Cyprus Tobacco

[Markw]

I have a frend who is going home to Cyprus for a few weeks holiday. He has been growing some tobacco over here. I have given him some of my seeds for next years grow. Has anyone got any idea or good information on what tobacco is grown out in there , He has said that he can get hold of most seed from his friend who grows out there.
Any advice would be helpful for some strains if they are not held in the seed bank.

 

[deluxestogie]

If your friend can determine what specific variety is grown in Cyprus for production of Latakia, that seed would be worth experimenting with.

If he can also scribble down a list of the wood used for fire-curing the Latakia, that would also be a valuable bit of information.

Bob

 

[Markw]

Hi Bob
Yes I will ask him if he can find out the information you would like, It would be good to find out what tobacco they use in making the Latakia and the wood they use, I will keep my fingers crossed, hopefully he might know something on the subject. he was telling about when they would pick the tobacco in the fields when they were young.

 

[Chicken]

our seed bank is like CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS,,,

aqquiring the great seed, thru some unimaginable ways,

F.T.T. trully is the grestest site, dealing with a person growing his own tobaccoo the web has to offer,

 

[deluxestogie]

It would be good to find out what tobacco they use in making the Latakia and the wood they use...

Obtaining some of the seed is a recurring fantasy. Is that too much to hope for?

Bob

 

[Markw]

Keep your fingers crossed Bob, He comes from the Tobacco growinng area in Cyprus.He is a very nice man who is very interested in growing. I would be good if he could get us some seeds. I hope to catch up with him later in the week. Lets keep our fingers crossed !!!!

 

[Knucklehead]

Keep your fingers crossed Bob, He comes from the Tobacco growinng area in Cyprus.He is a very nice man who is very interested in growing. I would be good if he could get us some seeds. I hope to catch up with him later in the week. Lets keep our fingers crossed !!!!

Invite him to join us on the forum. Tell him Knucklehead said howdy, come in and pull up a chair.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Invite him to join us on the forum. Tell him Knucklehead said howdy, come in and pull up a chair.

We don't want to scare him do we?.....

 

[Knucklehead]

We don't want to scare him do we?.....

Yeah, on second thought....

 

[Markw]

I managed to catch up with my Cyprus friend at the allotment today. he is a hard man to get hold of. He will be going to Cyprus on Sunday week and will try to find all the information I have asked for. As for the seed he has said that they hardly grow any out there now, But he is going to contact his friend who sells TB seed out there. I don't hold out to much hope that he will be able to get the Latakia seed but if he could it would be fantastic. I will keep you up-dated on how he gets on.

 

[jekylnz]

I managed to catch up with my Cyprus friend at the allotment today. he is a hard man to get hold of. He will be going to Cyprus on Sunday week and will try to find all the information I have asked for. As for the seed he has said that they hardly grow any out there now, But he is going to contact his friend who sells TB seed out there. I don't hold out to much hope that he will be able to get the Latakia seed but if he could it would be fantastic. I will keep you up-dated on how he gets on.

Someone there needs to keep growing curing it..or there will be a lack of latakia epidemic for pipe smokers world wide.

 

[jekylnz]

We have trees in nz(te tree.manuka.etc.) that we use for smoking fish.meat.etc.has a similar sent to smoking with rosemary. .but different. .id like to try 6 week smoke cure some turk. Leaf this year. .

 

[Boboro]

I think the info. would be wourt more than the seed.

 

[Markw]

Yes I would agree with that, any information would be helpful and seed would be a dream result. hopefully someone still has some seed'

 

[Markw]

Well I finally managed to catch up with my friend today at the allotment, he had got back from Cyprus the other week. He gave me a brace of pheasants and partridges, and a brace of tobacco seed. He was unable or did not have time to find out how they smoked their tobacco but he is going to give me a contact email of one of his friends who may be able to tell me how it was processed out there.
He again said that they do not grow tobacco out there as a business any more as they have lost their subsidy. He has given two types of seed that they used grew out there, one of them he said was the seed for the Latakia tobacco. and the other one was, well it sounds like an oriental strain to me,he was unable to tell me what it was called.
Hopefully I will be able to get some more information on the smoking process.

 

[leverhead]

...and a brace of tobacco seed....one of them he said was the seed for the Latakia tobacco. and the other one was, well it sounds like an oriental strain to me,he was unable to tell me what it was called...

Good score! The tobacco puzzle, a few pieces at a time.

 

[Mad Oshea]

I just finnished My version and bringing it to case now. I used Red alder, Pinon and Masquite. All native of New Mexico except the alder. Was one type Shekk-el-loint? I would like to think some one here can make a version better than Latakia (Cyprus) Style. The cones off the Pinon were a little hot -Had to keep it at 170 f the whole time.

 

[deluxestogie]

I just received seed of possible Cyprus 'Latakia' from MarkW. Thank you. It is, of course, not identified by any germ plasm bank, since the seed was obtained by an associate visiting Cyprus over the past few months.

For the first time, I ran a GRIN search for "Latakia" among inactive records. This surprisingly turned up 3 hits. All are identified as "Latakia," and all were very early accessions (between 1906 and 1918). There is no seed in the GRIN collection for these accessions.

One was sourced from Uruguay; the other two from Italy. PI 22151 specifies a sub-variety of Nicotiana tabacum called var. Brasilensis Fruticosa Havanensis Macrophylla, which I believe identifies that accession in particular as a broadleafed Havana variety. Curious.

• PI 46908 'No.9. Latakia' 1918 from Montevideo, Uruguay. "...the result of three years of selection work the best varieties sent to us from various localities."
  http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/acc/display.pl?1611818
  Original Accession Doc
  http://sun.ars-grin.gov:8080/npgs_public/prodweb.pdf0?in_vol=57&in_suffix=&in_page=054
• PI 22151 'Var. BRASILENSIS FRUTICOSA HAVANENSIS MACROPHYLLA. Latakia' From Portici, Italy. Presented by Dr. O. Comes, Royal School of Agriculture. Received February, 1908.
  http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/acc/display.pl?1583656
  Original Accession Doc
  http://sun.ars-grin.gov:8080/npgs_public/prodweb.pdf0?in_vol=14&in_suffix=&in_page=41
• PI 17465 'Latakia' From Portici, Naples, Italy. Presented by Prof. O. Comes. Received May 16, 1906.
  Original Accession Doc
  http://sun.ars-grin.gov:8080/npgs_public/prodweb.pdf0?in_vol=12&in_suffix=&in_page=038

Back to the MarkW possible 'Latakia' seed: I'll plant some in 2014, to see what I end up with.

Bob

 

[istanbulin]

What a concidence that I read a article in a newspaper about Latakia today. As it says, tobacco growing and production/manipulation (so fumigation) stopped in 2004. The guy who is the chairman of the tobacco growers and traders assoc. says that the variety that Cypriot farmers (at least in the North) were growing was "Yayla". So I think it may be good to get contact with http://www.tobaccoseed.co.uk because they used to provide this seed in the past. If they have some it'd be good for comparing two of them.

Yayla Karpaz : http://www.tobaccoseed.co.uk/Yayla_Karpaz1.html

(Karpaz is the region where Yayla variety used to grow)

A question for Mark : Where did your friend came from in Cyprus ?

 

[deluxestogie]

Wow! We know that the city and region of Latakia in Syria are presently toast. It now sounds like Cyprus has also stopped producing Latakia. Did the article mention anywhere else that is currently producing Latakia?

Bob