Glossary
Aging
Aging Virginia leaf for up to two years (depends on thickness) can enhance its mellow/smooth qualities.
Peter Stokkebye ages their tobacco for up to three years before blending.*
Generally applied only to cigarette tobaccos; a mild state of fermentation, usually carried out in hogsheads or cases in compressed conditions for several years with a moisture content of 10-13% [~60%RH].*
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Air-cured
Air-cured tobacco includes Burley, Maryland, nearly all cigar types, dark air-cured, and the Virginian sun-cured types. Air-curing is also referred to as "natural" curing because environmental conditions during curing are largely determined by the prevailing weather. Although some modification of humidity is usually required during air-curing, the process does not include the use of high temperatures required in the much shorter and harsher flue-curing process.*
Air-cured tobaccos-- Are dried naturally, sheltered from sunlight. This drying is carried out on the whole plant or as individual leaves reach maturity. There are generally five crops in a season. Sugar produced by the plants is degraded during the three months treatment.*
Air Curing is performed in widely ventilated barns under natural atmospheric conditions with little or no artificial heat; it takes about 3-12 weeks. Light air-cured tobacco is very thin to medium in body, light tan shaded toward reddish brown in color and mild in flavor.*
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American
American blends-- These blends have the following components: Virginia, Burley and Oriental in variable proportions to which a "sauce" [casing] consisting of humidifying and sugar elements is added. These blends are finally sprayed with aromatic flavours [topping].*
A blend of tobaccos for cigarettes consisting of American (Burley and Virginia) and Oriental tobaccos. With a varying degree of sweetness and considerable aroma.*
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Birdseye
Bird's-eyes are "clearly visible round or oval sections of cut ribs found in pipe and cigarette tobacco."*
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Blend
The combination of different classes and types of tobacco to produce a desired flavor, aroma or burn. The blend of most cigarettes and smoking tobaccos is kept secret.*
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Burley
Are high developed plants, the culture of which has recently expanded. This type of tobacco does not ferment like the "Dark", but generally "matures". Burley, though not very aromatic, is very useful in blending.*
An air cured tobacco. Burley tobacco is grown in rich limestone soils, primarily in Kentucky and Tennessee. It is light brown to reddish in color and has a somewhat greater filling power than flue-cured tobacco. Burley is light in body and neutral in flavor with a low sugar content and high alkaloid content. Burley smoke is more basic (pH) than flue-cured tobacco.*
A blond to light-brown tobacco. Its aroma resembles cacao and improves with aging. Chiefly grown in the states of Kentucky and Tennessee in the U.S.A.*
Cured Buriey leaf is characterized by a low to negligible sugar content and hence a very low proportion of sugar to nitrogen...Burley leaf has a very open cell structure and hence a good capacity to absorb extraneous materials such as flavours...This property of Burley tobacco has been much exploited in the contribution of Burley to the American-type blended cigarette. Sugar is the main base for flavouring additives and it also removes the harshness which the high proportion of nitrogenous compounds gives to the smoke of untreated Burley leaf. (more)
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Canadian
A Virginia tobacco grown in Canada. Mark Ryan: "the shorter, colder growing season in canada gives canadian leaf a distinctive flavor".
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Case
The condition of tobacco with regard to its moisture content. Tobacco in proper keeping condition is "in case." When it is too wet, it is in "high case."*
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Casings
Casings are a sauce applied to the tobacco leaves (primarily Burley) before they are cut (after curing). Casing sauces typically contain sugars, humectants (to preserve moisture but also to increase tobacco flexibility, some are fungistatic), flavorings (ones with low volatility, e.g. cocoa and vanilla beans), and other additives (e.g. Coumarin). The tobacco leaves are sprayed with, or dunked in, the heated solution. Often the leaves are then lightly toasted to fuse the ingredients and re-dry the leaf.
"Flavours and humectants applied to tobacco before cutting the tobacco. They balance the different tastes of the tobacco, replace some of the components naturally lost during the curing process and “tune” each type of tobacco product to the desired blend flavour."*
"to combat faults in smoking quality, such as harshness and bitterness, so as to ameliorate the smoke." (from the MIA tobaccopedia.info)
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Curing
A distinction is made between sun-cured, air-cured and flue-cured tobaccos. Oriental tobacco is usually cured naturally in the sun, whereas Burley is cured in airy sheds, and Virginia tobacco is cured in special ovens.*
Fire-curing, dating from pre-Columbian times, is done by drying the leaves in smoke; in air-curing, the leaves are hung in well-ventilated structures; in flue-curing, used for over half the total crop, the leaves are dried by radiant heat from flues or pipes connected to a furnace.*
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Dark Fired
Dark Kentucky or Virginia tobacco that is cured and smoked over an open fire.*
See also: Fire Cured
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English
Typically a mild to rich Virginia blend. Unlike English pipe tobaccos there's usually not a dark component. PS London Export is the only exception I know of. D&R's Perique blends are not advertised as English.
Pipe tobaccos (Virginia) with a particularly full-bodied taste that is obtained by adding dark, aromatic tobaccos (e.g. Latakia or perique). English mixtures often contain no aromatic substances.*
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Fermentation
"Natural process that causes cured tobacco to warm on storage thus causing changes in the taste and aroma characteristics of the product." *
"The maturing process used to bring out the aroma and character of raw tobacco." *
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Fine-cut
Tobacco for hand-rolling cigarettes that is cut into strips with a width of up to 1.2 millimeters.*
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Fire-cured
Fire Curing is performed in ventilated barns with open fires allowing the smoke to come in contact with the tobacco; it is alternated with air curing. Fire-cured tobacco is light to dark brown in color, medium to heavy in body and strong in flavor.*
...natural drying is completed by a wood-fired fumigation (oak is used by the traditionalists).*
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Flake
A special type of compressed pipe tobacco that is cut into thin, more or less square slices. It must be loosened by rubbing before it is put in the pipe...Ready-Rubbed [is] Flakes that are loosened in a cyclone chamber prior to packaging so that the tobacco can be put in a pipe immediately and smoked without rubbing.*
British Flake and Ready Rubbed-- The tobacco leaves are compacted under great pressure and heat is applied for days at a time...This type of tobacco produces a cool slow burning smoke.*
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Flavoring
A process that consists of adding aromatic substances to tobacco to give it a special aroma or flavor.*
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Flue-cured
Commonly called bright or Virginia [or Gold Leaf] tobacco, it is lemon or orange-yellow in color and possesses a sweet aroma and slightly acidic taste. It is high in sugar content and low to average in nitrogenous materials, acids and nicotine. It blends well with burley and Maryland tobaccos because its sugar content smooths and neutralizes the smoke...Flue Curing is performed in small, tightly constructed barns with artificial heat beginning at 90 degrees Fahrenheit and ending around 170 degrees Fahrenheit; it takes 5-7 days. The name comes from the metal flue used in the heating apparatus. Flue-cured tobacco is yellow to reddish-orange in color, thin to medium in body and mild in flavor.*
Flue-cured-- Are represented by the majority of warm-air dried Virginia...Each crop is taken to a bulk curing barn where it is dried by warm air for seven days. The leaves become yellow as a result of a rapid rise of temperature. Among the Virginia are the aromatics and the fillers, the latter used as a major ingredient to balance the mixture.*
Proper curing is both a biological and a drying process that is controlled by ventilation for humidity regulation coupled with temperature regulation to control drying...During yellowing, it happens that the change of starch to sugar occurs at about the same rate as the colour change, so tint m most cases when the leaves become yellow the change of starch to sugar is complete. When the leaf becomes yellow, it is killed by drying, by high temperature, or a combination of the two, so that no further chemical changes occur. (more)
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Green River
A type of dark air-cured [Burley] tobacco produced principally in the Green River section of Kentucky (Owensboro and Henderson), it is of the one-sucker type and is commonly used in the production of chewing tobacco, though to some extent it is used for snuff and smoking tobaccos.*
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Halfzware
Dutch translation: light-heavyweight*
Half strong/dark/rich/heavy tobacco. Typically a Dutch fine-cut shag tobacco containing fire-cured Kentucky and milder Virginia tobaccos.
Refers to flavor (fairly distinctive), cut (fine-cut shag) and strength (strong by American standards) of the tobacco, not necessarily the color (typically dark).
Drum, Jester, Bali, Sampson, Mac Baren, Look-Out, Mynheer, Arbo, Jason, Amsterdam Shag, etc.
Halfzware fine-cut is a type of dark to very dark tobacco with long fibres, usually from Africa or America.*
See also: Zware
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Harvesting
Harvesting of domestic tobaccos is done either by stalk cutting (cutting the stems of the plant near the ground) or priming (picking individual leaves from the plant as they ripen).*
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Hogshead
A large round wooden cask used for storing and aging tobacco. The English standardized it as 63 gallons in 1423, but the capacity varies. A hogshead of tobacco usually measures 48 inches in length and diameter and contains approximately 1000 pounds of tobacco.*
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Kentucky
Tobacco from the states of Kentucky and Tennessee. Most commonly used to produce full-bodied tobaccos.*
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Lugs
Lugs are the leaves around the bottom part of the stalk. They are characterised by their small size, thinness and brightness. They make up 13% of the plant's total weight. The nicotine content is around 2.5%, and the sugar level varies from 12-20%.*
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Maryland
Air-cured tobaccos from the state of Maryland. A source of cutters and dark cigarette tobaccos.*
A light air-cured tobacco, Maryland is similar to burley but somewhat milder and lighter in taste. It is low in carbohydrates and nicotine and average in nitrogenous materials and nonvolatile acids.*
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Oriental
Oriental tobacco is a Virginia tobacco type and possesses the qualities that are associated with Virginia tobacco. The concentration of natural sugar and especially natural aromatics is rather high in Oriental tobacco. These tobaccos grow in warm, dry surroundings, and the leaves therefore develop a layer of wax to protect themselves against drying out. It is this wax layer that makes Oriental tobacco very aromatic.*
Grown largely in the Balkans and eastern Mediterranean: and providing a distinctively aromatic smoke.*
Tobacco from the Balkans (Bulgaria, Greece, Rumania, Turkey, Albania, former Yugoslavia).*
The tobacco gives a mild smoke but has a very characteristic aroma. Resins and waxes and the gum exuded by glandular hairs (trichomes) on the leaf surface are considered to furnish the aroma of oriental tobacco...The leaves are picked in successive primings, starting at the bottom of the plant and steadily progressing upwards in accordance with their maturity...strung onto garlands...Once the leaves have wilted, they are exposed to the sun. The curing period may vary from 7-15 days *
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Perique
Black spiced tobacco from Louisiana.*
It is noted for its pleasing aroma and is used especially in fancy pipe tobacco blends. Perique is produced by a unique process of packing the dried leaves in casks under great pressure for about nine months.*
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Primings
The lowest leaves of the tobacco plant.*
Priming (Sandleaves)-- These are the leaves at the bottom part of the stalk. They are the first leaves to ripen, and the first to be harvested. They make up about 12% of the plant's weight. Primings contain only 1.5 to 2% nicotine and 5 to 10%) sugar.*
Removing ripened leaves from the tobacco plant.*
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Redrying
The process of preparing tobacco for storage in cases or hogsheads, redrying involves the removing moisture below a critical level from the tobacco, following by an application of uniform moisture content throughout the leaf.*
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Shake
Posted by Wazmo Nariz on Sunday, 14-Jan-2007
Shake is the smaller bits and pieces which are broken off from a tobacco strand, as well as the almost dust-like tobacco I'm sure you're familiar with. You'll usually find it near the bottom of a tin or bag of tobbaco, where it tends to settle. Typically comes from excessive handling, or from overly dehydrated tobacco which tends to crumble really easily.
See also - Tobacco : Forums : Shake
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Smoking leaf
"Smoking leaves" grow just above the middle of the stalk. They make up around 7.5% of the plant's total weight. These leaves ripen to a bright orange colour and contain about 3% nicotine. The sugar content is about the same as in the lugs.*
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Strips
Mechanically deribbed tobacco leaves.*
A tobacco leaf with the midrib removed.*
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Sun-cured
Represent almost the totality of Oriental tobaccos. Their cultivation is confined to Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, and to a lesser degree to adjoining countries. The essential characteristics of oriental tobaccos are their aromatic qualities and a high sugar content (10 to 15%). The smoke is generally mild and this characteristic brings a binding and homogeneous effect used in most mixtures.*
Sun Curing is performed on racks in the sunshine for set daily periods over 4 weeks, depending on the weather. Sun-cured tobacco looks similar to air-cured tobacco.*
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Top flavoring
Top flavoring, or topping, is the last thing done to the processed tobacco. Topping is typically an alcohol solution of essential oils and other natural and synthetic flavoring compounds that is sprayed onto the tobacco.
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Turkish
AKA Oriental. Typically refers to tobacco blends with a high percentage (Ramback is the only 100% Turkish blend that I know of) of Oriental tobacco. Oriental varieties grown in Turkey include Samsun (Stokkebye) and Izmir (Ramback). These two varieties alone are as different as Virginia and Canadian (a Virginia).
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Virginia
A collective term used for the large light and sweet leaves of tobacco required for American blend cigarettes. Originate from the states of Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.*
Virginia and Oriental tobacco belong to the same type, as they both have high sugar and aromatic content. Virginia has a pH value of about 4.5, which in chemical terms means sour. Burley has a pH value of about 7, or neutral...The popularity of Virginia is owing to the high natural sugar and aromatic content in its leaves. These natural ingredients give Virginia tobacco its sweet and aromatic taste.*
One of the commonest tobaccos is Virginia tobacco. It is often used in US and European 'blended' cigarettes, and in particular in the so-called 'English' Virginian-type cigarettes. The heavier grades are used in various kinds of mixtures for pipe smoking. Flue-cured tobacco is grown in more than seventy countries. The major exporting countries are China, the USA, Brazil, India and Zimbabwe. Around 40% of the world's tobacco is currently of a Virginian type plant. A well-grown plant reaches a total height of 160-190 cm, and will carry 18-22 harvestable leaves.*
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Zware
Dutch translation: heavy*, strong*
As rich, strong and dark as tobacco gets. Typically Dutch fine-cut shags consisting mainly of dark fired tobaccos. Seldom imported to the US (e.g. Look-Out and Mynheer zware's), Black Death and Gauloises "Fine Cut Mellow Flavor" are the only ones I know of (... and those are now NLA).
Belong to the Halfzware tobaccos. The percentage of dark, rich-bodied leaves is particularly high.*
See also: Halfzware
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