Using Air Cured Tobacco Leaves.

[abdulaziz]

Hi everyone.

I live in Yemen and most of the tobacco grown here is smoked in water tobacco pipes, not hookah because the tobacco is not flavored. It is a thing called "Mada'ah," these leaves are dampened with water then shredded and put into the bowl, which is way bigger than a hookah bowl and then smoked. here are some pictures of Mada'ahs


Without the bowls or the hoses


an old man smoking his Mada'ah in his Majlis, Majlis is something similar to a lounge in Yemen but people here chew Khat and smoke this or cigarettes in it.


You can see the air cured tobacco behind and in front of this man and this is the reason behind this post.


Here is another type of Yemeni air cured tobacco.

These leaves tend to be drier than a pipe tobacco and this makes me wonder: could this tobacco be smoked in a tobacco pipe straight or mixed with another type of tobaccos?

Thank you all for your time.

 

[stevecourtright]

Not an expert, but I know that air curing is one way to cure pipe tobacco. As far as I know, to make it useful for pipe smokers, there is some further processing, such as one or more of baling, pressing, fermentation, dressing with humectants, and numerous other techniques. What I am thinking is that putting dried leaf into a pipe directly without any further treatment will produce smoke, but would likely smoke hot (too quickly) and therefore be unpleasant, at least compared to typical pipe tobacco. I would be interested in you trying it as you suggest and report back what happens and what your experience is.

 

[warren]

Me bad

 

[mso489]

One of these lounges is like Forums only they don't require wifi or devices. Conversation is likely part of the experience.

 

[lawdawg]

Not an expert, but I know that air curing is one way to cure pipe tobacco. As far as I know, to make it useful for pipe smokers, there is some further processing, such as one or more of baling, pressing, fermentation, dressing with humectants, and numerous other techniques. What I am thinking is that putting dried leaf into a pipe directly without any further treatment will produce smoke, but would likely smoke hot (too quickly) and therefore be unpleasant, at least compared to typical pipe tobacco. I would be interested in you trying it as you suggest and report back what happens and what your experience is.

Agreed, and as a fellow non-expert, I will state my non-expert opinion that it appears that the unique style of pipe and the particular tobaccos depicted were developed hand-in-hand, as though they are intended for each other. I would also anticipate that you could smoke this tobacco is a "normal" (by our standards) pipe, but that it would definitely be useful to give it some humidification first. Whether it's enjoyable to smoke that way (in a small briar pipe) is anyone's guess. It would be interesting to try that tobacco in any case, and I'd be most interested in trying it as intended - with the water pipe

 

[Country Bladesmith]

I’d sure as hell try it! Might be damn tasty. What’s the worst that could happen?

 

[abdulaziz]

Not an expert, but I know that air curing is one way to cure pipe tobacco. As far as I know, to make it useful for pipe smokers, there is some further processing, such as one or more of baling, pressing, fermentation, dressing with humectants, and numerous other techniques. What I am thinking is that putting dried leaf into a pipe directly without any further treatment will produce smoke, but would likely smoke hot (too quickly) and therefore be unpleasant, at least compared to typical pipe tobacco. I would be interested in you trying it as you suggest and report back what happens and what your experience is.

I think I will cut some and put it in a jar with a tobacco humidifier. Still, I still hope someone will share an experience or an attempt at using such tobacco.

 

[Country Bladesmith]

I think I will cut some and put it in a jar with a tobacco humidifier. Still, I still hope someone will share an experience or an attempt at using such tobacco.

? Looks like you get to be the guinea pig. Please let us know how it tastes. I love air/sun cured tobacco, so I bet it tastes good, as long as the moisture level isn’t an issue.

 

[abdulaziz]

Me bad

Me don't understand.

One of these lounges is like Forums only they don't require wifi or devices. Conversation is likely part of the experience.

It actually depends, if the people are younger they will start their gathering with a conversation then move to using their devices and that's the reason I tend to not give anyone who comes to my house the wifi password.

Agreed, and as a fellow non-expert, I will state my non-expert opinion that it appears that the unique style of pipe and the particular tobaccos depicted were developed hand-in-hand, as though they are intended for each other. I would also anticipate that you could smoke this tobacco is a "normal" (by our standards) pipe, but that it would definitely be useful to give it some humidification first. Whether it's enjoyable to smoke that way (in a small briar pipe) is anyone's guess. It would be interesting to try that tobacco in any case, and I'd be most interested in trying it as intended - with the water pipe

I will try it after humidifying the tobacco, and I am planning on buying one of these water pipes as well.

I’d sure as hell try it! Might be damn tasty. What’s the worst that could happen?

Burning a good pipe or damaging it.

 

[Country Bladesmith]

Burning a good pipe or damaging it.

I think if it starts getting that hot, you should be able to tell, and dump it before it comes to that.

 

[abdulaziz]

? Looks like you get to be the guinea pig. Please let us know how it tastes. I love air/sun cured tobacco, so I bet it tastes good, as long as the moisture level isn’t an issue.

It was an honor being on this forum

 

[abdulaziz]

I think if it starts getting that hot, you should be able to tell, and dump it before it comes to that.

I will try first with a corn cob and if it works I will then move to a briar.

 

[Country Bladesmith]

I will try first with a corn cob and if it works I will then move to a briar.

Solid plan. I like it. ?

 

[NomadOrb]

Your profile pic looks familiar! that definitely sounds like a nice experiment. I'm originally from Jordan btw, salamat.

 

[abdulaziz]

Your profile pic looks familiar! that definitely sounds like a nice experiment. I'm originally from Jordan btw, salamat.

Will there be a copyright case against me? I will change it if you want me to, I think I have another cool picture somewhere in my pc. At first, I was like "I do not remember writing this comment" then I checked the name. Allah yisalamak.

 

[warren]

Me don't understand.

I didn't parse your original post very well (too early in the morning) and my reply wasn't cogent.

 

[abdulaziz]

I didn't parse your original post very well (too early in the morning) and my reply wasn't cogent.

It is alright, have a nice day.

 

[NomadOrb]

Will there be a copyright case against me? I will change it if you want me to, I think I have another cool picture somewhere in my pc. At first, I was like "I do not remember writing this comment" then I checked the name. Allah yisalamak.

I don't mind, it's not my picture, so I have no ownership of it. I'm assuming we both searched for, "arab pipe smoker" on Google images ha!

 

[eugenepark]

It would taste pretty bland I assume? But I know lots of people who grow and smoke their own tobacco and air drying is basically the only way since most people don't own the facilities to smoke-cure or barrel-cure the leaves.

 

[64alex]

Here it comes to my mind Semois which is a roasted leaf dry as sheet of paper and intended to be smoked as such without any humidification. So while nearly all tobacco pipe undergoes some humidification process Semois shows that this is not always the case.

I would try once to smoke the air cured leaf dry as it is packing more tightly than with a regular tobacco pipe in order to avoid to burn too fast and too hot, and see how it tastes. You can then still try adding some incremental humidification and compare.