REVIEW: 2 Explosive Snacks 1 Bag – Cheetos Flamin’ Hot & Doritos Dinamita Chile Limon

Rating: ©-1/2 chips  (tolerable)

So, what do we get when Frito Lay decides to lazily combine one of their greatest creations ever, with one of our least favorites ever?!?  Well, that would undoubtedly depend upon whether you are a half full, or half empty bag, sort of person…  In other words, there are two distinct ways of looking that this collaboration: One being that the addition of Doritos practically intolerable Dinamitas to Cheetos impeccably perfect Flamin’ Hots is an outrage, and injustice to the snack world!!  The second, being that the addition of the oh-so-delicious Flamin’ Hot Cheetos to Doritos Chile Limon rolled tortilla snack, was actually a brilliant idea, and helps tasters distract from negative thoughts they may have towards Rolled Corn Snacks (aka taquitos, flaquitos, takis, you name it…) as a whole!!

We hate to be the pessimists here, but unfortunately the negatives of these “2 Explosive Snacks in 1 Bag!” out weigh the positives!  Apparently, good does not always defeat evil, and even Cheetos are susceptible to peer pressure!!  In fact, these are even worse than just eating the Doritos Dinamitas on their own!  The textural differences between the two confused our mouths so much that it caused us to bite our tongues on multiple occasions!  And visually, we almost practically could not tell the two apart; both being enveloped with a deep red blanket of spicy powder.

So, the question we really want Frito Lay to answer for these ones is why?  Why do it?!  Why take a great snack and combine it with a mediocre one?  Why make us waste the time and effort to review this “NEW” snack?

We believe that the answer to these questions is similar to the reasons behind Snyder’s of Hanover’s decision to utilize two of their preexisting flavors in their “new snack” Flavor Doubles, along with, Doritos Locos Tacos relatively recent stint on the store shelves.  It all boils down to money and lack of creativity!  We are less than happy to say that we seem to see an unwelcome trend forming in this chip industry, where brands are either getting lazy, or think that they can combine two of their preexisting products, re-package them with some clever title, and make us believe that we will be tasting something revolutionary, or at the very least that we should buy them and try them.  When, in the end, the simple fact is that the sum of the two chips, is not greater than the individual chips themselves – ESPECIALLY – when you combine an A-list one like Cheetos Flamin’ Hot, with an only slightly tolerable one like Doritos Dinamitas Chile Limon!

Other than that, we don’t have too much more to say or report about these.  By now, you have all tried Cheetos Flamin’ Hot right?  If not you are crazy, and we seriously question why you are reading a review about chips?!?  If for some reason you have not tried any of the onslaught of rolled tortilla snacks on the market these days, well then, good for you!  Stick to it, you are not really missing anything.  And, as for the combination of the two, well, we would suggest never trying these.  If you really need a snack fix, and these are the only thing in site, then go ahead and buy them.  But, may we suggest you dump out the entire bag and sift through them, separating the two snacks into two piles.  Try your best to enjoy the Cheetos after all of the hard work of separating the two, and dump the Dinamitas straight into the garbage!

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

Discovered at 7-Eleven; Burr Ridge, Illinois

Frito Lay Official Website

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RATING: Herr’s – Hot’n Honey Cheese Curls

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

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RATING: Munchies (Doritos, Cheetos, Rold Gold, Sun Chips) – Flamin’ Hot Mix

Rating: ©©©©-3/4 chips  (lip-smacking)

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REVIEW: El Sabroso – Blazin’ Hot Cheese Crunchies

Rating: ©©©-3/4 chips  (notable)

Comments:

It feels just like yesterday that Cheetos Crunchy Flamin’ Hot paved the way for the spicy cheese puff masses.  However, it has actually been more than two decades, with millions of spicy bags sold, and plenty of crunchy controversy since that momentous achievement.  Today, there are countless other hot & spicy cheese puffs that have copied the cheesy cheetah, and infested the flamin’ marketplace, but not all have been bad.  In fact, probably our favorite of all-time still has to be Old Dutch’s Scorching Hot Cheese Crunchy Curls, sadly their run did not last very long, and they have been discontinued for many years now.

On the surface El Sabroso’s Blazin’ Hot Cheese Crunchies appeared to have all of the facets required to exemplify one of those “tasty predecessors” to Cheetos classic Flamin’ Hot Crunchy curls.  They of course had the standard curl shape and size, bright-bright-bright spicy red, finger coating seasoning, and the obligatory flavor naming of: hot or spicy or flamin’ or scorchin or fill-in the blank with your hot & spicy adjective here.  However, as is the case with the vast majority of flamin’ precursors, expectations have rendered execution to fall short.

El Sabroso’s Crunchies are decent enough.  Their texture is most definitely crunchy, but in a dense, tough and toothsome sort of way.  “Blazin’ Hot?”  Nope, not in the least.  We ate the entire bag without so much as a drop of liquid.  The Crunchies did however exhibit some of that slightly acidic “spicy” quality, but only after a few minutes, and not in our mouths like a chile pepper, but more in our nasal cavities like mustard, or wasabi.  Probably our favorite aspect of these was the actual presence of cheese.  So many, hot or spicy cheese puffs seem to forgo the cheese aspect, and simply blow us away with the spicy.  Lastly, and most surprisingly, these Crunchies also included a wonderful sweet onion flavor existence that really provided some nice background notes to the overall snack.

So, in the end these are decent enough, not the best, but we could probably eat them day and night without too much pressure.

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

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REVIEW: Brim’s – Hot! Crunchy Cheese Curls

Rating: ©© chips  (tolerable)

Comments:

Cheetos Flamin’ Hot paved the spicy cheese puff road many years ago, and since that time, countless other hot & spicy cheese puffs have tested the market place.  Probably our favorite variety of all time were Old Dutch’s Scorching Hot Cheese Flavored Crunchy Curls, sadly their run did not last very long, and they have been discontinued for many years.

On the surface Brim’s Hot! Crunchy Cheese Curls appeared to have all of the facets required to exemplify a tasty predecessor to Cheetos classic curls – standard curl shape and size, bright-bright-bright spicy red, finger coating seasoning, and the mentioning of hot or spicy or flamin’ or scorchin or etc., as well as, cheese in the flavor name.  However, execution of said facets fell far, far short of hoped expectations.

Brim’s Hot! Crunchy Cheese Curls were not very spicy, absolutely not cheesy, and basically not very flavorful at all.  In fact, the only flavor we did taste from these curls were the corn meal they were created from.  In fact, these curls couldn’t even execute staining our fingers red the way any of the tasty cheese curls always do; which would actually be a great thing if they tasted better, and we actually wanted to be able to get away with sneaking them in the middle of the night.

As always we would love to hear what you think.  Agree or disagree.  Let us know.

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RATING: Roundy’s – Hot & Spicy Cheese Flavored Crunchy Curls

Rating: ©©©-1/2 chips  (notable)

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REVIEW: Old Dutch – Scorching Hot Cheese Flavored Crunchy Curls

Rating: ©©©©© chips  (“A” list)

Comments:

These are “the ones!”  Cheetos Crunchy – Flamin’ Hot may have created the mold and paved the way by which all other spicy cheese curls and puffs must be judged, but Old Dutch shattered that mold with this version….

All at once…..Cheesy.  Spicy.  Zingy.  Crunchy.  Addictive.  Pitch perfect on every note……except…….

Old Dutch took these off the market years ago.  Sorry to burst your bubble.

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