ON THE CULTURE OF LATAKIA TOBACCO. KV.j 



to the soil from which it has been obtained. The different qualities are 

 thus produced, and again subdivided according to the colour and flavour 

 of the leaf. All the tobacco that comes from the plain of Latakia is 

 denominated Dgidar, and we class it among the Nicotiana rustica. That 

 produced in the mountain districts, of which we shall presently speak, 

 is known and esteemed in Europe as Latakia tobacco. Dgidar tobacco, 

 although esteemed an ordinary kind of tobacco, is rendered suitable for 

 exportation, and preserved from damp, by means of the preparation 

 received in the storehouses. It gains by a sea voyage, for the air im- 

 pregnated with saline matter, has a favourable effect upon it, while the 

 heat in the hold of the ship also has a tendency to improve the quality. 

 So greatly does a sea voyage improve the tobacco, that it is not an un- 

 common thing for merchants to entrust captains of outward bound 

 vessels with large quantities to be returned at the end of the voyage. 

 And I know, from actual experience, that tobacco thus treated is more 

 brittle and agreeable in flavour than that which has not received the 

 benefit of the sea air. With regard to the seed, care is taken to leave 

 as many plants uncut as will produce sufficient for the next seed-time. 

 The plants are carefully protected from the attacks of the winds, which 

 would break the stalks that are now heavy with pods. These pods 

 must ripen on the plants in order that the seeds may be well matured, 

 and dry. A sure method whereby to ascertain if the seeds are properly 

 dry is to shake the pod. If the result is a rattling sound, they are 

 immediately gathered and placed in large quantities in horsehair sacks. 

 Horsehair is preferred to any other material, because it is naturally dry. 

 These sacks are bound at the orifice by rope of the same material, and 

 are hung in the interior of the huts or cabins. 



The different kinds of Latakia tobacco are — 1. The Dgidar, of 

 which we have already spoken, considered as a medium or ordinary 

 quality. 2. The Abou-Riha, or Dgebeli, which is the finest tobacco, but 

 is found in its best state only in the mountains of Nesseries, or An- 

 saries, as they are called by us. Its superiority is besides principally 

 owing to a particular kind of preparation, which we will speak of here- 

 after. There are two kinds of this tobacco, different in quality, and it 

 requires a connoisseur to distinguish between them-. The Abou-Riha has 

 a great reputation, in Europe particularly, and also in Egypt, and other 

 places where a mild tobacco is preferred. 3. The Dgidar, which in- 

 cludes the Gauti and other inferior kinds. It holds a medium place be- 

 tween strong and weak tobacco ; is rough, and burns easily, because it 

 contains very little oil. Rejected by good smokers, it is a tobacco much 

 in favour, on account of its cheapness, with the common people, who as 

 long as they have a pipe in their mouths would smoke anything, even 

 straw. 4. That known by the name of Schiek-el-Bent, the quality of 

 which approaches the Abou-Riha, with which, indeed, it is often mixed 

 by the merchants of Latakia. The Nesseries formerly dwelt in large 

 numbers in the plain of Latakia, but being constantly harassed by the 



