Wood types for Latakia

[BearskiesPiper]

I'm thinking of doing a blended batch using sweet gum, frankincense, myrrh, juniper berries, and bay leaf. I need to also find a wood to work as a carrier and then blend the ingredients together. Does anyone have an idea about Aspen since it is readily available? I can possibly use Aspen, which I read is a mild smoke if it is nontoxic. Then I can put Juniperus virginiana essential oil on it since I cant find juniper wood. Then possibly some sort of spice and use sparingly some easy to find hardwood.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I think aspen would be a neutral flavour. You may want to watch the aspen isn't rotting. It isn't the most disease resistant tree, and rot is fine for heating but I don't think the aromas would be great.

Using spices seems like a good idea, but my experience is that tobacco absorbs smoke flavour only very slowly and the amounts you need would be cost prohibitive. I mean, give it a try. I just want to temper your expectations a little.

 

[BearskiesPiper]

Ya, aspen can be purchased in large amounts as pet bedding also on Amazon a lot of spices can be purchased by the pound for fairly cheap. I'm only really looking at stuff than cost around $15 a pound. I would assume that a pound of spices would go a long way.

 

[BearskiesPiper]

Anyone have a clue about eucalyptus as an option?

 

[BearskiesPiper]

So I put a frankenstein diy blend in the smoker to see if it would pick up any flavor after about 4 hours of smoking. No luck, although I did add rum, whiskey, pure maple syrup, pure anise extract and pure maple extract which are noticeable in the smoke and tin note. I'll have to try and make tinctures of the spices and resins and give that a go. It wouldn't be latakia at all but could actually enhance the floral notes of English blends. I'll maybe post these experiments in another thread so as to not distract from the original topic.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I also

So I put a frankenstein diy blend in the smoker to see if it would pick up any flavor after about 4 hours of smoking. No luck, although I did add rum, whiskey, pure maple syrup, pure anise extract and pure maple extract which are noticeable in the smoke and tin note. I'll have to try and make tinctures of the spices and resins and give that a go. It wouldn't be latakia at all but could actually enhance the floral notes of English blends. I'll maybe post these experiments in another thread so as to not distract from the original topic.

It takes a lot of smoke to coat tobacco. Is there distillate on the walls of the chamber? That might be useful. I was thinking of scraping or all the resin collected around my exhaust fan. I got some of the black goo on my finger and tasted it and it was rather good.

 

[BearskiesPiper]

A possibility might be to create a heat chamber for curing that is fairly air tight and can be filled with smoke for hours and then a fan can be turned on to exchange the air a couple times a day, that way the smoke can be a lot less and use less burning materials. On a positive note my wife and I thought the smoke smelled like incense and not BBQ or food. I could also take a cheap blend such as a drug store blend and lock a few ounces into a gallon jar with burning incense and let the smoke fill the container and do this two or three times a day for about a month and a half and see how that goes. Or I could possibly see how a cold smoker would work.