Latakia

Latakia tobacco is a sun-dried and smoke-cured tobacco product. It originated in Syria and is named after its major port city of Latakia, though large production has permanently moved to Cyprus due to varying and compounding sociopolitical issues within Syrian borders. Latakia was potentially discovered by accident when a bumper crop resulted in surplus tobacco; the farmers stored the excess tobacco in the rafters of their home, which at the time was an effective way of preservation as the smoke from the open wood fires used for heat and light would slowly dry and cure food over time. This process of moderate temperature smoke curing is one of the defining factors of its complex aroma. When Latakia is burned, it has a characteristic wood smoke aroma accompanied by floral sweet undertones. Latakia is traditionally found within pipe tobacco blends, although some avant-garde cigar and cigarette producers use it as well. The majority of pipe blends use Latakia as a condiment, a tobacco that does not represent the majority of the blend but is instead used to add complexity and to control its burn rate. Overview of Oriental tobacco Tobacco grown within the arid desert climate of the Middle East and Mediterranean is known in the tobacco industry as Oriental tobacco. Compared to the tobacco plant most commonly grown in the Western world (Nicotiana tabacum) which is on average and has up to 24 forearm-sized leaves, Oriental tobacco plants consists of Nicotiana rustica which are roughly to in height with up to 100 palm-sized to hand-sized leaves, as well as Nicotiana tabacum; though the climate tends to produce smaller sized plants of approximately to in height. Historically, both Syrian and Cyprian Latakia use varieties of N. tabacum and N. rustica, though many modern commercial producers use Nicotiana tabacum.