Oriental/Turkish Tid-Bits, reading material

[leverhead]

For about the last year I've been collecting information about Tobacco. I have no reason to keep it to myself, so as I sort it all out I'll post links here and in appropriate sections. If you find something to share, have at it.

TURKISH TOBACCO CULTURE, CURING, AND MARKETING

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS
COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA

By WARREN T. CLARKE - BULLETIN No. 366 - June, 1923

http://archive.org/details/turkishtobaccocu366clar

Good food for thought.

 

[deluxestogie]

That was an interesting read. (It's only 40 pages.) Thanks for posting it. There are always pearls in these old books.

The discussion of sun-curing may be useful to some members, since there were questions about that. The method discussed is as reasonable as any.

I do disagree with quite a few assertions in the text, but many can be forgiven as symptoms of its 90 years of age. A lot of propagated myths, a lot of poisons. The description of hornworm egg "clusters" is nonsense. The final appendix, however (from a Master's Thesis by a Russian scientist), is pure horse puckie.

Although, given a choice, I usually download the .pdf version of an old book (to avoid the horrid gibberish that often appears in the "text-only" versions), I did examine the Kindle version. It's clean, and with all the photos well reproduced.

[NOTE TO PC OWNERS: If you don't have a Kindle Reader on your computer, you can download Kindle for PC from Amazon--FOR FREE. Then you have the option of downloading old books in "Kindle" or "mobi" format, which is usually a tiny fraction of the file size for pdf versions. For a true representation of the original and its graphics, the pdf version is often the best bet.]

Bob

EDIT: The cover photo of sun-curing California Turkish leaf is nice.

 

[Tom_in_TN]

Interesting to note the tiny tip leaves of Turkish tobacco, "ootz" leaves are named "ooch-alte" or simply "ooch" in this pamphlet. Anyway a Google search for any of those words has not added anything new.

Also, it is also interesting that it is claimed that Turkish tobacco plants adapt to the local climate and "assume other characters than those of the district where it was originally grown. This sensitiveness of the Turkish tobacco plant to its environment and to the care it receives is very marked and together with cross-pollination has resulted in the jumble of types grown in California. Indeed there is not now to be found here any considerable quantity of any of the so-called varieties noted above, but each district in the state where Turkish tobacco has been grown has developed a type of its own differing materially from the original. In some cases this variation has resulted in improvement, in others in deterioration."

 

[SmokeStack]

Thanks, Leverhead for the post

 

[leverhead]

deluxestogie, The part I had been re-reading was about the pile fermenting. Do you think a much smaller pile, say a couple of pounds or less, held at an elevated temperature (kiln) would give similar results? The low moisture content seems a bit odd, 3-4%. It might have something to do with the size of the pile, the temperature could get away from you pretty quickly. The hard sell for the co-op idea I found pretty funny.

 

[deluxestogie]

CALIFORNIA. Pile-fermentation techniques are largely determined by ambient conditions. The purpose of the pile is insulation, not pressure. If you can provide excellent insulation, then a single hand of leaf should "ferment." You should note that this actually is not fermentation, which is a microbial process, as in pickles and wine, but is instead an enzymatic process internal to the leaf. What is happening is an acceleration of the temperature/humidity dependent process of aging.

The discussion of local "adaptation" to soil and climate is a holdover from the writer's education, which was undertaken before the genetic experiments of Gregor Mendel had be "re-discovered." Yes, soil conditions affect the product, but have only minimal and subtle effects on the genetics of the seed. This is an aspect of the book that I would disregard as outdated information--along with the recommendations for using mercury, arsenic, strychnine, etc.

Turkish tobacco growers and handlers contrived a well-established fantasy that the leaves of the plant grow in "rosettes" of 3 leaves at each stalk position. This is, of course, not correct. All the leaves are similarly spaced as we go up the stalk. The words, "ootch," "utz," "oots" and similar transliterations of the Turkish word were in common use in English essays about Turkish tobacco a hundred years ago. They refer to the top few (tiny) leaves of the plant, rather than a specific "rosette" of leaves. All varieties of tobacco have small leaves at the top of the plant, and can be regarded as analogous to utz leaf in their character.

One of the best discussions of Turkish tobacco in general (along with a detailed travel log through some of the regions in Macedonian Greece, and a number of excellent illustrations) is Constantinides' book (1912). The pdf version (laboriously compiled into this version by leverhead, back in June 2012) is about 7.5 MB. Hesitantly (because of its size), I've gone ahead and hosted it, so you can download it:

Constantinides CL. Turkish Tobacco: a manual for planters, dealers and manufacturers. 1912. [7.5 MB]

Bob

 

[leverhead]

Thank you!

 

[BarG]

I got the leverhead and the BetterCodger version now , Thanks guys.

The sun cure reading should be interesting.

 

[Steve2md]

Kinda like a slow controlled "compost pile" for smoking

 

[deluxestogie]

Kinda like a slow controlled "compost pile" for smoking

Composting is a process of decay. That is not what "pile fermenting" is about.

Bob

 

[Steve2md]

Got it Bob, thanks for clarification