Making Latakia at Home
PART 1 (of 3)
Background
I have fire-cured various tobaccos in a trash can smoker (placed on top of a Brinkman smoker), using an assortment of woods: hickory, oak, maple, apple, etc. Each tobacco variety combined with each of the woods that I tried produced some aromatic, flavorful, unique fire-cured leaf.
My longest effort, several years ago, consisted of firing-up the smoker 1 to 3 times a day for 30 days. In each trial, including this long one, I carefully watched the temperature within the can, keeping it under ~120ºF. I kept a pan of water within the Brinkman smoker, between the fire and the trash can.
Unfortunately, the darkest that I was able to achieve was a medium-to-dark brown, and it did not smell at all like Latakia (from Cyprus or Syria). Latakia is not very dark brown, but is nearly black.And it smells "smoky", with a complex, unidentifiable smoky aroma.
Over the years, we have discussed on this forum the selection of Mediterranean woods that have been traditionally used for fire-curing Latakia, with the best guess being a Mediterranean live oak, together with mastic (Pistacia lentiscus). Mastic tears ("Tears of Chios") has been suggested as a substitute for mastic wood.
We've also discussed what the actual variety of tobacco used in Latakia might be. It is clearly a Nicotiana tabacum, rather than a rustica. My impression from carefully examining some of the whole leaf Cyprus Latakia from www.wholeleaftobacco.com was that it appeared to be a small Basma-type leaf. Istanbulin is confident that the Latakia leaves do not have a petiole (a stem separating the lamina from the stalk), which would suggest a sessile type.
The Latakia Project
When I received from Markw some seed identified as "Latakia", brought from Cyprus by an expat Cypriate, I germinated and planted some during the 2014 growing season. This motivated me to think more about the process of fire-curing Latakia.
My thoughts on the Latakia Process
My previous fire-curing experience demonstrated to me that using common American hardwoods for smoking tobacco yields aromas that are incorrect for Latakia. FmGrowit suggested pine as one of the possible sources of the Latakia scent--an idea that I dismissed out of hand, since the thought of terpentine seemed way off. But, after some experimenting, I decided that burned pine is closer to a Latakia aroma than any woods I've already tried.
A research paper on the chemical constituents of Latakia aromas (actually the vapors of its "pouch" aroma) explained that at first they had identified the distinctive terpene as coming from red cedar. Further analysis clarified that it was from Mastic. BUT, the red cedar aroma was close enough to have initially fooled them.
So, my choice for woods came down to long-dead white pine branches, bark on, and fresh green sprigs and small branches of live Eastern Red Cedar.
If Mastic (Pistacia lentiscus) is chosen in the Middle East, what about Pistacia vera, the pistachio nut? Undyed (beige colored) pistachio shells burn very well, but the aroma from them is minimal. Another subtle aromatic addition may be culinary bay leaves (Laurus nobilis), sold among cooking spices, and available at a fairly low cost in Asian grocery stores. (Avoid "Bay Leaves" from India, which are a different species, and give off a vague cinnamon aroma.)
Many Asian grocers carry juniper berries. These contain concentrated juniper oil, and deliver an excellent undertone to Latakia. (Eastern Red Cedar is Juniperus virginiana.)
A final, surprise herb is Marjoram. When burned, it releases a soft, non-floral, non-weedy aroma that seems compatible with the aroma of Cyprus Latakia. It can be expensive, unless you can find it among Mexican bulk spices (sometimes sold at Walmart).
By contrast, pine nuts seem as though they would be ideal, but they apparently contain so much complex fat that, when burned, it smells like burned, rancid animal fat. (I guess I'll save them for making Pesto.) Another loser is acacia gum (gum Arabic), which smells foul. I was unable to obtain Mastic gum ("Tears of Chios") for this trial.
And SMOKE! I wanted dense smoke as continuously as possible. The green sprigs of red cedar would provide this. Where I live, Eastern Red Cedar is a nuisance tree that springs up along fence-rows and in unmowed pastures everywhere. I drove up and down the country roads that spread out around me, and located small red cedars that had already been hacked up a bit by road crews, and took home trunkloads of the largest branches that would fit into the jaws of my pruning shears. These, I cut into segments that would fit within the base of the Brinkman smoker.
For pine, I went to a huge brush pile way behind the house. It still had gobs of white pine branches that blew down during storms over the past 5 years or so. Initially, I preferred 3-4" thick, dead pine branches, which I sawed into short segments, and split to 1" thick sticks with an ax. But as the fire-curing trial progressed, I came to realize that the smaller (~1") branches, with the bark still on, provided the greatest quantity of smoke, as well as a more intense aroma. I also added green cuttings from Scotch Pine.
For firing, I would remove the Can and the top of the Brinkman, to expose the base. There, I would initially build a small fire of charcoal briquets, allowing all the fire starter to burn off, before proceeding. Once I had a small bed of coals, I quickly built a stick house above them, using the dead white pine, then heaped some live red cedar sprigs (or any of the herbs I had decided on) on top. The Brinkman body was then replaced, and the Can (with a perforated bottom) set on top of that, with the lid on loosely.
Although I did watch the temperature, that's all I did about it. The temps usually cruised around 150º during active firing, though occasionally it reached over 300ºF. [The smolder temp of tobacco is in the range of 1100ºF (600ºC).] My goal was to have the fire going at all times when I was at home. During the 5th week, I added 1 gallon of water to the pan that rests within the Brinkman. It required several days to boil it off, but the steam noticeably darkened the leaf.
The results shown at the top of this post are from 45 days of intense firing, with dense smoke and high temperatures.
[CONTINUED IN PARTS 2 and 3 BELOW]
Bob
PART 1 (of 3)
Background
I have fire-cured various tobaccos in a trash can smoker (placed on top of a Brinkman smoker), using an assortment of woods: hickory, oak, maple, apple, etc. Each tobacco variety combined with each of the woods that I tried produced some aromatic, flavorful, unique fire-cured leaf.
My longest effort, several years ago, consisted of firing-up the smoker 1 to 3 times a day for 30 days. In each trial, including this long one, I carefully watched the temperature within the can, keeping it under ~120ºF. I kept a pan of water within the Brinkman smoker, between the fire and the trash can.
Unfortunately, the darkest that I was able to achieve was a medium-to-dark brown, and it did not smell at all like Latakia (from Cyprus or Syria). Latakia is not very dark brown, but is nearly black.And it smells "smoky", with a complex, unidentifiable smoky aroma.
Over the years, we have discussed on this forum the selection of Mediterranean woods that have been traditionally used for fire-curing Latakia, with the best guess being a Mediterranean live oak, together with mastic (Pistacia lentiscus). Mastic tears ("Tears of Chios") has been suggested as a substitute for mastic wood.
We've also discussed what the actual variety of tobacco used in Latakia might be. It is clearly a Nicotiana tabacum, rather than a rustica. My impression from carefully examining some of the whole leaf Cyprus Latakia from www.wholeleaftobacco.com was that it appeared to be a small Basma-type leaf. Istanbulin is confident that the Latakia leaves do not have a petiole (a stem separating the lamina from the stalk), which would suggest a sessile type.
The Latakia Project
When I received from Markw some seed identified as "Latakia", brought from Cyprus by an expat Cypriate, I germinated and planted some during the 2014 growing season. This motivated me to think more about the process of fire-curing Latakia.
My thoughts on the Latakia Process
My previous fire-curing experience demonstrated to me that using common American hardwoods for smoking tobacco yields aromas that are incorrect for Latakia. FmGrowit suggested pine as one of the possible sources of the Latakia scent--an idea that I dismissed out of hand, since the thought of terpentine seemed way off. But, after some experimenting, I decided that burned pine is closer to a Latakia aroma than any woods I've already tried.
A research paper on the chemical constituents of Latakia aromas (actually the vapors of its "pouch" aroma) explained that at first they had identified the distinctive terpene as coming from red cedar. Further analysis clarified that it was from Mastic. BUT, the red cedar aroma was close enough to have initially fooled them.
So, my choice for woods came down to long-dead white pine branches, bark on, and fresh green sprigs and small branches of live Eastern Red Cedar.
If Mastic (Pistacia lentiscus) is chosen in the Middle East, what about Pistacia vera, the pistachio nut? Undyed (beige colored) pistachio shells burn very well, but the aroma from them is minimal. Another subtle aromatic addition may be culinary bay leaves (Laurus nobilis), sold among cooking spices, and available at a fairly low cost in Asian grocery stores. (Avoid "Bay Leaves" from India, which are a different species, and give off a vague cinnamon aroma.)
Many Asian grocers carry juniper berries. These contain concentrated juniper oil, and deliver an excellent undertone to Latakia. (Eastern Red Cedar is Juniperus virginiana.)
A final, surprise herb is Marjoram. When burned, it releases a soft, non-floral, non-weedy aroma that seems compatible with the aroma of Cyprus Latakia. It can be expensive, unless you can find it among Mexican bulk spices (sometimes sold at Walmart).
By contrast, pine nuts seem as though they would be ideal, but they apparently contain so much complex fat that, when burned, it smells like burned, rancid animal fat. (I guess I'll save them for making Pesto.) Another loser is acacia gum (gum Arabic), which smells foul. I was unable to obtain Mastic gum ("Tears of Chios") for this trial.
Another consideration is the required temperature to blacken the tobacco. Just smoking it like a Gouda cheese (which is what I had been doing) doesn't blacken the leaf. To achieve a black leaf, I decided to go with the high temps that blacken black Cavendish (over 212ºF). So long as the hanging leaf does not combust, the higher the better.SIDEBAR said:Testing your own herbs and spices
Most common kitchen herbs are not suitable for use in making Latakia. Burned parseley, oregano or tea leaves, for example, give off an odor similar to the weedy aroma of marijuana. Tarragon or thyme, when burned, smell like roasting chicken.
To test any particular herb or spice, you can simply set a stove burner to high, and sprinkle some of the herb onto it, allowing it to give off smoke. (For a gas burner, use a hot, clean pan.) I will caution that most of the herbs or spices that you burn will smell pretty bad. The essential goal is to avoid something that either smells bad, or smells like food.
And SMOKE! I wanted dense smoke as continuously as possible. The green sprigs of red cedar would provide this. Where I live, Eastern Red Cedar is a nuisance tree that springs up along fence-rows and in unmowed pastures everywhere. I drove up and down the country roads that spread out around me, and located small red cedars that had already been hacked up a bit by road crews, and took home trunkloads of the largest branches that would fit into the jaws of my pruning shears. These, I cut into segments that would fit within the base of the Brinkman smoker.
For pine, I went to a huge brush pile way behind the house. It still had gobs of white pine branches that blew down during storms over the past 5 years or so. Initially, I preferred 3-4" thick, dead pine branches, which I sawed into short segments, and split to 1" thick sticks with an ax. But as the fire-curing trial progressed, I came to realize that the smaller (~1") branches, with the bark still on, provided the greatest quantity of smoke, as well as a more intense aroma. I also added green cuttings from Scotch Pine.
For firing, I would remove the Can and the top of the Brinkman, to expose the base. There, I would initially build a small fire of charcoal briquets, allowing all the fire starter to burn off, before proceeding. Once I had a small bed of coals, I quickly built a stick house above them, using the dead white pine, then heaped some live red cedar sprigs (or any of the herbs I had decided on) on top. The Brinkman body was then replaced, and the Can (with a perforated bottom) set on top of that, with the lid on loosely.
Although I did watch the temperature, that's all I did about it. The temps usually cruised around 150º during active firing, though occasionally it reached over 300ºF. [The smolder temp of tobacco is in the range of 1100ºF (600ºC).] My goal was to have the fire going at all times when I was at home. During the 5th week, I added 1 gallon of water to the pan that rests within the Brinkman. It required several days to boil it off, but the steam noticeably darkened the leaf.
The results shown at the top of this post are from 45 days of intense firing, with dense smoke and high temperatures.
[CONTINUED IN PARTS 2 and 3 BELOW]
Bob