Found on sale in the UK, but they're an Estonian brand - first time i've ever had crisps from Estonia!

These certainly are a grand offering to the British Crisp universe - I would say they're definitely a fancy dinner guest snack.

The shape of a cracker but definitely a crisp. You'd struggle a little to try and dip these. The crunch is sufficient mind.. 

The flavour is smokey & salty as you'd expect from a Bacon crisp with a slathering of sweeter onion for good measure. 

Personally I've eaten the whole pack and feel a little sick as a result - I reccomend having them as a party snack... when we're allowed to have Parties that is !!

8/10

Ok - now that i've fully cleansed my mouth after the foulness that was Brussels Sprouts - i'm finally ready to taste the pack that i'm expecting to be my favourite in this range.. Pigs in Blankets - the best thing ever to grace the christmas table.

I have to say.. i'm pretty dissapointed here.. they're a bit sickly and fail in comparison to the mighty Pringles Pigs in blankets of yesteryear.

They're overly sweet without the richness needed from a good smokey bacon flavour. The sausage is the only thing to come through here.. and they're more lidl cheap party sausages than a proper Yorkshire banger.

4/10

Next up in Walkers' Choose me or lose me range, the US and A.

I would have thought they'd name this flavour bacon cheeseburger being American - but here we have Bacon & Cheddar. Not a flavour we're actually unfamiliar with. It's been seen before the BAKED range from Walkers.

So I already have an idea in my head of how sickly Bacon & Cheddar is, and how it will in no way match up to Smoky Bacon like they suggest. I guess this campaign is a good way to make people rediscover the neglected favourites!

And yes - they're sickly. I'm not getting the smokiness that I want from the bacon and the cheese flavouring is way too creamy.. bleugh.

1/10

New from Pop chips - ridges!

They're not exactly the ridges we've know, they're a slight variation of the classic popped crisp which can already be a bit bobbly - it's just that these are organised bubbles on one side! So I wouldn't say they add too much to the crisp except that they're a little crunchier.

They sure are smoky! So smoky they're strangely a bit spicy.. I think they were maybe a bit happy with the paprika here. It's a pretty intense flavour for pop chips. Much more than we're used to.. but that's not to say they don't work, it's just.. they shouldn't be spicy. 

I'm usually a big fan of pop chips flavours so even though i'm a little confused by the spice - i'm actually pretty happy with the flavour.

7/10

Another in the Heinz sandwich range from Walkers.

Here's one i've been looking forward to, as a great lover of bacon sandwiches and of sweet tomato flavouring. The Tomato flavouring here obviously has massive hints towards Prawn cocktail, being that prawn cocktail has nothing to do with prawns and everything to do with ketchup.

The bacon flavouring I was expecting Walkers' classic smokey bacon flavouring - but this is something entirely new for Walkers.. it's.. well.. more Bacon-ey! You can really imagine the crispy rinds of a well cooked bacon the flavouring. The salt levels are pretty darn high but i'm a fan of the flavouring.

8/10

It's beginning to look a lot like... seasonal editions! What a time to be alive!

Yes it's that time of year where crisp companies are fighting for shelf space to be crowned king of the christmas party snack table.

And I have to say that although pigs in blankets have been done before and although pringles more extreme flavours have been pretty sickly - these are pretty darn good. I'm seriously impressed!

Straight away you can tell - they're definitely not going to be veggie friendly.. They're just way too porky!

The flavour has bacon down... smoky, salty and moreish. Exactly what i'd expect from a crisp re-enactment of my favourite part of the christmas meal.

Top dollar.

9/10

Although something has changed since the glory days of what I would consider to be Smiths flagship crisps (yes, even more than Salt N Shake – that sizeable stronghold of the snack seas set sail a long while ago!)
back when I was a nipper, Frazzles are still the archetypal bacon flavour crisp – the blueprint for all pleasure products pork! 


Yes, they’re a little smaller than I recall, yes they’re a bit firmer between the teeth these days and yes, the distinct ruddy stripes that should clearly adorn them are looking more like faded go-faster stripes on a clapped out XR2i…BUT that moreish salty bacon hit and corn crunch still pack a taste punch and really hit the spot. 


With pub snack Bacon Fries also on the Smiths* menu, I’m wondering whether Mr Smith was originally a breakfast chef or a master butcher. Either way, Frazzles are the current daddy of bacon crisps**. 9/10

*Yes we know Smiths is a Walkers brand!
**Unless my ol’ favourite Bacon flavour Football Crazy’s are back (which as we go to press, they are not).

Tyrells attack a flavour here that I'm very fond of. I'm very fond of it because of a little number by red sky (aka walkers), with their cream cheese and bacon crisps, which I love so dearly. 

So this effort has a lot to live up to. But you know what? I love them, I think they've done really well here. They've captured a really smokey bacon - with a real sweetness to it, which blends beautifully into the cheese flavouring. Now Brie, as cheeses go, is a pretty bland cheese - great melted, but as a flavouring, it doesn't come across as specifically 'Brie'. But I'm ok with that because this is a tasty crisp. On top of which, Tyrells always deliver an excellently crunchy crisp with a wonderful skin encasing the potatoey goodness. 




9/10

Given the rather dry aftertaste they leave because they’re made from potato powder, I’ve surprisingly got a lot of time for Pom-Bears and I’m not quite sure why. Maybe it’s because I like salty snacks and that I really like bears too. Or maybe just the name Pom evokes memories of my time away in Australia. Regardless, our little ursine gluten-free snacks can be a wheat intolerant child’s best friend (not that I’m a coeliac nor a child!) and the Smoky Bacon variety are no different. Indeed, short of the salted Original or (rather rare I find) Salt & Vinegar flavours, the bacon version would be my preference. The meaty hit isn’t that of its normal potato pals and certainly not its maize/corn cousins but for a kid or a dieter these crisps, available in multi-packs of six in most large supermarkets, will do just fine.

 6/10

It's a special day in the Crisp Nation - as we introduce our new reviewer Stevo! He's gone old skool with his first review, dating back to the 80's with a review from nostalgia land...




Back in the 1980s, my school lunchbox was dominated by all the healthy things kids need to grow up; y’know, limp cheese and marmite sandwiches, a different chocolate biscuit everyday (Trio or Club anyone?) and invariably a packet of maize or corn snacks.

I’ve always been a sucker for vinegary flavours be it Salt and said Vinegar or Pickled Onion, with Monster Munch arguably the daddy of that flavour (although never rule out Space Raiders), but being the carnivore I am, meaty flavours do have their appeal and no meat flavour is better in my opinion than that of bacon. One of the finest examples of its time were the Sizzling Bacon Flavour Hunks of Monster Munch by Smith’s. Always offering a dilemma of a choice between them and the Pickled Onion variety, they never let me down and for some reason combined well with the post-swim smell of chlorine – or maybe that’s just nostalgia kicking in! Either way, when Walkers took over the brand and dispensed with Smokey Bacon (which is what I recall the flavour being named) it was a sad day in the history of crisps. Surpassed in the bacon stakes only by another of Smith’s bygone range, the Football Crazy, bacon Monster Munch truly were joy to eat.

  9/10