As the subject of what Bing Crosby smoked has come up several times in this forum, I thought I'd post my thoughts here. Many thanks to Pipedreamer for the healthy amount of tobacco he sent me for this review.
This product is no longer in production. It is the blend Bing Crosby smoked. Check out his "autobiography" Call Me Lucky, and you'll see a can of Hayward Mixture on his dressing room table in the photo section. There also exists a couple receipts in the Crosby archives for his purchases of this blend. He may or may not have smoked Crooner at some point, but there's no doubt about his smoking Hayward.
The burley is nutty sweet with a hint of cocoa, and stands out a little above the other components. The Virginia is grassy, citrusy sweet, and is the second star ingredient. In an important back up role is a fair percentage of latakia, which is smoky and mildly woody, and has what I can only describe as a "leather" note or two. Has a slightly more than mild nic-hit. Well blended, you will notice every nuance in every puff from start to finish. Burns well, requiring few relights, and is cool and smooth with no bite and virtually no moisture in the bowl as it burns to ash. The burley seems to stand out more in the after taste than the other tobaccos, but not by much. A very pleasant all day American English mixture that wears well and easy on your tongue, it probably deserves three stars, but I give it two and a half because it lacks the depth and a little of the complexity of others in this genre like Walnut. I rounded it up to three stars because its virtues deserve more than a two star rating.
The formula was later changed to exclude the latakia, but I have not tried that version, so this review obviously pertains to the older manufacture.
This product is no longer in production. It is the blend Bing Crosby smoked. Check out his "autobiography" Call Me Lucky, and you'll see a can of Hayward Mixture on his dressing room table in the photo section. There also exists a couple receipts in the Crosby archives for his purchases of this blend. He may or may not have smoked Crooner at some point, but there's no doubt about his smoking Hayward.
The burley is nutty sweet with a hint of cocoa, and stands out a little above the other components. The Virginia is grassy, citrusy sweet, and is the second star ingredient. In an important back up role is a fair percentage of latakia, which is smoky and mildly woody, and has what I can only describe as a "leather" note or two. Has a slightly more than mild nic-hit. Well blended, you will notice every nuance in every puff from start to finish. Burns well, requiring few relights, and is cool and smooth with no bite and virtually no moisture in the bowl as it burns to ash. The burley seems to stand out more in the after taste than the other tobaccos, but not by much. A very pleasant all day American English mixture that wears well and easy on your tongue, it probably deserves three stars, but I give it two and a half because it lacks the depth and a little of the complexity of others in this genre like Walnut. I rounded it up to three stars because its virtues deserve more than a two star rating.
The formula was later changed to exclude the latakia, but I have not tried that version, so this review obviously pertains to the older manufacture.
