Toscano

The house tells of a summer storm that soaked a stock of Kentucky stored at the Manifattura Tabacchi in Florence. Rather than throw it out, the spoiled leaf was left to ferment, then rolled and sold cheaply. The taste — acrid and smoky — found its public, and what should have been a loss became a way of making.

The cigar that came out of it resembles no other: tapered at both ends, swelling in the middle, and traditionally cut in two before being smoked. Two halves of one cigar, two short smokes rather than one long one — a habit born of thrift as much as of taste.

Manufacture remained a state monopoly until the end of the 20th century. Manifatture Sigaro Toscano took it over in 2006 and still rolls the higher grades by hand, in Lucca and Cava de' Tirreni.

Range Depth

• Toscano Classico

  Wrapper Kentucky · Strength Full

  The reference format, smoked as it has been since the 19th century. Wood smoke, leather, black pepper, with that frank acridity that throws you on the first draw and that you come back for afterwards. Cut in two: each half lasts half an hour.

  Toscano

• Toscanello

  Wrapper Kentucky · Strength Medium

  Half a Toscano, sold as such. Twenty minutes, the format Italy smokes at the counter with a coffee. Offered in flavoured versions — coffee, anise — that took the house to smokers whom the Classico had put off.

  Toscanello

• Toscano Originale

  Wrapper Kentucky · Strength Full

  Hand-rolled, aged longer than the Classico. The smoke rounds out without losing any of its strength: leather takes over from pepper, and a dried-fruit sweetness appears towards the end.

  Toscano

🥃 Pairings

• Grappa

  Spirits

  The country's own pairing, and the truest: grappa has the same frankness as the cigar, with no sugar to round off the edges. A cask-aged grappa rather than a white one, which would cut too sharply.

• Espresso

  Coffee

  What Italy does at the counter: a Toscanello and an espresso. The coffee's bitterness stands up to the smoke instead of submitting to it.