Manifatture Sigaro Toscano Italia

Very honest tobacco, it never lets you down and it will be a great help in mixing and fixing. Everytime I have to rush out, I pass quickly in its dedicated humidor where I keep it fresh, and rapidly fill whichever of my briars comes to hand. I can find some wood-nuts in the very background, but unfort'ly it burns very quickly and it needs a little calm to feel it. It is my "pipe-cigarette-tobacco", a good and no-problem busy-minded smoke. Like my "reset key".

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.

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.

This is one of the best natural italian tobacco. For the most part, the composition is: Virginia-Kentucky-Oriental (I think something like: 50-40-10%). I haven't found any 'real' aromatizant (maybe a little sweet/honey one, but it could come from Virginia). It has three 'burning-phases': during the first one, the taste is moderate sweet and spicy, with a nutty note (with the predominance of Virginia and Oriental); in the second one, it has more 'body', and the taste turns to something bitter, less sweety and more complex (the Kentucky comes out, but Virginia and Oriental equilibrate the result); in the third one, the Kentucky 'wins the game' and, so, the taste becomes similar to the Comune (always made by Manifatture Sigaro Toscano), with leather and wood notes. It's a cheap, well burning and good quality tobacco: I have always a pack at home (you can try to mix Italia with Latakia and Orientals, at the percentage of 50-40-10% - it will be a really interesting EM).

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.

Some of the reviews here are quite accurate, so I will just add a few remarks. The pouch description reads as "blend with Italian Virginia and Kentucky tobacco". So the only two tobaccos that we know for sure are inside the blend are the two above mentioned. A little Oriental may be there, but I doubt it. I don't think there is burley either. I would stick to the pouch description and say that this is a Virginia/Kentucky blend, with a negligible amount of added sweetener. It is certainly not a Danish type aromatic (!), but a natural tasting blend. It goes more in the Dutch direction, if you want. For me, a pleasant uncomplicated everyday smoke, which I recommend.

Very good and cheap tobacco, still not my favourite. If you re-moist it the flavour slight changes and the rum casting is more "heavy". In addintion you've to like italian kentuchy, if not the italian tobacco will pnch your throat.

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.

A soft tobacco today, with peculiar characteristics appreciable in the psychotropic effect. It attracts me to change the mixture often, but at least one a month is complete use of a pack is recommended!