Best Books on Tobacciana History?

[JohnClyde]

Please capitalize important words in titles.

What are your favourites?

Mine is undoubtedly the great Compton MacKenzie's Sublime Tobacco, as much for the way he marries personal anecdote with a level of detail that is, as he puts it, 'exhaustive without being exhausting'.

On the other hand I've found Dunhill's Pipe Book a hard, dry old slog.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

This is my current fav. Note how they say that there is no varietal differences between burleys and brightleafs.

 

[lawdawg]

The most enjoyment I've gotten by reading any publication about tobacco was when I perused "A Counterblaste to Tobacco" and thought of how all of the comically overstated hysteria about the evils of tobacco in this 400 year old essay parallels the views of the anti-tobacco crowd today.

"A custome lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the Nose, harmefull to the braine, dangerous to the Lungs, and in the blacke stinking fume thereof, neerest resembling the horrible Stigian smoke of the pit that is bottomelesse." - King James I of England, the original hysterical tobacco hater, circa 1604

 

[chilllucky]

"Making Tobacco Bright" by Barbara Hahn.

 

[JohnClyde]

Interesting suggestions. I shall see if I can track them down.

James the first terrible both as a king and a speller.

 

[georged]

Amazon.com

 

[JOHN72]

Jane Resnick, Eric Deschodt and Philippe Morane............

 

[Chasing Embers]

 

[Grangerous]

An absolute must read!

My Lady Nicotine

books.google.com

 

[cosmicfolklore]

An absolute must read!

My Lady Nicotine

books.google.com

Here is a free copy of that book. Hilarious!!!

The Project Gutenberg eBook of My Lady Nicotine, by J. M. Barrie

 

[leonardbill1]

Carl Ehwa, Jr. "The Book of Pipes & Tobaccos" and Robert K. Heimann "Tobacco & Americans" are both good books, IMHO.

 

[makhorkasmoker]

 

[rajangan]

Even if you aren't into kreteks, it's a really well done book.

 

[makhorkasmoker]

This is my current fav. Note how they say that there is no varietal differences between burleys and brightleafs.

So this author argues that the differences between burley and Virginia are due entirely to soil/horticulture, and air curing vs. flue curing? I'm very interested. I'll have to check that one out.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

So this author argues that the differences between burley and Virginia are due entirely to soil/horticulture, and air curing vs. flue curing? I'm very interested. I'll have to check that one out.

It is one of a couple of books that Sykes had recommended in a discussion on burley and Virginias about a year or so ago. This isn't the only author that notes this. But, if you think about the accidental discovery of flue curing, it only makes sense.

 

[rajangan]

It is one of a couple of books that Sykes had recommended in a discussion on burley and Virginias about a year or so ago. This isn't the only author that notes this. But, if you think about the accidental discovery of flue curing, it only makes sense.

But what do you think? Based on your experience.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

But what do you think? Based on your experience.

I think that flue cured varieties, when air cured like a burley, is an inferior tasting leaf... when smoked in comparison to other burleys.
Burleys when flue cured seem to be a tad sweeter than other burleys, but inferior when compared to Flu cured bright leaf. But, not sweet enough to spend the effort trying to flue cure all burleys.

I do notice a difference in the way the bright leaf leaves set on the stalk in the field, compared to burleys, but I am also not familiar with an extensive variety of burleys.

There are a few bright leaf (Virginia) varieties that don't seem to take the flue curing as well as others.

I have been doing this for about eight years, and I still don't have enough hands on experience with enough varieties to offer a concise answer. I have yet to have a variety undergo an extensive change in taste and look because of the terrior. Hell, my Semois, based on the seeds given to me by Jitter, from the source itself, tastes as much like the Tabac Manil as the first batch did, five years ago. My Ukrainian flue cured has not changed at all either.

How long did they grow that original bright leaf along the South Carolina coast before the plant became so evolved into the "Virginia" leaf that we come to know know? And, what the hell is wrong with cigar leaf farmers taking Cuban seed into other areas of South America that they can't keep it tasting like Cuban?
What am I doing right or wrong that mine doesn't change because of the terrior. Or, is the cigar leaf terrior just a bunch of bullshit spread by fat, big mouthed cigar smokers. with neck tattoos?

I've actually been wanting to see this affect of terrior, maybe make my own varieties.

Based on the story of Stephen Slade, It is odd that flue curing was taken to so fast after an accidental barn fire. I mean, when I sample fresh flue cured top notch leaf, it still has such an ammonia-ish, rough on the throat affect that I fail to believe that the slaves and farmer that tasted that first batch of accidental tobacco, immediately were sold on the idea. Farmers now will sweat the leaf through two summers before bringing it to market.

 

[makhorkasmoker]

I think that flue cured varieties, when air cured like a burley, is an inferior tasting leaf... when smoked in comparison to other burleys.
Burleys when flue cured seem to be a tad sweeter than other burleys, but inferior when compared to Flu cured bright leaf. But, not sweet enough to spend the effort trying to flue cure all burleys.

I do notice a difference in the way the bright leaf leaves set on the stalk in the field, compared to burleys, but I am also not familiar with an extensive variety of burleys.

There are a few bright leaf (Virginia) varieties that don't seem to take the flue curing as well as others.

I have been doing this for about eight years, and I still don't have enough hands on experience with enough varieties to offer a concise answer. I have yet to have a variety undergo an extensive change in taste and look because of the terrior. Hell, my Semois, based on the seeds given to me by Jitter, from the source itself, tastes as much like the Tabac Manil as the first batch did, five years ago. My Ukrainian flue cured has not changed at all either.

How long did they grow that original bright leaf along the South Carolina coast before the plant became so evolved into the "Virginia" leaf that we come to know know? And, what the hell is wrong with cigar leaf farmers taking Cuban seed into other areas of South America that they can't keep it tasting like Cuban?
What am I doing right or wrong that mine doesn't change because of the terrior. Or, is the cigar leaf terrior just a bunch of bullshit spread by fat, big mouthed cigar smokers. with neck tattoos?

I've actually been wanting to see this affect of terrior, maybe make my own varieties.

Based on the story of Stephen Slade, It is odd that flue curing was taken to so fast after an accidental barn fire. I mean, when I sample fresh flue cured top notch leaf, it still has such an ammonia-ish, rough on the throat affect that I fail to believe that the slaves and farmer that tasted that first batch of accidental tobacco, immediately were sold on the idea. Farmers now will sweat the leaf through two summers before bringing it to market.

I have been wondering if maybe cigar leaf, as well as dark burleys/semois, take on their particular flavors/qualities not only because of the growing conditions of a particular area, but because of the microbiotics in a particular area--and even in a particular tobacco barn--which do their work during the secondary fermentation. I know this is so with breads and beer--yeasts--but I have no idea if it would apply to whatever goes on when these types of tobacco go through the secondary fermentation.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I have been wondering if maybe cigar leaf, as well as dark burleys/semois, take on their particular flavors/qualities not only because of the growing conditions of a particular area, but because of the microbiotics in a particular area--and even in a particular tobacco barn--which do their work during the secondary fermentation. I know this is so with breads and beer--yeasts--but I have no idea if it would apply to whatever goes on when these types of tobacco go through the secondary fermentation.

Well, the extra steps that cigar leaf gets is a fermentation of sorts, where the pallets of tobacco are stacked, and the heat from the stack generates heat and fermentation. It is then restacked systematically to keep the affects consistent throughout the stack.
The process is simulated with kilns (of sorts) and many commercial burleys go through this also. And, I know that the color cure that changes flue cured leaf into reds is very similar.

The leaf is sprouted with all of the microbes on it already that break down the leaf and cause fermentation. Just as we are born with the microbes on us that will eventually rot our bodies, and grapes naturally have the yeasts that will ferment the wines.

Crap, in all honesty, I am no expert. I am only guessing. But, it is guessing based on what I have learned from experience... and with that, I can assert with confidence that I am not sure, but a lot of stuff I hear sounds like bullshit.

 

[samanden]

bell hooks’ essay “Drive Through Tobacco” from her essay collection Belonging: A Culture of Place