The Crows' 30.8 (188) to 6.14 (50) victory was their ninth in 12 matches against Essendon at AAMI Stadium, where the Bombers' only successes were in 1992, 1999 and 2004 and where they were also whipped by 88 points last year - 24.7 to 9.9.
It was the first time in its 358 AFL matches that Adelaide had scored 30 goals. Its previous highest score was 29.11 (185) against Richmond in 1997. The Crows' record winning margin remains at 139 points - one more than this latest 138 - against Richmond in 1993.
Hentschel was brilliant in his 51st AFL match, kicking one goal in the first quarter, two in the second, one in the third and four in the first eight minutes of the final term.
The Crows had 13 other goalkickers, led by Ken McGregor and Brett Burton (four each) and Mark Ricciuto (three).
Ricciuto had a game-high 31 disposals (20 kicks, 11 handpasses) at full-forward and in the midfield, and midfielders Simon Goodwin and Brent Reilly and forwards Hentschel, McGregor and Burton were brilliant, too - as were Andrew McLeod and Graham Johncock, who soared over opponents for the most spectacular 'hangers' of their careers, with Johncock's feat probably just nudging McLeod's.
That Adelaide was able to kick 30 goals from 38 scoring shots (and two of the eight behinds were rushed) was indicative of the way it controlled the game to such an extent that bottom team Essendon was humiliated as it stumbled to its ninth successive loss this season.
While Adelaide could just about hoist the 'all-played-well' flag, Essendon had to rely heavily on the run of Mark Johnson and Chris Heffernan, and its already-depleted line-up was drained further by centre half-back Kepler Bradley being forced out of the game with a left ankle injury only three minutes into the second quarter.
The Bombers scored the first goal of the match - from Courtney Johns - just 90 seconds after the start, but the Crows kicked the next six before Jay Nash's first goal, in only his third AFL match, trimmed the margin to 23 points at quarter-time.
Adelaide buried its recent second-term bogy by booting the first six goals after the break, then centre half-forward Scott Lucas, who had been guarded tightly by Scott Stevens, bagged two goals in two minutes to cut the home team's lead to a decisive 52 points at half-time.
The Crows' dominance was on show again through the third quarter as they piled on 7.3 to 1.3 with such ease that they could have been doing circle work during a leisurely training run.
And the rout continued in the final term with Adelaide booting the first six goals before Ricky Dyson goaled at the 17-minute mark - Essendon's sixth goal and its first since the three-and-a-half-minute mark of the second quarter.
The Crows promptly responded with four more goals - the last two to McGregor - making it 10 for the quarter, and when the 30th goal came just seconds before the final siren the crowd rose for a prolonged ovation.
Statistics underline Adelaide's mastery in winning eight of its 10 matches this season. Its two losses were by only two points - to West Coast at AAMI Stadium in round two - and three points - to Richmond at Telstra Dome in round eight.
And it is a measure of the tightest defence in the competition that no team has scored 15 goals against the Crows this season.
Collingwood (12.5), West Coast (13.12) and Melbourne (14.13) got closest in the first three matches, but the scores have since been remarkably puny - Fremantle's 9.5, the Bulldogs' 7.13, Port Adelaide's 8.5, the Kangaroos' 9.6 Richmond's 10.9, Carlton's 9.6 and now Essendon's 6.14.
In the past seven games the Crows have amassed 119.85 and have had only 58.58 scored against them.
Adelaide coach Neil Craig described the win as 'a fantastic performance' and added: "We all understand where Essendon are at the moment and what they are trying to do, and they will have some of those results because of the profile of their squad.
"But they've got some fabulous talent coming through. So let's take the win for what it was, in front of our home crowd of 42,000. It's important to enjoy it but on Monday it all starts again."
Earlier, Craig had said: "We'd set ourselves to play the whole game out, irrespective of the scoreboard - up, down or equal. It was a focus the players really wanted to address and they did it really strongly tonight, obviously.
"To be that sort of margin in front (88 points) at three-quarter time, I think the players really need to be congratulated for their mental approach and (for) the respect they showed Essendon to go about it that way as well.
"Anything can happen when you have that sort of approach, and I thought our contested ball was as good as it's probably been all year, so when you put those things into place - execution and contested ball - you never know what can happen."
Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy said: "You would think Adelaide looks a pretty well-drilled team but we didn't throw up a lot of opposition tonight.
"I think they (his players) would be shell-shocked, to be quite honest. It was a situation where the players' confidence is sort of down when you see the awesome task of trying to beat a full-flight Crows.
"We'll just have to ask the fans to bear with us while we're going through this transitional period."
ADELAIDE: 6.1, 13.4, 20.7, 30.8 (188)
ESSENDON: 2.2, 4.6, 5.9, 6.14 (50)
GOALS – Adelaide: Hentschel 8, Burton 4, McGregor 4, Ricciuto 3, Bode 2, Reilly, Doughty, Johncock, Shirley, Biglands, Goodwin, Knights, Thompson, Edwards
Essendon: Lucas 2, Johns 2, Nash, Dyson
BEST – Adelaide: Hentschel, Ricciuto, Goodwin, McGregor, Burton, Reilly, Bassett, Johncock, Edwards, Doughty
Essendon: M.Johnson, Heffernan, Welsh
INJURIES - Adelaide: Nil
Essendon Bradley (ankle ligaments)
CHANGES - Essendon Ryder (flu) replaced in selected side by Monfries
REPORTS - Nil
UMPIRES - Chamberlain, Ryan, Woodcock
CROWD - 42,025 at AAMI Stadium
