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The ever elusive Yenidje

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FmGrowit

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After several weeks of looking, this is the conversation about purchasing some Yenidje.






"Don,


This is what I got from my oriental supplier. They are very good and you see what they say below.

According the Tobacco Encyclopedia, Yenidje was from Greece and disappeared years ago and is now replaced with a Basma type.

Best I can do.




------------------------------------------------------


I am not sure, Yenidje is correctly pronuanced. I have never heard about it. If it is from Turkey, many varieties have been disappeared. Existing ones are :

· Izmir,
· Samsun,
· Sark,
· Yayladag

Beside above, some of the Turkish suppliers are growing Basma and Katerini in Turkey.

I guess, this is from Bursa region, which was closed down for tobacco growing, 7-8 years ago.

Kindly let me know how we can replace this with another origin.

Rgds,"


Do you think this is accurate information or is there something being lost in the translation?

What do you think would be an equivalent replacement for Yenidje.
 

deluxestogie

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According to Constantinides, the town of Yenidje (also Yenice), which is in Greece (and down valley from the town of Xanthi) was destroyed during the mid 19th century. All of Yenidje's tobacco growers moved up the valley, and began tobacco production along the mountain slopes ("yaka", in the Turkish language) surrounding Xanthi. By the early 20th century, all "Yenidje" tobacco was grown in the yaka fields of Xanthi. [Although tobacco is today again growing in the soggy river bottom surrounding the town of Yenidje, it is said to be significantly inferior to the tobacco of Xanthi.]

My opinion has been, and continues to be that so called "Yenidje" leaf is Xanthi-Yaka (which is a basma type).

Bob
 

deluxestogie

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A map from GoogleEarth:

MAP_Xanthi_Yenidje-GoogleEarth.JPG


Context:
MAP_Xanthi_Prilep.JPG


Bob
 

istanbulin

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I am not sure, Yenidje is correctly pronuanced. I have never heard about it. If it is from Turkey, many varieties have been disappeared. Existing ones are :

· Izmir,
· Samsun,
· Sark,
· Yayladag

Beside above, some of the Turkish suppliers are growing Basma and Katerini in Turkey.

I guess, this is from Bursa region, which was closed down for tobacco growing, 7-8 years ago.

Kindly let me know how we can replace this with another origin.

Rgds,"


Do you think this is accurate information or is there something being lost in the translation?

What do you think would be an equivalent replacement for Yenidje.

I have no idea from which language this text (or e-mail) was translated but I'm really surprised that s/he doesn't know Turkish Yenice which was also known as Agonya in the market. It grows around Çanakkale and not a Basma type tobacco unlike Xanthi. Actually I'm pretty sure there's limited amount of Agonya leaf around.

yenice.jpg

Tobacco farming in Bursa is now a nostalgia. I think there's not a single plant growing there. BTW, What is from Bursa region ?
 

deluxestogie

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The Yenidje leaf, for which Balkan Sobranie Smoking Mixture was famous, is consistently referred to as Macedonian--hence the association with Xanthi. So I'm not sure the Turkish mainland province of Yenice would be related to that. It might be. The entire story of Yenidje tobacco is pretty murky. Some of the legend may have been invented by Balkan Sobranie.

Constantinides did travel in Greek Macedonia, even though many other regions and practices he described were places that he had never visited.

Bob
 

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ChinaVoodoo

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If I hadn't found this thread, I would assume there was no controversy about Yenidje. It was always the label on a tobacco in a jar on the shelf at the tobacconist I go to. Also, skychaser sells seed for it. Is it unlikely that either Balkan Sobranie, skychaser's seed, and this bulk tobacco (which they can't get any more), are the real thing? Or can we assume that whatever it is, even if it is not the original, they have agreed to call it Yenidje, and that it is a distinct variety, and the only question is what family of oriental that it belongs to?
 

GStone

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Great, now I'm more confused than I was when I got here.

So, here's what I know about the tobacco I was introduced to as "Yenidje", back in 1975: It was one of three orientals offered at The Tinder Box, along with Djubek and Latakia. You had to ask for them; they kept them for custom blending purposes. That was the sweetest, most fragrant, and comforting tobacco I ever smoked. It had a sweet, freshly-dried-hay aroma and a buttery smooth taste that I'll never forget. The room-note was awesome as well. Once it was properly humidified (it was always really dry) and blended with a gold Virginian something or other, it made a perfect cigarette blend.

Since I was also a Latakia fan, the guy turned me on to Balkan Sobranies. At some point I set aside the hobby for a couple of years, but when I bummed a cigarette from a Camel smoking friend, c. 1978, I immediately recognized the Yenidje aroma, and I thought, hell, I could have been smoking Camels all this time instead of Benson & Hedges.

Fast forward to around 1990, after having given up hobby smoking for a long time, I decided to get back into it and visited a tobacconist, who, it turned out, was Turkish. He explained that "real Yendije" was no longer exported because it was in tight supply, as more and more farmers in the area were turning to other employment. He also mentioned a war interfering somehow, but the gist of that point was lost on me because of his accent. He pointed me to Turkish Specials and Tekel Yenice cigarettes as the next best thing, and they were reminiscent of that old flavor, but not really.

So, that's the tobacco I want to grow (or buy) and smoke, whether you want to call it Yenidje or Yenice, or something else completely. I had been told that Xanthi Yaka was the variety but now I'm thinking maybe not?

Inhisarlar-Idaresi-Yenice-Sigarasi.jpg
 

deluxestogie

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In the past, I've found the proprietor of heirloomtobacco.com to have pretty sketchy standards of provenance for his seed. Maybe he's changed.

Bob
 
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GStone

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There appears to be no heirloomtobaccoseed.com, but there is a heirloomtobacco.com, and I assume that's the place:

"
This classic heirloom variety is the parental strain of oriental tobacco from the growing area of Western Thrace near the city of Xanthi. Many genetically modified varieties were developed from this pure strain."

I'd want to see more documentation about which actual strain it comes from.
 

ChinaVoodoo

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As I recall, the owner of that site is a member here, isn't he?

Yes he is. Skychaser.
I forget where he is. It's either Washington or Oregon. Shouldn't take long to get seed from him. You email him what you want them he emails back an invoice. I forget, but I am pretty sure I pay him with PayPal. It's easy and legit.
 
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