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The Near East – Macedonia and Thrace, Asia Minor and the Caucasus – is where tobacco cultivation has reached a particular level of art. There, in the shallow crust of sandy, chalky loam, full of rocks, low in minerals, the “Oriental” tobacco plants are dwarfed compared to our Virginias and Burleys. The leaves are very small and delicate with unsurpassed aroma. Imagine the most renowned, complex wines with the most arresting bouquets. They are made from grapes grown on stony soil. In both grapes and tobaccos, the rocks absorb the heat of the sun by day and radiate it back onto the plants by night, creating magic.
Traditionally, there were essentially two leaf types distinguished by method of handling:
BASMA – Small, sessile, very rounded, slightly pointed, mild and sweet, oily, very thin, delicate (including Xanthi, the “Queen of Tobaccos,” and Drama). These are the leaves of legend, to which belong the famed Yenidje and Mahalla. The term Basma comes from a Turkish word, “basmak”, meaning “to compress”. These leaves are by tradition packed by making overlapping layers of bundles of 10 or 20 leaves called “pastals” (Greece) or “demets” (Turkey) and then pressing tightly into a bale.
BACHI-BAGLI tobaccos are heart-shaped with developed stems (Samsun, Katerini). A famed sub-group of this leaf is the Kabakulak (“thick ear”) Classic of the Drama District. Izmir tobaccos (the Smyrna of legend) generally are between Kabakulak shape and Basma with very small leaves, heavy body and strong aroma. In Turkish, Bachi-Bagli means “tied at the head”. In this method of handling, the bundles of 15 to 40 leaves were tied together into hands (pastals), either at the butt or at the widest point, before pressing into bales.
These old labor intensive practices have been disappearing since the 1940s and have now mostly been replaced by tonga manipulation in which the leaves are baled without first being separated into bunches. In order to understand the tremendous labor involved in some of these old production methods, it helps to realize that an acre of Oriental tobacco may produce 2 million leaves as opposed to maybe 100,000 flue-cured Virginia leaves. Those 2 million leaves even today must be picked by hand individually as they ripen. Each leaf has a prominent hole where it is strung up by hand to air dry. The leaves are now seldom bunched by hand into small groups before packing into bales.
These classic tobaccos were once largely known by village names alone but to complicate things today there are many villages with the same names from Bosnia to Iran, and the seeds of those legendary Ottoman Empire villages, seeds that retain those classic names, are often now grown far from the place of origin.
The finest leaf still exists and the exquisite flavors still remain but the village names are not as indicative today because of changing production methods. Seed types originally developed in the classic villages may be distributed more than 50 miles away and may not always be grown in the kind of soil that produces the best leaf. So now we must go beyond village names to be sure we are in the specific classic geographic regions and elevations and place on the plant to insure that we get the quality we seek.
With Oriental tobaccos, altitude is supreme. The finest tobaccos are grown in the mountain districts (djebel) and on the lower slopes of the mountains (yaka), not the plains (ova). The prized smallest leaves with the most pronounced Oriental incense-like aromas are from the tops of the plants, what we would call “tips”. They call them outch (Greece and Izmir) or dourouk (Turkey except Izmir) or vrah (Bulgaria). Back before the First World War, these delicate top Basma leaves from the best and most famous districts of East Macedonia and Thrace, the most aromatic and the most valuable leaves, were sorted out and packed in very small bales wrapped in white linen. This was the “djubek” of legend.
We at McClelland have searched for years to find the individual Oriental tobaccos. We have long been able to bring you blends from the best parts of the plants (tips for aroma and upper hands for sweetness) grown generally in the best areas but we have wanted also to make available leaves separated out so that we can experience the direct descendants of the famed classics in seed, in soil, in selection and in their systems of production. It is only now as rules and business climate are changing over there that we can bring to you these supreme top grade varietals for individual appreciation.
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McClelland’s 30-Year Quest!
It is hard to contain our enthusiasm for this project, the culmination of 30 years of searching and dreaming. We are pleased to be able to present these glorious tobaccos individually in blends that highlight their unique characters. All but one of these new blends were created without Latakia because we wanted you to be able to experience the flavors unmasked by the effects of that very distinctive condiment.
Discover The Nuances of These Singular Varietals:
We have named these blends rather generically so that you can easily relate them to the point of origin. Each blend is referenced with a push pin flag on the map provided above.
YENIDJE SUPREME / YENIDJE HIGHLANDER. Oriental tobacco cultivation began in the 1600s around the villages of Yenidje and Kirdzhali after Venetian and Genoese traders introduced tobacco smoking to the area in the 1500s. The classic Basma seed introduced there over 300 years ago is believed by some to derive from an ancient Venezuelan variety of Nicotiana Tabacum named Barinas. The very finest Xanthi still comes from the original Yenidje (Genesaia) area of Western Thrace just north of the modern town of Xanthi. It is the Xanthi-Yaka-Basma and the Xanthi-Djebel-Basma that comprise the legendary Yenidje leaf which is thin, full-bodied, flexible, with fine veins. Full of oils, the best leaves are quite small, yellow to brown in color, with a pleasant, delicate aroma and sweet, mild, fresh flavor. Taste these blends (Supreme without Latakia, Highlander with Latakia) and discover why this particular classic Xanthi (the Yenidje of old) with its refreshing sweetness is known as “The Queen of Tobaccos.”
YENICE AGONYA. Agonya is the famous Turkish tobacco from the Sea of Marmara district of Yenice (pronounced Yenidje in Turkish) which lies to the southeast of Canakhale. This is the anciently famous area of Troy or Illium south of the Hellespont. The Hamdibey or Agonya district plants the Agonya seed, a Kabakulak variety of Xanthi origin (that first Yenidje of legend). Agonya leaves are wide, fine-textured and oval with bare stems. The taste is mellow, the fragrance subtle. When the Greeks followed Helen to Troy, they were after booty, but they were a few centuries too early to share this elegant treasure. How might a round of calming, agreeable bowls of Yenice Agonya have changed history?
SAMSUN RESERVE. Samsun grows in the Black Sea region of Eastern Turkey. We have secured the finest Samsun Maden-Canek leaves. They are small, thin and elastic with a mellow, pleasant, distinctive aroma. Their sweet taste is like the sweetness in a nut meat or sunflower seed. They come from the hinterland of Samsun, mainly to the West of the Yesih Irmak River delta where the climate is very similar to the best Macedonian and Thracian growing areas. Samsun and all classic Oriental leaves are picked one-by-one as they ripen, like flue-cured Virginias. If picked too soon so that the sap remains in the leaf during air and sun drying, the sugars will evaporate with the sap. If allowed to ripen too much on the plant, the leaf will be dry and shatter. Tobacco farmers of the classic Samsun growing areas have elevated these harvesting and curing processes to high art. Taste what comes of 350 years of experience.
BLACK SEA SOKHOUM. Sokhoum tobacco is grown on the mountain slopes in Georgia beyond the far Eastern shore of the Black Sea. It is considered by many to be among the finest Oriental tobaccos grown. Sokhoum is a strain of Samsun seed and the leaves have the appearance of Samsun and share a very similar aroma, but the flavor has a quality that is almost cigar-like, rich and deep and mellow. This is the Easternmost of the classic Orientals. Fewer than 400 miles south of Sokhoum is Iraq.
KATERINI CLASSIC. Katerini is a very important tobacco producing area southwest of Thessalonika on mountain slopes of mainland Greece (Western Macedonia). The small, heart-shaped leaf that takes the area’s name and makes it legendary is grown from Samsun seed. Katerinileaf is light golden in color, delicate, elastic, porous and robust. It has a more subtle aroma than Samsun but notice its especially sweet, mild curry-like flavor.
SMYRNA NO. 1 Back when Istanbul was Constantinople, Izmir tobacco was Smyrna (the Greek word). “A rose by any other name….” These tiny, No. 1-grade tobacco leaves from mountainous Western Turkey across from the Island of Khios have long been prized as the most aromatic of all Orientals. They grow dense and extremely fragrant in this dry country moistened by Mediterranean Sea breezes. Look for a whole Smyrna leaf on top of the tobacco when you open the tin. Notice the tiny hole where it was strung up by hand to air cure in a time-honored, labor-intensive process. There is no Latakia in this blend. Smyrna is the defining ingredient in this sophisticated Oriental tobacco. Our intention here is to spotlight the character of this extraordinary, delicate leaf.
DRAMA RESERVE. The famed Drama leaf is sweet and subtle with a natural olive oil-like fragrance. It is grown on the Southern slopes and foothills of the Rhodope Mountains, the Classic Drama Basma District in Greek Eastern Macedonia, and it includes the renowned Mahalla (about 25 per cent). It is refreshing, delicate, intriguing. This blend is designed (without Latakia) to demonstrate just why the classic top-grade Drama leaf is so celebrated.
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