Wilke Pipe Tobacco Wilke No. 184

(3.40)
Turkish Yenidje topped with black cavendish; a great all day smoke.

Details

Brand Wilke Pipe Tobacco
Blended By John Brandt
Manufactured By Wilke Pipe Tobacco
Blend Type Oriental
Contents Black Cavendish, Oriental/Turkish
Flavoring
Cut Ribbon
Packaging various sizes in pouches
Country United States
Production Currently available

Profile

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

Average Rating

3.40 / 4
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Reviews

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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 Reviews
Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Nov 14, 2018 Mild to Medium Mild Medium Very Pleasant
The woody, earthy, floral, herbal, vegetative, lightly spicy yenidje has a little sweetness along with some dry sourness. It is the dominant tobacco, and also sports a little of the “unflavored soda note” I often associate with yenidje. The brown sugary black cavendish is an important supporting player that offers some smoothness. I also sense a light vanilla topping. Together, it all creates a well balanced, very consistent, mildly sour, savory, very floral sweetness from start to finish. The strength and nic-hit are in-between the center of mild to medium. The taste level is medium. Won’t bite or get harsh, and barely has any roughness. Burns fairly cool and very clean at a moderate pace. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Has a pleasantly lingering after taste, and room note. Can be an all day smoke for the veteran, but it has just enough of a flavor punch that those not experienced with yenidje may consider it to be an occasional venture during their day. I recommend a small to medium bowl for this one. Three and a half stars out of four.

-JimInks
9 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jul 11, 2021 Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Pleasant
Wilke 184 presents as light to medium brown ribbons with a smattering of darker shades. The tobacco arrives at optimal moisture level and can be smoked immediately. The nose is subtly sweet and somewhat indistinct, impacted adversely by the scent-inhibiting nature of the plastic bag. I’ll jar this and come back to edit the tin note in a year or so.

Takes well to flame, and after a good char or two should require no relight (in itself, that, a rare gem for an aromatic). The char and true lights are cavendish-heavy, bringing honey in no small dose and a hint of vanilla. But the flavoring agents, like all Wilke blends, are dry on the tongue (and in the pipe). Flavorwise, however, the first third is flavored Cavendish intensive on top of what could easily have been Virginia. Or perhaps burley. But wait… there’s absolutely no bite here, nor even heat. A honey aromatic that actually smokes dry and (literally) cool. What’s going on here? What’s going on here is the absence of Virginia or burley.

Like some other old-school boutique American blends, the takeaway here is that Oriental(s) not only do fine on their own without Virginia (think Peretti Tashkent), but that they do a damn fine job as a base for an aromatic as well. This is what an aromatic was meant to be! And what it was, before the Scandi Cavendish blends hit our shores and were horrifically imitated with goopy new-style American Cavendish blends.

But back to 184. By mid-bowl, the topping settles down and you can taste some actual “Turkish”, claimed to be Yenidje. While there’s no quite telling in a cased blend, I may be convinced. We get basswood, parchment, poppyseed, a hint of white pepper, a dash of leather. All this with the faintest backdrop of honey that rides it out, in ever-decreasing presence, to the end of the bowl, where it ultimately tapers off entirely, leaving a coda of delicately spiced oriental goodness. There will be a tiny bit of moisture from the Cavendish, but it won’t detract from the experience.

Overall, this is a great blend. Great as a “crossover” aromatic for those looking to explore the world of tobacco more deeply. Great as a change of pace for veteran smokers. Great for those who remain agnostic. Great for those who can’t decide on sweet vs savory this evening. I suspect there’s some Wilke 191 here, or at least the same Cavendish, sans the Virginia. Yes, I’m sure of it. And perhaps that’s it, married with some quality oriental. But does it matter? I don’t need to know how the sausage is made. I just sit back and enjoy 184. I highly recommend you do the same.
6 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Feb 08, 2021 Mild to Medium Extremely Mild Mild to Medium Pleasant
The blend is reminiscent of Rattray's Dark Fragrant or No. 196, and I can certainly detect the "unflavored soda note" that JimInks likened it to. Nevertheless, the impression that it is essentially a Cavendish Based remains for me. Bitter fruit soda... Not so sweet, but a blend that gives that impression. However, it is not a fruit gum kind of blend. It is a proper Pipe Tobacco. I recommend it to pipe smokers who don't like the "smell overkill" of the aromatic family.
PurchasedFrom: Wilke Pipe Tobacco
5 people found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Jun 11, 2023 Mild Mild Medium Pleasant
This one is a guilty pleasure for me. I am one of those snobs who thought he \"graduated\" from aromatics (having started, perhaps like most of my generation, with Borkum Riff and Middleton\'s Cherry). I also run when I read \"cavendish\" because it\'s the most meaningless of descriptors - being a process, not a type of leaf (and it\'s not even one type of process -- Germain cavendish supposedly being much different than the USA use of that word).

Wilke\'s site honestly puts No 184 on its aromatics page, so I ought not to have been expected something like McClelland\'s Yenidje Supreme just because Yenidje is advertised as a major component.

The tin note is sweet, almost candy, like a lot of jars at old time tobacconists used to smell. It burns extraordinarily well. Every tobacco since Sir Walter Raleigh has probably boasted their weed is \"smooth\" with \"no bite\" but this stuff really is very smooth and consistent all the way down -- making a second bowl easy. Except it also burns slow -- sometimes I leave the last 3rd of the bowl and finish it later.

As to taste... I also detect a hint of vanilla. I don\'t know what to call the rest of the taste -- \"cavendish\" I guess -- except it is NOT perfume-y at all. There\'s a hint of cherry too -- not fruity, but imagine an old furniture shop with sawdust from cherry wood. Of course at least some of its fragrances may derive from the Yenidje itself, and not the topping.

So: a mild, mildly aromatic Balkan.

People who like Britt\'s Balkan (an excellent Balkan with vanilla) will like Wilke #184 at least as much.

Pipe Used: Cob with paper filter
PurchasedFrom: Wilke
1 person found this review helpful.
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Reviewed By Date Rating Strength Flavoring Taste Room Note
Apr 02, 2023 Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Mild to Medium Pleasant
Well, this is a weird one, but a good weird. I kind of expected something unusual given the combination of Yenidje and honey Cavendish. My timing in getting this in November was not good, as this is definitely not a cold weather blend. Two stars at that point. Once the weather started to warm I began to enjoy it more. It’s still weird, but now a good weird. Sort of a mild American Lakeland. I say that because of the very strong floral character. But there’s none of the really overt Lakeland flavors like tonquin or talcum powder. Jar note of honey and grass, flavors of sweet honey and milk, lemon grass, and a pronounced floral aroma. Except in my cleanest smoking briars this tends to leave a wet clump at the bottom of the bowl. With the above noted caveats I can confidently give this three stars, though for me this would be a very occasional smoke for when I want something more than a little different. For those who are after a pleasant honey Cavendish I would suggest trying Boswell’s Roast Honey! For those seeking a honey-infused mild Lakeland – this is it!
1 person found this review helpful.
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