Buy Tobacco Leaf Online | Whole Leaf Tobacco

Input needed: What type of smoker is best for making Latakia?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Jitterbugdude

Moderator
Founding Member
Joined
May 22, 2011
Messages
4,266
Points
113
Location
Northeast Maryland
I'm planning to attempt making Latakia this summer. I know it has been tried in the past and the limiting factor seemed to be that a fire needed to be lit everyday and allowed to smolder in the smoker which gets to be a pain in the ass after awhile. I would like to smoke the leaf for as long as humanly possible. I do not see me going out everyday and lighting a fire.

I'm thinking of picking up a used electric smoker. Something along the lines of a Brinkman type smoker. Anyone see any issues with this? Never having owned an electric smoker before I'm not sure how they compare to a conventional fire based smoker.
 

Dean

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2013
Messages
190
Points
0
Location
Great Southern Land
I have been pondering the same question, I would think a tightly sealed smoker like many of the electric ones would work best. Even a fridge with a perfect seal once filled with smoke will retain it for long periods. I was thinking a sealed wood box with a soldering iron set up in sawdust I mean sealed air tight. Refresh sawdust every few days and leave the soldering iron on to heat them. I have used the same set up in a makeshift tar-poplin tent for trout and saltwater fish to cold smoke them so wouldn't see why it would be diferent for baccy. The thing I had lacking in the cold smoker was a tight seal to hold all the goodness in. It worked fine with food in bulk lots but I think could be scaled down and improved to make a smoke saturated environment for baccy.
 

deluxestogie

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
May 25, 2011
Messages
23,931
Points
113
Location
near Blacksburg, VA
Randy,
I think the Brinkman-style smoker would work. I see two limitations:
  1. the wood varieties used to produce the smoke seem to be critical to the Latakia taste
  2. Watts x 24 x days = very expensive
My experience has been that the use of good old American varieties of wood produced leaf that smells and tastes like American fire-cured tobacco, and not Latakia. I never tried it with any evergreen variety of wood. Maybe that (wood) would make the difference, although Myrtle seems to be used in all the documented recipes.

With regard to the second issue, the larger the batch of tobacco produced, the lower the cost per pound. For a Brinkman-sized batch, the yield might be pretty pricey stuff.

Bob
 

FmGrowit

Head Honcho
Staff member
Joined
May 17, 2011
Messages
5,281
Points
113
Location
Freedom, Ohio, United States
I grew a variety called Lattaquie about 5 years ago. It became infested with earwigs while it was curing, so I decided to smoke the bugs out. I used my home made sausage smoker to do the job. The smoker was made from 2 1/2 sheets of plywood to create a 4' cube (4 sides and a lid) and 4' of 6" stove pipe. A hole at ground level allowed the stove pipe to enter the smoker and a fire was built at the end of the stove pipe.

I smoked the tobacco for about a week using some old chestnut from a barn I took down. The tobacco had a great smell, but it didn't pick up much smoke color. I finished curing it in the corn crib and rolled a few cigars with it. Everyone who smoked the cigars said it was the best tobacco they ever smoked.
 

istanbulin

Moderator
Founding Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2012
Messages
1,290
Points
66
Location
Stockton, CA
What about this type of cold smoking tool ?


Video says it can produce smoke for 10 hours. I think this type of device is easy to make your own so making a bigger tray may provide longer smoking time. Also using wood dust is good.

Some other basic designs.
w1zaDY.jpg



EDIT : I didn't see this.
... I do not see me going out everyday and lighting a fire. ...
Moving is good;)
 
Last edited:

Jitterbugdude

Moderator
Founding Member
Joined
May 22, 2011
Messages
4,266
Points
113
Location
Northeast Maryland
Thanks guys, Yeah I realize the electricity might eat me up but I gotta try what I gotta try..:rolleyes:
I really like the "Amaze-N-Products" smoker trays. I might try using one of those. I want to try making something that resembles Latakia but at the same time I don't want it to cost me $100.00/lb when I'm done.
 

jekylnz

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2013
Messages
1,357
Points
48
Location
Auckland, New Zealand, New Zealand
Over here we make these out of fish air pumps...real easy to make..would be cheap to run..and can make them as big and long as you like. .they draw like a cigarette..you set it alite in the little hole . People feed the smoke straight into their standard bbq..when it's intentionally used for food..fish.meat..but could easily be used for herbs..whatever with tobacco
1_Angle_grande.jpeg
 

Mad Oshea

Taking a break
Joined
Sep 30, 2013
Messages
1,863
Points
0
Location
Albuquerque New Mexico (USA)
I used a brl smoker on My Turkish Izmir using Red alder, Pinon and Mesquite this year. It tast great but not like Lattaquie. I gave My electric smoker to the boy. Cost to darnd much to use. I like that concept jekylnz.
 

Knucklehead

Moderator
Founding Member
Joined
Oct 18, 2012
Messages
12,171
Points
113
Location
NE Alabama
New Mexico shorthand for Barrel. Cut a barrel in half lengthwise and put hinges and a handle on it, add some grills and you're in business.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top