I could feel your gaze Sir...........
Sure. I smoked some Burley a while back and came up with a 'Kentucky' thing going on. So then I thought, why not try a 'Latakia', of sorts? So I got some Izmir and already had Yenidji leaf and had a go...
Not entirely successful. Actually, I wasted the whole two pounds. It was terrible.
I think I worked out the issue however. When I did the thing with the burley, I grew it, and hung it and smoked it while it cured. The Orientals however, were already cured. Like Virginia tobaccos, they didn't accept the smoke curing attributes as well as Burley. Sure, the batch smelled like smoke, but the flavor profile was vile. (In my opinion, and compared side to side with purchased Latakia). So it seemed the next step was to grow some Oriental plants and try again next year. Of course, the Ozarks aren't quite the same environment as the coast of the Mediterranean, but I have already created a raised bed of rather sandy/poor soil to try to match the ground conditions. I have on hand seeds from The Tobacco Seed Company. List as follows.....
Bafra
Basma
Izmir
Samsun
Sherazi
I was hoping to get some Shek-el-bint seeds, but alas, my associate who lived near the town of Latakia has been displaced and I have not heard from him in a great while.
At any rate, I believe that if the leaves are smoked while cured the result will be more to our liking.
There's my Tuppence....
