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Latakia Leaf Tobacco, 1lb.
$29.99
Latakia is fire cured for almost a full year over local hardwoods and aromatic herbs of the Mediterranean.
973 in stock
Our current batch of Latakia is a delightful product and is commonly used in a traditional Balkan blend. Latakia has a room note reminiscent of a centuries old cathedral. It has a prominent herbal extension. Latakia is fire cured for almost a full year over local hardwoods and aromatic shrubs of the Mediterranean. Because of the length of curing, much of the enzymes are broken apart.
Instead, this extensive curing process softens the aromas the Mediterranean herbs that have been impressed upon the tobacco over that curing process. These herbal tones are the signature pungent flavor of Latakia. This is a beautiful, almost awe-inspiring scent.
tullius –
I don’t know whether I got the new or old Latakia, but I’m local and picked up 5 and a half pounds of various whole leaf tobaccos from WLT yesterday. The latakia is outstanding: spicy, beautiful, complex, effusive (almost invasive) natural high grade cathedral incense aroma. I added 30% by weight to a blend of VA red, Va lemon, VA bright and Turkish stacked basma, all from WLT, and it smokes almost identical to Dunhill’s London Mixture. Use sparingly, goes a long way. Highly recommended.
FairTradeTobacco Comment –
The new 2017 Cyprus Latakia Tobacco is about as delightful as you will ever smoke. After nearly a year of fire-curing, the underlying tobacco doesn’t have much prospect of the “aging” that we anticipate with most other tobaccos. It’s inherent enzymatic activity is almost literally toast. What time does with Latakia is very slowly soften the aromas of not the tobacco itself, but the Mediterranean herbal essences that have been impregnated into the tobacco through the lengthy fire-curing process. So, like any spice or herb in a jar, the aroma gradually loses the crisp edges that it originally possessed.
To the right is a fist full of the Latakia, as it comes out of the bag. Latakia is always baled randomly, so the leaves are squished into various contortions. To the left are some leaves that I attempted to unfold. You can clearly see that these are sessile, Basma-type leaves. They range up to about 8″ in length. It’s not as “crystallized” as the older Latakia, so it is not as crumbly when shredded (done with stems and all).
Conclusions
The new Latakia are genuinely excellent. If you are considering purchasing similar blending ingredients (the pre-shredded stuff) from pipe tobacco retailers, all three of these WLT offerings are of a much higher quality, and cost a lot less.
The new Latakia is somewhat more aromatic than the older batch, giving an impression of a fresher, less mellowed spice. It is superb. This new Latakia works its proper magic in my blending.
-deluxestogie @ FairTradeTobacco
Marcus P Irwin –
This is a review of Latakia, not Whole Leaf, they are great and will do business again. Anyway, obviously some people love this stuff. I find it totally vile. It’s like sucking on a Middle Eastern incense lozenge. It’s super smoky, which I might find appealing, but it’s that overwhelming perfume flavor that I cannot gut. It doesn’t even resemble any hint of tobacco anymore.
stdly2000 (verified buyers) –
This was my first order I want to blend my own pipe tobacco. This stuff will be in almost all of my blend and lots of it. Wow I open the bag and I am not disappointed the leave are exactly as I would of expected. It’s the first time I smoke Latakia straight up oh ya I’m liking this.
I am ordering more.
Thanks WLT.
guy.napias (verified buyers) –
Très heureux de ma commande. Excellent, bien conditionné et bon poids. Merci.
AviramDayanDreaMelodiC –
I personally really like it as a flavor(above), for me it is a top 2 as flavor,
i add a little from him to each cigarette,
he give excellent aroma, and his taste is great,
together with Virginia Lemon + Bright + Threshed Maryland 609 (little amount) + Kentucky Fire Cured (little amount).