Izmir Tobacco (Smyrna)

Izmir tobacco is a small-leaved oriental tobacco variety grown in the Aegean region. It takes its name from the market and export port where it is collected; English-language sources have settled on the city's older name, "Smyrna," and the two names are used interchangeably in the trade. As the product of Türkiye's largest oriental-tobacco growing basin, it is one of the first varieties that comes to mind worldwide when "Turkish tobacco" is mentioned.

Growing Region and Curing

The variety's ecological growing area spans Izmir, Manisa, Aydın, Muğla, and Denizli, along with part of Balıkesir. The region's nutrient-poor soil and hot, dry summers stress the plant; the small-leaved structure and intense scent typical of oriental tobaccos are themselves considered an adaptation to that stress. For a discussion alongside the region's other tobaccos, see the entry on Türkiye's tobacco regions.

Harvesting is done by hand, leaf by leaf. The picked leaves are strung on cords with a needle or skewer; the strings are kept neither too dense nor too long, since air needs to circulate between the leaves. In the Aegean these strings are threaded onto reed frames set on racks called izgara. Depending on the locality, other rack forms such as salaş, çardak, and ayna are also used. The leaves are first allowed to yellow, then sun-cured while kept from touching one another. The cured leaf takes on tones ranging from yellow to yellow-orange to light red.