Yayladağ

Yayladağ, alongside Tabac Turc's Türk Pipo Tütünü, is one of the domestic blends that for a long time formed the backbone of pipe smoking in Turkey. It was once considered special due to periods of scarcity. Its content includes Yayladağı, Bitlis, and İzmir leaf; latakia appears on the label, but at around 0.10 percent, so no smoky taste is discernible. It is packed as broken flake, quite moist; it needs a long airing period before smoking, otherwise it is hard to light.

The smoke itself isn't difficult, but it wants to go slowly; the taste is medium-light and can occasionally turn flat. It generally leaves a sweet trace, though different from the sweetness found in Virginia blends; at times a soapy note reminiscent of Lakeland-style blends appears. It burns clean, giving fine white ash. It is a classic Oriental-character blend suited to daily smoking, aimed at those who want to know the taste of domestic Oriental tobacco in its plain form.