Premium - A Quality Latakia Tobacco To All Fine Blend sales@astabcramer.com
We are ...
ASTAB & CRAMER TOBACCO A.S
ASTAB TOBACCO was set up in 2007 by Haldun Babacan and Selcuk Karagozler, former Tekel employees who both graduated from the Tekel Tobacco Technology department of Istanbul University and who, during their time with Tekel and other companies, between them built up a wealth of experience in tobacco grading, purchasing, blending and processing. This experience translated into expertise and put them in an ideal position to tackle the growing need to improve the efficiency and thereby lower the cost of oriental tobacco production, which had undergone little change for decades.
CRAMER TOBACCO was founded by Frederick De Cramer in 2020. The roots of Cramer tobacco date back to 1980 and was founded by Mr Richard (Dicko) De Cramer who was for over 50 years in the tobacco business. I myself in 1983 started worked as an employee with Stancom subsidiary i.e. Werkhof Gmbh, Hamburg, Germany and was sent as a manager trainee to Spierer Freres et Cie Turkey which was a prominent Oriental Tobacco manufacturer and exporter operating in Greece and Turkey. In 1986 I joined Philip Morris USA buying office in İzmir, Turkey and were responsible of buying and shipping oriental tobacco from Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Thailand and Lebanon. In 1994 joined Universal tobacco subsidiary in Turkey and was in charge of operations until 2000. I continued my career with Sunel Tobacco Co as a GM until 2016 and was a consultant for them until 2019. Once I retired I joined as a partner Astab Tobacco and Machinery co. They had started producing Latakia type of tobacco for the pipe industry and this was a first in Turkey.
Astab – Cramer tobacco AS was founded in 2021 in order to expand the Latakia tobacco production and serve better the pipe tobacco industry. We use the classical İzmir type tobacco that is highly used in the world wide. The new smoking ovens were built and are operating since mid-July 2021. Future expansion plans are planned for 2022 with our own warehouse and processing facility.
.(Tobaccoreporter-february2021)
NURTURING A NICHE...
A new joint venture brings security to the supply of Latakia tobacco.
it’s easy to become sold on the idea that tobacco and
nicotine products exist to satisfy the demands of people
who don’t want to consume them because, bizarre as this
narrative might appear to be, it is the one mostly offered up
by the general media. Tobacco and nicotine consumers are
portrayed as hapless addicts in need of saving by those who
know that they know best. Even now, with the traditional
tobacco wars largely behind us and with the former combatants
from both sides of those wars seemingly marching
in step toward a joint vision of a world freed from tobacco
smoking, skirmishes, perhaps less intense than those of the
tobacco wars but probably more numerous, are still being fought. What once pitched tobacco interests against antitobacco
interests now pitches the forces of harm reduction
against those of the quit-or-die brigades, pitches those who
come bearing the gifts of less risky products against those
who offer only blood, sweat and tears.
But if the focus is switched from that of the combatants to
that of the users of tobacco and nicotine products, a different
picture emerges—one in which many of these consumers
quietly get on with enjoying their various habits. Take,
for example, a recent story told by Chuck Stanion, who took
“A closer look at Latakia tobacco”1 in “Tobacco Talk” on
the Smoking Pipes website. His story is both interesting and
informative, but what caught my eye particularly were the
comments that followed it, which were clearly generated by
an uncommonly calm online community of informed pipe
smokers who were looking for and keen to share knowledge
about blends, products and much else. Many of them
clearly sought out pipe tobaccos that listed Latakia as part of
their blends.
And this is not surprising. Because of the way that it is
processed, Latakia provides distinctive notes to the aroma
and taste of the blends in which it is included. Mostly, these
blends are pipe tobaccos, but, apparently, Latakia has also
been used in snuff, and there is currently talk of its possibly
being used in other tobacco products, such as cigarillos and
waterpipe tobaccos.
.(Tobaccoreporter-february2021)
Improving efficiency
My attention was drawn to Stanion’s story by Frederick de
Cramer, a doyen of the Turkish oriental tobacco business
who, in November 2020, through his consultancy, Cramer
Tobacco, linked with ASTAB in a joint venture partnership,
part of whose aim is to expand ASTAB’s Latakia tobacco
production and sales, which currently go to the U.S. and
countries of the EU.
ASTAB was set up in 2007 by Haldun Babacan and Selcuk
Karagozler, former Tekel employees who both graduated
from the Tekel Tobacco Technology department of Istanbu
University and who, during their time with Tekel and other
companies, between them built up a wealth of experience in
tobacco grading, purchasing, blending and processing. This
experience translated into expertise and put them in an ideal
position to tackle the growing need to improve efficiency
and thereby lower the cost of oriental tobacco production,
which had undergone little change for decades.
Their efforts led in part to the development and patenting
of the automated loose-leaf oriental tobacco curing
system known as the Vento system, which provided for the
expansion of the Izmir crop by more than 10,000 tons in
the East Adiyaman area. But they were also involved in the
development of an oriental tobacco harvesting machine,
even though, because of the nature of this tobacco and the
environments in which it is grown, for a long time it was
thought that it would not be possible to automate and mechanize
such harvesting. And they developed other methods of
harvesting, including one in which the mid-rib of sun-cured
Virginia is removed at harvesting before the lamina is cured
using the Vento system. This method reduces costs because
it bypasses the need for costly traditional curing and does
away with the need for expensive threshing equipment. Not
only that, but it is also said to result in a more even cure and,
therefore, a better quality tobacco.
Meanwhile, following the passage three years ago of a law
allowing for the growing of hemp in Turkey, ASTAB produced
machines for extracting fibers from the plant’s stem
and producing yarn for the textile industry, and, since then,
in collaboration with textile companies, it has produced
high-quality cloth from hemp.
The tobacco is shipped to ASTAB’s warehouse in Izmir
where it undergoes an initial process in which the leaves are
cleaned and separated. Then, in line with demand, these
tobaccos are placed in barns where they are exposed for
two months to three months to smoke generated by burning
the branches of a type of wild Mastica shrub or small
tree, smoke that gives the tobacco its unique aroma and
smoking quality.
The Mastica shrub that is used in this process grows only
in the eastern Mediterranean, and ASTAB obtains its supplies
from a pine forest that grows adjacent to where it has
built its barns and that it rents from the Turkish Forestry
Department. To ensure that its Latakia business remains
viable, ASTAB uses the Mastica sustainably, with branches
being harvested in such a way that the shrubs regenerate
within two years to three years.
After the tobacco leaves are smoked in the barns, they are
reconditioned and screened for nontobacco materials, broken
lamina, scrap and other unacceptable tobacco. Then they are
packed in 50 kg cartons ready for shipment to customers.
.(Tobaccoreporter-february2021)
A sought-after niche
At first, volumes were minimal, and it was only in 2020
that ASTAB enjoyed its first year of substantial production,
which raises a question. Why would a company want
to get into the Latakia business, especially a company
that already has a number of arrows to its bow? After all,
putting it mildly, pipe tobacco is a niche product even
within the range of OTPs, and Latakia is a niche ingredient
in the blends of pipe tobaccos. On top of that, it is
clearly a tobacco that requires a lot of skill, effort and time
for production.
Well, according to de Cramer, while Latakia is a niche
product, it is nevertheless much sought after by those
pipe tobacco manufacturers that use it in their blends.
Additionally, he said, the countries where this tobacco had
traditionally been produced, Syria and Cyprus, had, for
various reasons, been unable to maintain production of
the volumes and qualities required by the market. Throw
in the idea that it would not be possible, without an effort
that would eclipse any possible returns, to produce Latakia
outside of the eastern Mediterranean, and such an enterprise
takes on a much more appealing aspect.
And, of course, between them, Haldun and
Selcuk had the leaf expertise and technical know-how
that allowed them to quickly get to grips with the processes
involved. After only one year and using a prototype
container-sized curing barn, they managed to produce a
high-quality Latakia that customers approved. And from
there, they were able to go ahead with building six barns
in 2019, which gave them an annual capacity of 10,000 kg
of Latakia.
These barns, which are steel-framed buildings covered
in corrugated sheet and insulation material, have simple
furnaces built under them where the Mastica branches are
burnt. Within the barns, trays, on which the tobacco leaves
are spread evenly, are stacked one on top of the other on
mobile racks that can be rotated about the barn to ensure an
even processing of the tobacco.
It is a measure of the early success of this project that,
as this story was being written in early January, ASTAB
was confident enough to start building, on land adjacent
to where its curing facilities stand, another seven barns,
which should be ready for use during the first quarter of
2021. Part of the reason for the confidence in this project
is down to the fact that the high-quality tobacco necessary
for producing Latakia, along with the materials for curing
it, are available locally. And to that can be added the
fact that Turkey, with its relatively low labor costs and a
currency that mostly can be depended on to fall in value
against the dollar and euro, is ideal for producing Latakia,
which involves a process that is labor intensive, in large part
because the furnaces need near-constant attention. In addition,
the team that comprises the joint venture is confident
that there is still room for improvement in its barns and
processes and that even better results can be achieved in
the future.
This should be music to the ears of manufacturers developing
pipe tobacco blends because, by their nature, any
niche ingredients will raise concerns about continuity of
supply. And Latakia is clearly an important and intriguing
type of tobacco for those charged with such developments.
In his story, Stanion quotes Jeremy Reeves, head blender at
Cornell & Diehl, as saying that it takes only a little Latakia
to characterize a blend. But, at the same time, he was quoted
as saying that it was wrong to give the impression that it was
a “strong” tobacco because, in fact, it was remarkably mild.
It burnt at relatively low temperatures and was forgiving on
the palate.(Tobaccoreporter-february2021)
who are we..ASTAB & CRAMER TOBACCO A.S.
SELÇUK KARAGÖZLER
Graduated from Tobacco Expert Institute in 1979
43 Years of experience from buying green leaf to Export.
1979-1991 Production,Warehouse Management & Export in Turkish Monopoly.
1991-1996 Austro Turk Tutun in charge of Processing & Export
1996-2000 Dımon Turkey Leaf manager
2000-2015 Socotab as Project manager
2015 Today Founder of Astab Tobacco Ltd and since 2020 Astab Cramer Tobacco AS
HALDUN BABACAN
Graduated from Tobacco Expert Institute in 1979
43 Years of experience in specialising Tobacco Technology & Engineering.
1979-2007 various responsibility from processing and tobacco technology in Turkish Monopoly.
Promoted to be Chief Engineer of Tekel Factories in Turkey.
Overseas leaf buying for Tekel.
2007 Today Founder of Astab Tobacco Ltd and since 2020 Astab Cramer Tobacco AS
FREDERİCH DE CRAMER
39 years of experience in tobacco industry
1983-1986 Stancom Mngr Trainee
1986-1994 PM USA Oriental buying Team for Oriental