Turkish grown TN 90

[istanbulin]

As you know, this year I growed only three TN 90 plants. I have color cured leaves and also green leaves on the plants (they went flower last week). Color cured leaf size varies from 35 cm to 25 cm in lenght (app. 14 - 10 ") smaller than usual, as I know it should be at least about 40 cm (16").
Today I shredded an only color cured leaf of TN 90 and smoked it stand alone. It has a clear (but not heavy) mild black peppery aroma. I'm very familiar to this aroma from some Turkish tobaccos. Also when I was younger we used to add a very little amount of grinded black pepper into tobacco while rolling cigarettes.
Ok, my TN 90 s have more nicotine. Altough I'm a fan of mild tobaccos it's not too strong for me (a little throat kick). Taste was very clear, no bitterness, tongue bite or harshness.
I growed these Burleys like an oriental tobacco, without fertilizer and extra water. If I wasn't sure that seeds are pure, I'll think they are not Burley.
I have not smoked a Burley stand alone before. Before smoking them, I was expecting a very strong and tasteless tobacco. Mines are not, how about yours ?

 

[SmokesAhoy]

Burley is like espresso to me, very strong and bold. I tried very old burley and the bite was gone but it was still very robust

 

[istanbulin]

So, for making them milder (if you want) it's a good idea to treat them like an oriental. Densely planted (app. 2' for all directions), non fertilized and non extra watered Burleys soften.

 

[BigBonner]

The way I understand it ,Burley is the only tobacco that will take up flavors .

Burley does have to ferment or age . It is use at 30% in cigs . The lower leaves are not as strong as the upper leaves .

 

[istanbulin]

The way I understand it ,Burley is the only tobacco that will take up flavors .

Burley does have to ferment or age . It is use at 30% in cigs . The lower leaves are not as strong as the upper leaves .

Yes, Burley is a good absorbent due to it's wide intracellular gaps. I agree, with fermentation or ageing taste will be smoother.
I picked most of the leaves on the plant. Before flowering, leaves started to ripe.
But the issue I want to emphasize is, growing a milder Burley is feasible (?) by this technique (treating them like an oriental).

Anyone tried smoking Burley alone, how was its taste ? I want to make sure about its usual taste.

 

[BigBonner]

Commercial Burley is not allowed to go to seed . It is topped before the flower head starts showing Blooms .Then aloowed to ripen for 3 plus weeks beforee harvesting .
There are other burleys out there that are smoother . Green brior , kelley , ytb .

Smoking a pure Burley is harsh , too harsh to smoke without toasting the life out of it or aging for several year .

But each persons likes or dislikes is not the same as the next person .

 

[istanbulin]

Smoking a pure Burley is harsh , too harsh to smoke without toasting the life out of it or aging for several year .

But each persons likes or dislikes is not the same as the next person .

I'm very sensitive to harshness but my stuff is not very harsh to smoke.

Except strongness, what is the expectation about its taste ?

 

[johnlee1933]

Commercial Burley is not allowed to go to seed . It is topped before the flower head starts showing Blooms .Then aloowed to ripen for 3 plus weeks beforee harvesting .
There are other burleys out there that are smoother . Green brior , kelley , ytb .

Smoking a pure Burley is harsh , too harsh to smoke without toasting the life out of it or aging for several year .

But each persons likes or dislikes is not the same as the next person .

I can back up the YTB comment. The leaf I grew and kilned this year is about the mildest thing I ever smoked. I considering what stronger tobacco to mix with it to give a cigar some character.

John

 

[skychaser]

I'm very sensitive to harshness but my stuff is not very harsh to smoke.

Except strongness, what is the expectation about its taste ?

I am surprised you find unaged TN 90 to be mild at all. That is quite different from my experience. To me, it is totally unsmokable until it has aged for a few months. At 3-4 months I find it still to be very strong in flavor and aroma. It has strong throat hit and leaves a bite on your lips and tongue. At that stage, to me it smells and tastes just like the Swisher Sweet cigars my Dad smoked.

After 6 months of aging the bite is gone and it has lost the taste and smell of a cheap cigar, but still has a pretty good hit to it and is fairly strong. I can use it in my cigarette blends at this stage if I blend it at about 25% with bright leafs.

At one year it becomes much milder to smoke. I can almost smoke it straight but it still has a bit to much throat hit for me. Blended at about 50% with some VG or other bright leaf, and maybe 10-20% Izmir, makes the perfect smoke for me. I am the worst person in the world when it comes to describing a flavor, but to me its comparable to Harrow Velvet or Golden Burley. Both of which are mild flavored, age much faster and are smokable in 3 months. But TN 90 has a little something to it's flavor that they don't have. What ever it is, I love TN 90 when it has aged properly. I doubled up what I usually grow this past season just to be sure I never run out again.

Sky

 

[deluxestogie]

I've been using my kilned Harrow Velvet leaf for mild, toasty flavored, golden brown cigar wrapper. It seems milder than Kelly burley, and seemed to mellow more rapidly, prior to kilning. The Harrow Velvet ripens so well in the field, and color cures so consistently, I'll be replanting a larger quantity next season. My Golden Burley did not grow particularly well.

I'm quite fond of BB's red burley for filler and wrapper, though I'm not sure of the variety (TN90 or TN86?). With a year of age on it, it makes a wonderful puro. I find it considerably richer and more intense than Kelly and Harrow Velvet.

Bob

 

[istanbulin]

I am surprised you find unaged TN 90 to be mild at all. That is quite different from my experience. To me, it is totally unsmokable until it has aged for a few months. At 3-4 months I find it still to be very strong in flavor and aroma. It has strong throat hit and leaves a bite on your lips and tongue. At that stage, to me it smells and tastes just like the Swisher Sweet cigars my Dad smoked.

After 6 months of aging the bite is gone and it has lost the taste and smell of a cheap cigar, but still has a pretty good hit to it and is fairly strong. I can use it in my cigarette blends at this stage if I blend it at about 25% with bright leafs.

At one year it becomes much milder to smoke. I can almost smoke it straight but it still has a bit to much throat hit for me. Blended at about 50% with some VG or other bright leaf, and maybe 10-20% Izmir, makes the perfect smoke for me. I am the worst person in the world when it comes to describing a flavor, but to me its comparable to Harrow Velvet or Golden Burley. Both of which are mild flavored, age much faster and are smokable in 3 months. But TN 90 has a little something to it's flavor that they don't have. What ever it is, I love TN 90 when it has aged properly. I doubled up what I usually grow this past season just to be sure I never run out again.

Sky

Thanks Sky, I was waiting for this reply.

Accordingly, I growed a milder and smokable unaged TN 90 with a flavor. I can figure out how it became milder. But how it got a distinct flavor ?

 

[istanbulin]

I had a very interesting experience today. I wrote earlier, my TN90s are milder than usual. I tried their upper leaves today which are air cured and dried. I was schocked about their taste. Again I wrote earlier my TN90s have an interesting mild flavor. But these upper leaves really were very very bland, flavorless and almost no nicotine in it. Lower leaves were stronger than the uppers, isn't it interesting ?

 

[Jitterbugdude]

In my experience Burley's become very mild with age. I smoke a lot of different Burley's in my pipe. I kiln mine for 4 weeks and they smoke nice but they smoke even better after they have aged 1 year.