Macedonian natural tobacco - Good smoke for good folk

  Before I came to Skopje, I had read somewhere that there was a old market  where you could buy some natural hand rolling tobacco, just the kind of thing that I love trying. In every country that I have been in my life, I've always tried the local stuff, may it be food, drink, tobacco, and some other of the finer pleasures in life.
  And of course, I love old markets.
  When I got here, after a couple of days I had my tobacco. Actually, it was a gift, so I still had to find the market and tobacco.
The market in question is called the "Bit Pazar", it is adjacent to the "Old Bazaar", some of my favorite places in Skopje.

  I love going there from the left bank of the Vardar, crossing the Old stone bridge (built between 1451 and 1469, been through two major earthquakes and wars, but still standing) then entering the old Skopje. 

Old Bridge

  It has to be the fastest way I know of travelling through time; you leave modern Skopje and enter the old Orient. Even a few years later, I still love this feeling, and the Old Bazaar is amazing.
  It has been around since the 12th century, when it became a major trading center and evidence suggests that it may have been inhabited as early as 4000 BC, possibly even earlier.
  When they say Old Bazaar, they are not joking.
  It is the largest bazaar in the Balkans, apart from Istanbul, it continues to be a major center for trade and commerce, and if you couple it with the Bit Pazar, you should be able to find everything you are looking for.
  One of the great things there is that when you talk to a vendor and ask for something that he doesn't have or sell, he will invariably take you to someone who does, or he will find it for you.
   In Skopje, when you are looking for something hard to find, people say "try the Bit Pazar". 
  And you know what? You actually do find the hard to find item most times . Maybe not exactly what you were hoping for, but close enough. And with a smile...
   Beat that!
  Over the years, I have made some friends there, such as my Turkish barber,  and my friend Kerim, who sells, in my opinion, the best natural tobacco in the bazaar.

Bit Pazar

Spices, fruit, clothing, tools, you can find everything there

   Now, I don't advocate smoking, but in the end it's up to you what you do with yourself, this is the 21st century, and all the information is available.
   I started when I noticed that my father didn't have any mosquitoes biting him when we used to go trout fishing, and he suggested I stick a French "Gitanes" smoke in my mouth to keep them away, like he did, and lo and behold, it worked. All the other repellent lotions and potions didn't do nothing, but "Gitanes" made them back off.
  As a matter of fact, they made me back off too.
  Makes me wonder what would of happened if I had been puffing on some superb herb. Guess my father would of stung my ass LOL
   I put a smoke to my mouth but I don't inhale, sort of like pipe smokers. I just like the taste, which is why I only smoke hand rolling tobacco. It was my friends from the Netherlands who introduced me to hand-rolling, and I never liked commercial smokes, they make me cough, they stink and for the most part, they all taste the same to me, just stronger or lighter.
  So, a few days after my arrival here, I went to the Bit Pazar, and I found what I was looking for, pure natural tobacco with no additives or other artificial junk in it.  
  To make things even more amazing for me, it was sold by the kilo and the price was nothing compared to Europe. 
  Tobacco was introduced in Macedonia by the Ottoman empire in 1574, as it had the right conditions for growing it. Since then, it has remained one of the most important crops, and today 60% of the areas planted with industrial crops are of tobacco, with a total share of around 35-40% of the agricultural export, making it the leading export product, with wine in second position.. It is also the biggest employer in the agriculture field, as it is very labour intensive.
  The type of tobacco is mostly of the oriental variety, with the Prilep and Jaka varieties accounting for over 80% of the production. Prilep oriental tobacco has a sweet, pleasant and refreshing aroma, and is used in the blends of many well known smoke manufacturers. It is of high quality, the best known and most demanded on the market. It is a protected type and has a registered geographic origin.

Tobacco growing in Macedonia

   After a while, I got to try different varieties, it is basically divided by strength, quality and area of production. Most of the tobacco comes from Prilep, Bitola, Kumanovo, and few other places in Macedonia, and lately I have been finding some very good tobacco from Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina. But you will see a lot of tobacco being grown by various people all over Macedonia, either for money and / or for personal consumption. 
  Try doing that in Europe and you will quickly see what happens to your ass. 

Tobacco leaves drying in Prilep

  The tobacco leaves are sun dried and when ready, they are shredded and packed into one kilo cardboard boxes. And that's basically  it. The thing that amazes me is that it stays fresh all year long, as compared to commercial hand-rolling tobacco which, even with preservatives and other texture enhancers, dries out after a couple of weeks.
  When it starts drying out, just put a few cabbage leaves on top of it, and let air circulate, this will humidify the tobacco without giving it a funny taste. Make sure that the cabbage leaves don't stay there too long, otherwise they will start rotting and the tobacco with it.
   In the winter, this isn't necessary, but come summer you'll have to do this at one point or another.  And store it in a cool place out of the sun.
  An interesting note, hand-rolling is almost exclusively done by the Albanian, Bosnian and Turkish communities, who will all tell you of all the positive virtues of this type of natural tobacco; it doesn't smell up your house or clothes, doesn't give you a sore throat  and is better for the health than the commercial variety. 
  Also it costs a lot less than commercial smokes. A pack here costs anywhere from 80 euro cents to  2.5 euros approximately. One kilo of tobacco goes from 2.5  to 10 euros for the Macedonian variety, to over 15 euros for the Bosnian one. 
  Now the irony of this is that Macedonians smoke a lot, but exclusively commercial smokes, I have never met one who hand rolled and since money is very tight here, you would think that they would of switched to save some money like Europeans and Americans have, considering they have the finest and cheapest tobacco that you can find, but nope. I still have to figure this one out.
  One kilo lasts me over four months.
  According to tradition, it is best to use rolling paper without glue so as to not alter the taste of your tobacco. You can find these yellow packaged papers easily, but I do not use them as I prefer thin paper that burns slower. Less smoke, less paper and less mosquitoes. Harder to find though.

My friend Kerim, and his natural tobacco, the real deal, from older and very strong (on the left, in the plastic bags, darker in colour and rougher cut) to best quality Macedonian and Bosnian light tobacco on the top, and stronger varieties below

  For those interested in learning more, there is a tobacco museum at the Tobacco institute in Prilep (www.tip.edu.mk).  These dudes take their tobacco seriously.
  Prilep also had the first warehouse for purchasing and processing tobacco in Macedonia back in 1873, it was then known as  R.O.T. , "Régie Ottoman de Tabac". Now it is the Tutunski Kombinat Prilep. They manufacture what I believe to be the best tasting commercial smokes around, the Filter Oriental (known as Filter Jugoslavija in the past) , they're inexpensive and burn slow. 

Good smokes for good folks

  And last but not least, James Bond smoked Macedonian smokes. An excerpt of Ian Fleming's description of the character;
"James Bond smoked specially made cigarettes from Morlands of Grovenor street - a Macedonian blend with three gold rings around the butt. He carries them in a wide gunmetal case. He lights them with a battered black oxidized Ronson lighter "

James Bond and his Macedonian smokes

  If they're good enough for 007, they're good enough for me!