REVIEW: Cheetos – Bag of Bones Flamin’ Hot

Rating: ©©©©-1/4 chips  (lip-smacking)

It’s that time of year again!

The time of year when all of the stores begin to market for holidays that are still roughly two months away!  It seems like it is getting so bad these days that we’re not sure if we are supposed to put up the Christmas lights for the trick-or-treaters or not!

But, we really do love this time of year, especially for the kiddos.  They get excited about dressing up as their favorite movie characters, or sports heroes, and of course those spooky creatures who typically scare them in the night.  And then they are let loose in the neighborhood in search of bags full of teeth rotting sugar loaded treats!

That being said, they are in for a surprise when they come knocking on Chip Review’s doors this year.  This year we will not be delving out any sweets, instead we will be delivering them some spicy and spooky bone shaped puffed corn!  Isn’t that what every kid really wants anyways?

Chester’s Flamin’ Hot Bag of Bones is this Halloween’s addition to last year’s release of Cheetos White Cheddar flavored Bones.  We are nearly certain that we tasted the white cheddar bones last year, but for whatever reason we did not actually review or rate them.  All we can assume is that they must not have been that tasty…

The Flamin’ Hot Bag of Bones basically just consists of Cheetos Puffs, in cute (we mean spooky) skeleton bone shapes.  They deliver the same, classic, unmistakably delicious, spicy, bright red Flamin’ Hot seasoning!  We don’t love them nearly as much as Cheetos Original Crunchy Flamin’ Hots, but they are just as fantastic as the Puffs variation of the Flamin’ Hot powerhouse flavor; probably better in fact because they are delivered in fun shapes.

For another positive review of these tasty bones check out Junk Food Guy.

As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think.  Agree or disagree, let us know.

Cheetos discovered at Walmart; Countryside, Illinois

Cheetos Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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BIJOU-REVIEW: Better Made – Jalapeño Cheddar Cheese Puffs

Rating: ©©©-3/4 chips  (notable)

Better Made’s cheese puffs must have been putting some major OT in at the crunchy snack weight room, because these puffs have some BODY to them!

These are some large and heavy puffs!!  With a really strong crunch.

A little more dense than normal.  Plus, they don’t exactly have the same melt-ability as most, or all, of the greatest cheese puffs out there do.

The extra orange, delightfully salty, cheddar cheese aspect is flavorful, but lacking that rich and tangy cheese essence.

The jalapeño chili heat and flavor is certainly there.  In fact, after a while you may just feel the spicy pain.

So, if you are looking for some spicy cheese puffs, you could certainly do far worse than Better Made’s version, but you could also do better.

As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think.  Agree or disagree, let us know.

Puffs discovered at Stop and Shop; Hartford, Connecticut

Better Made Snacks Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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BIJOU-REVIEW: Cheetos – Jumbo Colmillos (fangs) Chili Cheese (Mexico)

Rating: ©©© chips  (notable)

In our opinion, nothing says scary colmillo/fang puffs better than an extremely shiny purple bag!  Nice choice Chester!!

We do not have very much to say about these….

The puffs are shaped just like the pic on the front of the bag.  Basically a circle, with four little arms, or teeth – fangs, sticking out of it.

The puffs themselves are very soft, practically no crunch to them at all.  They did however have the stereotypical rich, fatty, mouth melting texture that we have come to expect from quality puff corned.

Chili cheese seasoning was practically unrecognizable.  Really, we tasted cheese with some sort of background tang.

We had no problem eating these, but we would never go out of our way to buy them again.

As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think.  Agree or disagree, let us know.

Discovered at 7-eleven; Hwy. 294, Hinsdale Oasis, Illinois

Cheetos Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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BIJOU-REVIEW: Grand Papa’s – Hot Cheese Balls

Rating: ©©©-3/4 chips  (notable)

Not going to lie, we are always pleased to see any new addition to the hot & spicy-flamin’-hot crunchy curls, puffs or balls family!Well these are interesting.

That being said Grand Papa’s Hot Cheese Balls are….well….let’s just call them interesting?!

Texture wise, they exude a sort of stale, or soft crunch.  But they do deliver that classic corn puff mouth meltability quality that everyone loves.

As for their flavor, first and foremost, we taste a certain level of sweetness?  Sort of like honey or something.

This sweetness, combined with the cheese and always ambiguous “hot” seasoning, certainly makes for a unique, and rather tasty, flavor combo. They kind of remind us of Herr’s Hot’n Honey Cheese Curls, only without the delicious crispy corn curl quality.

So, if you enjoy your spicy soppressata and cheese pizza finished with a drizzle of honey, these may be for you!

As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think.  Agree or disagree, let us know.

Balls discovered at Shell Gas Station; Oak Park, Illinois

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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25 Chips to Christmas….

#21

Nick’s – Flamin’ Hot Sauce Crunchy Cheese Curls

Original Review Here

How many of you out there remember the days before there were any hot cheese curl-puffs on the market?  That’s right, for those of you who don’t remember, there was actually a time where you couldn’t find Flamin’ Hot Cheetos at every convenience store, and in every vending machine; let alone any other brand of spicy cheese curls.  Well, luckily for all of us, those days will likely never exist again! 

P.S. – Nick’s Flamin’ Hot Sauce Crunchy Cheese Curls are among the best of those! 

BIJOU-REVIEW: Engine Co. 51 – Hot Curls

Rating: ©©© chips  (notable)

We are always excited to see any new addition to the spicy-flamin’-hot curls family!  And, we were especially looking forward to crunching Engine Co. 51’s variation after loving their Hot Popcorn , and after reading Taquitos’ glowing review.

Unfortunately, neither of those precursors ended up being a good indication of the quality of these Hot Curls!  We simply did not love them.

Appearance wise, Engine Co. 51’s curls looked just like any other spicy curl.

The curls’ mouth texture was dense, with an almost stale chew to them.  We would have liked a lot fresher crispy crunch.

As for the bright red seasoning that liberally coated each curl, well, it brought none of the usual tangy, mouth burning heat that we’ve come to love.  And we would have hoped that if the “hot” curls weren’t bringing the spicy pain they would have at least been flavorful but they also weren’t even that cheesy.  Just a couple of notes of garlic and salt.

Not Engine Co. 51’s best showing!

As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think.  Agree or disagree, let us know.

Chips provided to Chip Review by KLN  for review

KLN Family Brands Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

© – return to sender

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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REVIEW: Nick’s – Flamin’ Hot Sauce Crunchy Cheese Curls

Rating: ©©©©-1/2 chips  (lip-smacking)

We must believe that by this day and age nearly everyone, in all corners of the world, either knows of, or has personally enjoyed a bag, or two, or in our case – five thousand of the iconic Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.  Oh Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, you are so perfectly tasty!  You are so delicious and popular in fact that years ago “several schools in California, New Mexico and Illinois…banned the high-fat, high-salt and possibly addictive treat.” www.huffingtonpost.com

But Chip Review, today’s review is for Nick’s Flamin’ Hot Sauce Crunchy Cheese Curls, not Cheetos?!

Why yes, you are most certainly right, dear observant reader.  We only first mentioned the delicious power of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos to help us segway into our review of Nick’s Curls, and to really drive home our feeling that one must live in a pretty amazing world when so many similar products can both coexist and thrive, and at the same time taste so differently.  With that being said, we have tried quite a few different spicy cheese curls over the years, and for the most part they are all pretty delicious, with of course the occasional dud thrown into the mix.

Luckily for us, and for you, if you happen to be in the surrounding Detroit area (as Nick’s is a local D Town chip company), then you will be happy to know that if you do spot Nick’s bright orange and yellow bag, with the Dave Navarro looking devil guy in the corner, go ahead and fork over the cash, because some tasty cheese curls are about to be yours!

Nick’s Flamin’ Hot Sauce Crunchy Cheese Curls are a more than welcome addition to the hot cheese curl family!  Nick’s curls encompass the standard Flamin’ Hot blinding red color, which makes us ponder if Red 40 Lake (coloring) is actually the secret to making tasty hot curls because they all seem to use it?!  It is certainly no mystery where the 10 bright red fingertips that are consequently staining the keys on our keyboard comes from!  Pretty average curl shape and size, with sort of a firmer, or heartier, crunch than other curls.  Flavor-wise these are fantastic.  They are certainly not the spiciest of curls, but do exude the usual combination of unnaturally sort of spicy acidic tongue shock mixed with just a tiny splash of cheddar cheese seasoning.  An usually heavy usage of garlic, and a touch of onion, adds a delicious background layer of flavor that really compliments the heat and cheese.  Plain and simple, we could crunch these all day long!!

As always, these are our thoughts, we would love to hear what you think.  Agree or disagree, let us know.

Curls provided to Chip Review by Nick’s for review

Nick’s Official Website

Chip Ratings Scale:

(1/4 increments)

©© – tolerable

©©© – notable

©©©© – lip-smacking

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