PCA Magazine 2022 Show Issue

28 PCA The Magazine | VOLUME 2 2022 PREMIUMCIGARS.ORG The Blend like spicy food as much as the next guy, but I don’t usually go in for veritable fire, so tonight’s incendiary bowl of over-spiced shrimp creole left me panting. A tall glass of peppermint iced tea gave only partial relief. I figured it would take a cigar with some real brawn to muscle its way to the fore of my battered senses. This seemed a perfect night to try a Toscano Extravecchio. The Extravecchio is a line that has existed since 1953, but only this year is it finding its way to American store shelves. Extravecchio, translated from the Italian, means “extra old.” Toscano says the tobaccos in the cigar require a “long fermentation process which gives the cigar a rounder character that dilutes some of its ‘angularities.’” There is also a nine-month aging process after the cigars are rolled. I won’t lie to you: This is a machine-made cigar, which puts one’s defenses up. But we shall see what we see. Out of the cellophane, the maduro- colored Extravecchio looks and feels rustic, like an old-fashioned cheroot. There are veins aplenty, and the cigar is even slightly crooked. It does appear to be amply packed—no average, over-the-counter filling- station cheapie. The Extravecchio, although a slim little number, weighs in at 8.6 grams buck-naked. As one who has smoked his share of fire- cured tobacco in pipes, I greeted the scent as a familiar companion. Smokey campfire aromas wafted forth even before light-up. One other important note: I will be smoking the Extravecchio in the traditional, Italian way—cut in half. T H E R E V I E W I Toscanos are said to be strong cigars, and my taste buds have already received a whipping tonight. Besides, I am frankly curious to know how long an Extravecchio cut down to the traditional 3” half-length will smoke. So with that, I refill my glass of peppermint iced tea, and use a single 2” strike-anywhere match to toast and blaze up the foot. The draw is perfect. Initial flavors are bitter espresso and wood. The retrohale is too much for my sinuses, but when I do dare give the retro a sniff what this cigar shows me is strong and all-natural. Also, my instinct was correct about this cigar rising to the challenge of a spice- mangled palate. One minute into the smoke, the burn I suffered from dinner is forgotten, replaced with barbecue-brisket cigar flavors and clouds of smoke, all of which I find to Toscano Extravecchio Manufacturer: Lucca, Italy by Manifatture Sigaro Toscano Size: 6 x 36 Wrapper: Tuscan Val Tiberina (Italy) Kentucky-seed fire-cured Filler: Italian (Tuscan) and American (Tennessee) Kentucky-seed fire-cured Binder: none Release Date: April 2022 MSPR: $4.12 per single; $20.60 for a 5-pack Length of smoke for half Extravecchio: 40 minutes Sample provided by Toscano Cigar CIGAR REVIEW BY WILLIAM C. NELSON