I bought a Brooks B-17 Honey last March.
I'm pretty light (74 kg, or 164 lbs) and the saddle was not breaking in quickly enough for me, so I soaked it in 3 tablespoons of neats-foot oil to speed it up. 2000 miles later it broke in. I have not messed with the tensioner bolt.
This week I splurged and bought the Brooks Honey Leather Wrap. I have read that some folks got wrap that was sewn together. The 2 rolls I got (Harris Cycle) are single strips. No stitched patches.
Since I darkened my Honey Saddle with a puddle of neats foot oil. I applied 3 coats of neats foot oil to my brand new Brooks wrap. I'll put a coat of Kiwi Neutral shoe polish on it before I install it. It's still a bit lighter than the oiled saddle. A side benefit was that the saddle and the tape now almost match the Armadillo Nimbus Maroon sidewall tires! Bonus!
Here's some photos. I have a fitting next week so my bars are half naked and the bike is still on the trainer.
I am a little miffed that the leather wrap is so short. = 80.5 inch or 204cm. I wanted to under-wrap it, but the length is too short to do so. I *might* be able to fit a cloth under-wrap, but I doubt it. 92" or ~220cm would have been perfectish.
The following picture compares the out-of-box honey tape and my oiled tape. The glue on the leather tape has not been destroyed. Nor have I removed the wax-paper from the glue strip yet.
Matches Nimbus Red sidewall!
My embarrassing cockpit view.
The Brooks tape wrap will need a coat of neutral shoe polish (Proofhide) to darken a tad more and coat the surface a bit before I install it. I wish it came with another 15-20cm length. I would really like to under wrap the upper bar with a round of cork before installing. Probably because I'm a fred, I guess!
It is certainly possible to match the Honey saddle with the tape. But don't expect the colors to match without some risk. I'll update after it's all in place.
I actually think it's smart that Brooks provide the honey tape this way. It's very easy to darken it. But you cannot lighten it. It's also cool that the stitching is gone. I have a single strip with no stitching.
Best of luck!
Hope these pictures are fun.
Brooklyn Rider