Wilke Pipe Tobacco Wilke No. 72

Perhaps it's due to its burly base, along with several Virginias (details alluringly unlisted), that Mixture 72 is so enticingly sweet. This wonderfully pleasant, virtually bite-free sweet-note combines beautifully with other classic English components (especially the light touch of Latakia, with a whiff of perique -- a leaf I've come to dislike in my one-year aggressive pipe-smoking campaign). The components combine to produce another masterful stroke of pipe tobacco blending genius from the great -- and legendary -- house of Wilke. (I write this as I sip on another classic: Wilke's Gentry Royal Blend "No. 2", listed as an "American" blend -- though it's approaching English.)

Not many reviewers have noted that this mixture was the all-time favorite of none other than the don of evening national broadcast News himself, Walter Cronkite (I almost wrote "Sir Walter"). Cronkite was said to have smoked No. 72 not only religiously, but also in a Wilke pipe. In a memorial on Cronkite, following his passing at a "ripe old age" (de died 17 July 2009 at age 92), one member of the New York Pipe club recalled that New York Wilke pipe shop manager Gennaro Filosa could confirm that Cronkite was indeed a regular, and that he preferred No. 72, "always" buying it. They then recount a story Filosa could remember from the 1970s: on a Saturday Night Live skit, the great comedienne Gilda Radner claims to have slept with Cronkite -- "And then she held up a can of Mixture 72 for all the world to see," proving the point!* Wouldn't it be great to see that can on a YouTube clip (which I've so far been unsuccessful in finding)?

No. 72 is quite simply delicious: lightly smoky, subtly sweet, creamy, silky pure smooth English (though not in the style the English themselves seem to prefer, which registers to me on the more alluringly floral side -- and I think I finally know exactly what the secret sauce of Esoterica Full English is: beautifully floral Virginias!). This is one of those contemplative smokes, not too aggressive as to demand your concentration on it -- it can slip calmly into the background as you turn your mind to other matters corporeal or spiritual...

In my review I can do no better than other, more experienced tobacco reviewers (such as my personal hero, JimInks), but I think that this one should rank in the 3.5 to 4 stars range -- perhaps missing half-a-star due to a lack in overall smoking complexity. But then again, it's very much relative to the pipe smoker: As with all matters of taste: let those with more experience be your guide, calling to mind Aristotle's dictum in matters of ethics, which has it that what's best for you is what the person of excellence ("arete") would do and would choose. Seek out the best, those of excellence, and follow their lead (but don't forget the slogan of later Enlightenment philosophy: "think for yourself!").

* source: https://newyorkpipeclub.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=5&club_id=415823&item_id=11491)