Smoke curing with peat

[Sigmund]

I live in Ireland, where peat is often used for curing various types of meat and fish (I've been particularly successful with venison).
So, while considering the options of a latakia cure, I began to wonder: what would peat do for smoke-cured tobacco? (not for a Latakia-type, except in that very broad sense of "let's use the Latakia technique and get a variety of interesting regional versions")
Hammer & Sickle's The Caleanoch cigars have gotten good reviews, especially from Scotch lovers, and especially Scots lovers who enjoy the Island malts (grind up a briquette of peat and mix with alcohol and a bit of seaweed, drink in one shot - no, really, I actually prefer the Island malts, but they're apparently not for everyone).
Has anyone ever tried doing this themselves? Or is smoking the bog a new and interesting concept? Gods know I have enough peat to experiment with, since we also, for instance, heat our house with the stuff.

 

[deluxestogie]

If you leave off the "Latakia" moniker, and just say "peat-cured", then you may as well give it a try. Start with leaf that is already color-cured. Get the peat smoking the leaf once or twice daily for a week. Remove a sample of the leaf to set aside (don't consume it). If you continue for 6 weeks of this fire-curing with peat, removing a sample at one week intervals, then you will have a decent basis for testing the idea. The variety of leaf (other than a cigar variety) probably will make little difference. It takes about 6 weeks of fire-curing to get the color black.

Once you have all the samples (labeled), test them initially, then wait a few months to test them again. I assume your interest is in making a pipe blending ingredient, so a straightforward English/Balkan blend, like a Smyrna Bright variant might be good for testing:

Island Malt:

• Peat-Cured 25% (4 of 16 parts)
• Oriental 12.5% (2 of 16 parts)
• Lemon Virginia 31.25% (5 of 16 parts)
• Virginia Red 25% (4 of 16 parts)
• Dark Air 6.25% (1 of 16 parts)

Download pdf of 3.5" blend label.

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

You can always try spraying some leaf with Laphroaig, which to me tastes like concentrated peat extract

 

[Charly]

Peat curing can be interesting
I remember smoking a tin of "And so to bed" from Esoterica a few years ago, and the smell of the open tin reminded me clearly of peat.

 

[deluxestogie]

After suggesting that @Sigmund give peat-curing a try, the idea has fermented in my brain. I may give it a try myself. After all, the smoke generated in the making of Latakia in Cyprus is no doubt the result of burning whatever brush scraps are available and cheap. Cyprus just happens to have a fair amount of aromatic brush scraps.

I'll have to track down some peat that has not been treated or supplemented with anything.

Bob

 

[Sigmund]

Thanks, guys! I am definitely going to do this now. (the Laphroaig spray sounds like a pretty good idea, too...definitely all the peat a peat-lover could want there!)

 

[deluxestogie]

How about that! Who knew? A peat-cured cigar plan (4 years ago): https://www.cigaraficionado.com/art...r-to-launch-peat-fired-cigar-in-october-18380

Apparently the cigar is 25% peat-cured: https://halfwheel.com/kliin-tobacco-releasing-peat-fire-cured-cigar

Bob

EDIT:
"Once the process is complete the tobacco is allowed to age for 60 days before moving to the blending and rolling phase. Once the cigar is rolled it ages for another 60 days before shipping from the Dominican Republic to the United States

There are plans for a 50% and 75% peat cured tobacco versions of Caleanoch."

The Caleanoch 25 Cigar Review –

The Caleanoch is a cigar that is made of 25% peat-cured tobacco a first in the cigar industry and perfect for scotch pairings or on its own.

thecigarauthority.com

It seems that this was a bust. These cigars are no longer for sale by most vendors. Here's one that still has them (at over $12 per stick!--I guess peat is expensive stuff.): http://www.2guyscigars.com/caleanoch-cigars

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

$12 a stick is not expensive, Bob. Just saying.

 

[Sigmund]

We get a lot of our peat straight from the local bog - cut up, still a bit damp, but a year in the drying shed does wonders, even if it doesn't light as easily as the pressed commercial briquettes. It's about as pure as peat can be. I would be leery of using the commercial pressed stuff, and that doesn't produce nearly as good a smoke, either - great for solid-fuel heating, not so awesome for smoke-flavouring. Northern Europe is relatively short on aromatics other than the conifers, but two local possibilities coming to my mind as possible additions to a not-at-all-Latakia-like Irish fire-cured tobacco are meadowsweet and angelica root.
I'd make the usual crack about "The Irish - only people in the world who drink enough to think burning mud is a good idea", except that it was actually the Norse - one Jarl Einarr, known to his contemporaries and history as "Turf-Einarr" - who allegedly introduced the concept of burning peat ("turf") to the Orkney Islands. For which anyone who has tasted Highland Park whisky (not really an Island-type whisky, despite the origin, but by me it's the best of the Highland-type single malts) ought, in my opinion, to be profoundly grateful.