Wilke Pipe Tobacco Lizzie Blood Red Virginia: Final Verdict

The perique is half the blend, and provides a lot of spice, mildly sweet plums, earth, wood, some dried figs, raisins, and floralness as the lead component. The gold Virginia offers a little tart and tangy citrus grass, bread, sugar, sour lemon, floralness, and small touches of tangy darker fruit, earth and wood. It’s a step above the condiment line due to the forceful perique. The blood orange topping has a mild effect in this version due to the perique’s potency. The strength is a step shy of the “strong” threshold. The taste is full. The nic-hit is right behind the overall strength level. Deeply punchy rich, it burns cool and clean at a moderate pace with a very consistent spicy, plummy, mildly sweet, floral flavor that extends to pleasantly lingering after taste. The room note is pungent. Leaves little dampness in the bowl, and requires an average number of relights. Not an all day smoke, but it is repeatable. Four stars.

-JimInks

I tried this in smaller bowls, and the Perique overwhelmed. In a larger bowl the tobacco is balanced very well. The golden Virginia is tart and well enhanced by the lightly applied blood orange flavoring. The opening scene is a bit sweet, but the sweetness diminishes as the very nice and large dose of quality Perique rises to the occasion. The Perique is hefty but enjoyable in a larger bowl pipe. It never cancels out the delicious Virginia, which seems to be the main player. The retrohale is more spice than pepper. Lizzy produces a glad volume of smoke which billows to fill a room with a note of citrus. There is a merging of the three tastes of orange, bright Virginia, and Louisiana fermented Perique the last half of the smoke. For me this could be an oft repeated smoke during the day. There is no bite, and a clean burn to the bottom of the bowl. I highly recommend this to VaPer lovers. It pairs well with a Port or Sherry.