Hello From Cyprus

Hello to you all,

After what now seems like years of looking in on this forum and far too many more mostly happy years of pipe smoking I decided to formalise my curiosity and request membership. Now of an age when time keeping is far less important to me than it once was my first real smoke of a pipe was in 1958 aged eight which I enjoyed together with a half pint of warm beer in an English country public house courtesy of my 1880 born pipe smoking Grandfather, a tough but kindly old soldier sailor almost rich man who was of the opinion that the rules and niceties of society only applied to those who concerned themselves with such things.
Married to a Cypriot I'm British and have lived and worked out of the lovely but sometimes troubled island of Cyprus, where the Cypriot variety of Latakia tobacco supposedly still comes from, for seventeen years although our marriage and my association with the island goes back almost five decades to a time when it was possible to get lost in the Karpas peninsular tobacco plantations of northern Cyprus and only find you're way out by stumbling upon a Latakia smoke house and getting directions in Greek or Turkish back to what then passed for a main road after first sitting down with the smoke house boss and his employees for a Turkish coffee and a cigarette, both of which might today be classed as dangerous substances.
Best Regards

Paul

Thanks All for the Welcome,
"npod" Neal, without getting into the politics and forced division of the Republic of Cyprus I'm afraid I can't add anything much to the 'Cyprus Latakia' mystery. Suffice to say that I live only about 60 Km's from the Karpas tobacco growing region of the island but have not been there since 1974. I've read various reports about 'Cyprus Latakia' over the years with some saying that it is still being grown and others that it is not, so your guess is as good as mine on the subject. Interestingly some months ago the local press carried reports that farmers, possibly tobacco growers from the Karpas region had requested funding from the government of the Republic to restart tobacco growing there. The farmers, presumably Cypriot Citizens, stated that tobacco growing had not taken place in over ten years, as citizens the farmers have the right to ask for help from the Republics government agricultural ministry even though the Karpas region is controlled by an entity other than the Internationally recognised government of the Republic of Cyprus. I've not heard yet if the government of the Republic is going to help or not but in any case I would imagine that the European Union, not noted for support of tobacco products, might have an opinion on the matter.
"bryguysc", In so far as I know no commercial growing of tobacco takes place south of the 'Green Line' but some growing for private use might still happen and certainly I've never caught the aroma of tobacco being cured in a smoke house since 74, it's a smell never to be forgotten and the nearest I've come to it since was an all to brief visit to HM Customs and Excise Tobacco Room at Heathrow Airport UK, no samples allowed, in the 1980's. Some of the larger tobacco growers here did have smoke houses in the northern suburbs of the capital Nicosia and the smell would waft across the city mixed with the smell of the spice sellers products and street fast food kebab stalls if the warm winds were coming down from the surrounding mountains. Delicious!
"paulfg" Paul, this is like talking to a mirror! Turkish coffee was drunk by everybody in Cyprus up until 74, after the divide naming became sorted by ethnicity or where you found yourself, and either Turkish or Greek coffee was drunk. Order coffee in a Kafei or Kafeneon by it wrong name in the wrong place and you would likely wait a long time to be served thrown out or worse still heckled by other customers. Time doesn't always heal but it can change things and now it's Cypriot coffee that is drunk where I am and if your lucky and no one else is around you might still be able to smoke a bowl or two without the tobacco police dragging you off to penal servitude or confiscating your house.
Regards

Paul