Oriental Tobacco

Oriental tobacco is the shared name for small-leaved, sun-cured tobacco varieties; it is also known as "Turkish tobacco." This name comes from the fact that the traditional production basin remained under Ottoman rule until the end of the 19th century. Rich in aromatic oils and sugar and low in nicotine, the leaf is considered one of the most important flavoring tobaccos for both the cigarette industry and pipe blending.

Characteristics

The first thing that sets Oriental tobacco apart from American varieties is the plant itself: unlike the broad leaves of Virginia, the Oriental plant produces a far greater number of small leaves, most 4-15 cm long. The harvested leaves are strung on cords and cured outdoors in the sun (sun-cured). Being rich in oil, the small leaf concentrates its aromatic compounds during this process; the result is a spicy, lightly sour-sweet character reminiscent of perfume. The plant is generally grown in unirrigated, arid soil, and it is believed that these "dry farming" conditions also enhance the leaf's aroma and quality.

Varieties

There are more than forty varieties of Oriental tobacco, and each variety traditionally bears the name of the region where it is grown. The best known are as follows:

Variety	Region	Notable trait
İzmir (Smyrna)	Aegean coastal plains	The smallest-leaved and most common variety; high sugar, low nicotine
Samsun, Bafra	Black Sea coast	Richly aromatic; counted among the finest Oriental tobaccos
Basma	The Greece-Macedonia-Bulgaria line	Both the name of a variety and of a processing style; renowned for its fineness
Yenice, Drama, Kavala, İskeçe (Xanthi), Katerini	Thrace and Macedonia	The classic leaves of the historic Rumelian basin

İzmir leaf is considered to make up roughly half of total Oriental tobacco production. The historical production basin of Thrace and Macedonia is today divided among Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, and North Macedonia. For details of Turkey's production regions, see the Turkey's Tobacco Regions entry.

History

Tobacco's arrival on Ottoman soil, the bans under Ahmed I and Murad IV, and the subsequent liberalization are described in the Tobacco's Arrival in the Ottoman Empire entry. After the bans were lifted under Mehmed IV, cultivation spread rapidly; towns of Rumelia such as Yenice and İskeçe, along with Anatolian leaves, quickly gained worldwide fame. In the early 20th century, US brands such as Murad, Fatima, and Helmar advertised themselves on pure Turkish tobacco; then in 1913, Camel launched the "American blend" cigarette by blending Turkish tobacco with Virginia and Burley. Turkish tobacco remains one of the key components of this type of cigarette blend today.

Place in Pipe Blends

In a pipe, Oriental tobacco is generally not smoked on its own; it is added to a Virginia base in proportions roughly ranging from 5-30%, lending the blend flavors reminiscent of bread crust, pastry, and butter alongside spice. Latakia is itself actually obtained by smoking Oriental-type leaf in aromatic wood smoke; in other words, the two core flavoring components of the mixtures known as English blend and Balkan blend are both of Oriental origin. Blends in which Oriental tobacco is prominent are treated in some classifications as a separate family ("Oriental forward"). Today it has become difficult to find single-origin Oriental leaf such as İzmir or Samsun; most blends use mixed "Oriental/Turkish" leaf without specifying origin.