Is Latakia an oriental?

beardedcavalier · Feb 25, 2015

Basic question (and please excuse my ignorance), but is latakia an 'oriental' or does an oriental leaf refer to something separate? I've just recently graduated away from aromatics (though still turn to them occasionally), and have recently enjoyed Dunhill London Mix, Peterson's Old Dublin and Squadron Leader. So - are these what you would class as 'lat heavy' blends or are they primarily oriental? Or is there even a difference?!
Thanks?

phil67 · Feb 25, 2015

HERE ya go.

And HERE.

lochinvar · Feb 25, 2015

Yes and no.
Latakia starts out as Smyrna (Cyprian) or Shek el Bint (Syrian) if I remember correctly, and is then smoked....and then smoked.

In common conversation, though, when you talk about Orientals in a blend you are referring to Oriental tobacco that has not received the smoke curing of Latakia.

jitterbugdude · Feb 25, 2015

I'll just add that the wiki article is dead wrong in the Burley section. White Burley is extinct. Red Burley is the only kind that is grown. Sometime in the '50's (I think) there was a marketing shift to call light colored Burley "White Burley". The real White Burley discovered in the 1860's no longer exists. Due to the diminishing number of growers growing it,(according to the 1890 census) it was probably extinct by about 1900.
In the tobacco growing world, Burley is just simply called Burley. In the pipe smokers world White Burley, although there is no "legal" definition is usually the lower leaves (that tend to be lighter in color than the upper leaves)of any Burley plant.
Lochinvar is correct in his explanation of Oriental/Latakia.

northernneil · Feb 25, 2015

White Burley is extinct

Just curious how you got that conclusion? I could agree that "traditional white burley," originally discovered in the 19th century, may no longer be used commercially. And the term is now being used to describe any burley that is cured to a lighter color. But you can still buy white burley seeds and grow it at home. So I am struggling with the use of the work extinct. Am I missing something?

phil67 · Feb 25, 2015

I'll just add that the wiki article is dead wrong in the Burley section

Why would you state that the Wiki section of white burley is 'dead wrong'? It's simply a description of the tobacco and nothing more.

jitterbugdude · Feb 26, 2015

White Burley as described by Killebrew and others (in the 1880's) was a pure white leaf plant. As each 10 year census came around the amount of White Burley was less and less. I suspect this is because farmers did not bag their seed heads back then and due to cross pollination with other varieties the gene that was responsible for the "whiteness" was bred out.
There are two unofficial types of Burley. The main vein on the leaf will have a dark green or a light cream color. The leaves for both are the same color but the cream stemmed varieties cure to a lighter brown than the dark green ones. I suspect that somewhere along the line people started calling the light colored stem variety, White Burley.
Phil, You are right, the wiki article is not "dead wrong", just not too well written on the subject of Burley.

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