Good luck with that!!!!... I've been trying to get down to about 4-5 varieties every year now for about the past 5 years. This year I grew 17 varieties ( last year it was 16) but next year I'll finally have down selected to about 6 or 7....
"Turkish" Tobacco Variety Map
- Thread starter deluxestogie
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Good luck with that!!!!... I've been trying to get down to about 4-5 varieties every year now for about the past 5 years. This year I grew 17 varieties ( last year it was 16) but next year I'll finally have down selected to about 6 or 7....
SmokeStack
Well-Known Member
Good luck with that!!!!... I've been trying to get down to about 4-5 varieties every year now for about the past 5 years. This year I grew 17 varieties ( last year it was 16) but next year I'll finally have down selected to about 6 or 7....
"Last year you grew 16 varieties." Could you please post what you grew and how they tasted? That would be great!
thanks,
Smoke
BarG
Founding Member
The phone man come by to fix my line and got curios about whole leaf. I opened up a bag of Dons dark fired and he said it smelled good enough to eat. I told him to come back in a couple months I would fix him up with some good smoke.
Tom_in_TN
Well-Known Member
Yeah, you're in my prayers, Bob. Remember, good things do happen to good people.
BarG
Founding Member
Bob, If you saw his crop you would see he was hit by the baccy bug big time.
Edit: Leverheads patch
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BarG
Founding Member
Good luck with that!!!!... I've been trying to get down to about 4-5 varieties every year now for about the past 5 years. This year I grew 17 varieties ( last year it was 16) but next year I'll finally have down selected to about 6 or 7....
Only 6 or 7? Once you got your moves down you have to take advantage of them
.
leverhead
Well-Known Member
I got bit bad and it's getting worse! I think this Gulf coast weather is going to kill me. After last year I planed ahead to handle drought, it did/would've worked. 12" of rain in 4 days though might have finished me off, 2-3 inches in 1 event got handled just fine. I could have used a ditch at the "top" this week, to divert the area run off. This really belongs on the "T patch" thread, I'll do that tomorrow night when I know better what's permanent.
well thanks jitterbug,
here, i was thinking that i'd have 4 varities down very quick,,but you may be right,
i got seeds i didnt even grow this year, and im curious of what they may be like,
so next year i ,,like you will still have a massive variety,,,and then 4 years later, i may be getting closer to finding the perfect 4 to grow,
but this year i can name 4 ,,,that wont ever be grown by me again,
here, i was thinking that i'd have 4 varities down very quick,,but you may be right,
i got seeds i didnt even grow this year, and im curious of what they may be like,
so next year i ,,like you will still have a massive variety,,,and then 4 years later, i may be getting closer to finding the perfect 4 to grow,
but this year i can name 4 ,,,that wont ever be grown by me again,
dark viginia> way too suckerry,, not a big leaf,,,ver low ammount produced
ergo> same,but not so suckerry,
.>VAVILOV> low production, small leaf
>silk leaf> not a big leaf, and low production
....now when i sample these, i may change my mind, but i want a good size plant, with a good sized leaf,,
what im pleased with
bursa,ottoman,14l8 burley, white stock burley,y,t,b,
.. lizard tail, silver river,tn90,,,
and that may change after a good sampling,
we will do our leaf swap, and perhaps, soon we can help each other narrow our list,,, to make the perfect grow for our likings,
Back to "Turkish" Varieties
from http://www.pantobacco.com/urunler_eng.asp
I stumbled into a website that may or may not be dead. All the pages are functional, except the home page. It was (?is) a Turkish company exporting a number of Turkish varietals. If you go to the link above, each image can be clicked to navigate to a specific page for that variety, giving some brief descriptive data, including leaf characteristics, and ranges for nicotine and reducing substances (sugars).
If you just want the data: A pdf table of the data, [28k].
Bob
from http://www.pantobacco.com/urunler_eng.asp
I stumbled into a website that may or may not be dead. All the pages are functional, except the home page. It was (?is) a Turkish company exporting a number of Turkish varietals. If you go to the link above, each image can be clicked to navigate to a specific page for that variety, giving some brief descriptive data, including leaf characteristics, and ranges for nicotine and reducing substances (sugars).
If you just want the data: A pdf table of the data, [28k].
Bob
SmokeStack
Well-Known Member
This provides us with more information on the elusive Oriental varieties. Information on Orientals are hard to come by, and I'm not sure why that is. Maybe because Orientals are not as popular as Burleys or Virginias? Or maybe because they are mostly grown outside the U.S? As a pipe smoker, I find Orientals to be my favorite class of tobaccos - their aromas are very unique and can vary markedly from variety to variety. I have had the pleasure to sample only a few varieties and I was amazed on how they differed.
Thanks Bob for the post.
Thanks Bob for the post.
leverhead
Well-Known Member
Thank you Bob! I think I've been bitten by the Turkish bug! Could you suggest a beginners reading list on the subject of their curing methods? If there is any such information.
The apparently valid information that I've found on sun-curing is pretty vague, based on hearsay, and often not directly observed by the authors. It seems to require a fairly humid environment (Black Sea coast, Aegean coast, Mediterranean coast, Ecuadorian cloud forest, etc.), or special efforts on the part of the grower to keep it close to moist earth.
Traditionally the primed leaf is strung on a length of cotton string (they can't afford wire), and "wilted" in an open, shaded area for "a few days." This is the least clear part of the process. How long, exactly? Must it begin to yellow or fully yellow? (Since much of the exported Turkish tobacco contains some faded green, I assume that it is not allowed to fully yellow.)
Then the strings of leaf are hung on scaffolds in full sunlight, and likely covered only on the threat of rain (though this is not clear). Some authors suggest that the sun exposure is gradually lengthened each day, but this seems unlikely for the 10 to 40 foot strings that I've seen in photos. Sun curing is continued until the leaf is color-cured, or as cured as it will get. This phase lasts days to weeks.
The persistence of light color and green areas in 3 year old Turkish sun-cured leaf suggests that the prolonged exposure to direct sunlight probably (at least partially) denatures the oxidase enzymes, leaving only the snail-paced peroxidase.
Some home growers (excluding me) have succeeded in fully sun curing leaf. The greatest hazards are drying with too much green, and exposure to rain. Turkish leaf is not immune to sun scald or flash curing.
Bob
Traditionally the primed leaf is strung on a length of cotton string (they can't afford wire), and "wilted" in an open, shaded area for "a few days." This is the least clear part of the process. How long, exactly? Must it begin to yellow or fully yellow? (Since much of the exported Turkish tobacco contains some faded green, I assume that it is not allowed to fully yellow.)
Then the strings of leaf are hung on scaffolds in full sunlight, and likely covered only on the threat of rain (though this is not clear). Some authors suggest that the sun exposure is gradually lengthened each day, but this seems unlikely for the 10 to 40 foot strings that I've seen in photos. Sun curing is continued until the leaf is color-cured, or as cured as it will get. This phase lasts days to weeks.
The persistence of light color and green areas in 3 year old Turkish sun-cured leaf suggests that the prolonged exposure to direct sunlight probably (at least partially) denatures the oxidase enzymes, leaving only the snail-paced peroxidase.
Some home growers (excluding me) have succeeded in fully sun curing leaf. The greatest hazards are drying with too much green, and exposure to rain. Turkish leaf is not immune to sun scald or flash curing.
Bob
wazzappenning
Well-Known Member
i was going to ask about that sun curing. im not sure how to reproduce what i had happen with that hail damage leaving a leaf hanging but mostly detached from the midrib (goldseal burley). when it turned golden i pulled it and tried a bit mixed in with my smokes. it was actually pretty good , and id like for it all to taste like that.
Tom_in_TN
Well-Known Member
For what it is worth, I needed to clip some leaves off the Xanthi and Izmir seedlings. So, as they were clipped I just kept them in a pile on a card table, plastic Naugahyde cover. The temps were a bit hot for early June if you remember, in the 90's. Those leaves were left to sit on the table in the shade about 2 weeks but otherwise exposed to the air. I was too busy with other stuff and just forgot to do anything with them. After 2 weeks, maybe longer, I looked at the pile and was amazed at their 'good' condition. They were in pretty decent condition. All had turned a beautiful yellow (maybe a bit of brown on the edges of some leaves exposed to the air). This reminds me of rustycase's method of Pile Curing leaves to get leaves yellowed-up prior to stringing them.
leverhead
Well-Known Member
Thank you Bob for the description of sun curing, it sounds like I guessed my way through pretty well. I've been using string to hang them on, a polyester masons line. I don't like the string because of the polyester, but I like the system. It's real easy to gather up and move when the weather changes. I had some leaf that dried green before I put them in the sun for about three weeks. A few days ago, I flattened and piled them to age. I noticed that the curled up edges were still green but the parts that were exposed to the sun were brown and some were getting bleached. The daytime highs in the mid 90's, RH about mid 40's %, nighttime lows about 80, RH 100% for a few hours around sunup.
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