Oriental tobacco

Turkish tobacco is a geographical indication of tobacco. It is developed mostly in the Aegean and Black Sea regions of Turkey and throughout nations that were once a part of the Ottoman Empire, such as Greece and Bulgaria.

Turkish tobacco has a much milder flavor and contains less nicotine and carcinogens than other varieties. In order to get the full flavor, it is mixed with more robust tobacco such as Virginia tobacco. Turkish tobacco plants usually have a greater number and smaller size leaves. These differences can be attributed to climate, soil, cultivation, and treatment methods.

Tobacco originated in the Americas and was introduced to the Ottoman Turks by the Spanish. The Turks over time developed their own method of growing and using tobacco. It was first grown in Macedonia. And even though Greece and Bulgaria still grow the same seed, it is still considered Turkish tobacco because the seed was developed during Turkish rule. The Ottomans also developed different methods of consuming tobacco such as using a hookah for smoking. Today, cigarette smoking is prevalent in Turkey and Greece.

Turkish tobacco is mixed with many brands of cigarettes thus the popularity and value of the variety is so great that it is also grown in Italy, South Africa, and even the Americas. If the Republic of Turkey was to claim geographical indication and intellectual property rights on the seed, as France has done with Champagne, then no other nation but Turkey would be allowed to grow and market "Turkish tobacco", which would drive prices up. Tekel is the largest Turkish company to market Turkish tobacco in Turkey and R. J. Reynolds is the largest in the world under the cigarette brand name Camel that they introduced in 1913

Cigarette smoking is a passion among many Turks, a few of whom ignore the No Smoking signs (Sigara Içilmez) in public buildings such as airports, railroad stations and theaters. However, most transport, including airplanes, trains (except for the smoking cars) and intercity buses are smoke-free.

Few Turks smoke cigars and Western-style pipes are an artsy affectation in Turkey. Briar pipes are rare, and even the beautifully-carved meerschaum pipes from Eskisehir sold in most souvenir shops are rarely smoked by Turks. Meerschaum pipes are for selling to tourists who prize meerschaum pipes.

The nargile is an old way of smoking Turkish tobacco. Sometimes, it is called a hookah by English speakers, and sheesha in the Arab world. The nargile was very popular during the Ottoman Empire from the 17th to the 19th centuries, but saw a fall-off in demand in the Turkish Republic as tobacco-lovers switched to cigarettes. After World War II, it was mostly old men who smoked nargiles.

The nargile consists of a glass bottle into which a metal pipe device is placed. The bottle is half filled with water, and a long flexible hose is attached to the pipe. Atop the pipe are a small metal tray to catch cinders and above it a small cup-shaped bowl to hold the tobacco.

Cool-dude modern smokers sometimes drop a glow-stick into the bowl when smoking at night, to give a soft mellow light to the bubbling water.

The smoker attaches a mouthpiece to the flexible hose, sucks on it, and draws tobacco smoke down through the pipe device, through the cooling water, along the flexible hose and into the mouth.

The tumbak or tömbeki is a special dark, strong, very high-nicotine tobacco grown near Antakya and Konya. Don't puff strongly as on a cigarette. Rather, suck the smoke gently and don't inhale deeply. The sucking should generate pleasant bubbling sounds in the water, which is part of the fun.

Okay, those are the basics. But "nargile culture" goes well beyond them. Like most smoking implements, nargiles became art objects:

· The bottle might be made of colored glass blown into graceful shapes, then painted or otherwise decorated

· The flexible hose might be embellished with beadwork or other woven handicraft art

· The mouthpiece might be of fine porcelain and might even be inset with gems