Wilke Pipe Tobacco 10 Downing Street

(3.67)
Burley based blend with Virginia flake finished with latakia and perique.

Details

Brand Wilke Pipe Tobacco
Blended By John Brandt
Manufactured By Wilke Pipe Tobacco
Blend Type Other
Contents Burley, Perique, Virginia
Flavoring
Cut Ribbon
Packaging bulk
Country United States
Production Currently available

Profile

Strength
Mild to Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
None Detected
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant to Tolerable
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Mild to Medium
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming

Average Rating

3.67 / 4
2

1

0

0

Reviews

Please login to post a review.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 14, 2018 Mild to Medium None Detected Mild to Medium Pleasant
The nutty, earthy, woody toasty dry burley is a team player that allows the other components to have their say, even though there’s more of it in this blend by percentage than the other varietals. The woody, earthy, musty, smoky, mildly sweet Cyprian Latakia plays a supporting role. The fairly tingly, spicy, plumy perique takes the third position in the mix. The grassy, mildly citrusy Virginia flake just rises above being a condiment. The strength and taste levels are a step past the center of mild to medium. The nic-hit is a hair below that center. Won’t bite or get harsh. Burns fairly cool and very clean at a reasonable pace with a mildly smoky, savory and lightly sweet and spicy, consistent flavor from top to bottom. Hardly leaves any dampness in the bowl, and requires few relights. Has a pleasant, short lived after taste and room note. Can be an all day smoke.

-JimInks
5 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 10, 2021 Mild None Detected Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
A quality English blend... If you're not a fan of the Wood Creosote-like scents found in typical English blends, 10 Downing Street fills the gap. (Basically, this type of aroma is either undetectable or non-existent in Wilke's English blends.) I consider this blend to be the most "typical" of Wilke's English blends. Personally, I think that recommending 10 Downing Street would work better than recommending 965 or other English blends to beginners. In other words, it is plain delicious.

-2021/02/17- As I have come to understand after smoking a few times, I tend to love blends like this one. Blends that are neither too complex nor too simple. I am not a pipe tobacco epicure. It's a pain to smoke only blends consisting of Virginia or Burley every day. This is a delicious blend that is just right for those fickle pipe smokers.
PurchasedFrom: Wilke Pipe Tobacco
4 people found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Mar 23, 2023 Mild to Medium Extremely Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant to Tolerable
As nearly as I can determine this bend has been available now for at least five years, and yet at the time I post this there are only two other reviews. I’d say this deserves more attention than it has thus far received. I really enjoyed this and, though it’s not yet what I’d call a Top Ten favorite, I have ordered more for the cellar to see how it develops. What I enjoy about it is the interplay of the bright grassy Virginias and the Latakia. Nearly always – either in what I buy or what I make with my own blends – I like deeper, darker Virginias, or the more bready and malty type, when used with Latakia. In this case, the interplay of opposites is quite captivating, and I have to say, a masterful touch by the blender.

There is a bit of that sweet creamy note that I criticized in Wilke Balkan, but here it is much more subtle, and, to my taste, perfectly integrated with the other components. There’s a bit of slight coriander and baking spice on the retrohale. I don’t know exact proportions but on the palate this blend is about that deft interplay between the semi-dry grass of the Virginia and softly muted Latakia. None of the Wilke blends with Latakia have overt campfire or creosote, which is to my preference. If you like a bolder Latakia profile then you may find this too soft. Burley is very slight, at least in the batch I received, and must be of the darker variety as it tastes almost like dark-fired. It seems like maybe it has had some age as the texture is like a very creamy cigar, and it’s just enough to add some dimension without messing up that interplay between the Virginia and Latakia. This creamy cigar note may simply be the synergy between the muted Latakia and a milder Burley mimicking a dark-fired characteristic. The Perique is in just the right amount as a savory nuance.

Jar note reveals a slight presence of orange zest, and this shows up on the palate as burnt orange peel. So many layers if you look, or you can just soak in the surface flavors which are both creamy and savory. I find this a good before-lunch blend as it seems to stimulate the appetite (not that I really need that!). If you don’t happen to finish it all in one session I find that leftovers (even the next day) are just as good. I’ll be noting that more in my reviews as some blends can get nasty if they stew in their own juices.

In sum: pleasing flavors, well-integrated complexity, savory retrohale. Four stars.
1 person found this review helpful.
Please login to upvote this review.

target="_blank"