Possible Bad News For Latakia Lovers

[hawky454]

Go out now and BUY BUY BUY! Buy buy buy and then buy some more. I don’t know about y’all but I’d rather be living under a bridge with a lot of tobacco on hand than in a home with none. Kidding??? I don’t know anymore. I love my Latakia blends so, I’m selling my house to afford the rest of that Lat laden blends on the market. But seriously, I’ve got to stay away from the forums man. When I took about an 8 month break, I didn’t make one tobacco purchase. Now that I’ve been back I’ve made countless of purchases. I’m not fond of how Lat blends age so I’ve never stocked up on them so this does have me slightly worried. If I ignore the problem, maybe it will go away.

 

[davidintexas]

Hawky, if you give up on Latakia, you might as well give up smoking pipes altogether and send your Condor and St.Bruno to me :wink:

 

[odobenus]

I’m not fond of how Lat blends age so I’ve never stocked up on them so this does have me slightly worried.

Hawky, I'm curious: what don't you like about how Lat blends age? Do you find that they get kind of funky? More old tire-ish?

 

[Dutch Pipe Smoker]

I read somewhere, I believe it was a Dutch Pipe Smoking Forum, of someone who went to Cyprus for holiday and once there thought to go visit some tobacco fields/ latakia processing plants. He was told almost no(or none) latakia was made in Cyprus anymore and most of the latakia comes from Turkey which would not be a surprise as Cyprus is quite small while Turkey is huge with probably some place with similar terroir as in Syria/Cyprus and the same kind of trees that are used for processing growing as well.

Is this true? No idea. But in some way it does make sense that Cyprus does not and cannot provide latakia for the whole world.

This story is 100% true. When I was on the Inter Tabac Fair in Dortmund, Germany, Per Jensen of MacBaren even confirmed it. Please see the update below my Latakia blogpost: https://dutchpipesmoker.wordpress.com/2013/02/05/latakia-lover/

 

[Civil War]

@arno665 Thanks for the blogpost link

 

[bazungu]

Thanks for the link Arno! I was really hoping I did not just dream that whole story haha!

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Thanks for the informative link arno. Sounds like Latakia is the cigar equivalent of maduro. Obviously different processes but similar in that it has special post processing/curing that changes the leaf. I never liked many maduro cigars which may explain why I'm not a huge latakia fan.
Also sounds like the demise of latakia isn't imminent as the Cyprian Latakia is actually being sourced in Turkey now. And apparently has been for quite some time.

 

[bnichols23]

buying as much as possible anyways, right? It's a part of the PipesMagazine creed

Dang right, Cos.

[:rofl:]
The Captain's not a big fan of Latakia! [:rofl:]

I HAVE heard it said that he's also a HUUUUUGE fan of overly cased aromatics. Captain Blacks Grape & Maple Syrup, for example.... [Totally Innocent Look Skyward]

 

[hawky454]

Hawky, if you give up on Latakia, you might as well give up smoking pipes altogether and send your Condor and St.Bruno to me :wink:

Nice try, David... not gonna happen. :D

Hawky, I'm curious: what don't you like about how Lat blends age? Do you find that they get kind of funky? More old tire-ish?

In my experience the Latakia just fades to much leaving the blend tasting flat and boring. I prefer a Lat blend relatively fresh but it’s looking like I’ll be stocking up on a few favorites just in case.

 

[balkisobrains]

hoosierpipeguy
Also sounds like the demise of latakia isn't imminent as the Cyprian Latakia is actually being sourced in Turkey now. And apparently has been for quite some time.

I think that might have stopped a while ago. Otherwise why would the distributor be running on old scrap Latakia & taking back-orders for stuff supposedly to be grown in Lebanon? :puffpipe:

 

[pipestud]

The Rise and fall and potential rise again of Cyprian Latakia was really a fun subject to research. I sure wish that I could have produced a blog with a definitive answer for everyone, but as those of you who read the blog know, it's still a question mark. I tend to be a Pollyanna in most matters, and as long as I know there is more on the way, then I'll just be comforted by that thought... for now anyway.
Pipestud

 

[scottfree]

From what I can detect, the scrap latakia is in use in some of my favorite blends. For instance, the newer batch of Pirate Kake is not even half as good as the older stuff. It's really dry and twiggy. I could not even smoke a full bowl of it. Very disappointing. I hope the new stuff grown on Lebanon is a better replacement.

 

[rdavid]

the newer batch of Pirate Kake

How new? My year old jar of Pirate Kake is unbelievably good. Sure hoping they didn't screw it up...

 

[diamondback]

Interesting. I just got a pound of PK from SPC a couple weeks ago. It’s jarred up now. Was going to let it sit until next fall but tomorrow I’ll break into it and see what I think.

 

[rfernand]

In the year 3000, Prince Albert will be the last blend standing.

 

[kola]

and.....let the hoarding begin.

 

[scottfree]

The Pirate Kake that is a year old is still good. The very recent stuff is using the leftover Cyprian latakia, as far as I can tell.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

I think making a judgment that Pirate Kake is now using "leftover Cyprian latakia", based on one tin, would be a bit rash.
The sky is falling, the sky is falling.

 

[Waning Embers]

and.....let the hoarding begin.

Bought ten pounds of Balkan Supreme the day before yesterday, and I only like that much Latakia every now and then.

 

[diamondback]

In the year 3000, Prince Albert will be the last blend standing.

I could live with that. As long as it’s the ‘original’.
Yep. If I’m alive in the year 3000 (after the dreaded 2525), I’ll enjoy the company of the old Prince.