As you may know, G.L. Pease is a world-class American pipe tobacco blender; he, as well as another prolific blender, Craig Tarler, had bought a container? of rare and outstanding Syrian Latakia. The building that housed it burnt down and destroyed all of the tobacco. This was ~2005, and no Syrian Latakia of any quality has been available since. Although both Cyprian Latakia, which is still available, and Syrian, have a common taste, Syrian is highly-prized for its complexity. Syrian has become unavailable because the Syrian government halted its production as the wood necessary to smoke it was depleting Syria's forests.
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