Tömbeki's characteristics and its chemical structure: Tömbeki is a kind of tobacco. Its place in plant science is the SOLANACEA (nightshade) family like tobacco, a variety of my Nicotiana tabacum. Used for enjoyment. Type mumps, height 100 cm. and more leaf length, raised, broad in the middle and thick textured.
The shape of the cup is unique to itself. The leaves are chopped thickly, soaked well, the yellow juice is squeezed well, put into hookah nozzles and drunk. The smoke of the pot comes into the oral cavity after bathing in the water in the bottle of the hookah and passing through the long lance. Therefore, the amount of nicotine it contains decreases partially until it reaches the mouth, if it is not used too much, the harm is not more than cigarettes. However, my drinking depends on many burdens and preparations and continues for a long time.
The countries where hookah is used the most are the Eastern countries, especially Iran. Even women use hookahs in Iran. Land use after water pipe tobacco as Iran and Syria, Egypt, Palestine, Arabia, India, Afghanistan, Turkey and Greece.
We can find the first type of hookah in hemp kalian, inkwell and pipes used by the indigenous South Africa. It is very likely that Iranians, Indians and Arabs were inspired by these pipes in order to smoke tobacco more comfortably and thus began to use hookah.
The most popular tömbeki are those grown in Isfehan and Shiraz, Iran. Isfehan types are large continents, Shiraz's are smaller continents and thick textured.
Tömbeki is a tobacco with a medium level of nicotine in chemical structure, very poor in carbohydrates and a special type of tobacco. From the analysis of two powdered tobacco samples, if the two are similar to each other, it is difficult to distinguish which one is tobacco, even with chemical analysis. Just as Virginia tobaccos and Aegean tobaccos show a sensible resemblance to their body, it is necessary to make a smoking test to differentiate them from one another. Since tobacco is similar to some of our tobaccos grown in the East-Southeast, an expertise examination is needed to separate these tobaccos from each other.
Tömbekis are mostly processed with carbohydrate streams called sherbet (most of which are made by boiling) to increase their taste because they are poor in sugar.
A good pot should have an average of 3–4% nicotine, 8–10% sugar, and about 15% ash and 8–10% protein. Too much reduction in sugar is not desirable for a good stool, nor is it a good feature to increase the amount of nicotine and ash.
Tömb also should have stains similar to tiger hide (Pelt Pelenk) in terms of its external appearance. This is a sought-after feature for a true addict. In fact, the fact that the tumbler is sold as a bundle (the folded form of the leaves that are not chopped) and that it is chopped and drunk by the addicts is a feature that satisfies the taste of the addicts.
Tömbeki Production in the World: We do not have statistical information about the countries where Tömbeki is cultivated in the world. Considering that the tumbler is used only in the Eastern countries, it is understood that this plant is grown only in the countries where it is consumed. Iran comes first among these countries. Iran is the main exporting Country of tömbeki. According to current statistics, Iran's annual tömbeki production is 5-6 thousand tons.
The climate and soil desired by the tömbeki: When the climate of Iran, which grows the best tömbeki, is examined in general, it is understood that this country has an arid and continental climate, the rains are low, the winters are quite cold, the summers are hot and strong winds prevail and it is not suitable for the tömbeki climate. Tömbeki planted places in Iran are hollow parts and inner plateaus that are not exposed to the wind. In such places, completely irrigated agriculture is carried out. The altitudes of the major tombeki and tobacco growing places in Iran, Isfehan 1.620 m., Shiraz 1.585 m., Tabriz 1.360 m. and its soils are calcareous, rich in phosphorus and potash, and moderately rich in nitrogen. As a result tömbeki enjoys a warm and temperate climate. Wind is his worst enemy. In the first period of growth, it demands rain, if not, its request is completed with irrigation. In terms of soil, tömbeki likes sandy, clayey, deep, cool, spindle and fertilized soils. Tömbeki fields should be close to water as it is irrigated. In fields without fertilizer and water, the leaves remain thin and small, and they are hard to drink.
The cultivation method of the tümbek: The cultivation method of the tümbek is generally similar to tobacco farming. Meanwhile, the construction of seedbeds, seed planting, nursery care from planting to planting, planting and field care from planting to crushing are almost the same as in Turkish tobacco agriculture. Changing points and features of tömbeki agriculture are listed.
- Planting distance: The spacing given during planting is 100 cm between rows and 80 cm above rows. 1,250 seedlings are planted per decare.
- Irrigation: Before each hoeing, tumblers are irrigated. The number of irrigation naturally varies according to the annealing condition of the field and the rainfall of the year. Water can be given 3–6 times. It is useful to add the fertilizer to irrigation water 2 - 3 times and in the first irrigation. The fertilizer to be used in the syrup should preferably be burnt sheep manure. Watering is stopped 15-20 days before harvest and the throat is filled.
- Bottoming: When the tumblers are 30 - 40 cm tall, 2 - 4 leaves are peeled from the bottom.
- Hill break: When they begin to bloom, large scarlet leaves are retained on the sapling, all of the small ones at the tip are broken together with the flowers. The number of leaves to be left depends on the growth of the plant (6 to 10 leaves). After crushing the crest, the leaves remaining on the plant become thicker and stronger.
- Shoot breakage: After crushing, the plant sprouts from leaf seats to continue its generation. All gushing shoots break before overgrowth.
- Crimea-Drying: After the peak decay, that is, 2-3 months after planting, signs of maturity begin to appear on the leaves. These symptoms are manifested by the yellow bumps seen in various parts of the leaves and the reverse curl of the edges. The color turns from dark green to light green and to yellow in most parts of the leaf.
Not all leaves on the tobacco plant reach maturity at the same time. For this, the best way of breaking is cut from the tobacco root when more than half of the leaves on the plant mature. It is laid on the ground and left to dry. It is turned over after 3-4 days and the other side is also allowed to dry. After they dry thoroughly, a few of them are tied together and hung on a sheltered place in a cluster.
If the plants are very tall, they can be cut in the middle and dried in two parts.
Tömbeki leaf should have stains similar to tiger hide (Pelt Pelenk) in appearance. In order to obtain the desired stains in the places where it is not falling raw, the sherbet containing liquorice or salt is sprayed by capsizing (overturning) the dried leaves.
In some places, during the drying cycle, it is preferred that the leaves are not syruped, but the piles are tempered with the following syrup, so that the leaves are more desirable and scented;
For 100 kg of tömbeki, 10 liters of water and 5 kg of licorice root are boiled in a cauldron until 4-5 kg remain. This syrup is sprinkled all over the pile. One day before bunching, 2 kg salt is dissolved in 7 liters of water for 100 kg tömbeki and the leaves are annealed with this mixture.
- Yield: It varies between 80-150 kg depending on the product taken from the decare.
- Bunching: In October - November, the leaves are taken from the cluster and bunched. Each of the yellow, red and green colored leaves is made in bundles as 15-20 separately.
- Bagging - Equation: Bundles are neatly stacked in round bags with a diameter of 50 cm and made of American cloth or canvas. When the bags are full, they are squeezed and their mouths are sewn.
- Balances care: Balances are stacked on top of each other as in tobacco boxes or bales. It is revised once a week and capsized. This capsize is done once a month during the colder months. If the tumblers in the equinox will become moldy or overheat, the bundles are spaced, ventilated and overheated.
Demand and production amount of tömbeki in our country: It has been through pilgrims and visitors from Iran and India. These pilgrims and visitors first spread the tömbeki and hookah to the supporters of Baghdad and Hejaz (1675). Thus, their use spread to other countries of the Ottoman Empire and also to Anatolia and the Islands.
There are any records that prohibit the entry and spread of the tumbler to the country. When entering the dormitory, only the customs official was taken from the tumbler after (1687). All the need was brought from Iran. It is understood from the preface that it was started to be taken that the first place where the tomb was planted in the Ottoman Empire was Baghdad and Damascus (1864).
On the other hand, the income to be collected by Düyunu Umumiye in return for debts in 1881 is also a tömbeki duty. Hookah is mostly used in Istanbul and Aegean regions of our country.
The production of tobacco water pipe tobacco trials (Isfahan and Shiraz seed) has been tested in many regions of Turkey. These trial studies were carried out as a group from 1926 to 1936 and as a separate group from 1937 to 1944 after the establishment of the Tekel Tobacco Institute. It is known that tömbeki was produced by the Reji Company in the Ottoman period. According to the existing test reports, the climate of the places where the experiment was made was not suitable for tömbeki agriculture due to its hard and cool climate; It is stated that summer comes late and spring is cold. In these places, it is emphasized that the seedlings cannot be grown in time and planted in the field, the planting can be done in June, the ripening and harvesting of the crop is in October-November, and the heat of the sun that will hit the tumbler in these months cannot completely turn yellow, so some of the crop remains green in the fields and the other in the series. . In addition, the trial productions did not yield positive results due to the reasons such as that the fields are among the gardens and woods and therefore the air and light in the garden areas are not sufficient for the pot.
The green leaves taken from the third hand of Tömbeki are placed on each other in a way that they are in full contact and they are cut with a knife as shown in the figure. Each of the 7 pieces has been tested and evaluated on dry matter. In addition, 87.2% water content was found in the green leaf blade of the tömbeki and 94.3% in the vein and stem parts.
Despite all this, and in the available reports and information, he made the conclusion that tömbeki could be grown in some parts of the country where the trial was made. Again, according to the same sources, the best results were obtained in Hatay, Antalya, Silvan, Malatya and Hadim, moderate results were obtained in Korkuteli, Elmalı, Kaş, Ceyhan and Konya, and the worst results were obtained in G. Antep and Isparta.
The annual amount spent on regular nargile in Turkey is between 75-100 tons. Production continued in Konya Hadim and Hatay, but production has decreased very much and continues only in the Hatay region.
* İnhisarlar Tobacco Institute Reports, Studies on Tömbeki Z. AKKOYUNLU Volume: 3 Issue: 2 December 1944