Tobacco Review: Kramer’s Blend for Cary Grant

Kramer’s Blend for Cary Grant

History

Al Kramer

Kramer’s Pipe and Tobacco was established in 1949 by Tina and Allen (Al) Kramer in Beverly Hills just off Little Santa Monica Blvd. between Camden and Rodeo drives. Al built all the knotty pine fixtures in the shop, including a walk-in humidor. This was back in the heyday of Hollywood. Back then, Al could be seen hand blending his own tobaccos at the tobacco bar or repairing pipes and lighters in the front window. Their customers included Hollywood “royalty” — Marlene Dietrich, Cecil B. DeMille, Cary Grant, Danny Kaye, Tony Curtis, Fred MacMurray, Leonard Nimoy, and the list goes on and on!

Personalized, hand blended tobaccos were something Al was famous for. As far as I can tell, it all started with Father Dempsey, a local Catholic priest who became good friends with Al after coming into the community (Fr. Dempsey served at the Church of the Good Shepherd just around the corner from the shop). Apparently, Fr. Dempsey told Al if Al could create a comparable blend to the Dunhill blend he liked, he would buy Al’s tobacco instead. So, Al went to work. Father Dempsey poured out his tobacco on the tobacco bar and Al studied it, sorting out the different leaves but he couldn’t determine the proportions. They kept trying different variations until Fr. Dempsey said, “Stop right there! This is better than my old blend ever was.” Soon many of Fr. Dempsey’s friends and parishioners would come into Kramer’s asking for “Father Dempsey’s tobacco” and the name stuck. Al made special tobaccos for Cary Grant and Danny Kaye, too.

Al and Tina ran their shop together until Al passed away in 1973.  Then Tina continued on until her passing in 1999. Their daughter Marsha and her husband, Jim Keller, continued the rare tradition, especially in Beverly Hills, of running a small, family owned business until they closed their doors in 2017 (you can read the letter to their customers here). However, all is not lost. Kramer’s tobaccos are now being blended by Smokingpipes.com using Kramer’s recipes.

Packaging

Kramer’s Blend for Cary Grant comes in bulk and a 50g tin. Like all bulk blends, Kramer’s Blend for Cary Grant comes in a plastic bag, so the label is just a stock Smokingpipes label.

The 50g tin, however, is a standard American tin with a nice label on it. All of the Kramer blends have the same label but each blend has its own color. The label for the Blend for Cary Grant is a nice, deep red. On two sides is the Kramer’s logo with “Blend for Cary Grant” in script. On a third side is the barcode, weight, etc. On the last side there’s a little blurb about the blend in script:

We created this medium-bodied mixture especially for one of their customers, the iconic actor Cary Grant. Using our English Blend as a base, we carefully layer in a small portion of Irish Aromatic for a little more sweetness.

Rating:  

I give it 5 pipes because you can get it in both tin and bulk.

Contents

Kramer’s Blend for Cary Grant is made of Black Cavendish, Latakia, Orientals, and Virginia. The blend says it contains a mild aromatic flavoring called “Irish Aromatic.” When one looks up the components of this blend, it says it contains Black Cavendish and Burley. So, I’m not sure if that means Kramer’s Blend for Cary Grant contains Burley, too, or if the “Irish Aromatic” flavoring is the only thing added. Either way, with the admission of adding an “aromatic” to the blend, the category is a bit of an oddity. On TobaccoReviews.com, Kramer’s Blend for Cary Grant is classified as “English.” But on Smokingpipes.com, it’s classified as an “English Aromatic.” And I think that’s the way to go even if it is very “small portion.”

It’s a ribbon cut tobacco made up of mostly brown tobacco with some black, tan, and few strands of golden tobaccos.

Moisture content out of the tin is just about perfect; no drying time nor hydration needed.

Rating:  

Tin Note

The first thing I smell is an almost spicy, fecund, earthy fragrance. Then I catch just a touch of sweetness, maybe honey (?). But there’s definitely a deep, incensey, woody, earthy scent with hints of grass. If there’s “Irish Mist” in there, it’s very, very subtle, possibly the sweetness I mentioned earlier.

Rating:  

Smoking

Packing Kramer’s Blend for Cary Grant is a breeze. Since it’s a nice ribbon cut, there’s nothing too difficult or any technical prerequisite to loading a pipe.

Cary Grant

The charring light (or false light) offers up some spice from the Orientals that tingles the mouth and nose. The true light really offers up a symphony of flavors all playing together; with one not really overpowering the other. There are bits of grass and earth from the Virginias. The Orientals offer a little spice that’s noticeable throughout the smoke. The Latakia and the Cavendish appear here and there as great compliments to the smoke. There is a little bit of sweetness from the Irish Aromatic but it doesn’t deter from the medium body of this really nice English. All in all, a very smooth, medium bodied smoke with a great flavor and a pleasant to tolerable room note.

Rating:  

Overall Rating: (4.25)

Kramer’s Blend for Cary Grant is distributed by the Smokingpipes.com and comes in a 50g tin and bulk.