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The only whole leaf tobacco I've dealt with is bright leaf and perique. So when it comes to the various Dark Air Cured, Light Fire Cured, etc. I'm clueless.
My question is if it's stated to be DAC virginia, is it actually the same as bright leaf but air cured? Or is it the same thing as dark burley?
Or how about light fire cured VA. It's it actually virginia that has be fire cured instead of flue cured? Or is it just dark fired burley grown in virginia?
Companies give descriptions but never really explain the difference.
I might be able to shed a little light. DAC (Dark Air Cured), one I’ve been enjoying using quite a bit, to my understanding is that it is its own variety of plant, not a Virginia or Burley cured differently.
When it comes to Fire Cured, dark or light, then Kentucky fire cured, it can get a little complicated. I believe in each case specific strains are used for these, again not just a Virginia or Burley cured differently. Where it gets more complicated, is that I have noticed there are multiple different strains used, but they are called the same thing when finished and that info is not always included with the descriptions.
I’d love it if someone who knows more than I do about this chimed in with more info as well. I only have a cursory knowledge on these things.
Thanks Ted. With the cost of tinned and bulk tobacco going up, I'm becoming more set on working doing own with whole leaf. Virginia's I'm familiar with but all the DAC stuff is just confusing.
I’m really enjoying blending leaf. Mostly because there is some great leaf available, often nicer than what ends up in commercial blends, but more importantly I get to control exactly what is in it. Much of what I’m blending is straight tobacco, no casings or toppings and I’m enjoying the pure tobacco flavors. When it comes to the fired and DAC, I was given the advice that when I find one I like, stock up, because it may not be exactly the same when a new batch becomes available. So that’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve also been having some great success with modifying commercial blends with leaf as well.
That sounds right according to this, Ted.
They're specific varieties.
I didn't know. I sort of assumed it meant dark burley.
Related: Do they ever flue cure Burley?
https://australianconstructionawards.com/dark-air-cured-tobacco.cfm
I don’t know if burley is ever flue cured, I’m really not familiar with burley drying/processing. There is so much that isn’t really explained accurately about tobaccos. For example, there are blends that say they contain “cigar leaf”. There actually isn’t any tobacco that is “cigar leaf”. Cigars are made out of a wide variety of different strains of the tobacco plant. Plus the flavor of cigars has a lot to do with how the leaf is dried and processed.
I wasn’t really sure what Fire Cured Kentucky was for the longest time. I used to think it was a process, rather than a tobacco type. I now know that it is generally a plant resulting from a cross of a particular strain of Virginia with Orinoco.
I suppose it doesn’t benefit the average consumer of tobacco to know these things. Heck, I just buy the different types and smoke them straight to get an idea of how I want to use them, if at all. So I’m not sure it benefits me either. Would be important if one wanted to take on the hobby of growing the plants though, which people do.
Are we confused yet? 😂
Same, Ted. I always thought fire cured Kentucky was fire cured burley.
They do fire cure VA too don't they? Isn't that what zware rolling tobacco is?
Anyway, I've read reams and watched videos on this stuff for hours and just when I think I get it, I learn something new and realize I don't know @&$#😂
I used to enjoy the halfzware pouch when rolling my cigs. The smoked flavor there is better than the Drum (which i like too)
I would add though that knowing the different strains of orientals is beneficial as while they have a basic profile, there can be some wide variations among them.
Orientals are definitely ones I want to play with also. I like smoking Izmir straight. I've seen where the same strain of Oriental can be grown in a different region and it will yield different results. I have an order of whole leaf getting dropped off tomorrow of Virginia. Next order I'm considering getting samples of all the available Oriental strains. I also have some ideas of making Oriental cavendish with a small sample just to see what will happen.
Izmir has the body for a good straight smoke for sure. I really like Prilep for blending with Virginias and I’ve been smoking quite a bit of Krumovgrad lately. It does really nice with stronger blends.
I find this highly interesting!
Why is it Not possible to keep this subject easy?
I do have the same problem!
So as far as I understood you do have Virginia leaf and Burley leaf. Thats it.
even Oriental leaf is basically a Burley strain.
the rest is simply how you grow, harvest and process the leaf.
Here in Germany for example there is a strain called „Geudertheimer“.
Friars grew/developed it Like 100 yrs ago to optimize the plant to the cold weather up here.
Trying to grow some for the 1st time now… we will see how that turns out 😜🌱.
I would post a pic of my plants if I knew how 😂
There is a minimum of time/interaction to be allowed to post pictures, soon it gonna appear for you in the answer box =]
😅 that explains. It made me dort of nervous to fail „finding“ it.
So lets try and shed some light on this:
Our beloved leafs stem from:
- family: Solanaceae
- genus: Nicotiana
- Species: - Nicotiana tabacum
- Nicotiana rustica
inside the Species Nicotiana tabacum there Are 3 important strains:
- Virginia
- Burley
- Oriental
within the strains there are many different varieties.
Whilest Burley might most often be air cured, Virginia mostly gets flue cured. Orientals are partly sun cured I believe.
Talking Burley/Kentucky:
Are most/all Burley varieties for example suitable for fire curing them to produce KY leaf?
I guess not.
Does anyone have any information on common varieties?
In comparison
Will start with about 4-5 plants. Not much space on our balcony 😅
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