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Kasturi

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Tutu

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Hello All,

The idea of this thread is somewhat similar to that of the Besuki thread I posted earlier in the Cigar Forum. I want to introduce another Indonesian variety to the forum and distribute seeds. A note of precaution however, I am less familiar with Kasturi than I am with Besuki. That may be the case for every single member of the forum. I am not sure how keen you all are on growing something unknown in terms of cigarette tobacco. That is, unknown in terms of smoking characteristics. I know perfectly well what Kasturi looks like, and I will show you, 'cause I got the pictures.

So Kasturi is an Indonesian variety that is used predominantly in the local Indonesian cigarette manufacturing market. For example to produce clove cigarettes, also called "kretek". Some quantity of it is exported to manufacturers in India. Some of the leaf is choped (rajang) before curing, some is not and hung between bamboo stick, all of it is sun cured. I have had my hands on some Kasturi leaf that was dark air cured and although it was rugged and difficult to use as a wrapper, I was suprised by it's taste, which was not bad. It cured to a pretty, brown colour.

Not only the leaf, but the whole plant looks wild and rugged. It does not grow tall, and produces leafs that I would describe as wide, elongated and bumpy. Because it is rather short, it can withstand more wind force than taller varieties. The leaf colour is a rather dark green. Most of the farmers around Jember leave the leafs on the stalk to turn to yellow first, but they do prime the Kasturi. When it is hung between bamboo sticks in the sun, it is done per leaf. i have yet to see a farmer stalk-harvest Kasturi.

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These are images of two different Kasturi fields, that differ in age. The seeds I have in my possession are from the two flower buds seen in picture #4. Later on I will obtain seeds from the flowers in picture #2. Feel free to comment or send me a message if you are interested in growing some Kasturi yourself!
 

Tutu

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Strelok! Javanese soil is mostly a volcanic clay loam soil. I am far from a soil expert though.

Deluxestogie! I went to some Kasturi fields today to take some measurements.
When topped, these plants are not allowed to grow taller than about 25 cm.
Average leaf size is somewhere between 22 cm and 26 cm.
Though in a field like those in the picture it is easy to find a plant that has a 30 cm leaf.
Width average is about 15 cm to 19 cm. Though a 30 cm long leaf has a width of 20 cm.
I called them elongated because of the leaf shape. The leaves are still very broad at the tip.
The 30 cm leaf I checked was still 10 wide just before it's tip.
In case you need more pictures, I'll bring my camera to the field next time.
Might also be able to snap some photos of sun curing.
Not now though, it's raining pretty harsh.
 

Cigar

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that would be nice to have "volcanic clay loam soil" for any thing to grow.


Cigar
 

Tutu

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I thought it'd be nice for you to see some pictures of the sun-curing of Kasturi to go along with the photos of Kasturi in the field. So I went out to the south this morning to get some pictures of people sun curing. I don't think I need to post any comments, the pictures speak for themselves. They come in pairs, two per curing location.

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deluxestogie

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Great photos.

I would have never considered just placing the strung leaf on the ground. I guess that works. It would certainly help retain moisture, and decrease the chance of leaf drying green.

Bob
 

Jitterbugdude

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Great photos.

I would have never considered just placing the strung leaf on the ground. I guess that works. It would certainly help retain moisture, and decrease the chance of leaf drying green.

Bob

I dried a lot of my VBL this summer by laying it on the ground. I just didn't have the motivation to string all of it up and hang it. There was a noticeable difference in the ground-sun cured vs the string/sun cured. The ground -sun cured had much more brown to it. As a matter of fact I discovered a new method to make a sun cured cavendish in one stroke. I'll post those results sometimes soon.

Looking at those pics I wonder where in the curing process they were when the pics were snapped. I suspect the bright yellow ones eventually turned brown. Laying leaves on the ground increases the humidity around the leaf. Once yellow, you want as low a moisture level as possible.
 

Tutu

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That's a fair question. All pictures were taken on the same day. So five different locations, one time interval. I pass most of these places a couple of times per week so I'll check again. I assume that the leaves are left on the ground to colour cure first and then hung later on for them to dry. So I would expect that those farmers who have spread their leaves on the floor yesterday will have them hanging in a bit. I will check later this week. I will keep a close watch on the guy whose leafs were the most yellow. If I manage to see him I'll ask. I'll ask another farmer who is easy to talk to and has experience in growing both Besuki and Kasturi.
 

Tutu

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After some more observations I conclude that the general rule farmers apply here, is a bit like the following: "if you have the material and space available to hang your tobacco on a bamboo construction in the sun then you should (regardless of what curing phase it's in), if you don't then just put it on the ground".
 

Leftynick

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Is this kasturi plant the same with what we got in Malaysia? in Malaysia the traditional tobacco that they use to make "rokok daun" (cigarette rolled in kind of palm leaves) is also called kasturi. Is this what they use to make "linting"?
 

Tutu

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I know what you mean with rokok daun tradisional but I'm not sure what you mean with linting. Do you mean normal "roll your own"? I am not sure what they use for rokok daun in Malaysia, but in Indonesia they have a variant in which they definitely use Kasturi. Would be interesting to find out about Malaysian varieties for sure. In the mean time I can send you some Indonesian ones of you pm me your address!
 

Leftynick

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Linting is Indonesian word for roll your own. The only traditional tobacco variety we have here is kasturi. However I dont have access to any tobacco field in Malaysia. Most traditional tobacco were planted whether in northen region (kedah) and east coast region (terengganu). Other variety we have here is mostly for commercial cigarette (mostly virginia). We dont have our own cigar variety as most Malaysian doesnt smoke cigar. However i have a website showing the traditional tpbacco processing that i will share later. Thank you for your generous offer, i will pm you my address later. However as for now, i dont really have many varieties to swap seed with.
 

Leftynick

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Here the link for Malaysian traditional tobacco processing. It is in Malay but i think you can see everything through the picture. It does not mention the variety but i read once that traditional tobacco in Malaysia is called kasturi. I also read that the tobacco is from oriental origin based on the processing and history. https://mohdzawi.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/tembakau-darat/

Here another one.

http://kasutvincci.blogspot.my/2006/05/selamat-hari-guru.html?m=1

The taste of tobacco is quite sweet with very strong floral smell.but when smoked as is, it is quite harsh, that why i try to ferment it using the dashboard method.
 
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deluxestogie

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The photos in your first link are interesting.

mengecer2.jpg


The ripe green leaf is bundled, shredded, then laid out for sun-curing. There is also a clear photo of a single plant growing, which may allow identification.

Bob
 

Leftynick

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Yes Bob. They pick mature leaves and then cure it to slightly yellow (ripe?) for a few day before shredding and sun cure. The shred before sun cure also allow the cut to be thinner. In the article, they called it as Tembakau Darat (Lit. Land Tobacco) but not to be confused as the name of variety. We call it that to distinguish it from Tembakau Barat (Lit. West Tobacco), the commercial cigarette tobacco. The tobacco I bought sometime give perfumey smell. I think It will be perfect for blending with other tobacco.
 

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It looks really interesting, in a Swedish forum some guy's was grin there tobacco green and let it cure after (to save times and spaces). Some people screaming"can't do it that way" all nicotine will go away!! Funny to see other people do the work in a similar way!
 

Leftynick

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It looks really interesting, in a Swedish forum some guy's was grin there tobacco green and let it cure after (to save times and spaces). Some people screaming"can't do it that way" all nicotine will go away!! Funny to see other people do the work in a similar way!

I have been smoking this tobacco for almost a year. I can assure you the nicotine is still there. In fact, I think Indonesian treat their tobacco the same way.
 
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