Day 1 of being a Homemade Latakia

[SAPiper]

The title of this is more than slightly deceptive.

I actually tinkered with homemade Latakia (we pronounce it la-takia) in those strange days of 2020. Having baked banana bread, watched Tiger King, and doing the raw egg challenge (maybe we just did it in SA) my hands were itching for something to do.

So with tobacco sales being banned and everyone being locked inside their homes, I thought I should try my hand at making some Latakia. Full disclosure, I've got two left hands and two right feet, but I have never had that stop me from trying stuff. The theory started simple, I need to produce smoke and use that smoke to flavour the tobacco. Simple enough I hear you say. Problem is, explaining to your wife that you want to use the oven to smoke tobacco can be a hard sell.

So I disappeared into the back garden and pulled out the Weber. I would make a "cool" fire on the side of the Weber, and then drop wood chips of some sort onto the charcoal and use that smoke to flavour the tobacco. Problem - no oak chips. But I did have a small oak spice rack given to us a present a few years ago that would sacrifice itself for the greater good. So I chopped it into tiny pieces. The Tobacco was laid into an AL -U -MIN -I- UM tray, the fire was started up, and I started dropping small chips onto the charcoal. All went well, and somewhere during the process I figured that the bacon drippings from the mornings breakfast would be a splendid addition. So I scraped it out, and smeared it over the next load of wood chips. (Alcohol was involved in the decision making process)

The results were terrific -in theory at least. The Virginia had a slight soot layer on it, and had a somewhat meaty smell. The closest match I can think of is Samuel Gawith's XX Rope. Though not as potent. Smoking it was vomit inducing, as it was bitter as ......... Luckily I used a clay pipe, because I was sure it would ghost a briar pipe with smokey hog/barn/leftover spices smell.

However one day when I'm all grown up, I will experiment with it again.

 

[deluxestogie]

You might enjoy reading through the threads in the Latakia section of our Index of Key Forum Threads.

Oak smoke is commonly used in fire-curing, but misses the Incense-like character of Latakia. The challenge is assembling the appropriate firing woods, which tend to be abundant pruning scraps in the immediate Mediterranean basin, but difficult to obtain elsewhere. Substituting handfuls of "Tears of Chios", which is the solidified sap (mastic) of Pistachia lentiscus (Pistachio tree) works wonders, but is quite expensive. (I spent several years incinerating scores of available, non-toxic materials, just to sniff the resulting smoke for its usefulness in firing home-made Latakia.)

I have found that attempting to duplicate a specific, traditional product is more difficult—and less fun—than inventing a new one.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I've used white cedar and pine for curing--not just smoking like meat. It's uniquely mine and I prefer it. It's not Latakia but it's also not bbq sauce.

 

[GIL]

works wonders, but is quite expensive.

It doesn't work miracles!

 

[Tuco The Ugly]

Tough to keep a little webber cool enough for the process and still get clean smoke I reckon. Even my big off set smoker is tough to keep cool enough to smoke jerky on. Maybe take a page from the Dark Fire makers book and utilize saw dust in some way.

 

[ProZachJ]

I wonder if this would be a good setup to use less non-ideal woods for the heat source and reduce the "smelling like a smoker for two months" aspect.

https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/dyna-glo-36-vertical-propane-smoker