Thanks @Aero I am glad to share, to participate as I realized as well that it is not very well documented …
I talked about it a bit here:
I am not sure if they are related , I still got to find out how they do nowadays but it seems to be very location dependent.
I do think that the Zamal coming from the east is buried underground in banana leaves, at least in the humid areas. The bouquets are more compressed and they taste like ground.
But from drier places (far south) I am not sure… it’s different, less moldy, more resin, taste less like ground and bouquets are more aerated … They might be dried under the sun?
I am not familiar with Malawi plants and cobbing in general. But still very interesting topic.
Cheers