1 review for Toscano Classico
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Toscano Classico
Overall Score
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CigarHub
Format : Cheroot
Size : 6 x 38 (at middle)
Wrapper : Italian Kentucky
Filler : Blend of Italian and American Kentucky
Hand-Made
Price : : 5-pack for £26.39 ($17.95 US on Italiansmokes.com)
Today we have another guest review by Chris, an aficionado from the UK who runs a YouTube channel called CigarHub Cigar Reviews. Enjoy!
I never have much time for writing reviews, I mainly stick to my video reviews and that’s it. But when it comes to something astonishing it’s definitely worth the effort to make this cigar more known to those who are lucky enough to get ahold of some. This isn’t your average Cuban, this isn’t your average Dominican, Nicaraguan, or even Honduran – this is something completely special from Italy and was a real pleasant surprise for me.
Appearance and construction : [rating:5/5]
Straight off the bat, it’s hardly something you’ll have seen before. A cigar of these long thin proportions tapering on both ends isn’t a common thing. Rough. If you’ve read my written review on the Jose L Piedra Conservas, you’ll think I only find the roughest rolled cigars to be the best – far from the case, but I have to say that without a doubt while a very rough leaf is used, it’s extremely premium. Rather than a wrapper, it’s more of a shell – extremely thick and tough. From experience you can chew these cigars ‘til eternity and they’ll still be holding up. No bad spots, heavy on the veins – but that’s all part of the rustic look. Squeezing this cigar throughout its fairly firm, and doesn’t yield.
It’s a unique smell. It’s quite potent of a cigarette hand rolling tobacco, not quite pipe tobacco but in that direction. Something along those lines with possibly even a little rubbery tint to it, it’s something unique. Dry taste testing confirms this quite strongly. This is an indication of what’s to come, something with the convenience of a cigar but the amazing long time relaxation and taste of smoking a pipe. I couldn’t rate this any less than perfection, but then again you may have a different opinion on rustic looking cigars.
Smoking experience : [rating:4.5/5]
Light up is simple, use a match – due to the tapered ends even small household matches will do – and pick any end to smoke from, and give it a few lit puffs.
It’s hard to get the question out my head “Is this just a light nutty flavour?” It’s extremely pleasant, but something else in there. Something much like a decent unflavoured pipe tobacco, something even like a cigarette rolling tobacco fresh out the packet – it’s definitely that smell that draws us to tobacco for enjoyment whenever we open a packet or tin or walk into a tobacconist.
Machine rolled, but the machines in this case are doing better than some of the best premium rollers I have seen, the tobacco selection in this is incredible. A little coffee tint on cigars as in this case always encourages me to retrohale, and yep there’s a strong coffee taste flowing through, very little burn on the nose compared to most cigars; it’s quite enjoyable to do so throughout smoking. Very creamy and tasting exactly as it smells.
I find the ash on these impressive, maybe one inch segments but it splits out, almost like pipe tobacco almost splaying out as you light it for the first time before tamping. I’ve never had the burn fail me on one of these cigars.
These burn very slowly, and as I said earlier you can chew on the plug for as long as you want, leaving it sitting in your mouth hanging like you would a pipe. If you do some relaxing activities such as a little bit of golf, some fishing maybe, then I’d more than strongly recommend these. Even fifteen minutes in, very little progress on the actual cigar itself – the flavours are still a nice and quite smooth nutty taste with some coffee in the back, the whole collection of flavours being on the sweeter side.
I’ve noticed this as a feature in all the Classicos I’ve had but as you get into the second third of the cigar, those middle two inches have a little bit of an extra woody taste. Probably some extra filler to bulk up the thicker mid section, and it actually works quite nicely; pleasant taste.
45 minutes in, and give or take some room for the plug we’ll have left, this is actually doing quite fast on time. Generally I’d expect this to be a two hour cigar, but maybe I’m smoking this one a little fast to get a bit more affirm on the flavours to report on them. I’m a busy guy, lots of work to do and even right now I’m working on setting up my own UK tobacconist while writing this review, and this is specifically the cigar I need to help relax while tense – and it can help with the relentless chewing too.
Finishing off an hour and 45 minutes in, smoking this quick as I’ve said, fantastic cigar to enjoy while concentrating on something else, really adds to your experience. Ending with some nutty and some subtle earthy flavours but this review isn’t about the flavours, it’s the experience.
Conclusion : [rating:4.5/5]
I can only put this as a 4.5 out of 5 instead of the full 5/5, because it isn’t for a lot of occasions – if you want a cigar to sit and enjoy for a vast array of flavours and something to focus on, this isn’t the cigar for you. But if you want to add some relaxation into an activity, this is without a doubt my perfect recommendation. Something I can strongly recommend doing is cutting one of these cigars in half with a guillotine cutter. Each is a very good hour long smoke, and doesn’t commit you very much. This is definitely getting at least a mention if not a high spot in my top cigars for reviewing this year. You don’t get better value for the experience.
Budgie
It’s actually not uncommon for these to be cut in half and smoked as two shorter sticks. Given the relative power of these, I do that and find the resultant 25 or so minutes quite satisfying enough.
dave b
Always like to have something a little different around and these look perfect, Heading to the website now!
David bailey
Always buy classicos when in Italy offer excellent value there. Also remind me of my grandfather’s pipe tobacco smell. Very slow burner and never had one go out on me. Full flavoured long lasting and who would not fancy being clint eastwood for an hour or two.
Les Lira
Amazing review that I concur with 100%…especially “the experience” along with superb quality of the smoke. I discovered this treat while working for a year in Libya recently. Talk about needing something to help unwind. I enjoyed a “Toscani”, as my revolutionary friend called them, most nights as we sat on the deck listening to the things that go pop and boom in the night…
Ross Kroeber
The Toscano cheroots were made famous by Clint Eastwood’s character in the spaghetti western movie series, “Man with No Name.” Trying to be like Clint, II ordered a pack of these about 15 years ago to try them out… guess I’m not as tough as Clint, as I could choke through only about 3 of those bad boys before tossing the rest of the pack.
awiQQ
Can’t agree more, perfect smoke for a value, can be smoked during lawn mowing, etc.
P.S. Don’t put Toscanos into humidor, you would destroy the draw and taste.