Hello everyone. I see a lot of recipes with "dark-air cured tobacco" but I don't know what this tobacco is. Can anyone tell me more about it (variety of tobacco, difference with "air cured")? Thank you very much. I apologize for my ignorance. I have searched a bit on this forum but I did not find anything.
Dark air cured
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Tobaccofieldsforever
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Air cured is the curing process, dark is the variety. Dark tobaccos are kind of like burley in a way. They are alkaline in nature. Here is a link to what WLT carries (if you are unfamiliar with them I HIGHLY recommend purchasing from them for any tobacco needs) https://wholeleaftobacco.com/product/dark-air-cured/
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
Also, here is a link to tobacco seeds if you are planning on growing at any point. North wood has some dark and dark Virginian varieties for sale. http://northwoodseeds.com/Seed List2.htm
Dark air-cured is a market class of tobacco consisting of a number of different varieties. The leaves tend to be large, thick, and quite sticky while growing. Once air-cured, their color is a very dark brown, and the leaf exhibits a robust nicotine concentration. These are grown commercially in western Kentucky and western Tennessee. Other dark air-cured varieties are a specialty tobacco grown in India.
Bob
Bob
The USDA divided tobacco varieties into market class:
Flue cured
Burley
Dark Air
cigar filler
cigar binder
cigar wrapper
maryland
oriental
rustica
primitive
Perhaps others that I am forgetting.
Each class is divided into specific varieties, for example, the flue cured class contains varieties that include Costello, Gold Leaf 939, Virginia Gold, etc. The Burley class contains varieties that include TN90, Harrow Velvet, Yellow Twist Bud, etc. Dark Air is in its own class that contains varieties that include Small Stalk Black Mammoth, Madole, Greenwood, etc. It is strong like Burley, but to me, has its own distinct flavor that is as different as burley is to flue cured. I like it at 5-10% in a cigarette to influence the nicotine, strength, and flavor of the blend but would find it a little overpowering at higher percentages, but that’s just me personally and everyone has their own preferences.
edit: dark air cured is traditionally air cured, but I have seen some specific varieties referred to as dark/fire cured and others referred to as dark sun, although those weren‘t specific USDA “classes”.
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Thank you all for the answers. I have grown a variety of Burley tobacco (seeds bought on ebay in Germany) without any further details. So I don't know exactly which variety it is. The leaves are big, thick and sticky. I air-cured them. The result is quite dark. I will try to put a picture tomorrow. I may have some "Dark air cured" without knowing it.
@Tobaccofieldsforever: I did see the wholeleaftobacco website. Very interesting. I would love to buy because of the selection, quality and prices. But I live in France and it's complicated with the customs.
@Tobaccofieldsforever: I did see the wholeleaftobacco website. Very interesting. I would love to buy because of the selection, quality and prices. But I live in France and it's complicated with the customs.
You may have the "Jupiter" burley, I grew it last year, it produces large, dark leaves, good taste, but little nicotine (so it was mine). You can easily buy seeds from the US, they always have arrived at the destination. Last year I bought seeds from "NWT" and "TOBACCO TEACHER", and I received them without any problems.
Alpine
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Dark air cured tobaccos are similar to the “tabac brun” used in old French cigarettes like gauloises caporal and gitanes. The last time I smoked a cig with similar baccy was in Spain, Ducados brand is still made with dark air (they call it “tabaco negro”)
pier
pier
Hello to all. Thanks for your answers. @ Alpine: I have known well gauloises, caporal, ducados and gitanes that I have smoked. I am familiar with the scaferlati caporal that I smoke in my pipe, and for me these are brown tobaccos. I think the burley I grow today and air dry is simply called burley air cured and is similar to the tobaccos called brown in France. I am also familiar with Kentucky "dark fire cured" tobaccos which are black. I have trouble understanding the difference between a burley air cured tobacco and a dark air cured tobacco. Would the dark air come from a variety that becomes darker than the burley when air cured? Here is a picture of my tobacco that I think is a burley air cured. Sorry for these questions coming from my ignorance, but I like to advance my knowledge on this beautiful plant that is tobacco.
There are unique chemical characteristics of burley, that can be identified by laboratory analysis. These differ from the dark air-cured varieties. Since you don't have your own laboratory, you will have to trust that burley is different (different color, different aroma, different smoke pH) from the dark air-cured varieties.
Bob
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
Right, I apologize for any confusion with my comparison. Dark and burley are two different varieties but I chose something I thought people would be familiar with.
Shoot, I knew what you meant. I can’t describe flavors. Describing flavors is like describing colors over the telephone.
That is why food allusions are so common in describing the taste or aroma of tobacco that smells and tastes nothing like food (unless food flavorings have been intentionally added). They reflect the speaker's or the writer's emotive parallels experienced when evaluating the tobacco.
Bob
Yes. Having grown up on a cattle farm I’m always surprised at the allusion to a nice “barnyard aroma” as though it were a good thing.
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