Forgive my ignorance (you guys have usually always been good at that), but is there just one type of tobacco plant that is commercially used? If there was ever more than one, did one become extinct just because it wasn't commercially viable?
Have Some Strains of Tobacco Gone Extinct?
- Thread starter mikethompson
- Start date
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There is a story in one of my tobacco books about Rustica disappearing for long time. And, it was one if the guys who founded American Spirit who discovered the seeds in a Native American archeological site.
There are a few ancient strains like Orinoco that I’m not sure of they have a commercial use or not. It was the basis for most flue cured strains. But, there are a ton of seed stock strains that are really only sold as heirloom or heritage seed stock for hobbyists and homegrowers.
Syrian Latakia?
How finely are you differentiating "different types"?
How finely are you differentiating "different types"?
I wish I could recall the name of the guy who researched this exact topic and had the answer. Seems like there have been several types of tobacco to have fallen by the wayside through the millenia.
Syrian Latakia isn't a unique strain of tobacco. Syrian is about how the leaf was processed using smoke from a now rare shrub leaf.
A specific sub-species of tobacco plant. Surely there isn't just the one.
I don't think the plant used is extinct, but the processing of it that resulted in Latakia is most assuredly extinct.
Red burley was a varietal often used in the 1800s and into the 1930s. I haven't seen that in anything in the 47 years I've been smoking, and I've been told it was extinct.
The United States Department of Agriculture has 1902 entries for Nicotiana tabacum, and 85 for N. rustica for which seeds are available. They have many more in the library that are not available for distribution.
npgsweb.ars-grin.gov
The Canadian germplasm bank has a few that ARS-GRIN doesn't. Then there are tobacco seed banks which are owned by major tobacco companies.
Most certainly there are strains that have slipped under the rug by not being saved, or losing viability. Also, there are locally used varieties out there that are not in any bank, so one could say some of those are at risk of changing due to poor DNA maintenance.
I know of one tobacco that has gone missing. Nostrano del Brenta. There are hybrids that descend from it which are close enough, but the original went extinct in the mid 20th century due to changes in the Italian tobacco industry, and possibly due to WW2. The original was the direct descendent of the first N. tabacum cultivated in Europe by monks in the Brenta region of Italy.
Search Accessions GRIN-Global
npgsweb.ars-grin.gov
The Canadian germplasm bank has a few that ARS-GRIN doesn't. Then there are tobacco seed banks which are owned by major tobacco companies.
Most certainly there are strains that have slipped under the rug by not being saved, or losing viability. Also, there are locally used varieties out there that are not in any bank, so one could say some of those are at risk of changing due to poor DNA maintenance.
I know of one tobacco that has gone missing. Nostrano del Brenta. There are hybrids that descend from it which are close enough, but the original went extinct in the mid 20th century due to changes in the Italian tobacco industry, and possibly due to WW2. The original was the direct descendent of the first N. tabacum cultivated in Europe by monks in the Brenta region of Italy.
N. tabacum and N. rustica are tetraploid which contributes to its ability to proliferate into different strains when crossed. It's an advantage in selective breeding, but a disadvantage because it's easy for its genetics to become inconsistent.
The base tobacco in Syria is probably different from that in Cyprus but they would probably still be using it as a sun cured leaf for cigarette. The wood used would make the most profound difference between the two Latakias.
A very reputable source of this type of info is @istanbulin in the FTT forum. He says the strain used in Cyprus is called Yayla. "Growing Latakia" in Northern Cyprus is back - https://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/growing-latakia-in-northern-cyprus-is-back.5586/
This strain is probably what we know as Yayladag which is available as seed from a seed supplier in Washington. Northwest Tobacco Seeds Providing nicotiana seeds at wholesale prices for retail distributors and growers world wide Tobaccos - http://nwtseeds.com/Yayladag.htm
A very reputable source of this type of info is @istanbulin in the FTT forum. He says the strain used in Cyprus is called Yayla. "Growing Latakia" in Northern Cyprus is back - https://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/growing-latakia-in-northern-cyprus-is-back.5586/
This strain is probably what we know as Yayladag which is available as seed from a seed supplier in Washington. Northwest Tobacco Seeds Providing nicotiana seeds at wholesale prices for retail distributors and growers world wide Tobaccos - http://nwtseeds.com/Yayladag.htm