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Steaming Latakia

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DistillingJim

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Yesterday on Instagram, Per Jensen (head guy at Macbaren) posted a picture of a Latakia crop getting ready for steaming. I'd never heard of this and asked him in the thread if it was common to which he replied that every company prepares its Latakia this way. I'd never heard of it before and have always just tossed mine into a press. Has anyone here done a steaming and found much difference?
 

deluxestogie

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Latakia is crumbly, even in low to medium case. If you want an actual shred, it can be accomplished by bringing the leaf into high case for shredding, then drying it down again for blending. I can see some advantage for commercial tobacco blend packagers. The blend is less likely to separate during the process, and appears a bit nicer when the can is opened by the consumer.

Unfortunately, without a humectant casing, a Latakia tobacco blend will easily separate, once the tobacco is dried to a smokable moisture content. For home blending, all of this fuss is a waste of time, unless you prefer adding goopy casing to your pipe blends.

Bob

EDIT: I wonder if a pile of steaming Latakia might make a good emoji.
 
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DistillingJim

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Thanks guys, I suspected the steaming was related to getting into case but thought I'd check in case there was something I was missing. Not steaming my leaf has certainly not effected my blends (although I do find Latakia a little harder to work with than other leaves)
 
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