History of Latakia Blends
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In the 1850s, there were no blends or mixtures; every tobacco was smoked straight and unblended. But there are auction records from the time indicating that Latakia was not an uncommon tobacco in pipe smokers' cellars. Blending didn't come into vogue until the 1880s or so, and we know that Latakia was certainly included in those earliest mixtures.
Of my decade spent in the Canadian Military four years of those were spent in Africa. Nearly every blend available for sale there everywhere you went contained Latakia. I wasn't proposing that Latkaia found its origins there rather that it was typical of what Brittish Soldiers serving there could get their hands on which might explain its rise to popularity in England around that time.
I seem to have misread your post, piper. My apologies.
While I have no idea of what was being smoked in South Africa in the 1890s, I would think that soldiers in the colonies would only be smoking latakia if it was popular/prevalent in the mother country and not the other way around... (Pure conjecture on my part but thats what makes sense to me)
As for the origins of latakia's popularity, I just read the passage in "The Book of Pipes & Tobacco" by Carl Ehwa Jr. where he discussed that oriental tobaccos were popularized by the Crimean War as soldiers blended it with their Virginia tobacco. He did not reference latakia specifically (as I had once thought) but it is not impossible to believe that the same soldiers would also be exposed to the fire cured oriental that is latakia...
Then, as 40+ years passed between the Crimean and the Boer Wars, there may have been plenty of time for latakia to travel around the Cape.
While I have no idea of what was being smoked in South Africa in the 1890s, I would think that soldiers in the colonies would only be smoking latakia if it was popular/prevalent in the mother country and not the other way around... (Pure conjecture on my part but thats what makes sense to me)
As for the origins of latakia's popularity, I just read the passage in "The Book of Pipes & Tobacco" by Carl Ehwa Jr. where he discussed that oriental tobaccos were popularized by the Crimean War as soldiers blended it with their Virginia tobacco. He did not reference latakia specifically (as I had once thought) but it is not impossible to believe that the same soldiers would also be exposed to the fire cured oriental that is latakia...
Then, as 40+ years passed between the Crimean and the Boer Wars, there may have been plenty of time for latakia to travel around the Cape.
Nars story hit home, that's how the old people were, crusty, but beneath that hard veneer were people who would give you a helping hand,I remember my Grandfather and other farmers bringing in a mans crops when he was sick, dropping off meat and vegetables to infirm neighbors, you don"t have that anymore, The old cajun PS the old Cajuns called it a Coute Ma. A helping hand
Looking at the quotes that were tracked down, Egypt and therefore at least parts of Africa had latakia as a primary tobacco in 1833, well before the Boer War, so there isn't any reason to think both the Crimean and the Boer war had influence on what the soldiers were exposed to and bringing back to England when they returned.
You may be correct piperat, the Crimean War causation has been mentioned in various books, so it has staying power, but I found an opinion which seems to side with yours:
http://books.google.com/books?id=U_oOAQAAMAAJ&q=crimean#search_anchor
...the book is only available in snippet views, but the info I've glimpsed seems so precise and well-researched that I'm gonna hafta seek out a copy of the physical book, "Sublime Tobacco" by Sir Compton Mackenzie from 1957.
Here's a review wherein it's stated that "Sir Compton claims that without smoking half a ton himself since 1901, he would have been unable to complete his 81 books."
snippets like these are goldmines of knowledge;
"the earliest mention of a tobacco mixture occurs in 1859"
"Latakia was mentioned for the first time in the books of Fribourg & Treyer in 1846"
He took the title from an 1823 poem by Byron:
Sublime tobacco! which, from east to west,
Cheers the tar's labor or the Turkman's rest,
Which on the Moslem's ottoman divides,
His hours, and rivals opium and his brides;
Magnificent in Stamboul, but less grand,
Though not less loved, in Wapping on the Strand;
Divine in hookas, glorious in a pipe,
When tipp'd with amber, mellow, rich, and ripe
Like other charmers, wooing the caress
More dazzlingly when daring in full dress
Yet thy true lovers more admire, by far,
Thy naked beauties--give me a cigar!
...all that said, since the Boer Wars were mentioned, I'll post up this great video filmed in 1989 when Gordon "Pop" Williams was 108 years old!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxA-bgg3vGY
http://books.google.com/books?id=U_oOAQAAMAAJ&q=crimean#search_anchor
...the book is only available in snippet views, but the info I've glimpsed seems so precise and well-researched that I'm gonna hafta seek out a copy of the physical book, "Sublime Tobacco" by Sir Compton Mackenzie from 1957.
Here's a review wherein it's stated that "Sir Compton claims that without smoking half a ton himself since 1901, he would have been unable to complete his 81 books."
snippets like these are goldmines of knowledge;
"the earliest mention of a tobacco mixture occurs in 1859"
"Latakia was mentioned for the first time in the books of Fribourg & Treyer in 1846"
He took the title from an 1823 poem by Byron:
Sublime tobacco! which, from east to west,
Cheers the tar's labor or the Turkman's rest,
Which on the Moslem's ottoman divides,
His hours, and rivals opium and his brides;
Magnificent in Stamboul, but less grand,
Though not less loved, in Wapping on the Strand;
Divine in hookas, glorious in a pipe,
When tipp'd with amber, mellow, rich, and ripe
Like other charmers, wooing the caress
More dazzlingly when daring in full dress
Yet thy true lovers more admire, by far,
Thy naked beauties--give me a cigar!
...all that said, since the Boer Wars were mentioned, I'll post up this great video filmed in 1989 when Gordon "Pop" Williams was 108 years old!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxA-bgg3vGY
...just stumbled across this the other day, a good source document.
'The tobacconist', a guide to the retail trade
By William Robert Loftus
...he writes,
Latakia - Extremely mild, of a tarry aromatic flavour, high in price, and used chiefly for giving character to mixtures.
It is not much inquired for at tobacconists.
This was circa 1881, just when the lead foil packets were coming into the market
and heavily advertised brand identity would soon explode onto the scene, just a
few years later in 1885, W.B. Williamson & Son would patent a new airtight tin
that would revolutionize tobacco packaging, we know that tin today as a cutter-top
or knife-lid, and they are beautiful artifacts indeed!
'The tobacconist', a guide to the retail trade
By William Robert Loftus
...he writes,
Latakia - Extremely mild, of a tarry aromatic flavour, high in price, and used chiefly for giving character to mixtures.
It is not much inquired for at tobacconists.
This was circa 1881, just when the lead foil packets were coming into the market
and heavily advertised brand identity would soon explode onto the scene, just a
few years later in 1885, W.B. Williamson & Son would patent a new airtight tin
that would revolutionize tobacco packaging, we know that tin today as a cutter-top
or knife-lid, and they are beautiful artifacts indeed!
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