Tobaccos Cornell & Diehl - Crooner

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	JimInks (3023)	2013-01-03		Mild to Medium	Medium	Medium	Strong

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

39 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Kraft1994 (54)	2014-01-22		Medium to Strong	Medium to Strong	Very Full	Very Pleasant

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.

Pipe Used: Savanelli Bing's Favorite

Purchased From: pipesandcigars.com

Similar Blends: Nothing I have ever smoked before. Totally unique..

37 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Gentleman Zombie (729)	2014-02-16		Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant

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.

Pipe Used: MM Freehand, MM General

Age When Smoked: fresh bulk

Purchased From: smokingpipes.com

27 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	codyp (65)	2014-01-22		Medium to Strong	Mild to Medium	Medium to Full	Tolerable

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.

Pipe Used: Nording Poker

Purchased From: Pipes & Cigars

22 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2009-07-14		Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

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.

18 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	GabrielCRT (115)	2016-06-03		Strong	None Detected	Very Full	Very Pleasant

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.

14 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	neuron_md (33)	2013-12-27		Strong	Mild to Medium	Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

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.

Pipe Used: Meerschaum lattice billiard

Age When Smoked: Fresh from order

Purchased From: SmokingPipes.com

14 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pipestud (1829)	2007-04-25		Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

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....

12 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	JustAnotherPiper (4)	2019-04-05		Medium	None Detected	Full	Pleasant

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.

Pipe Used: Meerschaums and various billiards

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: SmokingPipes.com

Similar Blends: Sorta stands on its own..

10 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Noorrmm (192)	2004-03-03		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

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

10 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	MikeHaggarKJ (22)	2018-05-09		Medium	Medium to Strong	Medium to Full	Pleasant

These reviews are filled with the comparison between Deer's Tongue and Vanilla, and while that is true, I'd like to underscore the floral and herbal flavour off it. Definitively different from a standard tonquin bean flavouring (in which the flavour comes mainly from coumarin) which to my tastebuds taste almost exactly like and almost only off vanilla. This blend has that coumarin-vanilla flavour but is far more complex than that. I am reminded off grass, flowers, tea and even pinewood. The blend has almost no sweetness and has a dry, woody quality to the smoke. I don't think a comparison to Lakelands is out of order, even though I don't find it soapy, it's also more subtle and not as overwhelming in flavour. I can see why this blend is polarizing. It has a highly unusual flavour. The flavour develops alot troughout the bowl and the smoke has plenty off taste. The burley is top notch and has a constant presence, but the deer's tongue dominates the flavour.

I consider this a must-try for anyone who is a fan off floral and herbal flavours like myself. If you don't, stay away.

8 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	LoneRider (24)	2012-07-27		Medium	Medium to Strong	Full	Strong

C&D has more blends that stars in the sky it seems. I have smoked quite a few and have enjoyed most overall. To say that I didn't enjoy this one is putting it mildly. After three bowls, I threw the rest in the garbage. I LIKE deer's tongue. The Tinder Box used it very effectively in its '70s rendition of Special. The problem with "Crooner" is that there is WAY too much deer tongue in it. I think I could smoke grass clippings and have a better experience. I think deer's tongue is a hard thing to get just right. In Crooner, it overwhelms the senses. That said, if you want to try a blend with it, try C&D's own "Gentleman Caller." They get the mix just right in it. Better luck next time, Craig.

7 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2006-07-10		Mild	Mild	Mild	Pleasant

This is the most chunky of tobaccos. It resembles Grape Nuts cereal, but it certainly doesn't taste like it.

I love burley, so my view is from a burley lover's perspective.

The deertongue is readily visible and it adds an herbal-vanilla essence to the experience. I've had deertongue before in Old Tartan. Here, it is far more prominent and I find it compliments the burley in a delightful manner.

I have never had any difficulty in lighting Crooner. I purchased mine in bulk. I merely dip my pipe (both cobs and briar) into the tobacco and fill up the bowl in one pass.

I find the blend effortless to ignight. Perhaps this is due to the reason I allowed Crooner to dry out a bit. Over the past 4 ounces, I've had numerous times where the char light burned on its own down 3/4 of the bowl. A tamp, a light and it's down to briar. I am a pipe sipper; a small pipe dedicated to Crooner (a Hardwick straight) will go for 25-30 glorious minutes.

Overall, the flavour is sweet and woody. Chocolate notes interplay with soft nuttiness. There is no bite. I draw on my Crooner pipes through the front of my lips, much like a goldfish blowing kisses. I've discovered this brings out the sweetness of the blend.

Of all the blends that I have smoked, Crooner is one of the few tobacs that I will smoke down to the bottom of the bowl. There is no dottle, no gurgles, nothing but a comfortable, laid back experience in the bowl. I have not yet dumped or shorted a bowl of Crooner.

For me, its a keeper.

Recommended to those with an affinity to burley predominate blends.

7 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2005-07-08		Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild	Very Pleasant

Cornell and Diehl are, with Peretti, the masters of burley blending. I adore Morley's Best and Big 'n Burley. However, I think in Crooner they have created one of the, if not THE, finest burley blends to be found on the market today.

Well, maybe they didn't create it. As is well known, this was Bing Crosby's private blend, and I must say that the man was more than an American cultural icon: he also had fantastic taste in tobacco.

Crooner is rich, cubed burley with deer tongue added. Very simple, but astonishingly flavorful and satisfying. It smokes cool and dry, lighting with ease despite the uncommonly large cubes of tobacco. I have never been bitten or even had mild mouth irritation from a bowl of Crooner; it is always well behaved.

The deer tongue has an herbal, spicy-sweet scent, reminiscent to me of mild vanilla and cinnamon. It complements the natural tobacco flavor of the burley beautifully.

As you can see, I love Crooner and cannot recommend it highly enough.

7 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	jpiper33 (9)	2018-04-11		Medium	Medium	Medium to Full	Strong

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.

Pipe Used: Various briars, meerschaums and corn cobs

Age When Smoked: Fresh

6 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Jacinto Cupboard (209)	2014-05-20		Strong	Medium to Strong	Full	Tolerable to Strong

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.

6 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	periqueguy (43)	2009-02-20		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Very Pleasant

I know from personal experience that this IS a replica of the tobacco Bing Crosby smoked and I have enjoyed it non-exclusively for many years. It's a burley lovers dream with just a little KICK from the added deers tongue.

6 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	zulujerk (146)	2005-10-24		Medium	None Detected	Full	Tolerable

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?

6 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Michael D (29)	2020-07-01		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

ba ba boo boo boo.. boo boo boo.. boo boo boo. Oh what a crooner. Yes, he is one of my old favorites.. so I surely had to try something he may have smoked. Although many mention Hayward as his blend, and who wouldn't like a nice Burley, Latakia, Virginia blend? But, I can see Bing smoking this blend easily. I have donated a Rossi Canadian to this blend, while a Bing Crosby Thermostatic sits on a shelf to smile at. he surely was a salesman in his day. I enjoy Burleys and this Deer-tongue just kicks it off nicely. I can agree with others that the blend will bloom when lit. I get a "grassy" aroma from the bag while loading up, At which point it burns nicely to an ash. The flavor is a nice medium burley with the vanilla floral of the Deer-tongue / Carolina-Vanilla. For me, explaining DeerTongue smell and flavor may be "telling". It reminds me of the 60's and those five and dime bags of Mexican dirt weed cut with everybody's brother home spices from the kitchen. You had to live the 60's to understand maybe.. lol. it just makes me grin from the aroma. Not my everyday smoke, I'll find a special time to smoke this blend and hope it never goes away. This blend has a taste well worth trying. Obviously taste differ, I am not a Va/Per or straight Virginia fan while many like them, but toss in some burley to sip and I smile. Deer-tongue makes me grin. Thanks Cornell & Diehl for keeping Crooner on the market. it keeps me swinging on a star... he was such a hip cat..

Pipe Used: Rossi Canadian

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: pipesandcigars.com

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Wally Frank Collector (46)	2020-06-24		Medium	Medium	Medium	Pleasant

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.

Pipe Used: Tropical Paint Cleveland Canadian made by LHS

Age When Smoked: NEW

Purchased From: P&C gift from family member

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	MRBROWNNOSE (18)	2020-04-28		Medium to Strong	Medium to Strong	Medium	Tolerable to Strong

MAN i absolutely LOVE this blend! WAY different from anything else i have tried as this was my first Deer Tounge blend and will not be my last. Picked up a 1OZ sample since this blend gets some mixed reviews. After a few days and many bowls later i decided to order more Crooner and some of the other Deer Touge blends (Old Tartan, New Market). Wish there were more tobacco blends with this unique herb.

The Cube Cut is interesting and wish more tobaccos were offered with this presentation. It can be cumbersome to keep in the pipe so you have to be careful not to accidnetly dump the pipe. Stays lit quite well and doesnt bite unless you are being reckless.

The flavor is mild sweet and the Deer Tounge adds what has been described as "Vanilla Minty" flavor and could see that comparison but is very mild and not a typical "Vanilla:" flavor. The NIC HIT is STRONG and is the only other Pipe tobacco that has given me a buzz (besides SG 1792) but don't let that put you off this is a seriously nice blend that is quickly becoming one of my favorite blends. Great stuff!

Pipe Used: Crown Garden Bent Pipe, Basket

Age When Smoked: NEW

Purchased From: P&C

Similar Blends: New Market.

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Pip (80)	2018-04-08		Mild	Mild	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable

I never had deer tongue before so it was time to give it a try via Crooner. Well the tin note has that dive bar aroma to it. Right then and there I’m saying to myself do I really want to do this….of course I do! So here we go. Packed up my old Peterson B11 and lit her up. The tobacco itself was cut very fine and the moisture level was perfect.

You do have to be careful with the charing and true light because Crooner burns hot. Might be due to the cube cut but, its hot….I didn’t get bit but it wouldn’t take much. So I calmed it down and it settled in to a nice even smoke. You can definitely taste the burley. Toasty and nutty on the verge of bitterness if you take a big draw and heat it up too much. The deer tongue imparts a different taste ever so often. I’m not sure I can accurately describe it…herbal, kind of sweet, dry oak leaves, the forest….beer soaked wood perhaps, hence the dive bar smell. Different for sure.

What Crooner taught me is that I don’t really care for burley as this is a very burley forward blend and I’m not a fan of deer tongue either. Well I bought 2 oz of bulk so I’ll jar it up and put it in the cellar and try it again in 10 years. Live and learn.

Pipe Used: Peterson B11

Age When Smoked: Fresh

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	dixcreek (182)	2017-11-11		Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

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!

Age When Smoked: Well aged

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	the_dalai_lama_himself (43)	2017-04-15		Medium	Mild	Medium	Tolerable

Really enjoy this blend. Tin note smells of a nutrigrain bar, enjoyable. Dark Burley for the base with white burley and deertongue and some whiskey in there as well that gives a slight tingle to the tongue. Gravity fill with a light tamper and you're good to go. Cube cuts are medium in size, my go to blend for the smaller narrow bowl of the clay pipe. Rich earthy nutty at times chocolate burley and vanilla, along with herbal mint from the deer tongue. I dig it as a change up, not exactly rotation for me but nice to switch it up and definitely 4 stars just to have and try bc of its uniqueness and possible connection to Bing Crosby.

Pipe Used: Old Dominion Clay

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	StevieB (2076)	2016-09-18		Medium	Medium	Medium	Very Pleasant

Cornell & Diehl - Crooner.

The cube cut's very fine, in fact the bottom of my pouch is dust! On the plus side it's not too moist; that would turn it into sludge! This clarifies perfectly how Deer Tongue appears and tastes; the pouch is full of bright green flecks!

When I first lit this I couldn't understand all of the mint comparisons, until ten minutes had passed; there's a sort of herbiness that can give a minty impression. I don't get much of a vanilla flavour from it, the herby quality seems to rule the taste. Whether or not the added flavour's enjoyed, there's no arguing that the Burley's exceedingly high quality; toasty, nutty, and rich. The best feature of Crooner is easily the room-note; it's very flavoursome without making lots of actual smoke.

If you like Deer Tongue you'll probably love this, but as well made as it is, I can't give it more than two stars.

Somewhat recommended.

Pipe Used: Chacom Robusto

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: Smokingpipes.com

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	steppx (186)	2016-09-16		Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

This is a love or hate blend. And that is due to the deer tongue. It seems people either love it...as in almost at an addictive level, or they just loathe it. Cant tolerate to smoke it at all. I am in the first category. Now, I tend to reserve burly blends for when Im driving long distance. Easy to keep lit and cool. One cant exactly smoke Blackwoods Flake while driving. Too much maintenance. So for me this is a great driving smoke. The taste is nutty burly with a good dose of that curious herbal minty (but not at all like peppermint ice cream or anything...closer to herbs like lavender) and vaguely vanilla flavor that is deer tongue. Whether Bing smoked this or not, its a great medium strength burly blend. The nic hit is medium...perhaps a notch past. And yes it can get hot if you puff too hard. Best smoked slow. But its easy to keep lit and burns down clean. Some have complained that it ghosts a briar. I have not found that, but its certainly possible. If you like Gentleman Caller, this is a more pronounced use of DT and a tad stronger smoke. I love GC but i think i like crooner better. Its worth noting that the old old old version of the classic drugstore blend Half&Half had deer tongue in it. Its an old school additive.

Purchased From: 4noggins

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Kyohan (13)	2014-12-16		Medium to Strong	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

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

Pipe Used: Various

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: Smoking Pipes

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	cobacco (52)	2014-04-08		Medium to Strong	Medium	Medium to Full	Pleasant

The quality of the cubed burley is awesome. The deer tongue isn't just floral, it has a spicy nip that's a bit like perique. What might seem like bite turns out to be just spice. Burley moisture level is perfect, but the deer tongue makes it seem dry; just light it and enjoy a trouble free bowl. My beard smelled a bit too pretty afterward hee hee. Initial light is a bit odd and I caught a whiff that smelled remotely of a less legal weed, but this passed very quickly. Very rich and effortless smoking comes quite quickly. Does Crooner ghost a pipe? Sort of, but it's such a harmless smell that seems compatible with Balkans, Orientals and any vanilla or fruity aromatic... it might even freshen up a sour pipe! But you may experience a troublesome ghosting of a different sort (read on).

On to my advice... I think anyone who is curious about trying Crooner should just get a couple ounces and try it because you really need to experience it. However, I did have a bit of a problem not related to the actual quality of the blend... Unfortunately, I ordered six other blends with the Crooner, including five rather expensive Gawith & Hoggarths and the very pungent Crooner saturated the entire shipment with it's floral scent. So now among other things I have a beautiful piece of Sweet Whiskey Twist that smells like Sweet Whiskey Crooner. I'm hoping that these other tobaccos will air out and lose that scent. Perhaps I will call smokingpipes? Anyway, if you do order some Crooner you might want to ask the seller to try to better isolate the Crooner from other blends in the same box.

Pipe Used: MM Legend Cob

Age When Smoked: fresh bulk

Purchased From: smokingpipes

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	oldcodger (74)	2014-02-19		Medium	Medium	Medium to Full	Pleasant

Old Crooner presumable replicates a private recipe used by Bing Crosby; it probably does, but Der Bingle did not smoke a single blend. What we have here is a cube cut burley laced with a significant amount of deer tongue.

Cube cut burley: anathema to burley haters, but not to others. The cube cut burns cool. At least in does if you can get a good light, which is not easy. Also any vigorous puffing intended to get or keep a good light can propel a lighted coal onto your clothes and burn a hole therein. Still, for those who enjoy burley, that part of the flavor here is fine.

Deer tongue biologically is a kind of wild vanilla native to the Southern Appalachians. Unlike the "real" vanilla, often from Mexico, used to produce vanilla extract, deer tongue has a less sweet, more flowery taste, and for some even a hint of mint.

Deer tongue, as with tonquin, provides a taste that engenders love it or hate it reactions. In days of yore, deer tongue was often used as a condiment, barely sprinkled in pipe mixtures. That way, many smokers did not even identify its flavor. But where the deer tongue provides a clear cut taste, the reaction of smokers varies sharply. Incidentally, deer tongue like tonquin (which comes from tonka beans, a totally different biological species) contains trace amounts of coumarin which in amounts astronomically more than you could get it a pipe is used medically as a blood thinner.

So how do I rate Old Crooner? I now hereby contadict my observation that it is a love it or hate it blend. I have purchased it twice. On both occasions I have enjoyed it-- as a change of pace. I had no yen to smoke it daily, however. So, neither loving nor hating Old Crooner, I award it a weak two stars.

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2007-06-18		Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

Wow!

I have not cared for Burley's before. This blend is sublime. I agree with other reviewers that it is harder to keep lit than a traditional shag cut. And yes, the cubed burley is a bit hard and makes some powder waste in the bottom of the bag.

Having said that, I don' care. I will reorder this stuff in quantity.

As Achille Savinelli says: "It is better to use a few more matches or a little more gas than to burn your pipe. Haven't you noticed that old smokers in general are those who let their pipes go out more frequently?"

The folks at Cornell Diehl told me that this has some molasses on it. That accounts for some of the pouch flavor. It never leads to a hot, goopy, sugary smoke though. On the contrary. It touches off the flavor of what is obviously a top quality burley.

That first light simply sings!

I can't be sure if the deer tongue adds to that sweet molasses/vanilla note or not...

I just know that the flavor is complex, it stays interesting throughout the bowl, and is thoroughly enjoyable.

Becuase the burley cubes are a bit hard, you can't really pack this down after smoking a little. I have found that you have to use a poker to break up the tobacco that is partially burnt in the bowl. This will enable an easier re-light and less dottle.

Trust me folks, this one is worth the effort, and at least worth an earnest try.

I have not yet tried leaving a bit of this tobacco out to air dry yet to see if it makes it easier to keep lit. I don't want to lose any of that subtle flavoring. I count it a fair trade to have to light this a bit more, and get such a pleasant smoke.

I really can not recommend this enough. I find myself not wanting to smoke anything else!

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2006-05-18		Mild	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

This was the blend that broke me from the goopy, extra-black-and-syrupy blends that I started with when just a pipe-smoking pup. This is simply what it says... cube cut Burley and Deer's Tongue(vanilla leaf) and nothing more. A bit difficult to pack initially, as I had never seen a cube cut before, but after a few tries I found gravity filling to work the best.

This was a very simple, very clean smoke that I found to be very flavorful. Nutty and cool, I could just taste a hint of vanilla. In the room, there's no quesion: people were asking me to refill my pipe shortly after I finished!

Crooner also offers a ready base for some interesting 'baccy blending at home. From time to time I like something sweet out of my pipe. A 50/50 mix of Crooner and either Butera's Sweet Cavendish or Hartwell's Evening Stroll leads to a nice desert-type of a smoke as the toasted cavendish, burley and Deer's Tongue come together in interesting ways. Definitely recommended, especially for pipe smokers looking to get away from the current batch of goopy aromatics out there.

5 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	FudloeZ (3)	2020-08-21		Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

Found it!! The exact smoke I've been searching for! I shoulda known Der Bingle would be the fella to lead me to it!

I was an exclusive aro smoker for all of the 30 odd years I've been an on and off piper, but I recently went down the old burley road after finally giving in to the sheer pleasure Matches 860 always displayed while puffing on some Haunted Bookshop (also a new love of mine!).

I bought a tin of HB, as well as a can of Prince Albert and suddenly, the shine was knocked clean off my beloved aros. I was an instantaneous burley lover. (neigh-sayers can pipe down. You've dismissal of PA as a no-goodnick OTC, codger blend will fall on deaf ears, here. I go through at least2-4 bowls if the stuff a day, as well as a smattering of Carter Hall).

A random web search while watching "The Road to Morocco" as to the old groaner's smoke of choice led me to Crooner and the rest was history. Got 4 oz to start, waiting on a whoppin' el-bee of the stuff as we speak.

The tin note was delicious and, oddly enough, reminded me of the slightly cinnamon, earthy nut smell of a freshly opened box of raisin bran or cinnamon Life cereal. Sounds odd, I know- but also familiar, homey and as comforting as a heavy down quilt on a cold winters night.

The nutty, smokey, leathery-sweet goodness of the top-notch cube cut burley with the floral, spicy, vanilla zing of deer tongue just swept me away as soon as I lit the first bowl.

The cube cut makes for a lot of expansion upon lighting, so keep it in mind to fill the bowl on the low side. I've read that some folks simply gravity feed and lightly tamp, but I did my usual three-step fill and it worked like a charm.

A char light, a gentle tamp and a light and it burned cool, creamy, long, dry and slow, requiring little maintenance and only one re-light. It burned to the bottom and left a fine, white ash.

I hear tell of ghosting, but none that couldn't be rectified by a full bowl of PA.

It's a bu bu bu beauty!

Pipe Used: Savinelli 673 Molina Zebrano114 Peterson Aran

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: Pipes and cigars

Similar Blends: Nothing else I've ever tasted..

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Der Pfeifenraucher (71)	2019-06-30		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

Im a Burley man. Im a Bing man. and now Im a Crooner man. This stuff is good. It's a little difficult to smoke because it burns so damn slow but it is worth the effort for sure. Something worth mentioning is that the pouch note is the best smell I have ever experienced in anything. I took the pouch out of my tobacco cabinet and put it on the bookshelf just to make my pipe corner smell amazing. I swear C and D needs to make a cologne out of this stuff.

It wouldn't hurt to mix in a little burley ribbon cut to speed up the burn.

Pipe Used: my little meer.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	DC MacBean (32)	2019-03-22		Medium to Strong	Mild	Medium to Full	Very Strong

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.

Purchased From: Smokingpipes.com

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	HeavyMetalPiper (64)	2018-05-31		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

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:

Pipe Used: Missouri Meerschaum Bent Diplomat Apple

Age When Smoked: 2 Months

Purchased From: Smoking Pipes

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	puss n' pipes (27)	2016-07-31		Mild to Medium	Medium	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

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.

Pipe Used: Butz choquin, Meerschaum calabash

Age When Smoked: fresh

Purchased From: Smoking pipes

Similar Blends: There is nothing similar to this.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	William H. Hardy (95)	2016-07-11		Strong	Mild to Medium	Full	Strong

This is definitely an interesting blend. Simple, but that's always welcome. Crooner, at first puff, strikes you with the deer tongue. It's just something that I have never had before, and it was the first thing that I noticed. Vanilla-like? Maybe, but I would describe it more herbal or vegetal. Someone described deer tongue as minty. Minty? Sure, I can see where you would get that. But it's reminiscent the actual mint herb, than actually "minty." After several puffs, it seems to settle down and meld into the cube cut burley, which is, to my tastes, absolutely top-notch.

I do like burley and have liked and loved several of the C&D blends that contain it, especially Bob Runowski's recreations of old Golden Age tobaccos. This is no different. It's richly flavored and quite strong. You do have to be careful with it, however, as the cubes can pop out of your pipe during the burn and scorch your arm or destroy your clothes. The burley is fantastic, though. I'd be hard pressed to find better.

All in all, I enjoyed Crooner a great deal. It's something a little different and completely satisfies. My wife said that the room note (Porch note, really) reminded her of flea powder, so tread lightly. This one won't gain you any friends in that respect, but it's definitely worth a try. I will re-order it when I run out, more than likely. Now, I want to order some of C&D's straight cube cut burley and see how it strikes me.

Pipe Used: Custom-Bilt Pot

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: Smokingpipes.com

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	TallPuffO'Burley (632)	2016-02-16		Strong	None Detected	Full	Strong

Happy am I to be finished with the four ounces of crooner I bought nearly four years ago. My thoughts on this blend is that it is disgusting. My only joy from possessing this was from the reactions of the several people to whom I sent small samples over time. All of whom, despised it as I did.

To me this smells like burning hair on light up. If you get a nice slow tempo, you may get a hint of vanilla, with perhaps a mint undertone. When you have finished the bowl, you will have a mustache note of burnt plastic to follow you around.

Yes, it is that disgusting, but there are a few souls who like it. I have told you the bad, so I guess I will go into the good. It is primarily a cube cut, which is always a pleasurable cut to me. They burn nice and are a no brainer to pack. It is more of a pour it in the bowl til it is full and go to town.

The cube cut portion is burley and the burley is made by C&D. C&D does burley well and if you get all the green flakes out of it, I am sure that this would be a nice nutty smoke. Also, the burley is heavily packed with Vitamin N, so if the deer tongue doesn't make you heave, perhaps the nicotine overdose may.

I had one good bowl of this over the four years. I believe it just happened by luck that I had a bowl with very little of the green flakes (by the way, the green flakes are the deertongue), and it was with this bowl that I did get the vanilla type taste that some people rave about.

My thoughts on this blend is that it just has too much of the deer tongue in it. Unfortunately this is my only experience with Deer tongue, so I can not validate this belief. I am giving this two stars as I somewhat recommend it for someone if they want to know what Deer tongue tastes like. To that person, I would recommend ordering the smallest quantity possible. Better yet, find someone like me to send you a sample or go to a pipe show and ask Chris Tarler to give you a small sample.

When I do get around to trying another blend with deer tongue, this will drop to one star if I find I like the latter better than Crooner.

Similar Blends: Burning hair, with undertones of burnt plastic and rubber..

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Haebar (52)	2015-06-05		Medium	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

I purchased an ounce of this to try out deer tongue as a tobacco additive. This was only my first bowl of Crooner but it won't be my last. After smoking two cigars last night, I started smoking a bowl of this. So, my palate was somewhat tainted to start with. Looking at the bag, I could see the green flecks of deer tongue but I couldn't smell them standing out above the rest of the blend. Upon the initial light, the taste was not unpleasant but was alienating: I was detecting the non-tobacco ingredient, deer tongue. Not sure how to describe the taste but it was not a typical bowl of tobacco taste, but still not unpleasant. I puffed on it for about 5 minutes and put it down, letting it go out. Considering that my taste was addled after smoking the two cigars, I decided to give it another shot the next day. This afternoon I fired up the same bowl of tobacco and was met with a very pleasant smoke! It was full of full-bodied burley taste; the deer tongue had taken the back seat, but still had a spicy influence. The smoke reminded me of Edgeworth Ready Rubbed with a little something extra. Detected a moderate nicotine effect, but not overpowering. The pipe was hard to put down; it kept getting better the more I smoked it. Impressive in that it smoked so cool. Not a hint of a bite; I even stirred it up near the end, re-tamped, relit and it still didn't bite.

A few notes after finishing an ounce of this blend. I have smoked it in a Captain Black billiard, a Charatan second dublin, a Sunrise featherweight apple and a Lepeltier clay. The cut on this blend is fairly fine cube cut; I wonder if it's not cut too fine. It is kind of hard to keep going after about 10-15 minutes smoke time; I've experienced that with several of these pipes with this blend.

Pipe Used: Captain Black billiard, Lepeltier clay

Age When Smoked: Just purchased

Purchased From: SmokingPipes.com

Similar Blends: .

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	natibo (169)	2015-01-27		Strong	Medium to Strong	Medium	Tolerable to Strong

I have been wanting to try out this deer tongue for a while so i ordered 1oz of Crooner. Many have said that you either love it or hate it. I will have to say that's not true. I'm indifferent. It was not the horrible thing I have heard it described by many. It does have an odd tin aroma, sort of a vanilla/mint. Crooner is a strong burley blend, which I like. I think the deer tongue burns off about 3/4 way through the bowl, leaving a nice cube cut burley blend. There is a slight ghosting, but nothing a couple of bowls of an aromatic or strong latakia should not take care of.

Changing this to 3 stars. It's becoming addictive.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Ronnstein (29)	2014-09-06		Overwhelming	Medium to Strong	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

They say this is a love it or hate it blend, I am in the love it category. I really enjoy the contribution of the deertongue, slightly floral/sweet, it seems to lighten up what could be a heavier cubecut burley blend. More enjoyed in a cob than briars myself, I seemed to get a lot of condensation when smoked in a briar, which is unfortunate because I got a Hilson panel pipe because I was inspired by Bing's panel pipe in the movie Holiday Inn. I have since found that this blend smokes very well in a briar widetop bowl. At least give it a try, if the deertongue is too much for you then maybe try diluting it with some other cubecut burley such as SWR.

Update: I don't smoke this blend anymore. The nic hit is too much for me. C&D make another deer tongue blend that blows this one away...Gentleman Caller. I really like that one instead, much more flavor depth and not all that nic.

Pipe Used: Corn cob

Purchased From: P&C

Similar Blends: Nothing else.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2012-08-09		Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant

Just got this in a shipment along with some other CD blends. I am a fan of CD blends, but Crooner had never been on the list before.

What a loss. This has to be one of the finest blends I have ever had in my 10-year piping career. Not as long as some, and I can't claim to have encountered as many blends as others on this forum, but I have to say that Crooner is one of those blends that calls out "Here I am, you found me"; we recognise the flavour as something we have been searching for, but could never really describe.

Outstanding burley taste, more like Sir Walter Raleigh than the usual CD burley (dark, strong, and rather angry); slight deer tongue flavour, but not much. A kind of herbal overtone to the burley in the bag, and in the smoke, making it a slightly aromatic, but an unsweetened aromatic.

The only drawback is keeping it lit. Other than that, a superb example of what can be done with burley. I would call it the closest that CD comes to an OTC. Fantastic in every respect.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2008-04-06		Medium	Medium	Medium	Pleasant

Rumor has it a smoke shop in Philadelphia made this for Bing. Rumor also has it that the original Tinder Box in Santa Monica blended it as well. I had the pleasure of talking to Ed Kolpin who is the founder of the Tinder Box and we talked about Bing a bit. Ed carved over -14- pipes for Bing. Ed claimed that Bing also liked Ed's "Special" blend. Bing lived close to the store and frequented it oten. The Santa Monica store still has the original recipes. The Tinder Box chain does not. I am not hating on the Tinder Box chain but I live 20 minutes from the original store and I will take their word for it. Back to Crooner. Nice cube cut burley mixed with deer tongue. That's it. Nothing more nothing less. I smoke it in my Savinelli Bings favorite pipes, Wilmer Bel Air and an original pipe carved by Ed that was carved for Bing, but Bing passed on in 1977 and never picked the pipe up. Smokes cool in the Crosby shape pipe with the longer stem. Sometimes I mix with BCA for a sweeter taste in my Meerschaums. I am a proud member of the ICC ( International Crosby Circle ), so I am a little biased to this blend. On the other hand I have always enjoyed rough cut burley. Keep in mind when you smoke this blend it is a pant burner!! Smoke slow and enjoy. A little Bing Crosby music in the background helps out as well!

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2006-12-21		Mild	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

Absolute uniqueness. Tasty, naturally sweet, hints of vanilla and a far departure, most likely, from anything you've smoked. Pick up a sample at Tinderbox or from C&D if you're feeling frisky. My first impression was "how bizarre" but in an interested way. The only negative is that it is sometimes difficult to get burning; once it's lit, it will stay lit.

As to the diaphoretic nonsense, if you're a "tobacco purist" don't waste your time trying it. Duh! Unless you plan on filling your cookie jar with this and eating it by the pound while watching the latest edition of "Internet Arguments Gone Bad," you and your hydration should remain just fine.

http://www.scienceviews.com/plants/vanillaleaf.html

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	pxi106 (18)	2003-02-23		Mild to Medium	Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Over the last couple of weeks this has become my staple "after breakfast pipe." It's not so much a matter of like, dislke so much as fascination.

I like cube cut burley. The addition of the deer tongue to my palate is in all actuality very subtle; one doesn't so much get slapped in the face by the flavor as notice a shading of a vanilla-cinnamon-like taste.

In addition, this is one of the few tobaccos I have ever found that smells exactly like it tastes. The room note is actually discernable to the smoker.

I would suggest picking up an ounce if the opportunity presents itself. If nothing else, I'm sure you will find it one of the most interesting smokes you have ever had.

4 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	LiterarySmoker (143)	2020-10-14		Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I finally ordered some Crooner after hearing so much about it from the folks saying that it was Bing Crosby's favorite to the fact that it has Deer Tongue in it. Being curious as to what Deer Tongue was I searched through the mighty Wikipedia and found that was a sort of lettuce that was commonly sought for it's vanilla-like flavor, especially for old timey sorts of tobacco blends. I also saw that it had been banned in several places due to its coumarin content. For those of us who enjoy things like traditional Bison Grass vodka or Zubrowka as it's called in Poland and traditional Absinthe, we know all too well the US policy on policing things like coumarin that are more that safe for the average consumer.

Anyways to the meat of the review. When I first opened my bag of Crooner I immediately noticed the wonderful nutty aroma of a good Burley Blend, but this one has a bit more, there is a herbal, vanilla sweetness which must be coming from the deertongue. The cut is a nice cube cut and it loads very easily into the pipe, I don't even use a tamper half of the time. It lights really well and tends to be slow burning. In fact, it keeps it's light so well, that I have smoked a whole bowl in my MacArthur cobb without relighting once and it burned down to a fine white ash.

The smoke comes off in thick white clouds, and is very ample. I taste a very well rounded burley, very nutty, woodsy, and slightly herbal. The deertongue isn't as strong of a flavor as I thought it would be, but it's definitely there. It adds a sweetness, and a light vanilla aroma which is very pleasant. It smells very much like a burley when lit with the added sweetness. I find the taste a solid medium, and your vitamin N is not overpowering, but it's also a fair medium.

This might make a good introduction to burleys, but I do warn that it should be smoked in a cob or a pipe that doesn't ghost easily. All in all a good smoke and I wouldn't be against getting some more for my shelf.

Pipe Used: MacArthur Cob

Age When Smoked: New

Purchased From: Smokingpipes.com

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Capt (339)	2020-08-01		Medium to Strong	Medium	Medium to Full	Strong

After reading my good friend Eric's (TallPuffO'Burley) review I was scared. lol

The pouch aroma was that of most OTC/Codger/drugstore burley blends. The green pieces of deer tongue are quite evident in this blend, and the are dispersed fairly evenly.

Initial lighting has the punch and dryness of a burley. Its harsh and acrid to me, and extremely spicy. It almost has a SG 1792 Flake aroma (which I very much enjoy that), but that's with small, tiny sips. you puff this, and here comes the burnt hair aroma Eric talked about. Leaves a weird feeling and taste on the palate. This just isn't in my wheelhouse. Sorry C&D!

Pipe Used: Rigoletto squat tomato

Age When Smoked: fresh

Purchased From: pipesandcigars.com

Similar Blends: Burnt hair and cardboard.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Lobo (8)	2020-05-13		Mild to Medium	Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

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.

Pipe Used: Falcon, and bent Rhodesian

Age When Smoked: From the bulk bin.........???

Purchased From: Local B&M

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	DrumsAndBeer (217)	2017-07-06		Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

From a curiosity stand point, Crooner is a blend that I absolutely had to try. Afterall, it does afford an opportunity to smoke a blend containing real deer tongue. The finely cubed burley is rich, earthy and mildly nutty, while the deer tongue adds a sweet/herbal quality to the smoke. Crooner has a pretty good kick to it and I'd rate both the nicotine and tobacco flavor strength as a firm medium, with nicotine pushing toward strong.

Altogether, I discovered that I enjoy the flavor of deer tongue but I don't care for Crooner all that much. This blend tastes fantastic for the first 10-15 minutes but after that it tends to burn hot and the good flavor turns bitter. Sure, I could use the old high-maintenance method of light, 5-6 gentle sips, set the pipe down, wait a few minutes and repeat. But if I sit down to smoke a pipe, I want to actually have a "smoke". At my regular cadence, which to begin with is already pretty darn slow, there just isn't a lot I can do to keep this tobacco from overheating. Perhaps this blend would be better suited for much cooler weather.

Frankly I just don't have a lot of time for feathering fussy tobaccos, and for the most part burleys should be easy. The silver lining is that Crooner can be purchased in bulk by the ounce and it's cheaply priced. So for me, giving it at least a 1 ounce try was a no-brainer.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	PhantomWolf (41)	2017-04-13		Medium to Strong	Very Mild	Mild	Tolerable to Strong

Very finely chopped. Mine is considerably darker than the picture shown-Mostly dark brown/black with the tan and green bits of the Deer Tongue. The aroma was that of basic tobacco with an herbal note. If I breath deeply enough, I can just get a sniff of the liquor topping. Basic burly flavour. Tasting notes ranging from cigarettes to fig to dry grass or hay. The minty note many reviews speak of comes across as an herbal note to me- Almost Identical to the smell of an arts and crafts store grandma used to drag me to as a boy, with it's strong aroma of Potpourri and dried, lacquered grass. I only smoked this pipe half-way down. Strong nicotine with little flavour and an appalling aftertaste to match the room note. The first pipe tobacco I've had that genuinely repulses me. I will be tossing out the rest of the bag, as I can not imagine wanting this blend again. I get that it is a specific taste that appeals to some, so no offense to those who enjoy this blend, but it is not for me.

Pipe Used: Missouri Meerschaum, Corn Cob-Straight

Age When Smoked: Fresh, air-dried for 20 mins prior to packing.

Purchased From: Allegheny Smokeworks Pittsburgh, PA

Similar Blends: Hopefully none.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	SteelCowboy (685)	2016-04-16		Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

The only blend containing Deer Tongue that I have smoked with any regularity was Russ Ouellette’s (H&H) Old Tartan. I enjoyed it because of its perfect use of Deer Tongue to offer up a mild vanilla-like flavor. The old saying that “anything worth doing is worth overdoing.” In the case of Deer Tongue, it isn’t. My bag of Crooner was fairly ground up and I needed to be careful not to get tobacco caught in the draft hole. The larger pieces were of Deer Tongue, not a good sign. Rather than using it to offer up a nice vanilla undertone, here Crooner uses it front and center. Like Perique, IMHO, it should be mainly used on a condimental basis. The Deer Tongue simply overpowers this blend. When first looking at the reviews of this, I was a bit miffed at the number of reviewers that rated this as “strong.” It isn’t a strong blend at all nicotine-wise, so I assume it is a result of the overpowering flavor. I also assume that the added Deer Tongue is what has caused many to say that there is a strong flavoring. If it’s topped at all, it is done very lightly. I like Deer Tongue, but I didn’t enjoy Crooner because there is simply too much of it. I seldom give one star reviews because I think most tobaccos have at least some redeeming quality and I think this blend will appeal to absolute Deer Tongue aficionados. I guess I’m not one of them.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Briar & Bit (1)	2014-12-09		Mild	Mild	Mild	Pleasant

Yep, watched White Christmas, treated myself to this blend and a Savinelli Bing.

First, let's baseline: I tried Crooner in a brand-new "bargain" bent briar (not the Savinelli). I am an occasional/pastime aromatic pipe smoker. Once in a great while I also enjoy Full Virginia Flake in the bowl but always go back to the aromatics, probably due to my infrequency with the briar overall. More frequently I enjoy medium-full premium cigars (unflavored) and imbibe in these more frequently than the pipe.

I have to enjoy a few more bowls of this blend and intend to update this review, but wanted to give some initial impressions now, since it is T'is the season and I hope this review might help others to decide.

Firstly, I did not find this blend to be "out of bounds" as it may pertain to the spectrum of aromatic blends in general. So despite some of the emphatic reviews for and against, don't let those scare you off. The 8 oz (bulk-bagged) I ordered and received did strike me as "Grape Nuts" like in texture as others have noted. My initial thought was that the tobacco seemed drier that it should be. Loaded the bowl via dipping the briar into the blend and then tamping to 3/4 full. I had no issue keeping the bowl lit through the first 2/3 or more of the bowl. In fact, after tamping down the char-light, it remained lit. The tabac burned nicely and evenly requiring more tending in the last 1/3 of the bowl. Ash is black.

Room Note: Significant other and son rate the room note pleasant and very similar to blends they have smelled before, nothing exotic or different yet at the same time they paused and mentioned that they found it interesting. Room note was warm and rich, honey-like, very nice.

Taste: I did not feel the deertongue produced any significant taste (or room note), but would have to compare a similar blend of burleys that does not have it in order to indicate what it adds/detracts from the taste, enjoyment or room note. Those keeping cadence with their briar and routine blends will no doubt be able to elaborate on this nuance. Having been away for a while, I will not opine on herbal/vanilla/flora/spice notes. I found the flavor to be pleasant, enjoyable, nothing especially remarkable either in favor or against. I could sense the nicotine kicking in during the last 1/3 of the bowl, but this could of been due to smoking it a touch too fast at the end as I was outside and the temperature was dropping from the 20's to the teens! Still, I don't remember an aromatic doing this to me before, even if I had to "hurry it along" (rather than stop and empty).

Until further update: Don't let the ranging love-hate reviews dissuade you from trying a few ounces. My bet is if you are an aromatic blend smoker, you will not dislike this. The question is, how much will you like it.

Pipe Used: Brand new bent briar.

Age When Smoked: 3 days after receiving order.

Purchased From: PipesandCigars.com

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Laserboy (16)	2014-11-19		Strong	Medium to Strong	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

What an odd blend this is! It's very straightforward: Just little nuggets of burley with flecks of green leaf (the Deertongue) scattered throughout. Very simple in appearance. The smell of the mixture is lovely, with the very clean burley aroma mixing nicely with the vanilla-like scent of the deertongue. I doubt very highly there is any topping on this blend and if there is any sweetness added to the burley, I don't detect it. A very pure, "natural" blend.

Crooner packs easily--almost too easily, in fact, as I've found that any compression might be sufficient to make it too dense to burn well. Just pour it into the pipe and give it the slightest press to make sure everything is seated. Even so, it burns very slowly and can go out easily, which I have found makes it a bit of a frustration to smoke.

But the ultimate test is the smoke itself. And the smoke of Crooner is delicious and complex, but odd. Certainly the burley is at the fore of the flavor--nutty and a bit bitter, the classic burley flavor. Intermixed with this is the herbal, slightly sweet flavor of the deertongue which is definitely _not_ vanilla but certainly is reminiscent of vanilla. The deertongue flavor plays with the burley flavor in a way that is unlike any other blend I have tried. I believe that a big component of this is that the flavor of the smoke keeps changing as larger or smaller bits of deertongu burn. The flavors are not "wedded" as they would be with other types of "seasonings." I think this is not something that aging would change. So the smoking experience changes from puff to puff. The smoke is cool with no risk of bite (doubtless due to the low sugar content as well as to the slow burning inherent with the cubed burley). I find Crooner to be a pleasant smoker, overall, but I find myself wanting more "mouthy" smoke. This isn't a blend that fills the mouth. The smoke is flavorful but "wispy."

Crooner is some potent stuff. That burley doesn't hold back on the nicotine! Also, deertongue is a medicinal herb (trilisa odoratissima) that contains coumarin, a chemical used as an anticoagulant as well as for several other applications. Whether there is enough coumarin in a pipeful of Crooner to have any physiological impact I do not know. When smoking Crooner, I've often wondered if some of the effects I've felt are due to the coumarin, but this is sheer speculation--there's a thesis topic in there for some grad student, I'm sure! But, whether due to plain ol' nicotine or something else, it is a fact that Crooner packs a bit of a punch.

All in all, crooner is an interesting and worthwhile blend to try. I wouldn't regard this as a go-to, for me, by any means. But I like keeping some in-hand and go through a couple of ounces each year. Give it a shot.

Similar Blends: Hearth & Home - Capitol Stairs (Signature Series).

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Figsx2 (1)	2014-10-14		Strong	Mild to Medium	Overwhelming	Overwhelming

I saw some good reviews of this tobacco so I thought I would give it a try. Definitely not to my liking. Didn't pack in the bowl well (maybe was a bit dry) and needed multiple lights. From the first few puffs on I knew this was not for me. Harsh taste and bad smell. Threw out quite a bit as for me was un-smokable.

Pipe Used: Savinelli and Peterson's

Purchased From: smokingpipes.com

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	August (4)	2014-02-08		Mild	Medium to Strong	Mild	Pleasant

I bought this on whim and enjoyed but I don't think it will ever be a favorite, more of a pleasent novelty. The flavor that the deer tongue imparts is quite fresh and rather 'grassy', but definitely not a tobacco flavor. Packing and lighting the cube cute is a learning experience. How you like it will depend on how you approach pipe smoking in general. If it is an adventure that you want to explore thoroughly, by all means get ahold of a couple of ounces. Are you searching for a certain something in tobacco and are on a constent quest for the finest of that something, I would say borrow a bowlful from that other guy.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2014-01-22		Medium to Strong	Medium to Strong	Very Full	Very Pleasant

Crooner is hands down my go to smoke. It manages to please my need for a strong, bold, flavorful blend while still being pleasant for those in the room with me. The burley is typical of C&D. Bold, strong and full of nutty goodness. As everyone says, C&D knows their burley. The deer tongue however is what makes this a love or hate blend. Its supposed to have a vanilla/mint flavor to it but I pick up more of a floral note. Those looking for a vanilla/mint note usually end up hating it. I however was pleasantly surprised by the unique flavor of deer tongue. Crooner is now a daily smoke for me. Every afternoon after lunch. Those who hate it will hate it but i for one love me some crooner.

Pipe Used: Savanelli Bing's Favorite.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	JohnnyMcPiperson (119)	2011-03-11		Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant

I very much enjoyed this one, again only had a small sample of it, but it was a fascinating blend none the less. I love the herbal flavors imparted from the deer tongue, I've never smoked anything like it and the smell wafting from the small baggy I had was just fascinating to behold from a tobacco, it kind of beckons you to try it. I'll definitely be purchasing a tin at some point.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2010-11-07		Mild to Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

Good stuff. Not a daily blend but it's good enough to keep around. The cube cut is new to me and I have trouble packing it properly and keeping it lit but I think that's more my inexperience than the tobacco.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	wintermute (90)	2010-07-11		Mild	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

I love old time radio and the like, so I had to try this. The cut is cubed and reminds me of Grape Nuts Cereal. There is a slight mint smell when first opened, but that soon goes away. The stuff packs easily, but you do have to know how to pack this kind of tobacco. I recommend light on the bottom and tamped more heavily on top. The light must be thorough and some time must be taken to get it to burn properly. All of us cube cut fans soon learn to work with this style. The flavor is of a medium Burley with just a hint of Virginia. Then, as you might guess, there is the taste of Deer Tongue. Deer Tongue provides the "mint" flavor. This is mint not menthol. And, that flavor stays pretty well balanced with the Burley. The mint flavor puts me more in mind of the mint plant that you might grow near your outdoor water hydrant. That's the overall smell and taste in the pipe. It is kind of grassy and with the deeper wood of Burley goodness. The flavor stays the same down to the last puff. This tobacco is perfect for a Summer day. I am reminded a lot of Carter Hall. Well, if Carter Hall wasn't so fruity and had more taste, it would be real close. This stuff is not an every day smoke, but it is interesting without being complex and goes really well with iced tea rather than coffee. I think that Bing would have been pleased to see his favorite blend still making the rounds. For me, my choice is still Prince Albert for a nice general smoke.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Sparks (7)	2009-10-06		Medium	Mild	Medium	Pleasant

When I first tried this blend I had illusions of grandeur. I was excited about smoking the blend of the great Bing Crosby. Those illusions and the fact that this is a Burley are what got to me to not give up on this blend right out of the gate.

From the package, these little cubes were quite moist. You could just feel it rubbing them between your fingers. I hoped for the best, gravity fed the bowl and fired up. It is a difficult blend to keep lit. I would imagine with some drying time it would burn better, however, I would worry about the heat and the burn rate if it dried out to where it needed to be.

The flavor is great, when you can keep it lit to get the flavor. I enjoyed the Deer Tongue, and the Burley was rich and nutty. Great combination IMO.

In general, not a bad blend, however the the difficulty keeping it lit makes it more troublesome than it is worth. Nice for a change of pace, but not an everyday. 2 stars is the best I can do.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	pipe pirate (6)	2009-07-17		Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant

There are pros and cons to this tobacco.First the pros,good tasting due to the deer tongue and the aroma brought me compliments.Now the cons,smoking this is rather tricky,it's difficult to keep lit unless you take more frequent drags off of, therefore making the pipe rather hot.I asked my local tobacconist and he thinks it's the way it is cut that is making it a tough smoke.This tobacco can attack the tongue if not smoked easy.I still like this stuff and hope to get better at smoking it.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2009-07-13		Mild to Medium	Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

I have been smoking crooner for a few weeks now,and it has became one of my #1 go to tobaccos.I absolutely love it.The taste reminds me of granola bars and licorice.It does take a few more relights but isnt that bad after a little practice.I just gravity fill and smoke.I dont even tamp this one.The deertongue really stands out through the first half bowl.Then the sweet,nuttiness of the burleys sneak up on you.This is a great way to experience a flavorfull tobacco without having to smoke low-grade simple aromatics.This is one that I cant do without.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	½ bowl (103)	2008-11-22		Mild	None Detected	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

Crooner has an ineffable taste that is at once spicy, toasty, nutty, musty and dark. Further, it leans toward the bitter, the sweet, the soapy, and the incense-like, without really being any of those things. All of that, and yet there is no symphony, no chord of notes -- just a monotone with outré harmonics. Whatever it is, the taste seems unified, integrated, balanced. Weird description, I know. But its a weird tobacco.

For me this tobacco is as difficult to smoke as it is to describe. I struggled mightily in keeping the hard little nuggets of tobacco lit. They look like dessicated mouse pellets (IYKWIM). I finally got great results by mixing in some plain Burley which improved the burn without shifting the taste too much. Still yummy. I also found that a large diameter bowl opened up the taste to good effect (a whopping 24mm ¼-bent bulldog). Hopefully I'll find some Maryland tobacco to blend into this stuff to improve the burn. This sounds like a lot of effort to put into a smoke, but I like this stuff well enough to jump through a few hoops.

Though I would normally rate this at 3 stars based on taste, I'm giving it 2 stars because of the PITA factor.

P.S. I rated the "Flavoring" category as "None Detected" to suggest that I couldn't taste any casing sauce. But technically, I guess deertongue is a top dressing, albeit a dry, natural one; and you can certainly detect it here.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2008-05-04		Mild	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I will start by stating that in the past I have not been a big fan of burley blends. I decided to try again mostly on the reviews found here. I'm glad I did.

This is a strange blend. The burley is like BB's. Packing this blend is in a word.....ODD. I'm never sure if it is packed, or not. I gravity fill the bowl, and the pack tightly. It seems to resist over packing. It lights with a couple of lights, and burns nicely. The flavor is quite sweet, and the deer tongue can be detected. This blend will most likely not be in my daily rotation, but I will keep some around for the times I want to take a detour from the Virginia hiways that I so love. Rate *

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2007-06-03		Mild to Medium	Medium to Strong	Very Full	Tolerable

I have been smoking Crooner now for more than a week. I must say that I enjoy it very much. The Deer Tongue is ever present. The burley is top drawer.

But, it will be an acquired taste for newbies, and old-timers should get a kick out of the burley. English blend lovers will find this a pleasant diversion. I will definitely order this again from C&D. Craig Tarler is a genius and his burley is the finest in the land. Bar none. Nuff said.

Four stars from the Tennbard!

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2007-04-25		Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Very Pleasant

This is a cube cut Burley with deer tongue. Smells good in the bag and has a wonderful room note.

I enjoy the flavor of this blend. It has the nuttiness of the burley and the deer tongue gives it a snappy, peppery taste. An unusual but intriguing flavor, on top of a solid burley base.

I smoked a pound of this stuff, and my only complaints are that it is difficult to pack and keep lit. The cube cut is hard and brittle, and prone to a lot of dust and waste in the bottom.

Flavor and smell - excellent. Packing, lighting and managing -- no fun.

A nice burley if you can tolerate the hassle associated with it. Edgeworth is a better burley cut, and with a little deer tongue would give it Crooner a run for its money.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2007-04-07		Mild to Medium	Medium to Strong	Medium	Pleasant

The phrase 'occasional treat' describes my usage as well. Am enjoying some in a Pete System right now. It's a real throwback to childhood, as a dear family friend (we'll call him Mr. I.) smoked something like this. It had deer tongue, for sure.

A few other thoughts:

The quality of the burley seems quite good.

The pouch aroma will pervade a room in minutes.

Smokes cool, except at the very bottom of the bowl.

Does not seem to linger in the pipe after smoking. But you may want to dedicate a 'yard pipe' to Crooner, at least initially.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2006-06-18		Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

I was a little surprised. Never having tried Deer tongue- I felt it was time. Besides how can the man that defines X-mas for me every year steer me astray? Cubed burley and deer tongue. Its simnple and tasty- But one does need caution. It comes across to me as a nice nutty, Vanila/saspirilla/ I don't know what, but its sure darn familiar tase. My wife likes the room note, which is that similar yet can't put your finger on it taste. It mild in Nic. and taste- so its pretty no nonsense. I liked it. So why my word of care? A friend went on to smoke bowl after bowl- being a die hard puffer....and I believe the medicinal effects came into play. Evidently- Deer tongue promotes sweating and alledges to promote clearing on the mucus membranes- I think he had the reverse effect and got a sore throat....So use a bit of caution. I had no ill effects at all- and go recomend it.... :)

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2006-06-18		Medium	Medium to Strong	Full	Pleasant

Thanks Talon ol' Friend!! Yeah, very weird thing, overnight after smoking this, My voice aged 30 years. it took 3 days just to enjoy old Joe again. As Talon explained below - Great smoke - but each person's chemical make up may be different. I do not know if it is possible to be allergic to Deer Tongue but I have unfortunately stay away. TOO BAD though this would have one of the "iching" smokes I was looking for in the never ending journey through Arcadia.

I highly recommend this. Good Cubed Burley, great unique smell and taste, perfect NIC HIT. A nostalgic smoke. If you do start a scratchiness in the back of the throat or in the nose - stop smoking it immediatley.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Ronnie (2)	2005-08-13		Medium	Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

Hey, if it was good enough for Bing, I gotta see what he saw in it. Being cube-cut burley, packing is a no-brainer...gravity feed, and tamp it down a little. My 4oz bag arrived fairly moist. Rather than wait and dry it out, I filled up and lit it right up. The deer tongue, as has been described are little green threads sprinkled throughout the burley. There didn't look like much of it, but they do come through in the smoking. I did note that there was a grassy note to it too, but that description doesn't really do it justice. It adds a unique flavor and body to the burley which I enjoyed. It won't be a daily smoke for me, but I don't have a blend that is. I have decided to dedicate a Bing-style Wilmer to this blend though, and will come back to it with some regularity. This stuff is off the beaten path, but it is unique, and I did not find it over the top or offensive in any way. If you were looking to try something "different" but not weird, I would be comfortable recommending this.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Mr. Dottle (162)	2005-02-25		Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I have seen and smoked cubed burley and blends containing cubed burley but never have I come across a blend such as Crooner where the cubed burley is 3 to 4 times the size I was accustomed to seeing and smoking. The burley cubes in Crooner are HUGE comparatively speaking. As a consequence, you may find frequent relights are necessary no matter how you pack it. It may be advisable to make smaller cubes using a food chopper or nut chopper.

Regarding the deer tongue, it is light green in color and visually present and interspersed throughout the cubes. The deer tongue is at the forefront at all times and it presents a very unusual but not a disagreeable taste that I would call musky and mildly herbal. This taste is not reminiscent of any other tobacco I have smoked. If you are inquisitive, you will just have to find out for yourself what this deer tongue is all about. I think the Indians smoked this stuff. If the cubes were smaller, I think I might smoke it more often. But all in all, it really is not a bad smoke. It is mild with no bite and just a heck of a lot different.

A cigarette is to be smoked. A cigar is to be enjoyed. A pipe is to be savored.

I rate this tobacco 7.9 out of 10.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2005-01-07		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

Being a dedicated phile of all things odd - I had to try this herbally based burley blend that has received so much...attention.

The odor in the one ounce sample dominated the box of my last C+D order. The scent carried strange nostalgia of the tobaccos my grandfather smoked... I am sure he smoked half and half - and other popular burley blends, but I now wonder if he had ever dabbled in deer tongue mixtures.

The pouch aroma is exceptionally pleasant, light and floral. Not in the lakeland tobacco way, but in the same sense as a grassy summer field.

This was by far one of the strangest tobaccos I've ever rubbed out - sticky clumps that seemed almost seed like. The green leaves emitting their vanilla aroma. Quite a bit of moisture and a number of relights necessary to get going. I suspect this sample will do well with some drying and aging.

Upon lighting and smoking - there is distinct nose of anise, vanilla, basil, and evergreen. This balances out to a fairly straightforward smoke with only hints of the herb coming through. I've never smoked straight burley, and will have to do so to determine whether or not the deer tongue "ruins" the burley taste and aroma.

Perhaps it is my inheritence of "generation X", but I seem to be among the dissenting number that much prefer Bing's choice of tobacco to his music.

While likely not something I'll smoke every day - this provides an interesting and naturally aromatic smoke that I'll more than likely return to in the future. 4 stars for daring.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2003-11-06		Medium	Very Mild	Mild	Very Pleasant

I've smoked a pound and a half of this stuff since 2000 or so and it's okay but nothing super. The first pound I bought from C&D was excellent. The burleys were top notch and there were plenty of green flakes all through the blend. The second pound was only similar in the list of ingredients. The Burley was very wet and sort of clumped together in lumps instead of a cube cut. The proportion of deer tongue might have changed too, because it was harder to see it. At this time, C&D announced they had to find another distributor for some of their Burleys and this blend came from that batch. It wasn't the same blend as the first pound and I hadn't bought anymore, so I don't really know how today's blend actually is.

When good, it has perfect burning qualities, gets a little hot and bitey and has a fabulous aroma in the pouch and room. When bad, it gets really hot and bitey and the burley taste becomes just hot air that will fry every corner of your mouth. It will also turn to mold without adding any water or doing anything to it. I've still got a bunch of the second batch left over and I occasionally smoke it thinking age will help it some, so I'll give it the recommendation that I did. Otherwise, I would never buy a pound of it again until I was sure it was similar to the older stuff.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2003-10-10		Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

Open up this bag and you see tiny little cubes of burley flecked with spots of green--that's the deer's tongue. If you've smoked straight burley then you should already have a good idea of what this is like, so you're probably just wondering about the deer's tongue. It adds a sort of sharp tanginess to the smoke, but is sort of a surprise to the smoke every now and then. It's like you're eating a well-done steak, no frills, just a good steak, and then you have your fork halfway to your mouth and someone sneaks up and gives you a tiny squirt of A-1 sauce. That's one of those little flecks of deer's tongue firing off. Further down the bowl it takes on a sort of fruitiness and finishes with a not unpleasant aftertaste. This is burley, no mistake about it, and the deer's tongue keeps it interesting.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	RCUSElder (244)	2003-05-01		Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

As one who ocassionally smokes straight burley, this was a blend I had to try out. I was first given a sample of this at the last club meeting of Orange County Briar . I enjoyed it so much that the next day I purchased some from my local tobbacconist. I happen to like deer tongue and the proportion to the burley is perfect. This is a strightforward blend. The bowl starts with the hay/grassy flavor typical of burley but develops into an addicting natural nutty vanilla flavor with the deertongue adding a soapy-like flavor that I really enjoy ( yes, I know that sounds strange). While this is not an everyday smoke for me, I liken this blend to a palate cleaner that wine tasters use in between reviews. So with that said, consider this blend. It smokes relatively cool, and leaves no dottle, and is not sensitive to bowl size. Enjoy....

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2002-09-07		Mild to Medium	None Detected	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

For me this falls into the "one of those blends the adventurous pipester should try at least once" category. The burley is quite flavorful, and the deer's tongue is...well a little weird, but I like it. (Then again, I'm a little weird myself.) It has a sort of old-fashioned, outdoorsy, lost-in-the-woods herbal flavor to it (it _is_ an herb, after all) that many will find distasteful, but which I find a refreshing change of pace. Couldn't smoke it every day, though. And the deer's tongue WILL leave its taste in your pipe for a bowl or two.

If I have one complaint, it's the the burley is rock-hard. This may be in keeping with C&D's policy of dry shipping, but my attempts at rehumidification (by misting the stuff with distilled water) left the tobacco hard and sticky, not soft and fluffy as cubed burley should be. Maybe that's the way Bing liked it??

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2002-03-16		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Pleasant

I wanted to give this blend a try because of the deer tongue added to the cubed burley. This herb appears as green flecks among the light colored burley cubes. It packs easily due to the cut & should be gravity fed. It lights easily & produces a good volume of smoke. I find the deer tongue an interesting addition. It adds a grassy, vanilla, astringent tast to the first third of the bowl. After that it lightens considerably & the nutty flavor of the high quality burley takes hold. This is an interesting, enjoyable blend & I will use it to change up with my favorite cubed burley, C&D Canal Boat. If you like cubed burley you will probably like this.

3 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Gripsholm (41)	2022-01-17		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium	Very Pleasant

Cornell & Diehl's Crooner is the American version of Samuel Gawiths 1792 Flake. Cousins if you will... American vs English.

---The Condiments---

1. Crooner contains deertongue. Deertongue contains the organic compound coumarin. Coumarin is what delivers the Vanilla like essence that we experience while smoking Crooner. Deertongue is a very American old-timey condiment for pipe tobacco.

2. 1792 Flake contains tonquin bean. Tonquin Bean contains the organic compound coumarin. Coumarin is what delivers the Vanilla like essence that we experience while smoking 1792 Flake. Tonquin Bean is a very English old-timey condiment for pipe tobacco.

---The Tobaccos---

1. Cornell & Diehl's Crooner begins as a Burley plug. The Burley plug is then cut up into little cubes. Cube cut, very American. Most American blends, especially old-timey ones, are Burley based.

2. 1792 Flake begins as a Virginia plug. The Virginia plug is then sliced into flakes. Flake cut is very common in England. Most blends from England, especially old-timey ones, are Virginia based.

So there you have it. American vs English.

It seems people always want what they can't have. So consider this, If you really enjoy 1792 Flake and are having a difficult time finding it, or it's just too damn expensive, save some dough and frustration and go American! Crooner is readily available, comparably inexpensive, and a damn good tobacco too. Very old-timey...

Oh yes, Crooner also delivers a pretty decent nicotine hit, as does 1792 Flake.

Hababababooo.....

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Scrumpy (3)	2021-10-24		Medium	None Detected	Medium	Tolerable

Others’ comments about the taste, room note, and strength of this tobacco are all valid, I think.

Taste is a matter of, well, taste! Unless Crooner is just given to one blind, anyone who smokes this is gonna know it contains deer tongue. In fact, that feature (and/or its association with Bing Crosby) may be the reason a smoker might order a tin of this to try in the first place. So, yes, deer tongue features prominently in this blend, and it really must henceforth despite some suggested tweaking of the recipe over the past several years. The bottom line is if you don’t like deer tongue, you very likely won’t like Crooner. Given the hype, you might WANT to like it, but you JUST won’t. But if you like deer tongue, or even tolerate it, Crooner may be a nice fit for you.

My big complaint about Crooner is its granular texture. It’s simply hard to smoke it in many pipes because it progressively compresses as it burns. Crooner flows like fine gravel or coarse sand. But that property doesn’t leave a “normal” amount of space for airflow, when compared to ribbons. Think of trying to pour water through a tube packed with sand (Crooner) as opposed to coarse gravel (most other cuts). The result in many pipes is that it becomes a bit more of a chore to draw air through as Crooner is smoked than I think comfortable. That’s a negative in the “usability” department in my book.

One of the first pipes I tried this in was a narrow bore, but proportionally deep, cherrywood. Crooner was great at filling because it just poured in, whereas the narrowness of that bore makes me have to manhandle most other blends with that pipe. So, I thought, “Sweet! I’m finally in business with this cute little pipe.” But about 1/3 through, it became so hard to draw air through that I gave up trying and just emptied the pipe. I’ve had somewhat better results with Crooner in wider, shallower bowls, but those are generally not my go-to pipes.

Pipe Used: Various. Mostly churchwsrdens

Purchased From: Smoking pipes.com

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Dr. Dunhill 23 (39)	2021-10-08		Mild	Medium	Medium	Pleasant

The tin note is reminiscent of the outdoors in the high chaparral after a rain. There's a minty, almost sagebrush note mixed with sweetness of thistle and the bitter earthiness of dock weed. It is quite pleasant. The smoking experience brings out the same notes in a rich, creamy smoke and adds a woodsy, almost pine note and a bit of roasting nuts. This is my "Comfort food" of tobaccos and is at the top of my rotation. It's just barely north of mild in strength with a taste at the medium level. It will not bite. The room note is pleasant. This is the easiest cube cut blend to smoke I have ever tried. As far as if the "Crooner" actually smoked it or not? I couldn't care less. This baritone loves it.

Age When Smoked: > 1 year

Purchased From: Anywhere I can get it.

Similar Blends: This blend is unique..

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Rustedrailsmokes (293)	2021-03-26		Medium	Medium to Strong	Medium	Pleasant

Did Bing really smoke this?

The bag note has a floral note, reminding me slightly of lakeland style blends and their soapiness. The cut is cube cut with a mix of darker and lighter tobaccos.

I buy this in bulk. The moisture is perfect for packing. I smoke this in smaller pipes and find it easy to light.

The smoke seems to be dominated by the deertongue to my taste. There is some underlying nutty taste from the burley. It burns well. Doesn't produce tongue bite to me. I get a slight tingle in the roof of my mouth and tongue whenever I smoke it.

I find this one of those blends that I really enjoy a bowl of when I'm in the mood for it. It's not something that I'd grab regularly. I have a couple of aromatic pipes that I smoke it in due to limited ghosting.

Pipe Used: smaller princes and diplomats

Age When Smoked: 2021

Purchased From: Smokingpipes.com

Similar Blends: Cornell & Diehl - Gentleman Caller.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	RonR (85)	2017-10-22		Mild	Mild	Full	Very Strong

3rdguy

Plenty of other more qualified reviewers on this blend. I always will have this in my rotation. I did dip smokeless tobacco off/on for 15 years. Copenhagen, Skoal, Kayak, Beechnut you name it. I am stating this as I like stronger blends in flavor and taste. As in any blend I try to find it in bulk, get a few ounces, smoke it over time and then give it a judgement. Not a daily for me but a weekly since I found it. I buy it by the pound.

This blend knows what it is and delivers. Nothing subtle about it! Love it!

Pipe Used: Cobs and meers.

Age When Smoked: current production

Purchased From: Pipes & Cigars, Cup O Joes

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	arpie55 (77)	2016-12-17		Medium	Medium to Strong	Medium	Tolerable

When i received this in the mail my first impression was that it looked and smelled more like tea than tobacco, it is dry, coarse, and has that mint or herb tea smell to it- interesting. For a day or two as sat on the table i would catch a wiff of the interesting aroma of the blend and think about loading up my Bing's Favorite and giving it a try, today i did, i was thoroughly disappointed. The unlit air draw blend is flavorful and reminds you of walking into a B&M pipe shop and basking in the air of all of the tobacco blends that have melded over time. Then the lit, you are hit with a harsh sinus stinging wave of smoke that truely makes you ask yourself who in their right mind would smoke this by choice? By the time i was 1/3 in on the bowl i was experiencing what felt like a heavy gas bubble in my chest and throat and decided that enough was enough. Don't know if my react was due to the Deertongue or some other added component of the blend but i can tell you that this will not go in my rotation and that it will likely just sit in my pipe room for the aroma as tobacxo potpourri.

Pipe Used: Savinelli Bing's Favorite

Age When Smoked: Fresh

Purchased From: Tobaccopipes.com

Similar Blends: Many heavily cased Burley blends (i.e. Edward's Tobacco Blends).

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	colonel jpl (25)	2015-11-26		Mild	Medium	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable

I am a big fan of gentlemen caller because of the deer tongue, crooner has more of a whiskey taste and nose to me. It burns wetter and packs tight in the pipe. Overall it reminds me of Pennington blend which I like. However it was not what I expected and that left me diapointed. But if you like a burly with a whiskey taste you will like this.

Pipe Used: Tsuge

Age When Smoked: New bulk

Purchased From: Smoking pipes

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	donk93953 (29)	2015-11-21		Mild	Mild	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable

Not for me....I'm a burley smoker. Embrace the "old Codger" tobaccos. Yes, I've done the Rattray's, Dunhill's and Frogs. I like burley. Sir Walter and the Prince are my usuals. I liked the small cube cut of Crooner, but the deer tongue was not to my liking. The nuttiness seemed to be partially erased by the nuance of the deer tongue. Have one of Bing's pipe (bought it at auction years ago), but this blend will never touch it.

Pipe Used: Dunhill

Age When Smoked: Fresh

Purchased From: Pipes & Cigars

Similar Blends: uhhhhh...nothing that I can think of.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Sybariten (61)	2015-09-10		Medium to Strong	Medium to Strong	Medium to Full	Pleasant

A fantastic blend, an organic aromatic. The deer tongue adds to the flavour, bringing a natural sweetness and flower-ish character to the burley and its nuttyness. One of my favorites. Brings a bit of a kick so small bowls are the way to go.

Edit: I have been smoking this alot, can't seem to stop. This is an all day smoke to me, it works any time at any place. Bumping this up to four stars.

Pipe Used: Cobs

Age When Smoked: Fresh

Purchased From: 4noggins.com

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Theodore Moore (14)	2014-12-17		Medium	Medium	Extremely Mild (Flat)	Unnoticeable

Bing won Best Actor in '44 and was nominated for two others. His movies sold more tickets than any other actor save John Wayne and Clark Gable and his record sales have reportedly rivaled Elvis and the Beatles combined (Over half a billion sold!). Even today he remains the father image of the fabled White Christmas itself. Yet despite wanting to experience a little "Bing" at this yuletide season, I'm surprised that he could even carry a tune if this is what he really smoked! While it smells of vanilla out of the bag, it succeeds only in numbing the mouth with "raindeer" tongue. Upon lighting, it comes boiling out of the bowl like a "fizzy" before settling into a masterpiece of blandness. Sorry boys, I doubt that Bing really smoked this stuff. This either hast to be a sells gimmick, or should have been buried with the "Crooner" in 1977. (If this blend was even around back then). Truth is I'm a little sore at this tobacco company for tarnishing the good name of Bing with something that he never endorsed. Sorry to be such a humbug at this season, so I better go now and wash this cheap cigarette smell off of my hands and then re-tool by watching "White Christmas" while enjoying some really good tobacco like White Knight. Cheers!

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Punchy (19)	2009-03-23		Medium to Strong	None Detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable

Now I know why I never saw any smoke comming from Bing's pipe. I believe it is treated with a flame retardant. Grape nuts anyone? Too bad, it appears to be excellent tobacco.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2008-04-24		Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

UPDATE: The truth is in consumption. And since my initial sampling of Crooner I haven't re-ordered. It's smokeable enough and the deer tongue provides a decent change of pace from a burleyphiles normal fare but I can't say that Crooner has been or will be any more than a mood tobacco in my current rotation. Please don't misunderstand, it's not bad tobacco but just isn't something that would keep my attention.

Original Review: Got this in a sample pack from C&D. It should be noted right up front that I am a burleyphile. Especially those "pedestrian" blends that harken back to the days when pipe smoking was as much a part of being a man as shaving. All that said, the reviews of this blend were a little hard to gauge. It appeared to be one of those love it or hate it blends. Curious to see what side of the fence I was on I just had to try it. For me at least, it was something totally different. Normally a remark like that is something akin to saying a lady has a really nice personality but not so with Crooner. It was very tasty and an initial "Man, what was that!" quickly became a "Gee, that's some really good stuff." The deer tongue is conspicuous throughout the smoke but never in a mundane, predictable way. It's contributions swing wildly from an herby, earthy kind of flavor (reminding me of cedar) to a very vanilla sort of a taste (without the goop and gum normally associated with a tobacco that tastes like vanilla). All of it's incarnations seemed subtle, tastey and somewhat exotic, unlike anything I had ever smoked before. I was however, always quick to load another bowl. I didn't experience the difficulties keeping this lit that others have reported. It does however demand a fairly robust charring light. Tamp and relight and you're off. The cube cut burley was a very slow, cool burner and true to the classic burley genre, slow and steady (puffing) wins the race. Quicker, aggressive puffing resulted in slightly hotter but never bitey or bitter smoke. It burned clear to the bottom of the bowl with leaving only a clean, dry bed of white ash. Those around me reported a room note something similar to gingerbread. Crooner's niche in my rotation will probably be as the kicked up, something totally different but classic burley nonetheless blend. Burley blends are all about understated simplicity. Occassionally, I crave a bit more complexity without sacrificing everything that's great about an old school burley(smokeability, low maintenance, great taste). Crooner is the cat's pajamas in this role. This is a must try for burley lovers and a blend that could very well convert a non-believer. My lunch time smoke today was a metaphysical experience. I loaded a four digit woodie with Crooner and kicked back for an hour long smoke while reading the newspaper. Beauty says I, very well done and highly recommended.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Blackhorse (96)	2008-02-07		Medium	Mild	Medium	Tolerable

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".

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Mongo (10)	2007-03-03		Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Tolerable

Crooner could never be a regular in my rotation, but I do occasionally want a bowl of it. It's a simple tobacco with a very unique taste...it is what it is. Bing Crosby may have smoked this a lot, but for me it's an occasional treat and nothing more.

Deer tongue has a very distinctive aroma and flavor. My vocabulary skills aren't up to the task of describing it, save to say that it's "deer-tongue flavored". Generally I stay with unflavored tobaccos, excepting Mac Baren Navy Flake and Crooner.

Cubes of burley and green deer tongue; Crooner is a visually simple blend. It packs simply enough, although there's not much "packing" involved. Fill up a bow, press it down with a firm hand, and then sprinklesome slightly rubbed out Crooner on top...that's about it.

My orders of crooner have always arrived at a moisture level that's appropriate for smoking. It lights easily and rarely requires a relight. The Burley is top quality. (I have no idea what the quality of the deer tongue is as it's the only deer tongue I've ever seen. However, considering the high quality of the ingredients in every other C&D blend that I've smoked, I believe it's safe to assume that the deer tongue is high quality stuff as well.)

The nuttiness of the burly comes on first, but the deer tongue catches up quickly. The rest of the bowl shows little change for me, as the burley and deer tongue simply burn and give up nothing throughout the bowl.

This blend always smokes to a fine gray ash. The end of the bowl is little changed from the entire experience.

In the end, Crooner is a mixture of Burley and deer tongue. Nothing sophisticated, nothing challenging, no nuance to mention. The fundamental issue for any smoker will be, "Do I like the taste of deer tongue?" If you do, then this blend could easily find a place in your rotation. If not, then there's little point in ever trying a second bowl.

I smoke Crooner occasionally, but others with whom I've talked are split on their reaction to it. Some are like me, keeping it around as a nice change of pace on occasion. Others detest it, having emptied out their first and only bowl.

If you don't know whether or not deer tongue is something you'd like to try, get a sample bowl from a friend or a local shop. You'll know quickly if this is a taste for you. I have to knock my rating to 2 stars, given that many people simply detest this blend.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	TobaccoTraveler (1)	2006-11-06		Mild	Strong	Medium	Tolerable

The Burley cube cut from C&D is first rate. The Deers Tongue, Latin Name "Liatris Odoratissima", has a herbal vanilla fragrance. It is fair to note to the readers (as they have a right to know) that the Deers Tongue possesses a TOXIC white crystalline Lactone, C9H6O2, which in adequate doses, is diaphoretic (increases perspiration), is an anticoagulant(stops blood from clotting), diuretic, and antipyretic (reduces fever). The herb has medicinal properties, obviously, but as a stedfast purist, when it comes to tobacco products--I enjoy 100% tobacco. The Deers Tongue, in no way should be confused with "vanilla leaf", because there IS NO SUCH THING AS VANILLA LEAF. The Vanilla essence used to flavor and fragrance tobacco is derived from the Vanilla "bean" from the orchid flower that grows in tropical areas of the world. The essence is from an alcohol decoction of the vanilla bean. Some believe the best vanilla comes from Madagascar. Deers Tongue is different than vanilla. I really don't care what Mr. Bing Crosby smoked, nor do I wish to emulate what he did with his blending. I like my tobacco to be 100% tobacco, and the addition of Deers Tongue in a superior quality Burley from Cornell & Diehl is a pathetic adulteration of a great Burley Cube cut.

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Spike (296)	2004-09-01		Mild to Medium	Very Strong	Overwhelming	Tolerable

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!

2 people found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	JimPM (143)	2022-09-23		Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Tolerable

The word is this deer tongue ingredient happens to be one controversial additive. According to the FDA it’s really nasty stuff and candidly should be avoided at all costs. Other sources are not quite in consensus with those experts. Being a proto-typical generation Joneser, I naturally look upon any evidence of dissension with an ounce personal skepticism. As such, for me no problem indulging a pipe blend that featured the quirky substance frankly. Everything is good in moderation, right? Maybe you agree, maybe you don’t.

I will say that on the post-side of repeated smoking excursions, I was not left with an urgent compulsion to bleat or primordially grunt, let alone play a smashing game of Red Rover with a fast-moving box made of steel. Nor did I experience any adverse physical reactions to the same, all silly joking aside. As one would have it, Bing Crosby the ultimate crooner, and renown piper smoker, had a natural affinity for a custom-made blend of choice tobacco. A special mixture contrived just for him, aptly laced with a herd’s volume of this dubious deer tongued fu-fu, which brings me to my purpose …

From within Cornell & Diehl a forthright proclamation for the crafting an “exact” replica to one of Crosby’s most darling blended passions. A deed made possible from the disclosure of the original recipe from an insider to Bing’s own piping circle. For your entertainment the featured and often highly debated mixture Crooner. This melodious ensemble of tasty classic Burley and deer tongue licked tobacco professes to ring true as knelling of the bells of St. Mary’s. Truly a smokeable inspiration that would have delighted the heart of dear Father O’Malley himself some do righteously decree.

Based upon a thumbnail inspection, this medium strength recipe captures a collection of approximately 85%-90% roughly coarsened and ground cube cut Burley with a scant boon of actual yellow-white ribbon deer tongue leaves. Crooner’s pre-smoked body poses as a very gritty and grainy texturing, as the tobacco shows a heightened degree of perfected dryness. As such the packing and the ensuing burn are quite accommodating.

From the pouch the vibrant perfume of what I call lush “Indian sweetgrass” provides a delightful encounter. A rustic fully floral and honeyed essence wafts with a mocking of vanilla-like content. To me this bring images of autumn fermentation and natural aging, symbolic of the wealth and spirituality of the land. How’s that for fancy words?

Underneath this fore fronted aroma is predominantly a sharp base sourness and elderly wood emanating from the powerful Burley lying within. There is a bit of fervid zest as if Kentucky was steadfast present readied to light you up. Truthfully, Crooner’s nose is probably one of the most colorful and expressive Burleys I’ve yet to encounter to be straight with you.

Not knowing what to expect with the tasting, as I’ve heard some many tales, I was quite elated when the initial flavor registered. Although Crooner is billed as a sincere “deer tongue blend”, I didn’t necessarily experience it from that limited perspective. Granted this perceivably austere element is very notable, no question, but it has been tempered in a fairly complementing and congealed manner.

Categorically the sweetness rendered is broadly similar to vanilla but tends to be thinner and not as overly sugary. It is more dulled or respectfully contained, perhaps a better description I’m thinking. Additionally, the flavor did exhibit considerable charm in floral minty tones, pulling with it an abiding accent of refreshing bitterly spiced clove, indeed splendid. If what I sensed reflects the embodiment of deer tongue’s true features, then hey I like it man! Much character here folks.

And now speaking to the principal component, less I forget that yes, this is a Burley-based blend after all. Let me simply state that the quality of Burley presence is standard Cornell & Diehl. Given that, at least in my opinion, Burley is a specialty of this particular blender, means you connect with a wholesome and encompassing varietal profile.

Specifically, Crooner comes bundled with a strong and heady classic Burley taste that projects much machismo. If I didn’t know better, I would swear that there is DFK or Perique in this soup given the earnest spiciness of its tenor, especially on the retro hale. Mainly, that wonderful Cornell & Diehl Burley punchy gusto provides a zestful embellishment to the tobaccos tendency to be more comfortably woody. Modest attributes of creamier nuttiness do reside within the lower periphery, but Crooner does nonetheless favor the darker nuance. There is a nice level of herbal accenting, a clean shot of cooling mint, and finally earthen tart that helps to form its composite representation in general. Solidly intense and concentrated Burley flavor hands down.

Crooner produces an impressive volume of thick meaty smoke that carries a distinct air of the classic “pipey” Burley scent, deep, robust, and immodestly big within the immediate room area. Yeah, I use that cliché often because it’s so befitting, but mostly I like the way it sounds. This dark heavy essence is peppered and selectively seasoned with a dash of colorful floridness and added spice. Most likely tolerable but doubtful for those who are sensitive to expansive lingering odors.

Very simply Crooner is a fairly straight-up recipe that awards the piper with a touch of liveliness while being satisfactorily mellowing in effect. A couple of minor bumps I noted, however. There is a bit of harshness that formed at back of the throat periodically. Personally, I’ve become accustomed to the tenacity and the petty roughness of these particular Cornell & Diehl Burley strains, but just a heads up.

Even so, I experienced no real bite and would judge the nicotine effect to be placed in the middle of the road. Secondly, for being a conditionally dry mixture, it does leave a crap ton of dottle on the bottom of the bowl, and I do mean a crap ton. It felt like I was scooping out the used grinds from one of those old percolator style coffee filters in preparation of the next pot.

Honestly, Crooner was not what I expected, actually it was much more. Overall, I can see adding this blend to my Burley rotation as it provided just an edge of tantalizing difference. Not necessarily an aromatic, but it does demonstrate some of those softer features that has my own tongue wagging. It definitely trips my hardcore ”Burley Man” trigger without reserve. Maybe I’ll grab my best cob and go run the fields with the rest of the herd? Just be wise enough to avoid those pesky cars. Give it a try and see if you agree. 3.1 Pipes.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Badmedicine (51)	2022-01-27		Strong	Strong	Full	Pleasant

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.

Pipe Used: Charatan Brandy, Pipo

Age When Smoked: Fresh

Purchased From: Smoking Pipes

Similar Blends: SG 1792 Flake, but with a Midwestern drawl..

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Leaf Packer (30)	2016-11-01		Overwhelming	Extra Strong	Full	Pleasant

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.

Pipe Used: Small briars

Age When Smoked: Fresh

Purchased From: Smoking pipes

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Briar Smoker (1)	2016-10-25		Strong	Strong	Very Full	Very Strong

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.

Pipe Used: Briars

Age When Smoked: Fresh

Purchased From: Smoking pipes

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	StrongMixturesOnly (17)	2013-08-04		Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium to Full	Very Pleasant

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.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	ven (16)	2013-07-25		Medium to Strong	Medium	Medium to Full	Tolerable to Strong

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.

Purchased From: 4noggins

Similar Blends: Poop from a deer who ate a bag of mints and salsa the night before.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2011-02-05		Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Medium	Tolerable

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.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2008-12-24		Mild to Medium	Mild	Medium	Pleasant

UPDATE

the more I smoke this the less I like it. It will be a chore to finish 4 oz. Dropping rating to one star.

Any pipe smokers in Montreal got something worth swapping?

--

Well this is something unique. It resembles gunpowder green tea -- tiny balls of rolled up leaves, with the occasional dried shoot of deer tongue. Is there also deer tongue rolled into the tobacco? Where is the vanilla taste coming from? The deer tongue, or a casing?

I must say the deer has a talented tongue. It's licked me in all the right places.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2007-10-14		Medium to Strong	Very Mild	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable

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.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2007-06-15		Medium	Medium to Strong	Medium to Full	Very Pleasant

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! ================= UPDATE 6/15/17======================== 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!

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Moe (46)	2007-04-01		Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild to Medium	Pleasant

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.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2006-06-30		Mild to Medium	Very Mild	Mild to Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

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.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	huffnpuff (53)	2006-03-01		Mild	Mild to Medium	Mild	Pleasant

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.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2005-12-17		Mild	Mild	Mild	Pleasant to Tolerable

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.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2005-10-27		Medium	Extra Strong	Overwhelming	Overwhelming

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

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Beer (345)	2004-09-13		Medium	Mild to Medium	Medium	Tolerable to Strong

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.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2002-10-29		Mild to Medium	Medium to Strong	Medium	Pleasant

The other reviews give a pretty good idea about this blend. I liked the deer tongue flavoring and did not find it smelling in the pouch or after being lit as odd. Was this flavoring used in other blends? I wonder because it seems to me not that out of place. It as well as C&D #45 Trinidad burns with little effort. I felt that Trinidad was a better blend and liked it more then this... might be a better blend to try if one wated to experiment with deer tongue.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2002-08-23		Medium	Medium to Strong	Medium to Full	Overwhelming

This one will be easy. My wife hated it! .... Old Albert, a co-worker of mine (he'll smoke anything) couldn't take the tongue either. He tried picking out the green specks but that didn't help. And wound up starting his fireplace with it. As for me, I really tried to adapt but found that my pubic hairs went straight. ....... ....................................................................................................... I'm dreaming of a Whiiiite Christmasssss ...

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2002-01-31		Medium	Medium	Medium to Full	Pleasant

This is an interesting blend and worth a try just for the nostalgia of smoking Bings Blend . I've smoked it and may try it again someday , but I'll need to let the memory if it die down a bit . The deer tobgue is an odd flavor and certainly not like anything I had expected . I won't say it's bad , but it sure is different .

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Emeritus Account (30125)	2001-03-26		Medium	Medium	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable

Now here is an unusual tobacco: a C&D blend that I dislike. I'm not sure what it is about this blend that totally turns me off - perhaps the burley, of which I'm not a huge fan, or maybe the herb deer tongue that is added. Regardless, I don't plan on smoking much of this in the future, and have already gotten rid of my remaining sample pack. In the pack, this tobacco blend has a distinctive, almost herbal odor, one that I don't normally associate with tobacco. It is cube cut, light brown in color and very dry, like most C&D blends. Packing is easy ue to the cut, and it burn very easily, due no doubt to its dry condition. This is one of the only tobaccos that I was not able to finish a bowl of, so I can only comment on the first two thirds or so. The first (and only) real flavor I get from this blend on lighting is harsh; the closest thing I can think to compare it to is burning grass or leaves, though the blend by no means has their pleasant properties. It burns like tinder, sending out clouds of dry, harsh, tasteless smoke and tending to bite the mouth easily. I can't really tell if I'm tasting the deer tongue or the burley, but whatever it is, I'm not enjoying it. I finally stop partway through the bowl, unable to force myself to continue. I do not like this blend (as if you couldn't tell!), but perhaps this is just my own weird tastes; you may love it, as I've heard some people do. As far as I'm concerned, however, Bing can keep it.

1 person found this review helpful.

	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	TheOtter (61)	2023-02-15		Strong	Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant

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.

Similar Blends: Cornell & Diehl - Gentleman Caller.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Exiled Michigander (26)	2022-11-30		Mild to Medium	Medium to Strong	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I wanted to try a deer tongue tobacco, so I gave this a go. I wasn't put off by the deer tongue as much as others, but I don't think I'd buy another tin. The deer tongue adds a menthol herbacity--somewhat like the taste of Fernet Branca. Not horrible, but not really what I'm looking for in a tobacco.

Pipe Used: Cob

Age When Smoked: Fresh

Purchased From: Edward's Pipe and Tobacco

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Jorge Soler (202)	2022-09-14		Medium	Mild	Medium	Pleasant

I had a sample of this tobacco the other day at a Pipe show. I cannot fully describe the smell of deer tongue, but it kind of smells familiar to me despite the fact I never had it in my life. Having said that, the flavour profile dissipates quick and all you are left with is this beautiful burley blend with nutty and roasty notes so easy to smoke and no tongue bite. This is to say I fully enjoyed this blend and I am willing to buy a tin for myself, but at this point in time I can only give this review 3 stars because my experience is very limited in this sense. If anything changes after I smoke a few more bowls, I will come back and upgrade my review accordingly.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	Leon (82)	2022-03-21		Medium to Strong	Mild	Medium	Pleasant to Tolerable

I've read a couple of comments who compared this with Half & Half. For me, there are several similarities and some major important differences. Long story short, Crooner is bolder in strength but milder in flavorings compared with Half & Half, but I do get some of the same notes and as a fan of Half & Half I'm very happy about it. One major difference is that Crooner has more harsh spots that are felt on the throat, while Half & Half is more smooth.

The smokes introduces a bit of a nice sharp earth, wood, and cocoa note, complimented by drops clove, cardamom, and to an even lesser degree some anise. The sweet vanilla-like notes from the Deer Tongue are mild and sit in the background, but they do add a whole dimension. My guess is that there is more dark Burley than white one.

It comes in a classic cube cut, super easy to pack and smoke, no need to relight. While the overall flavor maintains itself throughout the bowl, it does start mild-medium and ends on a strong note, with the nicotine beginning to crawl in somewhere mid-bowl. The earthy, cocoa, and wood flavors turn a bit into a more roast one which gives a hint of Dark Fired Kentucky (although that's not an ingredient here). The moisture level is perfect right out of the pouch. No tongue bite. Can easily be an all-day smoke for someone who loves a slightly sweet burley with some power behind it. Perfect with coffee!

Medium in body, medium-strong in strength. A bit longer smoking rate than most blends. Not very complex and doesn't require contemplation and endless analysis. This blend is in line with the old classic blends, but it is a bit stronger than most of them.

As I finish my 2oz bag, I think I will order a pound to have around, just for when I feel like a somewhat bold burley blend. Deer Tongue isn't used that often anymore - another reason to have at least one of those interesting spicing herbs around.

As I review this for what it is, I have to give it a perfect score.

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	Reviewed By	Date	Rating	Strength	Flavoring	Taste	Room Note
	HabaneroHardy (395)	2022-03-17		Mild	Medium to Strong	Medium	Pleasant

Disclaimer, I bought this in bulk at my local pipe and tobacco shop under the name “Bing’s Fav” but am almost certain this is the same blend due to the cut of the tobacco, etc. When I first tried this years ago it was very, very fragrant of Deer Tongue. When I decided to try this again after reading a review with Deer Tongue my jar had pretty much dried out. I could still smell and taste the Deer Tongue, also called Dog Tongue or Vanilla Plant but obviously the years were not to kind with this blend. I must have bought this at least 5 years ago or so. One of the few blends I jarred and did not date. I still chose a pipe that I was not worried about ghosting which was an old cob. Not a bad smoke but one that for me I have to be in the mood for and apparently up until recently never revisited. I have enough that I will more than likely never buy a tin but interesting to try some. Apparently, way back in the day this was a very popular ingredient in pipe tobacco.

Pipe Used: Old Cob in case of Ghosting.

Age When Smoked: Around 5 years.

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