sweet and tart in the front dancing in and then slowly recede as another flavor would then move to join sweet and tart in the front. The ever present whiskey whirled in the background and the other flavors continued their dancing to the front and then receding throughout the whole smoke. While this was going on there was a pleasant sweet and tart with a touch of whiskey aftertaste. This aftertaste has lasted for an hour after the smoke stopped and there is also a touch of mint in the aftertaste that is enjoyable. This burned to the end and the taste did not diminish or the flavors disappear or become bitter.

This was very enjoyable smoke that kept me interested. IT does have some rough edges if pushed and I would not find this to be an all day smoke. The flavors and their dance is fun to pay attention too and my wish is that there was a bit more deer tongue. But, that is my own opinion, for I happen to like deer tongue. The rough edges and the tingle keep this from a 4 star. However, do try it, for it is a fun and enjoyable smoke . I think this will be a blend I will keep for special occasions and I give it a 3.4 out of 4 stars. Give it a try it is something everyone should smoke at least once. Bing and his friend did themselves proud on this and C&D did a great job with this blend.

I'm not often a fan of big Burley blends because they are usually reminiscent of cigarettes. The Burley in Crooner is high quality. The deer tongue is quite evident although not as conspicuous as in C&D's New Market even though it is more visually present in Crooner. This is, honestly, the first full Burley blend that I can say that I actually like. You have to smoke it slow or it will develop cigarette-like characteristics, but if you go easy, the Burley is nutty, with cocoa overtones that are complemented by the vanilla notes of the deer tongue. Smellwise, this stuff won't make you many friends but when it comes to friends, my goal is quality over quantity.

This has an interesting smell, affected by the deertongue. It smells to me like interesting cigarettes (in a pack not being burned).

The taste is primarily of burley, with a very faint vanilla. The vanilla taste is of actual vanilla, not artificial vanilla flavor. There is a hint of caramel very occasionally, and the nic hit can be high if smoke in large quantities.

I'd like to try this with more deertongue to see how much I enjoy that in a blend.

You can view my video review of this blend here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWlaeqPR-GM

Cube cut burley and a bit of herbal deer Young’s with a top dressing of bourbon. My first go with this one left me thinking that I had made a mistake in the purchase. Jarred it up and left it for 2 years. Age has improved it greatly! Has a unique flavor and is in line with some of the old standard blends of years past. Jar aroma put me in mind of Edgeworth ready rubbed. Taste reminded me of nothing I had ever smoked. Overall good smoke for the burley fan. Best loaded by gravity feed and not to the top of the bowl as it puffs up greatly on initial light. A light tamp and retire does the trick go me. Burn rate is moderate. Flavor throughout the experience is consistent and pleasurable. No bite for me either. Like most burley blends of this type the nicotine is medium and ample enough to keep me in the game. Overall a 3 for this piper!

I think this a rather awesome blend that is completely out of the ordinary. I bought it just to taste the famous "deer tongue", because it is always good to find out what good new things life may give us, or not. This is certainly a good one.

Relaxed smoke, with a rather medium to full taste that may keep the hardcore lovers of burley out of the equation because of the rather strange flavour from the deer tongue.

What it is like? Well it is like an excellent burley blend with distant hints of liquor, perhaps whisky and rather round body, a bit robust and nutty as usual, very senior like style BUT the deer tongue adds a rather opaque note that may make it strange to a novice or an over sensitive smoker. It may be a combination of molasses (very present in the pack) but vague in the smoke, a hint of natural vanilla with strong floral note that impacts deeply the whole experience and may get more defined by the last third of the bowl.

Overall it is very uncomplicated smoke, rather monochromatic which makes it more appealing for a conversation or a careless momentum, happy smoke if you want, not circumspect yet definitively very adult in terms of flavour as the burley even if robust gets a rounded by the not sweet, not sour but undetermined sensation given by deer tongue.

I recommed for the adventurous heart and maybe for the lovers of burley that want to experience something different at least once.