Greek Tobacco.
- Thread starter Franco Pipenbeans
- Start date
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the availability here is very poor,the choice is mainly Borkham Riff,skandanavik,
see here for some idea
The only Greek make pipe tobacco was Wolfway Medusa and that is showing out of stock and I am not sure if it is still available
your better off getting German shop recommendations
see here for some idea
The only Greek make pipe tobacco was Wolfway Medusa and that is showing out of stock and I am not sure if it is still available
your better off getting German shop recommendations
Yep, pretty much. Wolfway used to make some good pipe tobaccos but I haven't seen them available for a few years at least. Other than those Greece is pipe tobacco desert.the availability here is very poor,the choice is mainly Borkham Riff,skandanavik,
see here for some idea
The only Greek make pipe tobacco was Wolfway Medusa and that is showing out of stock and I am not sure if it is still available
your better off getting German shop recommendations
Avoiding unrest I guess; at least I presume she isn’t a Francophobe anyway.
Great, thanks for that, I’ll check it out.the availability here is very poor,the choice is mainly Borkham Riff,skandanavik,
see here for some idea
The only Greek make pipe tobacco was Wolfway Medusa and that is showing out of stock and I am not sure if it is still available
your better off getting German shop recommendations
Too bad you are not going, but a friend who is I assume indifferent to tobacco. I’d be trying to hit a farm, not a shop. Basma and Katerini are the most widely cultivated oriental tobaccos, but Greece also produces some less common types such as Elessona, Tsebella, and Mavra, just to name a few.
Basma and Katherini came first to my mind too. Once I managed to acquire some Greek Basma when travelling through Romania, but it wasn't as straightforward as just going to a tobacco store and ordering a pouch. It was a guy on the market who called another guy not on the market.
Wasn't greatly impressed with the tobacco, I should add. Probably what they reserve for tourists isn't the highest grade of the leaf.
Wasn't greatly impressed with the tobacco, I should add. Probably what they reserve for tourists isn't the highest grade of the leaf.
Farmers tend to keep the cream of the crop for themselves. Plus what you buy will need cut, cased, blended. But it would be fun for those who are inclined to do so. More work than shopping for sure. Again, I’d go to the farm, not the dude on the corner with the connection.
Cased? Do they really case sun-cured Orientals?
The guy on the market was selling an array of local cigarette-shred tobaccos by the 200 ml glass. They also claimed to have some fancier Greek and Turkish strains, "he's just not here right now, wait a sec". Farm buy is definitely a much better option, although it seems unavailable to the OP.
The guy on the market was selling an array of local cigarette-shred tobaccos by the 200 ml glass. They also claimed to have some fancier Greek and Turkish strains, "he's just not here right now, wait a sec". Farm buy is definitely a much better option, although it seems unavailable to the OP.
because its full of the French,I need say no more
I see you're talking about Romania, OP won't find this in Greece as loose tobacco is illegal. Any tobacco sold to the public needs to be sealed with a govt tax stamp across the seal saying the exact weight of the tobacco and the tax duty paid. This doesn't mean that there's not a lot of loose tobacco sold illegally in Greece, but it's usually RYO of popular brands like Old Holborn, Drum, Golden Virginia bought in bulk elsewhere and repackaged. A friend of mine used to buy fairly decent loose homegrown RYO tobacco, again illegal of course.
Best bet is to find and travel to farm and kindly ask for a handful of leaf, I didn't do it myself but once as a kid we were staying with some family friends who lived right next to a tobacco farm under Mt Olympus. As my mother was curious we went to see the farm, and she asked to try the tobacco. The workers just gave us a handful of leaf from the ageing shed (see screenshot below). I don't know if they'd do it today, I am talking about 30 years ago! The issue with this leaf though is that unless you get there at the right time of the year it'll be unaged, you'll need to stem and cut it etc and ultimately it probably won't be very nice to smoke. Generally I remember reading that "oriental tobacco" is pretty tricky to get right, the growing, picking and the ageing are critical, then casing is also an issue.
Wolfway's Basma was spectacular, really spectacular, had so many layers of flavour. I really enjoyed it years ago, however most recently (still 2+ years ago!) what I saw from a friend was an inferior product, very rough cut, with big stem pieces in it and far less refined taste from what I remembered.
I'm sure it's illegal now in Romania as well (most probably it was already technically illegal at the time I was there 12 years back).
Gone are the times when smokers in Balkan countries went to local markets and bought local Oriental tobaccos by the scoop from a sack standing on the ground.
Yeah, at least in Greece it's been like this for several decades. Interestingly in Switzerland where I live, and pretty sure in the UK you can still buy by the scoop. Not sure about Germany. Many years ago I was in Istanbul and wanted to get Turkish tobacco but after asking around in various markets we were told that in Turkey too loose tobacco is illegal.
*Update*
Very kindly received these today from my friend’s road trip.
No bulk bags from any Greek market - apparently it was “too bloody hot (40°c+) for me to fanny about in the markets”
- so these came from a tobacco shop in Praha on their way back.
I’ve had the Sunday’s Fantasy and the University Flake before, but I’m very interested to try the Orientals.
The Guinness was not part of the delivery.
Happy weekend everyone.
Very kindly received these today from my friend’s road trip.
No bulk bags from any Greek market - apparently it was “too bloody hot (40°c+) for me to fanny about in the markets”
- so these came from a tobacco shop in Praha on their way back. I’ve had the Sunday’s Fantasy and the University Flake before, but I’m very interested to try the Orientals.
The Guinness was not part of the delivery
. Happy weekend everyone.