Türkiye's Tobacco Regions

Türkiye's tobacco regions form the historic homeland of Oriental tobacco, known in the world's pipe blends as "Turkish" or "Oriental." This group of small-leaved, sun-cured aromatic tobaccos has been grown since Ottoman times across a broad geography stretching from the Aegean to the Black Sea and from Thrace to southeastern Anatolia.

Records indicate that the first commercial planting of tobacco on Ottoman soil took place in 1583 around Milas, in the sanjak of Menteşe, and by the end of the 16th century cultivation had spread across a wide area from Aydın and Bursa to Rumelia. Tobacco's arrival in the Ottoman Empire is a story in its own right; this entry instead covers the regions where the plant took root in these lands.

Aegean: İzmir Tobacco

Known in Western sources by its historic name, Smyrna, İzmir tobacco is the most widespread origin and is thought to account for roughly half of the world's Oriental tobacco production today. Its leaves are very small; after harvest they are strung and sun-dried. High in sugar and essential oils, and low in nicotine even by Oriental standards, it lends a blend a slightly tangy-sweet, bready-spicy character. In the 19th century, leaf exported through the port of İzmir was sought-after raw material for the Egyptian and British cigarette industries, and a significant share of the Turkish leaf used in the American-blend cigarettes that began with Camel in 1913 also originated in İzmir. In the pipe world, the "Oriental" component of English blends is usually made up largely of İzmir-heavy mixtures.