Celebrating 200 Years of Italy's Toscano

摘要

It's been 200 years since Italy's former tobacco monopoly, Monopoli de Stato, began "full production" of the Toscano cigar at a new factory in Florence, the Manifattura Granducale di Sant'Orsola, but in truth its origin began three years earlier. Legend holds that the first cigars were experimentally rolled using tobacco that was fermented by accident and considered ruined by most involved in the mishap. hile there are no definitive records detailing the creation of the Toscano cigars, according to legend, one swelter-ing 1815 August day in Florence, a large | batch of imported Kentucky tobacco was said to have been piled in the courtyard of the cigar factory at the former convent of Santa Caterina when a sudden downpour completely soaked the tobacco. In an effort to save the leaf, the piles were jeft to dry in the sun, but the tobacco fermented instead. Rather than discarding the lot, the factory sorted it for usable filler and wrapper, figuring it could be used to roll low-cost cigars. Their unique, strong flavor—an accident of nature—proved to be unexpectedly popular among the local population's "rough palate" and enjoyed unexpected demand. Three years later, Ferdinand Ⅲ, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, created a new factory in Florence specifically to produce the fermented cigars and commercially market them through all of Italy's state-owned salt and tobacco shops. The cigar later became known as the Toscano.