Wilke Pipe Tobacco Rumcake

After reading some of the reviews on here I had to have some of this. Not sure if I got the tail end of a batch or what but this was bland to me. I didn't taste any rum, in fact I didn't taste much of anything. No smell at all when opening the pouch either. I will stick with the Vermont Maple Cavendish.

I did not find much rum here. I also found nothing special.

This is a very pleasant blend which I found pretty bland. It's well behaved and smells terrific in the pouch and when burning. The only flavor I get is an occasional bit of sweetness. I get a little bite from it, unlike most Wilke blends. I tried mixing it 50-50 with NBB as another reviewer suggested, but still didn't get much out of it. If you like extremely mild tobaccos, this will suit you, otherwise I suggest Wilke's 196 or Bohemian Mixture.

This is really a very good mixture BUT it is not quite as wonderful as I've heard it described.An extremely pleasant aroma with a good sweet taste yet, I found it to be rather run of the mill.If you really like rum i would give it a try,but if you just like good aromatics go for the Bohemian mix and treat yourself to something really different.

I’ve been toying with this for the past 18 months, trying to come to grips with the rave reviews. It was at its best when I first tried it: although muted and muddled it had a suggestion of blondie bar and rum, and was an overall satisfactory three star experience at the point. But even then I noticed that if I sat the pipe down and returned later much of the flavor had been lost. Now, even though the ambient aroma smells pretty good, the flavors themselves have faded to the point where the effects of heavy PG has altered the flavor profile to something more savory and somewhat funky.

In preparation for this review, and at risk of losing even more flavor, I left some out on a paper plate for 12 hours (!) to see if drying out would help. While this reduced the stickiness to the fingers, I was nonetheless able to form the tobacco into grape-sized clumps, and they stayed that way without unfurling. Yep, too much humectant. My last bowl started out tasting of pan-scorched brown gravy with a slightly unpleasant undertone of butyric acid, the once pleasant sweet-cake and rum flavors nowhere to be found, now, if any flavors could be described, tasting vaguely of stale Corn Flakes.

I have no idea if Carole might have prepared this blend differently than John, as I’ve only come to know the Wilke blends since John took the helm. And I have several glowing four-star reviews coming for his non-aromatic blends. But I suspect the real issue with the aromatics is that most smokers are not perceptive to the taste and effect on the palate of these additives. I myself never use additives in my own home blending (processed from natural leaf), but blenders continue with this practice as a safeguard against mold, or to control burn rate, because they mostly don’t get any negative feedback.

I’m going to go ahead and give this three stars based on how it tasted when all the flavorings covered up the hidden flaws, but strongly advise enjoying it while fresh. It aint gonna get any better!