I am asking for comments on the following:
I identified a component of the blend I am working on for a while as the one that introduced very strong bitterness. It is one of the Oriental tobaccos that I use in the blend. There are four other Orientals in the blend. I would like to withhold the name of this tobacco for various reasons. I will probably reveal the name later.
Here are the symptoms: the lining of my mouth becomes sour and irritated, and I can taste strong bitterness. The sourness appears on the inside of my lips and inside lining of my cheeks. There is no tongue bite or any other unpleasant sensations except bitterness that I can taste on the further part of my tongue and throat.
Thanks much,
Wiktor
A few days ago I posted a message about the troubles I have with one of the Oriental leaves. I identified it to be a Krumovgrad leaf from LeafOnly. As promised, I tested all Oriental tobaccos I currently have and here are my observations:
I created a scale from 1 to 10 to illustrate the bitterness I experience while smoking each leaf, where 10 represent the bitterness of Krumovgrad. All tobaccos create soreness in my mouth to the same degree as bitterness.
a. Krumovgrad-LeafOnly - 10
b. Turkish (commercial) - 4
c. Smyrna (commercial) – 5
d. Izmir (commercial) – 6
e. Stokkebye No. 313 Macedonian Mix (commercial) - 5
f. Samsun-WLT - 1
g. Basma-WLT – 2
h. Izmir-WLT - 3
As we can see, all Orientals create a degree of bitterness when smoked which, if I understand correctly, is described on the commercial website as spiciness.
The Krumovgrad leaf is the most bitter in the lineup, and I will never use it. I also would not recommend this leaf to anybody.
All commercial tobaccos create a degree of bitterness and soreness, and it is much higher in all samples but the WLT leaves.
WLT lineup is the most suitable for me. It provides the most delicate impact on the blend. However, it is interesting to realize that each of these leaves appears to exert a different level of bitterness (spiciness).
The difference in spiciness points to another issue: how interchangeable are these leaves in the blend? Can we substitute one for another and expect the same result or should we adjust the percentage in the blend depending on which leaf we decide to use? My experience with Krumovgrad and its extreme bitterness tell me that in case of Orientals the 1 to 1 exchange is not possible.
I realize that my test is subjective and these differences might not be as impactful in the final result and the blend we try to produce, especially if we use a group like WLT Orientals. They show close similarities in my test.
Also, the group of commercial tobaccos shows some closeness in their attributes.
There is another attribute that is an important factor in selection – the aroma each leaf will produce, but this will have to be for another test.
In summary, this was very educational run, and it might be the only way to learn how each leaf will impact the final product.
Wiktor