Snyder’s of Hanover is a pretty classy act for a pretzel company. They have a very unique line of bold snacks with even bolder flavors. Their Pretzel Pieces line of snacks is a favorite of mine, featuring small to moderate chunks of hard pretzel absolutely coated in a variety of flavors. Any other company would’ve lightly sprinkled on the seasoning, but Snyder’s covers its pretzels like Fox News at a Tea Party rally – fully and thoroughly.

Then there’s the Nibblers line. These are little poofs of sourdough batter slow-baked and cut down the middle. Into this shallow crevice, they paint a ribbon of seasoning. For me, this is a bit too much pretzel. I love the flavor of their new Three Cheese Medley Sourdough Nibblers, but there’s just not enough of it. The flavor:pretzel ratio is skewed to the latter. I love the sourdough batter flavor, but it’s a bit plain on its own, and combined with how dry the snack ends up being due to the small amount of flavor to stimulate your taste buds, I wouldn’t call it my favorite Snyder’s snack. Seriously, try eating two of these at once. It’s like having a vacuum suck all the moisture right out of your mouth. I find that to fully enjoy these, I have to put them in my mouth with the flavor strip on my tongue. It’s not a good thing when you have to eat a food a specific way to enjoy it.

The cheese flavor is really good, though, and the little bit that they do put on the pretzel is strong. It’s a shame they don’t make this a flavor in the Pretzel Pieces line, because it could be one of the best. It’s a “unique blend of cheddar, monterey jack, and asiago cheeses.” It’s one of the more exotic fake cheese flavors I’ve tasted, and one you’ll repeatedly go back for if you’re a cheese fan. As this seems to be Snyder’s response to the snack Combos, I’ll compare the two. Combos has less pretzel/cracker and more flavor, and these Nibblers are the opposite. Given both, I’ll go for the former every time. I’m sure there are just as many people out there who want more of a subtle flavor, and thoroughly enjoy the plain pretzel flavor itself. I guess there are two types of pretzels in the world: pieces and nibblers. I’m a pieces guy. What about you?