Maybe just rub some brisket with some Pirate Kake?
Fake Latakia???
- Thread starter midcentry
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You guys are going about this all wrong. Just toss a brownie or 2 of Pirate Kake INTO the smoker along with the hickory or apple wood.
I bought a pound of what was labelled "Syrian Latakia"- and it didn't cut it. I suspected then that there was precious little Latakia of any stripe. The tobacco was otherwise ok, so smoked it, finishing a year ago or so. Will never buy bulk from a company whose creds and not impeccable.
I read a while back -- maybe on the Dutch Pipe Smoker blog, or an interview with Greg Pease -- that increasingly the leaf used for Cyprian Latakia production was coming from Turkey. It makes sense that someone would then have the idea to fumigate it closer to the source.
I love the smell of barbecue, in a dump of the 80s. With roasted tires, burnt chocolate, dried vomit and mule manure. 
Did we lose something lovely in the translation??
So, a hypothetical.... what if you found out that your favorite latakia blend used an artificial latakia flavoring? Would you decide to hate it, or just continue to enjoy it?
It would be frustrating. Maybe I would smoke that latakia substitute until I finished it. But it would be disappointing. You simply trust your favorite brands and let yourself be carried away by that moment of happiness.
So, you wouldn't just change your thinking to match your tastes? You wouldn't embrace the fake latakia, since you liked it before you knew?
It's like hearing that your favorite song was performed by devil worshipping commies... do you start to hate it at that point? Or, do you just enjoy the song, while hating the band?
I would end up throwing it all away. I'm a fan of the authentic. It would be like drinking bourbon from Thailand and not Kentucky. I mean, every place has its authenticity. Latakia Sirio seems to have disappeared many years ago? And it's all from Cyprus still? I am ignorant about this. For example, in Spain, I believe the province of Granada, Spain, produces good quality sturgeon caviar. For those of you lucky enough to have smoked Syrian latakia, what difference do you find with the current latakia, cripre, Turkish etc?
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Strangely enough, I think I'd try to match my taste to the new knowledge.
Good question. If the artificial flavoring managed to nail the aroma and taste of Syrian Latakia, I imagine some people would try to make their peace with it. Didn’t it come out that the original Three Nuns had some amount of fake Perique in it? People aren’t throwing that away, to the best of my knowledge…
I had never heard that. Interesting. I am pretty sure that Royal Yacht was trying to emulate perique also, that pulmmy-ish taste. It isn't exactly plums, but similar, like how some VaPers are. It's the only thing that makes sense to me about why they add that weird topping to it.
I deduce it comes from folks like you, spreading it around.
Fact is, none of us really know what’s in the tobacco we smoke, unless we grow it ourselves.
Back in college when a buddy of mine had a dad that worked for Marlboro, we went and visited the factory, plant, whatever... They would press all of the juice out of the tobacco, leaving a tasteless cellulose behind, and then reformulate the taste and nicotine levels, and then add the juice back to it. I was fascinated that they added cherry, and other fruit flavors to cigarette tobacco. But, they started with Red Virginias. And, I imagine it is not too much of a stretch that they may add some latakia flavors.
It's pretty obvious that they don't squeeze pipe tobacco like they do cigarette tobacco. But, casing could just about be anything.
There was a fellow, J. Blackburn who owned a pipe and cigar shop in Hoover, AL, that swore that latakia had a liquid smoke added. He knew that it was smoke cured, but he swore that it was being made with an artificial flavor now. The guy also had said a lot of other stuff that wasn't exactly so, so...
We don't know as much about latakia as we do Virginias, perique, or Fire Cured Kentucky. I don't even recall ever seeing pics of our famous tobacconists touring latakia barns or factories. They certainly aren't as open about their process as all of the other tobaccos.
Is it likely? No.
Is there any cause for worry? No.
Is it an interesting topic to discuss? you betcha.
Did this start on social media/forums? No, I am certain guys have discussed this long before we all went online. I wager, J. Blackburn has never been on a computer. God rest his soul.
I was unaware of these stories. The mysterious saucy ones. It is unnerving, creepy, shattering and terrifying. I have a ton of Latakia. I think I will add a new label to the glass jars, where it says, latakia Syria natural, handmade artisan process.
who is buying it? I have heard of this stuff being used by people who make their own cigarettes with those injector tube things.
This thread reminds me of this dumb rumor that went around the nasal snuff world. That one of the American Scotch snuffs that came in a glass jar had a secret code to tell you the strength of the snuff. The code the number of little dots on the bottom of the jar. Which is easy to prove wrong in two ways. One asking someone who works in glass what the dots on the bottom of glass jars is about, and the other is that it would make more sense for the company to in some more direct way inform the consumer about the strength. "Full flavor". But people insisted it was true. And they're a part of the reason that when I am out in the woods and I find an abandoned town or building I find myself thinking about how some day there will be no people at all and that fills me with a sublime peace. They're part of why that is.
Too much exposure to social media results in brain death.
I’d heard about Turkish Latakia about a year ago and found it interesting. Don’t know what leaf is used. Cyprian and Syrian used different leaf as the base, which partially explains the different flavor.
I still have plenty of both and am not buying any more tobacco, so look forward to hearing others opinions on the Turkish product.
I’d heard about Turkish Latakia about a year ago and found it interesting. Don’t know what leaf is used. Cyprian and Syrian used different leaf as the base, which partially explains the different flavor.
I still have plenty of both and am not buying any more tobacco, so look forward to hearing others opinions on the Turkish product.