Kasturi

[Tutu]

My experience with Kasturi is along the same line as your description. When I first came to Indonesia six years ago I was still smoking cigarettes, and hopped on to the kretek bandwagon. In kretek cigarettes there's usually quite some Kasturi. About two years ago I got my hands on some Kasturi that was dark air cured by mistake. I used it both in filler, binder and wrapper. I suppose the dark air cured comes closest with the air cured. For me it's not something I would use for a cigar blend. It can be useful in cigarettes to spice them up, both in terms of nicotine and in terms of taste. Too much of it is not good. It's usually very potent. What I do like about it is that it is so distinct. If I walk into any warehouse that is working Kasturi, I will smell it. The Kasturi is also mixed in over here with other sun cured blends to spike up the nicotine. Kasturi itself usually trades for a high price, especially in a year like this were the average grade is quite high and previous years have been bad. Supply is skyrocketing though. Anyway, enjoy blending it yourself, hope you can put it to good use!

 

[Dr.Pierce]

I planted Katsuri as supplied by a helpful and generous member in March. The member stated that it was the seed Tutu had sent him directly from the fields.
Two things: germination was rate was relatively low. I attributed this to the age of the seed. Also, there appears to be some variation in phenotype between plants. Several are modest in hieght with darker leathery leaves. One plant surprised me in that it bright green and it virtually shot up -faster than anything else I am growing and is already in flower. I bagged the flowerhead.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

That's not my seed, is it?

 

[deluxestogie]

If I'm not mistaken, tobacco seed in Indonesia is frequently open-pollinated.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

That would explain randomness. If it means anything, the leaf shapes appear to be the same, despite plant height. I received my Kasturi seed from @Tutu and all of my plants were nearly identical.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

A few pics of my Kasturi, the first and third rows.


And a post which shows them at harvest time.

China Voodoo 2018 Air-cured and Rajangan

Ay ayay that is the biggest Rajangan operation i"ve seen outside of Indonesia. Also the only one, but that's exactly why it's impressive. Do you color cure these leafs until they are yellow before you cut it? Or are the lugs yellow when you prime them? Otherwise you can just cut them while green...

fairtradetobacco.com

 

[Dr.Pierce]

Not yours. China. I think Deluxe stogie may be onto something about the open polination thing. BTW, Dont get me wrong- I find it interesting that one of the plant is acting so strangely. That's why I bagged the flower- just in case it's a keeper.

 

[Tobaccomy]

Strelok! Javanese soil is mostly a volcanic clay loam soil. I am far from a soil expert though.

Deluxestogie! I went to some Kasturi fields today to take some measurements.
When topped, these plants are not allowed to grow taller than about 25 cm.
Average leaf size is somewhere between 22 cm and 26 cm.
Though in a field like those in the picture it is easy to find a plant that has a 30 cm leaf.
Width average is about 15 cm to 19 cm. Though a 30 cm long leaf has a width of 20 cm.
I called them elongated because of the leaf shape. The leaves are still very broad at the tip.
The 30 cm leaf I checked was still 10 wide just before it's tip.
In case you need more pictures, I'll bring my camera to the field next time.
Might also be able to snap some photos of sun curing.
Not now though, it's raining pretty harsh.

hi bro... so usually how many leaves to be left on plant before topping ? usually for other varieties, 17-18 leaves then we top.. so how about kasturi ?