Interesting discussion! I printed this document out several years ago and still have it for reference. Reynolds did a LOT of experimentation to produce this report and the fact that it is public domain now is really cool.
Latakia is an Oriental type that has been fire cured. This doesn't yield a uniformly black product, but darkens the exposed leaves to a very dark sheeny black, while the unexposed or less exposed portions of the batch take on the characteristic aroma, but do not blacken, remaining more golden brown, olive or even red.
A uniformly black Latakia product could be A., a true Latakia which has been steamed to create a uniform black product with less pronounced smoke character or B. some other leaf type which has been blackened and artificially flavored to mimic Latakia. Our Latakia is completely unprocessed other than cutting, and you can easily see the natural color variations in the leaf. We cut it and blend with it, in the condition that arrives to us from the processor who is fire curing it. The smoke character and penetration is very pronounced and requires no further flavor enhancement to come accross as Latakia. Opening a case or bale of Latakia is a very powerful, room filling olfactory experience. Can't imagine attempting to enhance the overwhelmingly smoky aroma that real Latakia already possesses.
While I am aware of some use of steam to make Latakia uniformly black, I am not aware of any "false" or "immitation" Latakia being used by pipe tobacco manufacturers. That is not to say that instances don't exist, but I am not aware of any. I am aware of a producer of "Latakia" and "Perique" flavoring though, and I can assure you that neither the smell or flavor are very close to the real thing. I feel confident that the aroma emanating from the Chicago Pipe Show smoking tent is not produced by smokers enjoying Black Cavendish with the equivalent of Liquid Smoke applied to it. And the jockeying for position with Latakia producers that we all must do, in order to buy the quantities of Latakia we want, would not be necessary if there was a convincing "imitation" that pipe tobacco manufacturers were using with any regularity. Cut width, which you mention, is no indicator either way, as the leaf can be cut to any thickness the cutter can be set to, regardless of leaf type. Cutting is not carried out by the curing house or farmer, which would increase the cost of importation, so cutting is all done at the manufacturer level.
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