Wilke Pipe Tobacco Wilke No. 188

The woody, earthy, dry and buttery sweet and sour, mildly floral, herbal Turkish also sports a touch of spice and takes a small lead over the other tobaccos. The smoky, woody, earthy, lightly musty, sweet Cyprian Latakia provides ample support. The grassy, rather tart and tangy citrusy bright Virginia is just more than a condiment. The unsweetened black cavendish offers some sugar, but it's not very detectable. The strength and nic-hit are a little closer to mild than it is to medium. The taste is almost in the center of mild to medium. No chance of bite or harshness. Burns cool and clean at a slightly fast pace with mostly consistent sweet and savory flavor from start to finish as it easily burns to ash. Hardly leaves any dampness in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Has a very pleasant, short lived after taste, and slightly stronger room note. By design, it is an all day Turkish forward smoke with just enough depth to hold your interest.

-JimInks

There is a "sweetness" that can be felt in Best Make and Pipemaker's Choice, but in No. 188, this sweetness is more like "Karumeyaki" (which is like toffee). There is a subtle hint of burnt caramel, and overall, it is full of delicious oriental flavors and aromas, with Virginia and Latakia playing the role of spices. For me, it has become one of my favorites, along with No. 111.

Excellent clean tasting English blend.. This is a new release from the new owner of Wilke Tobaccos. There is a nice balance and complexity to this mixture. Plus there is some kind of topping that I can't identify but adds a little sweetness. This is a nice after dinner kind of smoke that would go well with a cup of Joe. It's not a Lat bomb nor is is too heavy - and for reason could be an all day smoke.. Bassed on trying a couple blends from new owner I'd say Wilke blends are in good hands.

I tried this in seven pipes with differing results, but in the end I’m giving away the remainder of my supply. In non-filtered cob and meer this was a ghastly 1-star experience. Exceedingly weedy, and a real chore to even finish a bowl simply for the purpose of an evaluation. Yes, all my pipes are cleaned after every use (Everclear or 151) and allowed to sit for several days. Have you ever had dandelion weed in a salad or steeped as a tea? With Brigham filters or Falcon’s proprietary cellulose filters the rating goes up to 2-stars with the weedy character now more of a dry grass and Echinacea. Just a hint of herbal bitterness and a fleeting wisp of the caramel-toffee-tinged Cavendish. Best results were in a Savinelli 673 using the new 6mm charcoal filter, now we’re at 2.5 stars, with no weeds in the garden, smoother mid-palate, and more consistent caramel.

As for what leaf does what, who cares? I can’t get past the unkempt garden weeds.

These inconsistencies between the older reviews and what I receive have me scared off of buying anything in large quantity from boutique blenders. I know it’s not my taste buds because I take my evaluative capabilities very seriously (i.e. if I’d had any Naproxen in my system for the last 24 hours) and of course you can read my profile to see about my background as a wine and food educator, and specialty coffee reviewer. It’s not just the boutique tobacco blenders suffering from product consistency as I recently reviewed a coffee that won the 2020 award for best espresso blend, and my fresh 2-pound bag was tainted with bell pepper pyrazine, making it unusable! Still, frustrating when it’s all on my own nickel.