classic french Gauloises

[ladaok]

Traditional Gauloises were short, wide, unfiltered and made with dark tobaccos from Syria and Turkey which produced a strong and distinctive aroma

I've had my lips around a few of these, certainly distinctive smell etc, once they are lit it's pretty hard case ... as they burn like a mini pyrotechnics show

any idea as to which variety and ratio

thanks ...robbie

 

[istanbulin]

Re: classic french ***

If you're mentioning the Gauloises Brunes which is a "dark blend" consisted of air cured and fire cured (?) tobaccos, you may buy (I don't know if you already have) some Dark Air, Maryland, Burley and Fire Cured VA or Latakia to try some blends. I think, the biggest component should be Dark Air and also toasting is a must (not for fire-cured and Latakia but others), you know these tobaccos are strong. I'm pretty sure there were "casings" in Gauloises so grab some casings too. I don't think they were using too much fire-cured or Latakia so I guess it's not more than 3% of the blend.

 

[Matty]

Re: classic french ***

I always thought gauloises where made from an unfermented cigar variety. One sucker would come close to the harsh flavor of gauloises blue or red. The tobacco in these cigarettes is quite dark colored. I used to buy them occasionally, they where all right when fresh but would dry up/"go stale" at the drop of a hat.

 

[DonH]

Re: classic french ***

If you get WLT's Euro Halfzware Blend it will taste similar but better. I tried some traditional Gauloises last year (unfiltered in the blue pack). Definitely had fire cured and maybe dark air. I also tried Gitanes. The Gitanes gave me an instant headache. Not sure what chemical but I tossed them. I pulled out a Gauloises and am smoking it now. Tastes pretty good. I taste fire cured and flue cured. Halfzware means half dark so if you blend, try half flue cured and half a mix of fire cured and Burley and/or Dark Air Cured. I would toast the Burley and Dark Air. Go easy on the Fire Cured, a little goes a long way. If you get the WLT Halfzware kit it will come with some casing. Gauloises are definitely cased. I taste cocoa and vanilla in there.

 

[DonH]

Re: classic french ***

Actually, thinking about the Gauloises taste a little more, I don't think it's a true Halfzware. I'd say more like a quarter Zware (Viertelzware?). So I would try 3/4 flue cure and 1/4 blended fire cured and burley/dark air.

 

[forumdotabaco]

Re: classic french ***

Oh boy Gitanes and Gauloises I thought this kind of smokers were already extinct this 2 brands were the first cigarettes me and my friends tasted when kids 25 years ago good times back then, never saw them again here in Portugal, I tried something similar some years ago, cohiba cigarettes but definitely is not my kind of smoke.Spanish old people still smoking a lot of fire cured cigarettes.

 

[DonH]

Re: classic french ***

Also, if you say they also have Turkish in them a very small amount of Latakia will make it taste great.

 

[Matty]

Re: classic french ***

Fire cured? I guess the blend changes from one country to the next. The gauloises I had tasted only of dark air cured and not cased, just raw tobacco. I also tried some gitanes years ago, didn't like them much. The gitanes could have been a halfzware but as you say were cased with something that gave them a sour off taste.

 

[DonH]

Re: classic french ***

Fire cured? I guess the blend changes from one country to the next. The gauloises I had tasted only of dark air cured and not cased, just raw tobacco. I also tried some gitanes years ago, didn't like them much. The gitanes could have been a halfzware but as you say were cased with something that gave them a sour off taste.

I bought the Gauloises in France. You may be right. In fact if you put in a little Latakia and leave out the Fire Cured you would still have a bit of a smoky taste. I'm going to have to play around with this.

As for casing, I really doubt any commercial brand is not cases unless they advertise additive free.

 

[Matty]

Re: classic french ***

I found the "recipe" for gauloises, no mention of the tobacco variety though. Among the other typical casing ingredients (invert sugar, glycol...) there is also licorice extract and fig juice in the mix.

 

[forumdotabaco]

Re: classic french ***

good question, I don't know how to distinguish them, we use to call that kind of tobacco, black tobacco

 

[Matty]

Re: classic french ***

Wikipedia says traditional Gauloises were short, wide,*unfiltered*and made with dark*tobaccos*from*Syria*and Turkey*which produced a strong and distinctive aroma. The brand was first owned by Altadis and was then produced by Imperial Tobacco.
I tried getting a link to the ingredients I found but it's a pdf link and I can't capture the address.

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&sour...7gPb31agmHmY8g30n1fKQvQ&bvm=bv.65397613,d.cWc

 

[DonH]

Re: classic french ***

Matty, I think we've got it.

4g Virginia Bright Leaf air cured
2g WLT Virginia 1st Priming
4g One Sucker
1g WLT Prilep
0.5g Latakia.

I might add some WLT casing later and compare.

 

[Matty]

Re: classic french ***

Shoot, I'm only missing the prilep. Been waiting for warmer weather to order some so there are no "problems" in the mail. I'll try it with some Izmir for now. Is the Latakia necessary or could fire cured work as well? I have both.

 

[DonH]

Re: classic french ***

Shoot, I'm only missing the prilep. Been waiting for warmer weather to order some so there are no "problems" in the mail. I'll try it with some Izmir for now. Is the Latakia necessary or could fire cured work as well? I have both.

Fire Cured would work. It would make it more like a Halfzware. I may try adding a small amount of fire cured. The taste of smoke in the Gauloise was faint. Also, I think the Latakia (and the Prilep) have so much aromatic flavors that it makes casing uneccesary.

 

[DonH]

Re: classic french ***

I tasted the real Gauloises again and I didn't get much fire cured if any.

 

[Matty]

Re: classic french ***

Dang that one sucker is strong lol. Smoking some of the above blend with Izmir instead of Prilep. The taste is similar but not quite what I remember of all the Gauloises I've tried. I'm sure to get it right we'd have to find out the specific dark air variety used. Interesting blend just the same, med dark tasting and a little smoky. Would probably be better with a casing or a short age on the blend to meld the flavors more.

 

[DonH]

Re: classic french ***

Dang that one sucker is strong lol. Smoking some of the above blend with Izmir instead of Prilep. The taste is similar but not quite what I remember of all the Gauloises I've tried. I'm sure to get it right we'd have to find out the specific dark air variety used. Interesting blend just the same, med dark tasting and a little smoky. Would probably be better with a casing or a short age on the blend to meld the flavors more.

Well I used my homegrown One Sucker which is much smoother than the real kind. Generally my low pH varieties are, I think because I don't get a full day's sun where I grow. Toasting the Dark Air would help. The blend I made was actually pretty smooth.

 

[Matty]

Re: classic french ***

I'm sure just setting my blend aside for a few days would help it. What I have is quite smooth because my air cure virginia is quite light. I know the international brands we get at the store here ain't what they are in their country of origin. I've tried Camels, Winston and Marlboro produced in Canada and was able to compare them to the real USA produced brands, they are not the same at all.

I've also tried a few cigs given to me by travelling students from China and Russia, both were dark air tobaccos not unlike Gauloises but considerably more harsh.

 

[ladaok]

Re: classic french ***

hey thank you chaps, am I right in thinking that these fags have mini explosions, or were those ones I smoked had old WWII ordnance in them and not salt petre lol

now I will have to find some seed to have a go @ those varieties ... can anyone help ?