Making Latakia at Home

[deluxestogie]

News Flash

This morning, when setting up my firing, I included a closed foil pack (punctured with a fork) of well-dried rosemary stems. At mid-day, when I went to stoke/rebuild the fire, I found that the rosemary stems had been converted entirely into charcoal.

If I went to a tobacconist to purchase some Latakia, and it smelled exactly like the rosemary stem charcoal, I would consider it fairly reasonable Latakia. What an amazing transformation.

I suggest that interested members who can obtain stems from rosemary, dry them--absent the leaf--, then make a bit of charcoal from them by heating it to burning temp, but in an air-deprived environment, like a closed foil pack. Sniff this stuff. Tell me what you think.

This may be a general phenomenon with many Mediterranean herb stems, when turned into charcoal. I'll find out, when I get to the others. Unfortunately, the rosemary that I germinated and planted this year didn't survive. (I was using stems from several years ago.)

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

This makes me consider Artemisia tridentata.

 

[deluxestogie]

This past summer, while in northern Arizona, I performed a crude burn test on a couple of pleasantly aromatic sage varieties growing alongside the highway. When burned, they smelled awful. I'll be curious about your results.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

This past summer, while in northern Arizona, I performed a crude burn test on a couple of pleasantly aromatic sage varieties growing alongside the highway. When burned, they smelled awful. I'll be curious about your results.

Bob

One of these years.
The large sagebrush is very woody, and can get several inches in diameter. After removing the leaves, I'm hoping the wood alone will have its own character.

 

[kentuckyguy]

Very anxious to see how this making Latakia turns out. My pipe smoking pretty much consists of heavy Latakia blends.
I guess I could always just buy it but it would be nice to be able to make my own when I prefer it to make up 50-70% of the blend.

 

[deluxestogie]

I'm sure that, should we actually succeed, the spectators will include more than just FTT members.

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

I'm starting to feel left behind in the dust here. I've been so busy lately I haven't touched the smoker since the test fire! I need to up my game this weekend.

 

[deluxestogie]

Please do. This project isn't difficult. It's just tedious. We need everybody who can give it a try, to have a fair chance at actually finding the right set of firing ingredients.

Bob

 

[ciennepi]

I found this site in wich, under the fire-curing section, there is a precise composition of the woods used to make Latakia. I don't know if the information are "real" or just "I think that ....".

pressure fermentation | Dutch Pipe Smoker

dutchpipesmoker.wordpress.com

 

[parabolic]

I found this site in wich, under the fire-curing section, there is a precise composition of the woods used to make Latakia. I don't know if the information are "real" or just "I think that ....".

pressure fermentation | Dutch Pipe Smoker

dutchpipesmoker.wordpress.com

hah, such a coincidence, I read that very same website but also wondered if it were facts or fiction

 

[deluxestogie]

The Latakia-firing information in that dutchpipesmoker article is certainly not way off. Those are materials we've discussed. The use of that much mastic wood is doubtful, since the mastic he's talking about is Pistachia lentiscus, the tree from which expensive, Tears of Chios (mastic resin) is gathered. I can't imagine cutting them down to burn. And the mastic itself goes for about $30 a pound.

Another issue is "the" formula. My guess is that it varies with the available scrap from landscape clippings in any particular year. But if you've got those exact ingredients, then give it a go. The article has the feel of the conjecture and copy/paste that tobacco expert authors have published for the past 1-1/2 centuries. Mostly hearsay.

Several years ago, I received "Latakia" seed purportedly direct from Cyprus. I grew them. They were definitely some variety or mish-mosh of Oriental, but the leaves were petiolate. If you rehydrate genuine Cyprus Latakia, and carefully lay out the leaves to examine them closely, they have no petiole, and appear to be a Basma type, which would be more compatible with the historic assertion that Latakia is made from a "yellow Basma".

Now, if you start with the beginning of the article, the author hasn't the vaguest idea about curing tobacco. So, while his brilliant insight into "the" formula for firing Latakia may or may not bear some truth, it is certainly not from first-hand knowledge.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Whew! It's exhausting to comment on pseudo experts.

This is the entirety of my home-grown herb harvest for 2019. There is English lavender, mint and Greek oregano. I'll put them out on the back porch to dry.

On the "soapy" front, I ordered some "Organic, unscented, hypoallergenic soap." When it arrived, I noted immediately that it smelled "soapy"--that is, it smelled like old fashion, scented soap. The label touted its wonderfulness, but the ingredients listed "oil of rosemary." Unscented? Rosemary?

I emailed the vendor to inquire as to why my unscented soap was scented. His response was that, in the absence of chemical antioxidants to keep the soap from going rancid, rosemary has been used for centuries--since it contains natural antioxidants.

Latakia smells "soapy".
Rosemary stems turned into charcoal smell like Latakia.
Rosemary has long been used in preserving soap.

Bob

 

[docpierce]

I will throw my hat into the ring on this project.
I'm starting with Bursa. So far I've got honeysuckle, oak, pine needles, rosemary, lemon balm. rose trimmings.
I have been filling the tray with dry pine needles the toss in a match and watch it flare up. When it gets going, I top it off with green rosemary or lemon balm. This smothers the pine needles and generates clouds of smoke that will smolder for 45 minutes to an hour. Repeat. Repeat Repeat.

 

[deluxestogie]

I like how easily you are able to access the fire box. With my setup, I have to untether the trash can, lift it off the Brinkmann, lift off the Brinkmann's body, fiddle with the fire, then reverse the process.

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

That’s a nice pile of rosemary you have there!

 

[Charly]

I will throw my hat into the ring on this project.
I'm starting with Bursa. So far I've got honeysuckle, oak, pine needles, rosemary, lemon balm. rose trimmings.
I have been filling the tray with dry pine needles the toss in a match and watch it flare up. When it gets going, I top it off with green rosemary or lemon balm. This smothers the pine needles and generates clouds of smoke that will smolder for 45 minutes to an hour. Repeat. Repeat Repeat.

Welcome to the latakia contest ! It's good to see members joining in this very interesting project !
Did you compare the smoke from the fresh (green) rosemary and the dried rosemary ?

 

[deluxestogie]

I burned the inside of my right thumb with my BIC, while trying to light paper towel tinder. That was a few days ago. Yesterday, it blistered. That was it.

Now, I set up the tinder, kindling and primary wood, then I light it defiantly with my propane, garden torch. That works.

I've been disappointed with how long it takes for all of the large (1-2.5" diameter) lilac wood that I collected over the past 8 months to dry after a brief drizzle. Or a nighttime fog. (It's September in Virginia!) I will not carry it all indoors. So today, I decided to purchase some nice, dry softwood trim or purfling or thin lath from Lowe's. Flawed and ugly stuff would be fine.

I trekked from end to end of Lowe's, then hiked back to may car. Nothing suitable. (They should provide a shuttle bus inside the entrance, to drive customers to inventory they need to find.) I drove to Home Depot. There, I did find just what I was looking for, to use as a primary firewood--almost. Everything that seemed perfect turned out to be either cheap and pressure treated, or way, way overpriced.

I drove back home, and went to one of my large brush piles. From there, I extracted a pine branch that I had thrown there almost a year ago. I cut it into smaller sections with my loppers. Cost = $0.00.

Bob

 

[docpierce]

Welcome to the latakia contest ! It's good to see members joining in this very interesting project !
Did you compare the smoke from the fresh (green) rosemary and the dried rosemary ?

green rosemary's oily sap sizzles loudly.
acrid clouds of smoke.
I suppose it dries before it burns.
and i stand rubbing my eyes.
while bursa slowly turns to latakia.

 

[deluxestogie]

Sounds like you may give your Bursa bursitis.

Most living leaves need to dry fully, before you burn them. (Biochemical changes occur in them, just like with curing tobacco, as they die.) Otherwise, you get some pretty odd odors. The same is true of juicy stems. I've been allowing everything to dry well, prior to performing a burn test to see what it smells like.

I haven't the faintest idea what changes occur on the surface of curing Latakia, once an aroma has been deposited. It likely continues to evolve and chemically change. After all, stuff that lands on the leaf today will be fire-cured for weeks.

Fresh lavender leaf doesn't win any prizes either. Hopefully, everybody who attempts to make Latakia will share both their good and bad impressions about the firing materials.

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

I burned the inside of my right thumb with my BIC, while trying to light paper towel tinder. That was a few days ago. Yesterday, it blistered. That was it.

Now, I set up the tinder, kindling and primary wood, then I light it defiantly with my propane, garden torch. That works.

I've been disappointed with how long it takes for all of the large (1-2.5" diameter) lilac wood that I collected over the past 8 months to dry after a brief drizzle. Or a nighttime fog. (It's September in Virginia!) I will not carry it all indoors. So today, I decided to purchase some nice, dry softwood trim or purfling or thin lath from Lowe's. Flawed and ugly stuff would be fine.

I trekked from end to end of Lowe's, then hiked back to may car. Nothing suitable. (They should provide a shuttle bus inside the entrance, to drive customers to inventory they need to find.) I drove to Home Depot. There, I did find just what I was looking for, to use as a primary firewood--almost. Everything that seemed perfect turned out to be either cheap and pressure treated, or way, way overpriced.

I drove back home, and went to one of my large brush piles. From there, I extracted a pine branch that I had thrown there almost a year ago. I cut it into smaller sections with my loppers. Cost = $0.00.

Bob

Go to the contractors desk and ask specifically that you want to look over their “cull pile / culled wood”. That’s where they keep all the warped and broken wood stock and will sell for pennies on the dollar. Because it’s ugly most stores keep it tucked away on the outside of the store near the back.