Buy Tobacco Leaf Online | Whole Leaf Tobacco

Making Latakia at Home

Status
Not open for further replies.

Jitterbugdude

Moderator
Founding Member
Joined
May 22, 2011
Messages
4,266
Points
113
Location
Northeast Maryland
After rereading the Leffingwell report on constituents in Latakia leaf I ordered some Mastic gum and Mastic oil. Now I just have to wait for the stuff to come in from Greece. My intent is to spray the oil on the leaf and possibly fumigate some leaf with the resin.. or a combination of both.
 

Jitterbugdude

Moderator
Founding Member
Joined
May 22, 2011
Messages
4,266
Points
113
Location
Northeast Maryland
I had considered ordering some too but I have to put a limit on the money I spend sometimes..:rolleyes:

But seriously, the Leffingwell report says in their Conclusion " More than 500 constituents were identified and the Terpenoids and Sesquiterpenoids present suggests that Pistacia Lentiscus (Mastic) is an important contributor to the smoke cure process". This statement was in reference to Cyprian Latakia. In their brief discussion of Syrian Latakia they mention Cade Oil but say that it (Cade Oil= Juniperus Oxycedrus) appears to play a minor role. Hence I am hedging my bets that the Mastic Gum and Oil I bought might get me close to a spray on solution for making Cyprian Latakia
 

deluxestogie

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
May 25, 2011
Messages
23,931
Points
113
Location
near Blacksburg, VA
JBD, I'll send you a small sample of Blue Ridge Latakia to experiment with.

I keep the bag of it beside a bag of Cyprian Latakia, and periodically open and sniff the home-made, then the real deal. Smelling the home-made first takes the "smokiness" out of the olfactory equation, since they are both equally smoky. So, the "smokiness" aside, the Cyprian seems to have an additional, subtly floral note--an aroma that I want to plant my face into.

Bob
 

Matty

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2012
Messages
698
Points
28
Location
Sherbrooke, Quebec
If I may add an observation of my own about the floral note. On occasion I'll smoke a small bowl of the Cyrian latakia. On several occasions I've had a bowl that was distinctly floral, two of which times I could taste the oriental tobacco predominately among the other flavors. Could your floral note be coming from the tobacco? Or... as a minor note, something like storax?
 

deluxestogie

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
May 25, 2011
Messages
23,931
Points
113
Location
near Blacksburg, VA
Storax? (styrax) Who knows? Every evergreen tree seems to have some sort of resin that includes a cedar-like scent (from the terpenes, which serve as "antifreeze" for the plant), as well as additional, unique scents.

I'm convinced that both in Syria and Cyprus, Latakia smoking wood was primarily whatever could be found or cut, despite laws attempting to suppress the wastage of their diminishing stands of trees in these arid regions.

All of my large supply of WholeLeafTobacco.com Cyprian Latakia smells the same, which is not surprising, given that it was all stored within the same bale for a long, long time.

The suggestion of Storax certainly opens the discussion to other evergreen oils: juniper oil, etc. I believe that many of them can be used to enhance home-made Latakia. (Maybe even sap or wood from Live Oak, which is an evergreen oak. Mediterranean Live Oak is among the wood varieties listed in the scant tobacco company discussions of making Latakia.) The only stipulation would be that, when burned, the oil or wood does not either smell bad or smell like a food flavoring (or, I'll add, a seasonal decoration).

Home-made Latakia will never exactly match commercial Latakia in aroma. That doesn't matter any more than trying to match the gazillion flavorants used to make an industrial Marlboro, or exactly matching the aroma of St. James Parish Perique. The goal is not to duplicate a commercial product so much as to create your own, unique, artisanal tobacco utilizing a particular technique. As with culinary arts, your result may be better, the same or not as good as the industrial inspiration.

Bob
 

Bigdog

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2014
Messages
83
Points
18
Location
Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng, South Africa
Excellent, I think the process has been duplicated faithfully(as far as we know). The result looks the same. The taste is good and recognizeable. This leads me to the conclusion that you nailed it. The missing component might well present itself after a bit of ageing. I can only say congrats and thank you Sir.
 

deluxestogie

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
May 25, 2011
Messages
23,931
Points
113
Location
near Blacksburg, VA
I appreciate the kind words. While I don't think I nailed it, I do believe that this is a place to start. If I were to repeat the process, I would lean much more toward burning more cedar and less pine, and would add as much mastic tears and marjoram as I could afford to lavish on it.

As a side note, my Blue Ridge Latakia is apparently smokier than I had realized. When JBD opened his mailbox, he could smell the small sample I sent through the closed freezer Ziplock and the sealed plastic, padded Jiffy mailer. I'll attribute my insensitivity of its smokiness to the fact that I store two gallon size, jam packed Ziplocks of Cyprus Latakia in my living room, and another two bags in my study. I can't smell them, unless I open the bag. But I suppose that smoky goodness permeates my house and carpets as well as my clothing and morning coffee. I'm okay with that.

Bob
 

charles

Active Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2014
Messages
25
Points
0
Is it too much work to grow your own Pistacia lentiscus trees, they seem available...to slow growing?
 

istanbulin

Moderator
Founding Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2012
Messages
1,290
Points
66
Location
Stockton, CA
It's a sturdy tree but doesn't grow fast. In the States, I believe it grows well in some areas of TX, CA or other similar regions, actually I have no doubt that it grows well in the "Mediterranean Region" of CA but the resin production may not be satisfying (or it may, just plant some and wait 5-7 years). For which purpose do you want to grow it ?
 

deluxestogie

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
May 25, 2011
Messages
23,931
Points
113
Location
near Blacksburg, VA
Rather than planting trees, waiting 7 years, learning the skill of scoring the bark, catching the tears, gathering and cleaning them, maybe just buying some Chios mastica tears would be a better investment.

Bob
 

istanbulin

Moderator
Founding Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2012
Messages
1,290
Points
66
Location
Stockton, CA
Planting trees is nice Bob, let people enjoy it. Think the botanist Whitehouse who brought the first pistachio nuts from Iran to the US in 1930 for cultivation. Actually neither Iranian nor Californian pistachio taste good to me but if he didn't try it the US (or the states growing pistachio) would miss more than a billion dollar each year.
 

charles

Active Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2014
Messages
25
Points
0
I was assuming they used the trees for the wood in the fires they cured the tobacco with.
 

deluxestogie

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
May 25, 2011
Messages
23,931
Points
113
Location
near Blacksburg, VA
Mastic is a smallish tree. I suspect that it would require a sizable plantation of them to continuously burn their wood. Even with the much larger cedars and pines, the Latakia industry tended to devastate the tree stands.

Bob
 

Jitterbugdude

Moderator
Founding Member
Joined
May 22, 2011
Messages
4,266
Points
113
Location
Northeast Maryland
I'm still hedging my bets on using mastic oil. Just waiting for it to be delivered. I have mastic gum (tears) but that would have to be heated to have any effect.
 

deluxestogie

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
May 25, 2011
Messages
23,931
Points
113
Location
near Blacksburg, VA
I believe mastic tears are soluble in alcohol. It may require 190 proof, but may dissolve in vodka. I'm not sure what you'd end up with, by spraying it on leaf.

Bob
 

istanbulin

Moderator
Founding Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2012
Messages
1,290
Points
66
Location
Stockton, CA
I'm still hedging my bets on using mastic oil. Just waiting for it to be delivered. I have mastic gum (tears) but that would have to be heated to have any effect.

Is it an essential oil or mastic oil "flavor" ? Essential Mastic oil is quite expensive, approx. 20 times expensive than same weight tears (while 10 g small tears cost ~3 USD 10 g essential oil costs ~60 USD) in Chios, the gap between two may be greater in other markets. How much did you pay for it ?
 

jolly

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2011
Messages
252
Points
18
Location
South Florida
I've really enjoyed reading this post. It's triggered some ideas as I go forward this year with kiln building and possibly setting this up (about 50% of the pipe blends I smoke contain latakia).

Florida is covered with an invasive tree called peppertree (Schinus terebinthifolius). It's in the same plant family and has very red resinous aromatic wood. Most people hate it, and the government funds programs to try to eradicate it. I think it might be a great fuel wood for this process.

For local woods further north, try sumac. Same family, very aromatic and resinous, very abundant. It doesn't get very big, so you'd need a lot, but it might make a closer approximation -- especially Rhus aromatica.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top