Looking for input, taste, days to flower etc.
Anyone grow Japan-8 tobacco?
- Thread starter Jitterbugdude
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ChinaVoodoo
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I kinda did. I don't have exact numbers but maybe you can extract something from my experience. The extent of my knowledge of it is that I handed the plants off to a guy in mid June, who then planted them on land I don't have access to. In early September he stalk picked them when they were just beginning to mottle at the bottom leaves. He hung them in a low humidity garage and they began drying green. A week later they moved to my greenhouse. They've been in the greenhouse for almost a month and are curing very orange/brown. The undersides of the leaves show no green, but about half have some green on the veins on the inside of the leaf. It's a strange almost neon pastel green. They could have been left for longer before picking. Days to maturity seems like the same as my CC98, Pergeu Brazil and Bursa, but longer than the burley, Maryland and flue cured tobaccos and shorter than the one sucker.
Thanks, Let me know how they taste.
ChinaVoodoo
Moderator
I tried a leaf that looked fully cured a couple weeks ago. I couldn't smoke the whole thing, it was woody and spicy in a not so smooth herbal or curry kind of way: the most flavourful tobacco I have ever smoked. It reminded me of the questionable cheroots I picked up in Tamil Nadu.
I have faith that extended aging and curing will make this a very interesting blending component.
I have faith that extended aging and curing will make this a very interesting blending component.
ChinaVoodoo
Moderator
Maybe it's the result of premature picking and poor curing, but if I didn't know Japan 8 was an oriental, I would have classed it as dark air cured.
bonehead
Well-Known Member
from northwood seeds website. he has pretty good descriptions and pictures. http://northwoodseeds.com/Seed List2.htm i get all my seeds from him now.
Japan 8 is a very sweet dark oriental tobacco with low nicotine content. It is acompact shrub reaching 6' in height with long narrow leaves. The leaves average 8"-10" long and 29" to 24" long. Plants average 28 harvestable leaves. It can be air cures or sun cured. It is excellent as a blend for cigarettes or pipes. Air cured leaves are a deep brown and produce a mild smoke with a licorice like flavor. The flowers are a creamy white with maturity at about 65 days.
Japan 8 is a very sweet dark oriental tobacco with low nicotine content. It is acompact shrub reaching 6' in height with long narrow leaves. The leaves average 8"-10" long and 29" to 24" long. Plants average 28 harvestable leaves. It can be air cures or sun cured. It is excellent as a blend for cigarettes or pipes. Air cured leaves are a deep brown and produce a mild smoke with a licorice like flavor. The flowers are a creamy white with maturity at about 65 days.
I saw the northwoodseeds description, that's why I'm asking. "Very sweet dark oriental with low nicotine... with licorice like flavor". Seems intriguing and thought someone else may have grown it to confirm the description.
ChinaVoodoo
Moderator
I can verify it is intriguing. The most flavourful of anything I've tasted of my harvest so far. I'll get some in the kiln and report back in a month or so. Pm me and I'll mail you a care package.
I did this year, and it's now my favourite variety. I like it even better in the pipe than Samsun-Maden.
Leaves air-cure well to a dark chocolate brown, but contain a high amount of sugar (more than any other variety I've grown, except sun-cured Prilep 66-9/7). Even unaged it's not harsh at all. I initially primed and air-cured it, but found that it burns rather fast and with some bite in the pipe, which kilning did not really remedy.
Then I tested stalk-curing, and that did the trick. No bite. Good, steady burn to fine ashes. Stalk-cured leaf can be smoked immediately. 2 crinkled leaves carelessly cut with scissors make for a good bowl. It has a distinct and intriguing aroma, which reminds me of licorice/cocoa/chocolate/campfire. That aroma is very stable - I used the bitey air-cured later for all sorts of fermentation experiments, incl. a sodium bicarbonate treatment, and it still tastes/smells like Japan-8 (the bite has gone, after all).
Yesterday I burned some in my "room note tester", it has indeed a pleasant smell, kind of sweet fire-cured. More aromatic then the Izmir/Prilep mixture. She-who-hates-tobacco associates it with campfire, not with "ashy" tobacco.
I took a risk and planted out at the end of April, before the last frost date. Covered the seedlings when it got cold again - no damage. I got two and a half harvests until September - after clipping the stalks they always came back. It was about double as productive as Samsun-Maden under the same treatment (Samsun-Maden is growing faster, initially). The stalks can become thick and sturdy, like posts, which makes the plants wind-resistant (Izmir, Bursa and Samsun-Maden need support in the same spots).
Only problem I found is that the lower leaves earlier in the year are very close to the ground, and therefore an easy victim for slugs. Later on that was no issue anymore.
I posted some pictures before here: http://fairtradetobacco.com/threads...ngue-bite-myth?p=113147&viewfull=1#post113147
Leaves air-cure well to a dark chocolate brown, but contain a high amount of sugar (more than any other variety I've grown, except sun-cured Prilep 66-9/7). Even unaged it's not harsh at all. I initially primed and air-cured it, but found that it burns rather fast and with some bite in the pipe, which kilning did not really remedy.
Then I tested stalk-curing, and that did the trick. No bite. Good, steady burn to fine ashes. Stalk-cured leaf can be smoked immediately. 2 crinkled leaves carelessly cut with scissors make for a good bowl. It has a distinct and intriguing aroma, which reminds me of licorice/cocoa/chocolate/campfire. That aroma is very stable - I used the bitey air-cured later for all sorts of fermentation experiments, incl. a sodium bicarbonate treatment, and it still tastes/smells like Japan-8 (the bite has gone, after all).
Yesterday I burned some in my "room note tester", it has indeed a pleasant smell, kind of sweet fire-cured. More aromatic then the Izmir/Prilep mixture. She-who-hates-tobacco associates it with campfire, not with "ashy" tobacco.
I took a risk and planted out at the end of April, before the last frost date. Covered the seedlings when it got cold again - no damage. I got two and a half harvests until September - after clipping the stalks they always came back. It was about double as productive as Samsun-Maden under the same treatment (Samsun-Maden is growing faster, initially). The stalks can become thick and sturdy, like posts, which makes the plants wind-resistant (Izmir, Bursa and Samsun-Maden need support in the same spots).
Only problem I found is that the lower leaves earlier in the year are very close to the ground, and therefore an easy victim for slugs. Later on that was no issue anymore.
I posted some pictures before here: http://fairtradetobacco.com/threads...ngue-bite-myth?p=113147&viewfull=1#post113147
Thanks for the repsonses guys. I have some seed inbound from Alabama..
Japan-8 is also very nice as a stoved / Cavendish tobacco for the pipe, as I just found out.
I processed two batches of stalk-cured Japan-8 in canning jars in the oven (with equal amounts of water added to the dry tobacco weight): One at 200 degrees Fahrenheit (about 90 degrees Celsius) for 8 hours (plus cool down), another one at 300 degrees Fahrenheit (150 degrees Celsius) for 2 hours (then slowly cooling down).
The first one got a bit darker than the original tobacco, a bit sweeter, is burning now a bit slower to perfectly white ashes, and has a typical stoved (Caramel/chocolate) overtone. It is still "smoky" in taste.
The second batch processed at higher temperatures became much darker and smelled already in the oven like dark chocolate. The end result is very similar to a typical stoved Virginia, but spicy, caramelic and leaves a sweet room note and aftertaste.
I'm not sure which version is really better - I lean slightly towards the second one (but I like dark stoved Virginia). Both still have a lot of flavour - Japan-8 doesn't seem to get bland.
I processed two batches of stalk-cured Japan-8 in canning jars in the oven (with equal amounts of water added to the dry tobacco weight): One at 200 degrees Fahrenheit (about 90 degrees Celsius) for 8 hours (plus cool down), another one at 300 degrees Fahrenheit (150 degrees Celsius) for 2 hours (then slowly cooling down).
The first one got a bit darker than the original tobacco, a bit sweeter, is burning now a bit slower to perfectly white ashes, and has a typical stoved (Caramel/chocolate) overtone. It is still "smoky" in taste.
The second batch processed at higher temperatures became much darker and smelled already in the oven like dark chocolate. The end result is very similar to a typical stoved Virginia, but spicy, caramelic and leaves a sweet room note and aftertaste.
I'm not sure which version is really better - I lean slightly towards the second one (but I like dark stoved Virginia). Both still have a lot of flavour - Japan-8 doesn't seem to get bland.
ChinaVoodoo
Moderator
Is anyone using Japan 8 as cigar filler?
I am not. I've been waiting for the Sequel to come out "Japan-9"...
Gavroche
Well-Known Member
I am not. I've been waiting for the Sequel to come out "Japan-9"...
Joke ?...
HahaI am not. I've been waiting for the Sequel to come out "Japan-9"...
Gavroche : Yes, it's a joke
(il attendait la suite de "Japan 8" => "Japan 9" avant d'en cultiver)
By the way, if anyone has more information about this strain, I am very interested too
Alpine
Moderator
I am growing Japan 8 this year (thanks Planter!), it's still in the ground. I plan to stalk harvest it in 10 days. Very uniform plants, unaffected by grasshoppers. Together with Kentucky 8635 and Prilep (thanks again Planter!) J8 is one of the best strains I've grown so far.
pier
pier
mwaller
Well-Known Member
Me too. This varietal definitely sounds interesting.
Great !!
I am eager to know how it smokes ! Just tell us when you'll smoke it
ChinaVoodoo
Moderator
mine is two years old, and I don't know if it's an acquired taste, or if aging has really improved it. Anyways, I like it now. It's very rich. I smoke it in a pipe blended with flue cured.
Alpine
Moderator
Does it have the "liquorice" taste ChinaV?
pier
pier
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