ETI (Ente Tabacchi Italiano) - Italia pipe tobacco reviews

Review

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Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
Showing reviews 1 through 9 of 9 reviews of this tobacco
Vovinam	12/19/2011	Medium to Strong	None detected	Medium to Full	Strong
Probably the most rappresentative tobacco produced in Italy. It's a very fine natural tobacco and a usefull blending base. Virginia, Italian Kentucky and abundant presence of Orientals are the ingredients. With the simple add of Latakia in the mesure of 15-30% you obtain a medium-full english mixture natural in taste and with a rough note of Toscano cigar. Some friends name this home made blend "appenninica". Another typical mixture is Italia and some cigars cut of Toscano. Smoked just alone, orientals and kentucky prevail on Virginia giving, instead of sweetness, a spicy and full taste. Simple but not expected. Strong but not overwhelming. If you love natural tobacco without presence of any top casing or aromatic adds at my advice this is a "must". I can't live without this, 4 Stars!!!! Type: Natural mixture medium ; Contents: Italian Kentucky, Virginia, Oriental ; Cut: Shag, medium size ; Humidity: Moist but not much ; Lighting: Not always so easy, need some experience. Medium time burning but sometimes need to be relighted ; Pipe recommended: Any pipe is good, try it with different perspective.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
JohnnyMcPiperson	07/24/2011	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Mild to Medium	Tolerable
This blend didn't strike me as anything particularly special although it did have a hint of something I wasn't quite sure about, can't quite describe it. Anyways, overall this was a great simple blend, a good companion while I was hopping from place to place and walking around all day touring Europe for a month with a backpack and a railpass! Picked it up in Florence, and for a quick grab, euro baccy, I would recommend it, especially if you are on the go and just want a mild all day walking around sort of smoke.
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Steden	05/17/2011	Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium	Tolerable to Strong
Simply and reliable blend, it derives from small harvests so production is inconsistently and you may find some differences of moisture or balancing from a pouch to another, it also is very natural with a bit of roughness and due the combination of Orientals and Kentucky it has a fusty room note though not too lingering indoor and with a bland “sillage” outdoor…... this to list the defects which are widely counterbalanced by many qualities: if smoked alone Italia is a tasteful blend, sweet, musky, grassy, with a good earthy edge, cool and gentle to the mouth, bold but not too strong. Italia is an intriguing diversion per se or a surprising ingredient for blending, it worth a try for sure.
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Archimagister	10/01/2010	Mild to Medium	Medium to Strong	Medium to Full	Tolerable
This stuff is really unexpensive. You can get a 40g pouch for less than half the local price of a tin of Dunhill or Peterson, or a third of what these older brothers cost in France. Strictly speaking it doesn't compare, but it manages to hold its own and deliver a satisfactory smoke. Upon lighting up the dominant note is that of a rather cheapo casing, vaguely reminiscent of Radford Old Scotch (the cut is also very similar). The orientals don't kick in at once. It's not until half bowl, when the burning is well under way, that the aroma suddenly gets fuller and more complex, with a pleasant hint of spiciness. From here on it affords some surprisingly rewarding puffs. I discovered this while toiling through a disappointing tin of 3 Noggins, and I'm sorry for mr. Rattray, but his stuff will have to wait until I'm done with Italia. The quality/price relationship just blows away a number of more ambitious but ultimately less reliable mixtures. A no-nonsense tobacco that I'll probably stick to, and a good resource in between experiments. Two and a half stars, with room for improvement.
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BowHunter	06/23/2010	Mild to Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Tolerable
For about 4 Euro you can smoke a real good tobacco. I love the taste it leaves on the lips. Smoke it and it will bring you in a land of natural smoke, mediterranean tastes without loosing the sweet note of the excellent tobaccos employed. Oriental gives this tobacco a wonderful taste. Unfortunately you can find this tobacco only in Italy, but if you are there on holiday, just BUY IT. You won't regret when you'll be smooking it after a pizza or after spaghetti all'amatriciana. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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stonedz	05/15/2010	Medium to Strong	Extremely Mild	Medium	Tolerable
Nice italian tobacco, I like the orientals and the quality of the Virginia in it. I like to mix it with another italian tobacco called Forte.
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Clarkus	03/05/2010	Medium	None detected	Medium to Full	Tolerable
Thanks to Steden, I have the opportunity to smoke this blend. There isn't anything I can add to Skando's description but I can add my opinion regarding flavor and quality. I like it. The tobaccos are expertly blended and of good quality. Its flavor comes from the tobaccos alone and not any kind of topping that I could detect. The Oriental is the magic in this one. I only wish this could be found as an "over the counter" tobacco in the US as I think this pouch will go up in smoke rather quickly. If I have the opportunity to visit Italy again, this will be the tobacco I bring back.
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Skando	07/05/2009	Medium	None detected	Medium	Tolerable to Strong
Italia is a honest natural blend produced in Italy, I believe entirely from italian harvested tobaccos. Sometime it's suprisingly good quality... sometime not. It depends from lots and age, I think. The fact is that E.T.I. - the ex-public monopolist company, now belonging to B.A.T. group - seems not having interest enough in developing (or even maintaining) the pipe tobacco market: Italia stands as the only italian pipe tobacco, being its two brothers Comune and Forte something born for the RYO scope. It's a medium ribbon mix of bright and brown leaves: the declared composition is Virginia, Oriental and Kentucky, which I find to be absolutely correct. The pouch smells fresh, grassy with flowery notes coming from the Orientals, and some faint toasty notes from the Kentucky. No doubt I was luck to find a fresh pouch. Italia is far better smoked into medium to large bowls. Lights and behaves absolutely easy. The smoke is something of the VaOr family plus the earthy/smokey character of the Ky. Strenght starts from mild-to-medium and develops to medium-to-strong. It never bites nor stresses the palate, the pipe remains always fresh. The slow smoke delivers very natural tobaccoey notes, sometimes sweet, others salty, flowery, peppery, toasty. Due to it's composition and cut, Italia is a blend very good for home made english mixtures, from the simple addition of some pinches of Latakia to more complex adventures.
Reviewed By:	Date:	Strength:	Flavoring:	Taste:	Room Note:	Recommendation:
g_andrini	12/14/2008	Medium	Extremely Mild	Medium to Full	Pleasant to Tolerable
It's a good italian mixture. Very cheap.
Showing reviews 1 through 9 of 9 reviews of this tobacco