I had the unique opportunity to sit down with Michael Cappellini, North American Brand Ambassador of Toscano Cigars, and try Master Aged number 3 from Toscano with a tasty beverage paired. We hope you'll try this step-by-step experience with your favorite Toscano cigars and enjoy this unique episode of "Smoke Rings."

[Shane Ireland]: Welcome to another episode of Smoke Rings. I'm joined by my good friend Michael, North American Brand Ambassador for Toscano Cigars. What are we smoking today, and what is in this glass?

[Michael Cappellini]: We are smoking the Master Aged number 3. There's currently four Master Aged blends available here in the United States. The number 3 is called the Americano in Italy. It's all-American tobacco from Kentucky, Tennessee. It's a full-bodied cigar, but not super overpowering because of the specific aging process that we have with the Master Aged.

Unlike the rest of the Toscano blends that we have, these particular cigars are kept under the watchful eye and artisanal hands of our raffinatore, or our refiner, who checks the humidification level and temperature throughout the entire year-long aging process. This is the uber-premium side of Sigaro Toscano.

[SI]: Before we get into the specifics in this pairing that you have prepared for us, one thing I noticed as an avid Toscano smoker for many years is that on the first light, it has such a mature flavor profile. We just grabbed these straight from our humidor here at Low Country Pipe and Cigar.

Master Aged Process

[SI]: I've been fortunate enough to visit Lucca and see some of the normal processes. Tell me about the Master Aged process and what makes it different? How did we get to this cigar that feels like an extremely old Toscano already?

[MC]: I think what really differentiates the Master Aged, and Toscano tobacco in general, is that when we say it's aged for 12 months, that's post roll. The majority of Toscano tobacco that we have is at least aged for 18 months before the roll, if not even a little bit longer, so that's why you have a more antiquated flavor profile to it.

There's also a mixture of medium and long fill in here so when you cut it, you can tell that it's medium-long fill. I think that adds to the flavor profile too, but I think a lot of that antiquated, nostalgic sensation you're getting is from the hickory, heavy fire cure. Unlike some of the other Toscano, for me, one of the first puffs is like a Chocolato Fondente, as we say, or a dark chocolate. It's not so much milk chocolate, it's a real dark chocolate sensation to the tobacco. Definite earthy tones as you continue to smoke it. We chose to smoke this whole today to get a better understanding of the cigar and when we go into the pairing very shortly with the Godfather drink, which is a one-to-one mixture of Woodford and Duecento Disaronno.

[SI]: Well, cheers to that.

[MC]: Salut, buddy.

[SI]: Before I drink, what would you prefer for me to do here?

[MC]: The pairing sessions that I go through are four stages and I do it for particular reasons. The first one that we do is to help you understand the complexity of the tobacco. The second one is to understand the complexity of the alcohol. The third is cleansing the nasal palate and really grasping a nice, clean, crisp flavor profile from the tobacco. And then the fourth is just a little something extra I add that's just a lot of fun for everybody.

Pairing Session Stage One

[MC]: I want us to take a nice big puff of the cigar. When you do that, let the tobacco sit for a second or two. Really understand the flavor profile, retrohale if you retrohale, and then release.

[SI]: They're so good. It's ridiculous. For an all-American blend, it is so approachable.

[MC]: It is. So go ahead and take a sip of the alcohol now. Isn't that lovely? And then go ahead and take another puff of the cigar.

[SI]: Oh, wow.

[MC]: On the palate, it's very light. This is like smoking a Garibaldi compared to an all-American tobacco. Southern Italian tobacco is arguably some of the lightest tobacco because of the soil composition due to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the fire cure with oak.

What really comes to fruition on the retrohale for me is the wood fire cure with mesquite notes, and a little bit of molasses. The sweetness from both the drink and the tobacco itself comes through. Every palate differentiates, right? So you might get something a little bit different.

[SI]: By the way, for those that aren't familiar with Toscano cigars, one of the most important things to understand is that Toscano is a lot like pipe tobacco in that if you talk a lot, which I tend to do, it goes out on you.

[MC]: Absolutely. It does not mean it's a bad cigar.

[SI]: Don't be afraid of the relights.

[MC]: No, really. It's just a thick, oily leaf. The good thing about Toscano is that you can relight it a hundred times and it's not going to change the flavor profile of the cigar.

[SI]: Absolutely. Let me interject there super quick to speak some pipe language. It's actually very common with the Italian guys that are really heavy Toscano smokers, a lot of them are pipe makers. It's often that they do the delayed gratification technique, especially if we go to dinner. All of us will go outside after the first course, smoke the first ten minutes of the cigar or so, leave them on the windowsill, go back inside, eat the rest of our meal, and then come back out and smoke them later. And it's amazing.

They get even sweeter, I think, when you let them go out for a few minutes. But it's one of the things about Toscano cigars that, for me, makes them so convenient and so versatile in how you enjoy them. You don't really have to worry about setting it down for a minute if you're working, or if you're golfing, or whatever you're doing. You don't have to try really hard to keep it lit and they're very forgiving in that sense.

[MC]: They are. I think that's one of the biggest selling points too.

[SI]: I can't get this one thing out of my head. I got it at first light, I was thinking like there's some dark wine and something a little syrupy and fruity. The minute that I took the drink, I immediately got chocolate-covered cherries.

[MC]: Oh yeah, 100%, especially on the retro too.

[SI]: It's like a Luxardo cherry and a dark chocolate.

[MC]: That's absolutely right. That's why I like our Toscanello Ciaccolato, because that's literally perfect. It's unbelievable.

Pairing Session Stage Two

[MC]: For the second stage, now that we understand a little bit of the complexity of the tobacco and the cigar, let's try and understand the alcohol. Shane, I apologize. I'm making you work so hard today.

[SI]: Oh yeah. This is tough. Somebody's got to do it.

[MC]: Now go ahead, when you're done, and take a puff of the cigar. It's very light. I think I'm getting cherry from the Amaretto, a little bit of hazelnut too, that chocolate, that deep rich caramel, and the dark fire-cured molasses as it dissipates off the palate.

Now go ahead and take another sip of the drink. What you get with that is the initial hit on the palate of sweet cherry sugar from the Amaretto, but then the alcohol comes to the forefront, right? You might get a little bit of a burn in the chest. That's all indicative of the smoke kind of grasping and pulling onto the alcohol itself. It really changes the whole drink ultimately, right?

[SI]: Yeah. This drink is so simple yet so good.

Pairing Session Stage Three

[MC]: The third part of the pairing is arguably the most important stage, in my opinion. When I do my events, I always make sure that we do this part because it really is imperative to understand anything that you're tasting. Your nasal cavity is tainted no matter what at this point. The second you take one puff, that's it so what I want to do is cleanse the nasal palate and we're gonna do that with the air from the drink.

We're not gonna run it under our nose, we're actually going to take a sip of the drink, aerate the drink like you do with wine, suck air over the alcohol, and blow the air through your nose.

[SI]: Wow.

[MC]: Yeah, it's a really clean feeling on the nose. There's a nice cherry front again and a little oaky too from the cast of the Woodford. Now take a puff and retrohale this.

[SI]: Wow. There's a lot more flavor, complexity, and spice. There's even some herbal qualities coming out of this.

[MC]: There's some clover there.

[SI]: I was going to say like anise or allspice or something, but clove is more accurate.

[MC]: And then also what you start to get, in my opinion, is a little bit of cinnamon. Just warming spices, like a nutmeg cinnamon.

[SI]: It's a little bit like mulled wine with the fruity notes, the cinnamon, and the clove.

[MC]: Do you do mulled wine at Christmas?

[SI]: I do.

[MC]: I do, but it's not my favorite. I have trouble.

[SI]: It's like that thing once a year I crave.

[MC]: Yeah, but I have trouble boiling wine. That's my problem.

Pairing Session Stage Four

[MC]For the last stage, the fourth part of this particular pairing, we're actually going to smoke the alcohol. This happened by accident over COVID. I was in my studio that I created and I actually coughed, not because of COVID, just in general and smoke went on the drink that I was drinking.

[SI]: Oh, I see.

[MC]: The first thing that I want us to do is take a sip of the drink really fast. Let it kind of sit on the palate. Now, take a nice puff of it. Now watch what I do. And then do it. We're gonna take a nice puff and not blow the smoke, but release the smoke onto the alcohol.

[SI]: It just looks so good. It's everything I love in one cup.

[MC]: The trick to get it to be this beautiful is to do it nice and slowly and tip your glass so the alcohol sits almost at the rim because what happens is the sugar holds the smoke down. I want to cover your glass and kind of swirl it a little bit. If you actually look closely, it looks like the smoke is going to turn a little bit of a brownish color. You're going to want to turn the cup a little bit and release it so the smoke still stays and then go ahead and take a sip before the smoke dissipates. What you get is a sweet cherry bomb.

[SI]: Oh my God. The aromatics are insane. I've had smoked cocktails at bars and stuff, but this is just on a whole new level. They should be using dark-fired tobacco and not wood chips or whatever.

[MC]: I concur.

[SI]: Yeah, it's amazing.

Favorite Toscano Pairings

[SI]: Let me ask you this. I want to talk about the profile of the Master Aged number 3 before we conclude but I'm assuming you have done this trick with nearly everything in the Toscano portfolio.

[MC]: That's correct.

[SI]: What is your favorite pairing with a Godfather in the Toscano portfolio?

[MC]: The Duecento by far. It's more of a full-bodied cigar. I think that you get more of a bang for your buck, if that makes sense, when it's a really powerful tobacco because it actually nullifies the alcohol even more. The Master Aged number 4 goes really well with it too.

[SI]: Also I could see Antica Reserva working.

[MC]: Oh yeah, 100%. To me, the Antica Reserva was a little bit lighter than the Duecento or the number 4. Ultimately, it's fun, it's interesting, but it's also a great way to get people to really experience the cigar. It's experiential, and that's what we have to do for Toscano, especially for those that don't smoke it because we're a scary looking cigar.

[SI]: Yeah, the perception is that they're very strong. They're certainly full-bodied cigars but as somebody who's smoked them sort of rabidly for years, they're more of an all-day smoke than you might think.

Master Aged Number 3 & Other Toscano Cigars

Coming back to the cigar after all of that, I'm surprised how much of the dark fire and the mesquite vibe is tamed down. I'm tasting much more of the fruity notes and the herbal quality.

[MC]: To me, the molasses really starts to supersede the other flavor profiles there, and you get more of a sweetness than anything to the tobacco.

[SI]: There's also something that's nearly a shortbread or something.

[MC]: Yeah, the Danish cookie and shortbread vibe. It's not always the rye aspect.

[SI]: Well, if you're talking about rye, I usually associate the spiciness of a rye whiskey compared to a bourbon. You hear people say dill, you hear them say mint, like all of these very sharp, herbal notes. And I definitely get that with some Dark-Fired leaf as well.

[MC]: Definitely the mint for me, like a menthol mint type of a sensation on the palate that kind of cools it, but then also cleanses it at the same time.

[SI]: It's almost like the piney, hoppy kind of vibe that you get from beers that are hopped heavily. That's so crazy. And again, I do think that the process of the Master Aged, the fact that this is a hundred percent American, is sort of mind blowing. I like the stronger stuff. I love the Duocento. I like the Antica Reserva. I like a lot of the heavier ones, even the 1492.

[MC]: Which is another all-American tobacco. We call the 1492 a pancia grassa, or a fat belly. Knowing what I know about pipe tobacco now, the slightest addition or subtraction of a particular tobacco can change the cigar completely.

[SI]: That's always one thing as a Toscano fan that I always found so curious is that there's Italian Dark Fired from several regions and there's American Dark Fired, again, from several farms over a couple of states. It's remarkable to me what the blenders Massimo and Danilo are able to do with technically one component. The complexity that they can achieve and the variation between all of the blends.

I've been fortunate enough to sit around and talk to a lot of cigar blenders and a lot of pipe-tobacco blenders but those two guys, I mean, they're the only ones that on paper are working in such a narrow range of components available to them.

[MC]: Yet can still provide such a vast portfolio of tobacco. I'm glad you enjoyed this pairing session. The whole point is to get people to understand the experience and what we are at Sigaro Toscano.

Endless Pairing Potential

[SI]: One more quick question before I let you go. Have you tried the same trick with some straight spirits, like straight whiskey?

[MC]: Oh yeah, 100%.

[SI]: Is it worth exploring?

[MC]: It is 100% worth exploring. I will tell you that I think this is so impactful because you have a bourbon that is very straightforward, powerful, and American, and then you add in the sweetness and the fruitiness of the Amaretto Disaronno, and it really gives a bigger differential. You're not going to see as big of a difference, but the biggest differential you'll see in the four steps is going to be when you smoke it. That's going to pull that flavor profile out more than the actual alcohol content itself.

[SI]: Absolutely. There's also something beautiful about the fact that we got an Italian spirit and an American spirit in here and so much of the Toscano portfolio.

Michael, thank you so much. I really enjoyed it.

[MC]: Thank you. Always a pleasure.