I've seen one historical "war whip" in a small German museum; it was similar to what you describe, in that it had fairly heavy looking pommel and a curved bastard-length hilt.
The thing was listed as being Polish or Hungarian, 13-14th century iirc.
Except it wasn't meant for bashing & entangling; it was designed for use on horseback, with the express purpose of exploding unprotected heads, joints, groins, etc.... or by ripping them off, if the whip made a turn around the target, being that the wielder was ideally on horseback.
What struck me was it's length, and that it had the Inquisition's version of childrens jacks braided into the whip, along with looked like handmade thin flat wires at the tip. I can't remember if they were also weighted.
In any case, being popped upside the dome or knee with a war whip like that, even while wearing the best armor available, would like taking a shotgun slug to a kevlar vest.
It won't penetrate, but the sheer velocity & impact of that tip is going to scramble and/or break things on the other side.