Smyrna

[supdog]

Just finished smoking a bowl of straight smyrna. Man, it is some tasty stuff.While I don't have a sensitive palate to pick up on all the flavors present, I found it to be sweet, musty and minty. I think a lot of you VA guys will like this. It seemed to mirror the flavors of my beverage (Green tea with lemon grass and spearmint and a little Splenda).

 

[bigboi]

Thanks for the post. I will have to look into this tobacco.

 

[captainsousie]

Pardon me for being a bit dense but where do you acquire some straight Smyrna? I would love to try some of the specific orientals so I can understand their roles better.

 

[blendtobac]

We carry straight Smyrna is our bulk blending tobaccos. Supdog's description of it is spot on. When used with Latakia, it adds a buttery, earthy element.
Russ

 

[supdog]

Yep, I got it from Russ. I got it to bump up the oriental component in my english blends but I will keep a good amount set aside for smoking straight. Tonight I'll try the Izmir and report back. Russ, how do you think this will age?

 

[homeatsea]

Roth, if you don't mind me asking. What's the name of that PS blend?

 

[cortezattic]

Uh, hold on guys. I thought Smyrna is the Greek name for (Turkish) Izmir. Need some clarification here.

From Milton M. Sherman's "All About Tobacco"

The major groups of aromatic Turkish tobaccos, as stated by Frederick A. Wolf, of Duke University, are:

1. Xanthi

2. Kavalla

3. Smyrna or Izmir

4. Samsun
Each group derives its name from the city or production center from which it comes, and within each group, there are

numerous varieties. The exact identities of each type of Turkish tobacco are further complicated by the fact that similar tobaccos can be obtained from geographically different regions; and yet in a single region, more than one type of tobacco may be grown.
It should be pointed out that because of the shifting population in the Macedonian areas due to wars and changes among

the ruling factions, the peoples of Greece and Turkey immigrated to new areas and set up communities named after

those they left. Therefore, there is much similarity in the names of cities and towns in both Greece and Turkey -- names that also refer to the tobaccos they produce.

So, is there a difference between P&C's Izmir and their Smyrna?

 

[homeatsea]

Thank you, sir.

 

[supdog]

Roth, I too have some of the PS Turkish. Although it isn't 100% Turkish it's pretty good. I thought the PS had Samsun and not Smyrna. Cortez, I have 4 ozs of each Smyrna and Izmir in front of me right now and they don't look or smell the same. I haven't smoked the Izmir yet so I can't compare the tastes. When I lived in CA I went to a winery that grew only one grape (cabernet sauvignon) and while the vineyard was small they had three distinct micro-climates (one hill faced east, one hill faced west and the third growing area had a different soil composition)> Because of this they produced three different wines even though they grew only one grape.

 

[supdog]

Roth, sorry, I didn't catch that in your second post. I think you should smoke some Smyrna straight, it tasted great. The Izmir and Smyrna I got were from P&C. Maybe Russ can chime in and give us the "skinny" on these two tobaccos.

 

[northernneil]

I have both the C&D Izmir and P&C Smyrna. They taste, smell and look completely different.

That leads me to believe they are two different tobaccos. That being said, the Izmir is a broken flake, and the Smyrna is a ribbon cut (to my eye). Maybe similar tobaccos, different processes...?

 

[supdog]

I just finished a bowl of Izmir. I found it to taste similar to the Smyrna except where the Smyrna has a musty note the Izmir has a grassy flavor to it. I still tasted the sweet mintiness. Neil was right, the Izmir was more of a broken flake and the Smyrna was a ribbon cut.

 

[supdog]

Roth, not that I noticed but it could be (I've only smoked one bowl of each). I also think the Smyrna was a tad sweeter, not by much but just a hint.

 

[blendtobac]

The primary difference between Smyrna and Izmir is that they're grown in different areas, but are essentially the same plant, but as is seen often with tobacco, the same seed planted even 100 feet away will yield a somewhat different plant.Years ago, when one of the cigarette companies tried to plant Oriental seed in US soil, the resulting tobacco was closest to Burley in characteristics.

As far as aging Smyrna goes, it seems to age well, but doesn't improve as much as Virginia.
Russ

 

[foggymountain]

I have 2 questions for you guys that know about Turkish. Yenidje is not listed in the 4 types of Turkish mentioned by Cortezattic. Is that a subgroup. The other question is what was the Turkish used in the regular or white paper Balkan Sobranie cigarettes? That stuff was in a class of it's own. It was truly remarkable. I smoked it in the mid seventies. They were packed 10 to a tin and cost the then unheard of price of $1.00, or 10 cents each. The tins were collectables. I still have a few, empty.

 

[mso489]

I've been enjoying some Izmir Turkish, both by itself and to mix, but I may have to go back over this

post; there's a lot of info here.

 

[supdog]

Does anyone know where I can get some Xanthi? I'm really liking the orientals I've been trying. ::

 

[supdog]

Roth, thanks for the link. After some looking around I found that they have samplers, $7.99 for a 1/4 lb on what looks like all their products. I noticed that they have cigar wrapper leaves. I think it would be cool to roll some pipe tobacco into cigars. Anyone have experience doing this?