Could I Have Some Sort of Latakia Sensitivity?

paintedklown · May 19, 2013

Hey all,
I have a question here. Have any of you heard about pipe smokers with a sensitivity toward Latakia?
I ask because the first time I tried Frog Morton's Cellar, I swore that it made me feel ill. It turned out I was actually getting ill, so I dismissed it as simply that, I was sick.
I later tried Esoterica Penzance, and WOAH! It REALLY hit me HARD. I thought perhaps it was an extreme nic buzz, but when I tried it again, it seemed to negatively affect me from only a few puffs.
Now, flash forward to today. I have been smoking OTC stuff as usual, wanting to save the rest of my FMC tin for the DM Pipe Club meeting this Thursday. Well, I decided that another bowl out of the tin would be ok, and since I hadn't really smoked much FMC this week, I felt like having a bowl.
I loaded up a bowl in my MM Legend, and sure enough...after a few puffs I was feeling the same ill effects I had with the Penzance, except MUCH less severe. I assume it is because FMC probably has less latakia in the blend. :?:
I am not sure what the deal is, but I am really starting to think that I have some weird sensitivity to latakia blends.
Has anyone ever heard of this before, or am I just "off my rocker"? :crazy:

pitchfork · May 19, 2013

Latakia is cured over fires of oak and pine/evergreen -- is it possible you have an allergy to some of the resins used to cure it? Just a wild guess. Very sorry to hear about that.

mso489 · May 19, 2013

Sure, paintedklown, I think tobacco, like food, gets different responses from different people. I haven't

heard this described as an allergy, and I don't think it is, medically. But strong scents and tastes can

cause strong reactions. When I walk past the perfume counter in a department store, at first it smells

kind of good, and then as I get more deep into the cloud of industrially created fragrance, my gorge

begins to rise... from my knees. I hold my breath, and all of the sales people can see they do not want

to offer me a free spritz. Gag. So indeed, Latakia may be disagreeable to your system. With a world of

other fine tobaccos and blends at your disposal, you can lead a long and happy life and never go near

the stuff, except maybe with other pipe smokers now and then. Just tell them you have a virus and

keep a little distance. Or tell them you just don't dig Latakia. Most will understand.

lordofthepiperings · May 19, 2013

I felt a lot better about not liking Latakia when Brian admitted on the radio show he's not a fan either. There's many different types of blends out there. I say for now just enjoy the other blending styles.

paintedklown · May 19, 2013

Thanks for your input guys. I went to a web site and compared the tobaccos in the FMC and Penzance blends, and the only thing they have in common is latakia.
All signs point to the fact that latakia just doesn't "agree with my body", if that makes any sense. That's a real bummer too, as I like the taste of FMC quite a bit. :|
Oh well...I suppose I can save money by having one less blend type to stock in my cellar. :P

pitchfork · May 19, 2013

pk, there's a whole world of taste out there with Virginia's and VaPers. Plus there are some great burley blends and flakes on the market, in addition to the OTC blends. Beyond that, there's Virginia/Oriental blends that are out of this world and totally different from ordinary VAs or Burleys, but without the latakia. Of course, there's also aromatics -- some of them quite good and agreeable to those of us who generally don't like aromatics. Finally, there are the Lakeland tobaccos -- some love 'em, some hate 'em, but even within that group there's a huge variety, from floral to fruity to plain tobacco flavors.
In other words, there's a whole lifetime of experience open to the smoker who doesn't smoke latakia.

judcole · May 19, 2013

I don't know about FMC, but Penzance is 30% lat.

You might want to try something with a whole lot less latakia, and see if you can smoke that. MacBaren's Latakia has just a touch. Or get some Walnut - you can get a couple of ounces, bulk, from 4Noggins for about $6.50.
if one of those bothers you, then, yeah, you can't smoke the stuff. But if you can smoke that, you then know it's the amount of lat, not the stuff itself.

pitchfork · May 19, 2013

Good point, Jud.

javajunkie · May 19, 2013

Not liking latakia is like not liking peaty whiskey. STAY AWAY from Islay malts, and try some of the others. If it still doesn't work, that is why God blessed us with bourbon and Canadian whiskey. o)
Just so, try something with just a wee touch of latakia, just to seal the deal. If that still gives you the "Uh-Oh" feeling, you still have a world of other great tobaccos to explore, all of which have huge ranges of flavors and textures, none of which have ever touched your dread smoked leaf.

paintedklown · May 19, 2013

Thank you for your input, and advice everyone.
I did some looking and found that FMC contains virginia, and latakia. Panzance contains virginia, latakia, oriental, and turkish tobaccos.
I don't think that the problematic tobacco is the virginia, because Half & Half and Carter Hall are comprised of nothing but burley and virginia tobaccos, I smoke both of them with no issue at all.
I suppose the oriental may not agree with me either, and therefore explaining why the Panzance had a more pronounced negative effect on me. I certainly hope that isn't the case however, as the multitude of tobacco choices is a big part of the pipe smoking allure for me. For now, I will just avoid blends with latakia, and purposely try to find an oriental blend to try, to see how it treats me.

mirain · May 25, 2013

Everyone's body chemistry is unique. I'm one of those that have a reaction to perique and am very careful when trying new blends and the amount of perique used. I went through my cellar and found that although I have a couple of tins that feature a good portion of perique (which remain unopened) the only blend I thoroughly enjoy that contains perique is Plum Pudding. I figure I'll trade my perique blends some day.

cigrmaster · May 28, 2013

paintedklown, it is very possible your body cannot handle Latakia. My body cannot handle much if any Red Virginia's, it is not a big deal. There are so many great blends out there you will never be without something great to smoke. I would suggest grabbing a tin of Escudo and Dunhill Flake. The Escuod is a Virginia/Perique blend and the Dunhill a straight mild sweet Virginia. If you like those then a whole world of blends will open up to you.

mluyckx · May 29, 2013

Have any of you heard about pipe smokers with a sensitivity toward Latakia?

I can do better than "heard". I am one of them ;-) We had a little thread going about that a while back. I personally am convinced it is entirely possible.
I stick with Virginia, VA/Per and the occasional Burley. My go-to tobacco in my pouch I carry all the time is MV-1000 by Lane Limited. Similar to the omnipresent 1-Q without the Cav.
For blends with more depth, gosh.. as Cigrmaster said, the world's your oyster. Here's a short list of my regulars in the cellar

Esoterica: Dorchester, Dunbar

Escudo

Rattray: Hal O' The Wynd

Cornell & Diehl: Sunday Picnic, Opening Night, the Burley Flakes

Heart & Home (PipesandCigars): AJ's VaPer, Anniversary Kake, Louisiana Red

Solani: Silver Flake

GL Pease: Fillmore, Telegraph Hill, Jack Knife Plug

Etc, etc, etc
Nuff' said... there's more than enough choice even when staying away from Latakia.

andrew · May 30, 2013

Yes it's just like some kinds of scotch, even though it's 100+ a bottle and 15 years old, if you don't like it you don't like it. I wouldn't even bother with small amounts of latkia, if you didn't like frog morton than don't bother, frog morton is mostly stoved virginia that gives really dark black look to the blend. It's no big deal, it's a leathery kind of musty taste, if I were an aro smoker strickly, I wouldn't touch it, it would probably be horrible. It's like with burly, I haven't found a burley I can say I love, I find it's strickly the topping that gives the flavour, which I'm about natural flavours from natural tobacco. Some people are the same with perique, it's much too strong and it's a peppery assault with an overload of nictotine, ( I love it!) There's alot of blends I think taste like crap that someone else will love, theres's thousands of differnet blends for this very reason.

rockymtnsmoker · Jun 8, 2013

New guy here just a month or so in. Started out with a Golden Cavendish, then a Virginia flake and enjoyed them both. Then I decided to wade into a tin of Dunhill's Nightcap. Think that may be have been going in a little too deep a little too early. Not sure for me if it was the Lat, the perique or just the vitamin N, but by the end of the first bowl I wasn't feeling too good and the next day I felt hungover. Worse, didn't feel I could get the taste out of my mouth, though I didn't mind the flavour when I was smoking it. Anyway, think I'll just stay in the shallow end for a while :?

ciderguy · Jun 9, 2013

If you think you might like the taste of Latakia, but can't tolerate it then your best bet might be to try a blend with (KY) dark-fired and see if it gives you a similar reaction. Many people have described dark-fired leaf as sharing some similar qualities to Latakia.

anotherbob · Sep 25, 2019

It's pretty easy to over do the English blends as they tend not to bite. That might also be the culprit. Though my friend who was a pipe blender at my first local brick and mortar had a documentable allergy to latakia and he didn't have to smoke it to get that problem. He hated that because he loved the way it smelled but he'd sneeze and his nose would close and it even made his skin itchy if he didn't wear gloves.

glockky · Sep 25, 2019

I’d say just find something that’s agrees with you more. Or try a lighter Latakia blend.

I will add I feel sorry for ya. I like my Latakia in large quantities.

lightmybriar · Sep 25, 2019

anotherbob said:
It's pretty easy to over do the English blends as they tend not to bite. That might also be the culprit. Though my friend who was a pipe blender at my first local brick and mortar had a documentable allergy to latakia and he didn't have to smoke it to get that problem. He hated that because he loved the way it smelled but he'd sneeze and his nose would close and it even made his skin itchy if he didn't wear gloves.

I was worried about the same issue with me, as I would get queasy, but I think Bob is on to something here. English blends tend to be much more “puffable” and naturally aromatic, so I think (at least in my case) it’s easy to overdo them during a smoking session. I get the same thing from Autumn Evening, which has no Latakia, but is also very easy-going and smells very nice, so these two things seem to link together. Very interesting!

sandollars · Sep 25, 2019

paintedklown said:
Hey all,
I have a question here. Have any of you heard about pipe smokers with a sensitivity toward Latakia?
I ask because the first time I tried Frog Morton's Cellar, I swore that it made me feel ill. It turned out I was actually getting ill, so I dismissed it as simply that, I was sick.
I later tried Esoterica Penzance, and WOAH! It REALLY hit me HARD. I thought perhaps it was an extreme nic buzz, but when I tried it again, it seemed to negatively affect me from only a few puffs.

That sucks. Now you just send me those crappy old tins of FMC and Eso Penzance and i will personally throw them away for you....

Could I Have Some Sort of Latakia Sensitivity?

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