Latakia for Pipe

Oriental tobacco cured in the smoke houses of Cyprus.

This came about because I have been disappointed with every flavor concentrate called “Latakia.” I get zero hints of anything remotely smoky in any of them. FA Black Fire on it’s own is, in my opinion, closer to Latakia than anything that claims to be Latakia.

I’ve got some Peter Stokkebye Black Latakia in a jar that was left over from making an NET, and I used the smell of that for the inspiration here. I’d take a big ol’ sniff of that stuff, then taste this, and I was very surprised at just how close it was.

Latakia is typically used for blending Pipe tobaccos, but I wanted to create something that would be true to taste, but also not so overwhelming that it couldn’t be enjoyed on its own. But I also wanted to keep everything low enough that something could be built around this without getting some crazy high percentages. So this could either be a stand alone recipe, or you could make a Latakia stone from it and throw it in with some Virginias, Cavendish, or some more Turkish Orientals to create your own English Blend. On its own, it’s not really an ADV for me, but it’s a nice way to end the day with some strong, smoky tobacco.

If you’ve got INW Tobacco Absolute Oriental, you can sub that for the regular INW Oriental, but bring it down to .8-1%.