Old Joe Krantz Red Label 2oz Pipe Tobacco

The C&D Bulk Blend Library Project

Old Joe Krantz Red
Smoking Pipes rating: 3.6

This approachable English is comprised of origins, burley, black cavendish, Perique and Latakia. Its bag notes follow suit with a nice “English” blend bouquet of Hay, leather, cedar and smoke. Cut is even and consistent.

Three bowls were sampled is a MM Missouri Pride.

I rather enjoyed this one. Right up front the Perique and Latakia make their presence known, but politely. Intertwined they play atop the woody bottom notes very nicely. This is a very kind English. Borders on sweetness / aromatic I think.

You can push it a bit - it’s dry enough, but don’t needlessly bully the blend - as is, it’s crisply balanced and I retesting , smoking with a rich flavor as the Latakia and Perique enter and exit and dance about.

I noticed the bowl being a little hot in the third bowl, but not to any detrimental effect. The smoke will likely be lovely on a crisp fall day.

The combination of leather / sweet / smoke / spice offers lots of room for a blender to experiment, and could be a hard target to hit, but this blend lands the shot perfectly.

My rating : 5- this is great - I’m getting a pound minimum next pay day

This is the 28th of 101 C&D bulk blends I intend to review....Read More

Definite Latakia presence but not overwhelming. Sweet smoke with a little spiciness too. Very pleasant blend. Assertive but not obnoxious. Of all the Latakia blends I can recall smoking, this may be the best. It fits in nicely with the other OJK blends suggesting that Runowski created a complimentary series that in my Burley opinion could easily rival or mirror the Virginia based blends of Dunhill but with a Burley tilt. I’ve recently dived into the OJK series and am enjoying the expert skills of this Old Master Blender. This will definitely slow my endless quest for the ideal smoking mixture or mixtures....Read More

If you like heavy burley/perique blends such as Picayune, Big n' Burley, Old Joe Krantz, Haunted Bookshop, etc., this is not it. OJK red label smokes like a light English Latakia blend with the addition of black Cavendish. It contains a fair amount of the sweetened type, which I am not a fan of, but all the ingredients and components are of good quality, so I cannot find CD at fault here for not being a favourite. My only complaint is it seems to contain a fair amount of it, so it plays a major role right at the forefront of everything. If you have been smoking OTCs up until now and you want to dabble into the world of non-aromatics, this blend could be for you....Read More

Nice zing to it, but I prefer the red.

Not a sophisticated review; I enjoy Burley, Latakia, and Perique in all kinds of combinations and found this to be an enjoyable smoking experience. I think that having finished a pound of Epiphany, which I truly love, just before opening this one, puts this simple review in perspective.