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Adding a throat hit to burley

Bex

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Ah, ok….I hadn’t looked any further to investigate but thought they might be the same as much of the description (heirloom, height, etc) is pretty similar. As Little Yellow is air cured, would it be considered a burley??
 

deluxestogie

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"Dark air-cured" is a different USDA class of tobacco.
  • flue-cured
  • burley
  • Maryland
  • cigar wrapper
  • cigar binder
  • cigar filler
  • Oriental
  • dark (air-cured or fire-cured)
  • Hungarian
  • primitive
  • unclassified
Bob
 

Bex

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Some time ago I had ordered ‘fire cured burley’. Is it possible that this is just dark fire cured? I remember the forum here advising that there was no such thing as fire cured burley…..This is kind of interesting: the original tobacco in Virginia was ‘dark’. https://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/IND43646987/PDF
I cannot find much about it though, with regard to taste, etc. I will be kept in suspense until I am able to grow and cure it (so around 2025….lol)
 

deluxestogie

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If you can fire-cure salmon, and fire-cure gouda, why not fire-cure burley or Oriental?

The origin of "fire-curing" tobacco was simply the primitive method of preventing tobacco that was color-curing in the shed from molding in damp conditions. Just build a tiny fire on the floor of the shed, to warm the air and drop the RH. It took only a few centuries to figure out that if the smoke from the fire were vented away from the tobacco through ductwork, that it would heat the air in the shed without contaminating the tobacco with soot from the fire. But some folks had taken a liking to that contamination, so fire-curing has persisted.

Thick, juicy leaf (typical of dark tobaccos and "dark Virginia" tobaccos) is more prone to mold than less juicy varieties. The "Virginia" in "dark Virginia" refers to where it was traditionally grown, rather than its being a flue-cure variety (also called "Virginia").

Historically, tobacco varieties (specific, botanical varieties) have been named for:
  • where they were typically grown in the US during the mid-19th century
  • how they were typically processed in the US during the mid-19th century
  • how they have been misidentified in other countries (e.g. a variety grown in Italy, called "Kentucky")
  • how they were typically used in the US during the mid-19th century
  • whether they were grown in the Austro-Hungarian Empire vs. the Ottoman Empire
It's a mess. And then there are varieties that did not exist in the US until a few years ago (e.g. Ainaro and Kasturi from Timor-Leste)

While you are unlikely to get a proper cure of burley, Maryland and cigar types by sun-curing or flue-curing, any of the varieties can otherwise be cured however you choose. You get to be the boss.

Bob
 

Bex

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The fire cured burley that I got from Eurotabak was much darker than their air cured, and the midrib was almost black. It had a much better throat hit than their regular burley, although nowhere near as satisfying as what I used to buy from the UK. My own burley that I grew (Maryland) initially has a ‘cigar smell’ when you first light it up, but while tasting nice afterward, is also lacking in the throat hit area.
I remember when I first started learning about tobacco, I was totally blown away by the amount of research, information, varieties, etc., etc., that was available. And was totally impressed that there was at least one person on this forum that was conversant in everything you ever needed to know about anything tobacco…..so when I wanted info on my ‘throat hit dilemma’, I knew exactly where to go. Thank you, Bob.
 

Bex

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So, I received my 2kg trial burley shipment today. It comes through Germany by DHL, and then is delivered to me by my postman. Funny that no one notices the word ‘tobacco’ on the shipper’s label (unless maybe Revenue will be visiting me later??? LOL!). @OldGasman….thank you for the recommendation and pushing me to try this company again. The burley is nice, has a nice throat hit, and I’ll be ordering more from them!! I’ll try to do some kind of ‘ratio’ between this nice burley, and the pounds of horrible stuff I still have from Eurotabak. But I feel very relieved now….I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to find a source for what I want. The ITC shipment went without a hitch, and I received my order in a little over a week. A win/win. I’m happy now….:)
 
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