Wilke Pipe Tobacco Reserve Navy Cake
(1.20)
Flue cured leaf from the Eastern Belt of North Carolina is submitted to pressure, aging, and light stoving. A traditional English process that brings out the sweetness of Virginia tobacco with no additional flavoring. The result is a mellow medium strength dark-colored cake, to be rubbed out to the consistency you desire.
Details
| Brand | Wilke Pipe Tobacco |
| Blended By | Carole Burns |
| Manufactured By | |
| Blend Type | Straight Virginia |
| Contents | Virginia |
| Flavoring | |
| Cut | Flake |
| Packaging | Bulk |
| Country | United States |
| Production | No longer in production |
Profile
Strength
Mild to Medium
Extremely Mild -> Overwhelming
Flavoring
None Detected
None Detected -> Extra Strong
Room Note
Pleasant
Unnoticeable -> Overwhelming
Taste
Mild
Extremely Mild (Flat) -> Overwhelming
Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 Reviews
| Reviewed By | Date | Rating | Strength | Flavoring | Taste | Room Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 25, 2004 | Mild | None Detected | Very Mild | Pleasant to Tolerable |
I am normally a big fan of P&Ws offerings, but this one hasn't lived up to the others. I've not seen another like it in appearance: it looks like something I stepped in and scraped off my shoes. Quite moist, doughy, rubbery, it doesn't rub out very well; I could only cause littler chunks. Think composted tar paper. One must be careful in loading so as not to re-form the little chunks into a semisolid monolith. They are sticky and non-porous.
As a smoke, it's not that bad, just boring. Once lit, it is clearly a VA, but without the usual sweetness. Monochromatic, stoic, not much to recommend it. Mild in taste and nicotine. Cool burning and not biting. The room note is more cigarette than pipe. DGT simply returns more of the same, and it's still a challenge to keep lit. Bottom of bowl is remarkably bland as well, though I do like the sidestream smoke better. It finally develops some characteristic VA tartness but without enthusiasm.
Overall, it strikes me as overprocessed, like the soul of it has been extracted and I'm smoking the remains. I intend to use the rest of my sample as a blending base if I can get it to dry out some more. Even the most boring people can respond well to the right contacts, to paraphrase Rombauer in Joy of Cooking. I'm thinking of adding some Three Nuns to it so they can smack some knuckles with their perique rulers. (Post Script: I did, 20%. Very nice!)
There are many better VAs out there; my favorites are F&Ts. Pipeworks and Wilke has several outstanding and unique blends; this one just didn't make it for me.
As a smoke, it's not that bad, just boring. Once lit, it is clearly a VA, but without the usual sweetness. Monochromatic, stoic, not much to recommend it. Mild in taste and nicotine. Cool burning and not biting. The room note is more cigarette than pipe. DGT simply returns more of the same, and it's still a challenge to keep lit. Bottom of bowl is remarkably bland as well, though I do like the sidestream smoke better. It finally develops some characteristic VA tartness but without enthusiasm.
Overall, it strikes me as overprocessed, like the soul of it has been extracted and I'm smoking the remains. I intend to use the rest of my sample as a blending base if I can get it to dry out some more. Even the most boring people can respond well to the right contacts, to paraphrase Rombauer in Joy of Cooking. I'm thinking of adding some Three Nuns to it so they can smack some knuckles with their perique rulers. (Post Script: I did, 20%. Very nice!)
There are many better VAs out there; my favorites are F&Ts. Pipeworks and Wilke has several outstanding and unique blends; this one just didn't make it for me.
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