My experience with Wilke began as a kid. In my father's den there was an old tobacco tin listing a custom blend from the Pipework's and Wilke NY shop, no longer in existence. I didn't realize this until I began smoking years later. The reference clicked when I'd run across the occasional blurb about Wilke while ruminating through pipe literature on the internet. "The place still exists??!," I thought, in excitement. I decided to give the shop, now in Vermont, a call. People always seemed to have nice things to say about Wilke tobaccos, why not? A woman named Carole picked up the phone, and when I told her about the tin, she gave me a wonderful backstory about the place, and the nostalgia was overwhelming. I immediately told the woman that I loved her. It was instantly awkward.

I ordered four of her English blends--400, 10, 524 and High Hat. The tobaccos were unique, as most of them were said to include Syrian Latakia and exotic Orientals including the famed Yenidje of Sobranie fame, and a few others, from Shiraz to Xanthi.

400 is often mentioned as a Nighcap killer, strong and smokey. I devoured that sample first, and while tasty, it didn't appear to dramatically diverge from the standard. I didn't find the blend overwhelming in strength as many remarked, and the subtlety of the Syrian leaf was lost on me. I suppose that over the years I've hardened my taste receptors and killed whatever ability I had to detect the nuance of the leaf. It was no matter, 400 was a tasty blend, of which I consumed a couple of ounces quickly, in a matter of a few days. I next opened my sample of High Hat, hoping for a good comparison.

High Hat is a bit different from 400--chiefly, there are no Orientals included, but both blends contain Syrian leaf, Perique, and Kentucky. I normally skip Latakia mixes without Orientals, but I picked this one up out of curiosity and the measure of fine reviews. In the instances which I've sampled Latakia mixes that forgo Oriental leaf, including Gawith's Balkan Flake and Commonwealth, the blends have felt flat and unexciting, but I'm open to continued experimentation.

In that respect, High Hat is great. To me, it certainly feels heavier than 400, with that strong smokey element retained, and it also smokes rather sweet, perhaps from the inclusion of Golden Virginias, mentioned by the tin description. I'm currently puffing on my last bowl of a two ounce sample consumed over just a couple of days, and don't quite know what to do when I'm finished, having no other strong Latakia mixes on hand. I might just have to spike one of the remaining blends in my cabinet with a hard shot of Perique. Generally, that will kill the spirit of a Latakia forward blend, yet I really do hate puffing on a steamy English. But High Hat also feels Perique heavy, and though the blend includes Kentucky, which likely contributes to the strength, I'm poor at placing its presence. I would easily compare this to Night Cap in strength, and for once, I don't miss the Orientals, which tend to add an element of spiciness that I typically miss dearly in their absence. Despite this, High Hat strikes a wonderful balance of smokiness, sweetness and strength, a profile absent in many of the more popular smokes on the market.

I do have a full two ounces of 524 and 10 remaining, one of which should be sampled next...and we shall see where that takes us. 524 mentions "pan fired" Virginias. That's enough to garner my excitement (please excuse me while I dig through the contents of my sample in preparation).

Give Carole a call...she's a great tobacconist and a joy to speak with. But lay off! She's mine.

Wow.

Took a Wilke tour with a 4 blend sampler including High Hat.

It rocks!

In the same ball park as say Artisan's blend. Syrian lat and perique seem to go very well together.

But what sets this apart IMO is the notable bright VA profile which gives a very nice high note and sweetness to the smoke. Digging through the blend I find a good size helping of soem of the brightest flue cured VA I've seen.

It's a blend I smoke when I want some Latakia substance and satisfactory strength, but not in the mood for a dark heavy smoke.

I smoke a lot of Burley and I don't think of this as a burley blend. I know it's in there and can sense the body it brings but it doesn't stand out and shout "BURLEY".

The cut is a familiar mixture of longer ribbon of various widths; some almost bordering on shag. It loads, lights and burns like a champ, with zero issues. It burns a bit fast, but not hot at all.

I'd guess it would smoke well in just about any pipe but I've found my Sav 320 eats this stuff like candy. So I can attest that a wide shallow bowl does it some justice.

I like all the Wilke blends I ordered but this is the only one that was different enough from the crowd to make it a reorder candidate. I bet I'll loves me some me in about 10 years when I stumble on a big mason jar of this stuff in my closet.

Highly recommend you give it a shot. It's special

Mine came from a 1-lb bag, and is as others have described. A nice musty aroma and some tartness that could be the Perique or just could be some sour VA action. I stuck mine in the requisite Mason jars for melding.

This blend will hit you first off with the Latakia and the perique spiciness. That tartness disappears and turns more into a peppery note. The Latakia sticks around, and the orientals will come in with some brassy middle. Smokes really well and evenly (my first run was through an ash churchwarden, later runs through a Peterson bent.) It's got some zing and a whole lot of flavor, and it will certainly wake you up. Great for a morning drive to work or with that cup of coffee reading the news.

Wife, pets and small children probably will dislike it based on the room note, and it's a bit bold to be an everyday or all-day blend. But it's great in the morning or at day's end when you want a little zip on your lip.

The various tobaccos share the stage throughout the bowl, coming forth and then receding in a wonderfully flavorful dance. The burley always takes the stage first, but after that it's impossible to know which tobacco will come forward next. Individual tobaccos, and various combinations of tobaccos, move to the forefront as the bowl progresses. None of the flavors ever becomes overpowering, but they all spend some time in the spotlight. This is a great blend for "breath smoking". The flavor seems to change with each cycle.

I've found that High Hat smokes well in almost any pipe, from small to large. It's a slow smoking tobacco for me, so a medium bowl is my usual weapon of choice for High Hat.

It requires very few relights (often none at all); other than tamping occasionally, High Hat requires no attention. At the end of the bowl you're left with some mottled gray ash, and nothing else.

High Hat is one of the very best blends I've ever tried. It truly is delicious, and well worth a try by anyone who enjoys English blends.

3/14/2006 I've downgraded this slightly as there is some harshness which prevents me from smoking this as much as I would like. Still a great blend, just a bit rough on the throat for me.

With the exception of C&D's Yale Mixture, this is the best English blend I've ever smoked.

Merry Christmas, everybody! [12/'02]