Tobacco Flavoring for Smoking Products: Leffingwell, 1972

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Mrs. Pickles

Starting to Get Obsessed
May 8, 2022
273
1,265
AZ, USA

The text of this presentation has the clearest explanation I've ever read regarding the difference between toppings and casings. Worth the price of admission.

Plus the hand-written notes in the margins! The note to define perique for the audience was a gem.

PLUS the bonus reveal at the end that the legendary Perqiue Three Nuns was flavored with anethole and Demerara rum. Woah!

Thank you for posting these. It's nice to read information about tobacco with a bit more rigor behind it than the usual hobby lore and marketing language. Saying this with all respect to the importance of that lore and commerce, of course.
 

greeneyes

Lifer
Jun 5, 2018
2,273
12,633
Just as there is Perique that is "artificially derived" (see Three Nuns recipe elsewhere on this forum) there is also "artificially derived" Latakia (see Latakia flavor above). I remember a vigorous discussion on another forum with individuals emphatically denying the existence of such a thing.
 

woodsroad

Lifer
Oct 10, 2013
12,913
21,607
SE PA USA
Just as there is Perique that is "artificially derived" (see Three Nuns recipe elsewhere on this forum) there is also "artificially derived" Latakia (see Latakia flavor above). I remember a vigorous discussion on another forum with individuals emphatically denying the existence of such a thing.
I once bought a 500 gram bag of GH “Latakia” that was most certainly not what we traditionally think of as we envision hands of Oriental leaf hanging in a smokehouse. I showed it to Russ O. and he agreed, albeit with the caveat “I guess it depends on how it’s processed”.
 
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mingc

Lifer
Jun 20, 2019
4,258
12,602
The Big Rock Candy Mountains
I once bought a 500 gram bag of GH “Latakia” that was most certainly not what we traditionally think of as we envision hands of Oriental leaf hanging in a smokehouse. I showed it to Russ O. and he agreed, albeit with the caveat “I guess it depends on how it’s processed”.
Inneresting. GH generally doesn't come to mind when one talks about latakia mixtures. SG certainly ( Squadron Leader and all that), but GH no.
 

woodsroad

Lifer
Oct 10, 2013
12,913
21,607
SE PA USA
Yes, at least in the US, they did. With the blend name rubber stamped on.

I've a couple of ounces of GH latakia that I bought a few years back but have yet to smoke. Smells uniquely like a tar pit.
At the time, I was trying to educate myself on tobacco. I bought as many different samples as I could find. The stuff sold as “Latakia” varied widely. Then, I discovered that there were commercially available flavorings that were used in place of the real thing. Same with Perique.

Lord knows what we’re really smoking when we spark up a bowl of manufactured “pipe tobacco”.
 

mingc

Lifer
Jun 20, 2019
4,258
12,602
The Big Rock Candy Mountains
There’s a few, good ones too. Exmoor Mixture, Balkan Mixture, #12, #25 etc.
Yes, GH makes latakia mixtures. But I don't think it's known for them in the same way SG and the late lamented English companies like Dunhill, Sobranie, Ardath, etc. were.

Exmoor Mixture is not and was never imported into the US, at least for the last 20 years as far as I know.
 
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greeneyes

Lifer
Jun 5, 2018
2,273
12,633
I once bought a 500 gram bag of GH “Latakia” that was most certainly not what we traditionally think of as we envision hands of Oriental leaf hanging in a smokehouse. I showed it to Russ O. and he agreed, albeit with the caveat “I guess it depends on how it’s processed”.
It's interesting you mention Gawith-Hoggarth because I have a jar of GH Latakia as well, and it is *real* (what I consider to be real, anyway) Latakia.

There are other mixtures that are readily available here in the USA that use a jet-black, large ribbon leaf with a very forward and synthetic-smelling "smoky" flavor. I think this stuff is the "enhanced" (a nicer word than fake) Latakia.

In fact after I read this thread I began to consider buying samples of the various Latakias out there for purposes of comparison.

I think what I'm saying is that the US market has become so accustomed to the "enhanced" Latakia that most people wouldn't recognize actual bona fide Latakia if they saw it.

But admittedly I need a bigger sample size.