Yes really. At least, so I've heard. I heard once of an article in a spanish edition of high times (from
this post here on ICmag) where the reporter hung out with some thai(?) monks(?) who showed him their style of putting big ol "thai" sticks inside of clay pots that they then seal (perhaps with a bubble hash type substance, the poster speculated) and then placed on top of coals for a period of time. This would certainly impart a cob style cure. I have also heard of thai people stuffing bud (and also tea leaves!) inside of bamboo shoots that they seal and bury. See the "edible pickled tea" section under
this wiki article on Fermented Tea for a description of the process. Note "pressed", "anaerobic", "fermented", etc, and how the fermenting process makes an edible end product. Positively a cob cure. Also interesting is this article on
compressed tea, a similar product.
The idea that Malawi invented fermentation style curing or are the only ones to have practiced it is simply a myth started because a Malawian (Tangwena) is the one who has helped popularize, refine, and spread the knowledge of this style of cure in modern times via the net, and naturally he spoke from his own experiences in Malawi. So therefore people assume that's where it all comes from. In china people used to "cob" tea leaves into coins that they
used as currency! Hash coins anyone? They beat Ricky by a couple hundred years that's for sure. Not to mention the VERY similar curing styles for tobacco known as Perrique and Black Cavendish, which are compressed and aged. Watch these old farts on yt (don't know how to do embeds sorry) roll up a cob of perique before most of us ever knew what cobbing was:
How To Make A Perique