Pringles Strikes Again!

Pringles, the famous food-like potato-crisp-in-a-can, has a bunch of newish flavors that they're marketing as "Extreme" or as "Restaurant Cravers."  "Extremes" seem to be bold and/or spicy.  Well, not too spicy, but if you're a huge fan of regular ol' blando Pringles, the new varieties are likely to seem spicy to you.  Meanwhile, "Restaurant Cravers" are designed to taste like popular restaurant appetizers.

For review purposes, I bought "snack packs" of six different flavors.  These little mylar pouches each have a small serving of Pringles and are just the right size to tuck into a lunchbox.  The crisps within are slightly smaller than canned Pringles but a bit thicker, which gives them a somewhat different and more crunchy texture, but the flavors are the same whether from can or pouch.

Mozzarella Sticks & Marinara - A blend of cheeses and spices make these crisps taste almost exactly like the appetizer for which they are named.  Why "almost"?  Very little tomato flavor on the "marinara" side despite the hint of Italian spices.  Lynnafred loves these, I think they're pretty decent.

Mexican Layered Dip - This one, although not really my favorite of the six I'm reviewing, was certainly the most amazing because it really and truly does taste like Mexican layered dip, right down to the olives (and there are no olives in the ingredients, so it's entirely a trick of flavorings.)  Quite good.

Onion Blossom - Very good.  Robust sweet onion flavor dominates, with a slight tang of buttermilk and horseradish.  Quite authentic to the "onion blossom" appetizer.

Torchin' Tamale - The least successful of all the flavors I tried.  Tastes mostly like a spicy tomato-flavored crisp.  I almost compared it to a "barbecue" flavor, but without the smoke and the sugar.  Which, of course, makes the entire comparison fall apart.

Anyway, not much "torch" here, and not much "tamale" either.

Buffalo Wing - This was another of the flavors that amazed me with its authenticity - they really did taste like buffalo wings.  The cayenne sauce was very good, although like other mass-market "hot" items, not very hot, and there were back notes of vinegar and butter and just a hint of sweetness.  I would have liked them more if they were spicier, but I still enjoyed these for what they were.

Smokin' Hot Ranch - This one was the most disappointing to me.  The ranch flavor was was somewhat sugary and the heat level was very low.  In addition, strong artificial smoke flavoring and tomato powder made it much more like a barbecue flavor, which I really don't like at all.  Of all the flavors I tasted, this is the only one which I would not buy again.