Wilke Pipe Tobacco Dummerston

The earthy, woody, bready, tangy ripe dark fruity red Virginia is the lead component. The flue-cured bright Virginias offer tart citrus and grass with a mild earthy dried fruitiness as a supporting player. The topping is hard to figure, but I get what I think is ginger spice, and maybe a drop of nougat and anise and/or plum, too. It's hard to tell for sure. I do know there's no perique in the mix as some suggest. The bright Virginia may also be partly or completely responsible for the mild spice. The strength is a couple of steps past the mild mark, while the taste is medium. The nic-hit is a rung below the strength threshold. Won’t bite or get harsh, and barely has any rough edges. The flavors remain consistent all the way to the finish. It burns slowly and requires relights, may need some dry time, and does leave some moisture in the bowl, but no dottle. Has a pleasant lightly lingering after taste and room note. An all day smoke.

-JimInks

My pouch contents were dark, broken flakes with a small percentage of light mixed in. The aroma reminded me of a buttery/maple with maybe a slight touch of cinnamon or ginger. I may be way off the mark here on the aroma, but that was my first impression. It was fairly moist and required some drying time. The topping is minimal and compliments the sweetness of the VA. It has a tendency to bite if pushed. However, it smoked less harsh and sweeter about halfway through the bowl. Nicotine content was enough to satisfy my craving and I enjoyed this stuff very much and that's all that matters. Therefore, IMHO, Dummerston merits four ****s!

Dummerston is just what I was looking for: a rich, deep and full Virginia that is combined with an aromatic touch of sweetness. Neither outdoes the other. A perfect complement and nice change from cavendish or burley aromatics.

For me, this is perfect evening smoke.

Accompaniment: Brahms violin sonatas.

One of the reviews compares this rubbed out flake to gingerbread, and that is not far from the mark. However, it takes some time to get there. I did not rub it out further, leaving it fairly chunky, smoking it in a well seasoned briar. After the charing light it needed additional matches to get it going. Once lit, the taste was mostly high, thin, and sharp. The Virginia and Perique tended to dominate biting my tongue. About mid-bowl it settles down and more of the gingerbread and deeper notes begin to emerge. At this stage, the smoke becomes more balanced and enjoyable. This flake has a top dressing, I am guessing rum.

I like this tobacco after it settles down, especially the gingerbread taste. It has the sweetness of Virginia and Perique. It burns cool without much relighting and did not leave my pipe with goop. The tobacco was high quality and a nice change from other flakes.

This is a wonderful, aromatic, Virginia. A broken flake you can rub it out or leave it for a longer burn. Unlike UncleGar, I detected no perique. But I agree with him on the other points of this blend.

It is spicy-sweet, like a good molasses cookie, and the aroma of it burning is pure heaven to me.

I don't usually like aromatics. They are usually hot, wet, and way too sweet. This stuff is so good, I don't care what you call it.

Nobody makes better aromatic blends than Wilke.

As with all the Wilke aromatics this is great. This is a spicy and yet sweet smoke akin to gingerbread cookies and the room note is the same. Wilke's seems to excel making great aromatic blends.

I carefully smoked this pipe-weed in various pipes, day and night, trying to find something positive to say about it. Alas, it was a steady disappointment for me.

The pouch aroma is bland. When rubbing the cake out, my hands were left sticky. At smoke's end there was goop in the bottom of the bowl.

The smoke itself was uneventful, from first match to as long as I cared to smoke it. Oftimes I just dumped out of shear boredom with the blend. It is entirely too sweet for my tastes and tended to bite.

There are better aromatics, there are better matured Virginias, and life is too short for bothering with Dummerston.

This Virginia broken flake confuses me a little. You can definitely say it's cased with an external aroma, but when I smoked it that aroma tasted like perique at times, while other times I detected just a straight Virginia. Definitely a curious blend, but a good one for its smoking qualities: it rubs out easily, though you might want to leave it on the air for some minutes, it smokes cool and even. Good, but a little too "mixed up" for my taste.

I'm a huge fan of P&W's English blends (and Virignia Flakes in general), but this Aromatic Virginia is on the edge of simply being too sweet.

The room aroma is really incredible, but then again, so is the aroma it leaves on the walls of your pipe (and it will adhere to your pipe), so be sure to dedicate a pipe to this blend.

This is the first blend I've ever smoked where my teenage daughter actually came into my living room and, unsolicited, blurted out how nice the room smelled. Then, a little later, my wife came in and basically said the same thing! This is a very PC blend - no question.

But what of the taste? While the broken flake cut is truly beautiful, as is the color, as is the pouch aroma...beware...this blend shrouds the pure, classic Virginia notes that you may be seeking. But, like most Aromatics, it will definitely please those nearby.

Take away most of the casing and this American Beauty would really shine. It really would.

This is a mixture of light and red VA, ready rubbed. In the pouch it smells very sweet indeed, it makes me think of maple. I suspect a topping has been added. It arrives moist and I usually allow it to dry off about 15 minutes in low humidity air after rubbing it further. The ribbons tend to run too long otherwise. It packs and lights well. As advertised, it does smoke cool.

On lighting, a most delightful piquant sweet flavor is immediate. I found myself checking again that this is a virginia and not a cased cavendish. It is indeed a VA. The aroma is definitely a pleasant one and includes a hardwood smoke component. It has a delicious taste that is impossible for me to ignore. If it wasn't so distracting, I could do this all day.

The first third is light and spicy-sweet, and a possible perique component nibbles (not bites) playfully. The second third settles in to a rich VA and slight burley flavor, sweetness unabated, spicy like cinnamon but with the original taste. I seldom finish bowls due to harsh, off tastes, but the bottom third is the espresso version of the first, and I smoke it entirely to salt and pepper ash. Yow, I love this stuff. It goes well with wines, coffee, beer, and I'm still trying. The reason being, I have been smoking this exclusively for three days now.

Those who need nicotine for validation will need to look elsewhere. Judging from the lack of tongue numbness and retention of flavor enjoyment, I suspect it is low.

I've never had a VA with these characteristics. If it is an aromatic VA, so be it. It bites when puffed hard but the bite does not remain, again unique. DGT works well with this blend, offering darker ground coffee-like notes upon relighting. P&W is my new favorite for bulk baccy. Get yourself a sampler and double up on this one: vtpipes.com Blessings to Carole!