The Toscano Cigar
Manufactured in Tuscany Italy is the cigar by Manifatture Sigaro Toscano SpA and they are located in Lucca. The love for the cigar runs deep in Italy. In 1818 Ferdinand III founded a tobacco factory where the story begins....
The tobacco being used at the time was a Kentucky pipe tobacco and by accident the tobacco was left in the rain one day and fermented in the summer heat. The tobacco was going to be thrown away instead they rolled them into cigars and by every ones surprise the taste was great!
The production took off and the people of Italy were hooked. The cigars had a weird shape to them. The center was full but the ends were pulled in.
The surface is uneven and the texture rough but the flavor was full and the aroma was heavenly.
Kentucky tobacco is cultivated in several regions of Italy. The wrapper is a North American Kentucky leaf that is wider but the Southern Italian Kentucky leaf from Campania and Umbria are used for a sweeter flavor on occasions.
The filler is a combination of Italian and Kentucky leaves and on occasion a South American blends in as well.
he difference in these Toscano cigars is that unlike traditional cigars they take the filler and wrap it up with the wrapper using no binder. Once the fermented cured leaves are rolled they are taken to a air dry chamber and they are aged. They company makes 27 different varieties of cigars, each aging at different lengths to bring out separate flavors.
If the cigar looks familiar you might think back to the movie the Good,Bad and the Ugly with Clint Eastwood
and there they are being chewed on in every scene. The
cigars were manufactured all over Italy and perhaps
the great tenor Pavarotti remembered his mom at the
cigar factory and had one once in a while bringing back
those care free moments in time.
