A Pairing Rooted in Tradition

Perhaps I’ve been feeling nostalgic about our visits to Italy, or perhaps the warm summer evenings have simply had me reaching for lighter, shorter cigar and beverage pairings. Whatever the reason, I’ve been enjoying sipping various amari and other digestif-style beverages after dinner. On one recent evening, I reached for a bottle of Amaro Nonino Quintessentia. Fittingly, I paired it with a Toscano Antico.

Amaro Nonino is an Italian herbal liqueur built on a base of grappa, the grape-pomace spirit for which the Nonino family is renowned. The grappa is infused with a wide assortment of herbs, flowers, bark, and roots before being refined with aged Nonino grape distillate.

The amaro offers a pleasing balance of sweetness and bitterness, with the sweeter notes holding a slight edge. Orange peel, honey, alpine herbs, and a gently bitter marmalade note lead the profile. Though most often served as a digestif, Amaro Nonino is also consumed as an aperitif, most often in a cocktail such as the Amaro Nonino Spritz or a Paper Plane.

Whenever we visit Italy, one of my first stops is a tabaccheria to pick up a few Toscano cigars. Inevitably, a handful make the trip home with me. The Toscano Antico featured here has been resting in my humidor since our Spring 2024 visit.

Toscano Antico is one of the bolder smokes in the Toscano lineup. The wrapper is made from select North American Kentucky, fire-cured for over 30 days using hickory and oak. The binder leaves are a blend of Italian Kentucky, primarily from Tuscany, and North American Kentucky grown in Kentucky and Tennessee. The North American wrapper and extended aging produce a more assertive smoke than classics such as the Toscano Classico.

A Toscano Antico enjoyed alongside Amaro Nonino Quintessentia makes for more than a harmonious pairing. It feels rooted in tradition. Sipping an Italian amaro while smoking Italy’s iconic fire-cured cigar evokes a shared heritage that extends well beyond flavor.

Neither is particularly sweet, nor aggressively bitter. Instead, each occupies the broad middle ground where wood, herbs, spice, and restrained sweetness overlap. Together, they create a pairing that feels unmistakably Italian.

The Toscano Antico opens with the unmistakable aroma of fire-cured Kentucky tobacco. Campfire smoke, toasted oak, black pepper, and dry earth establish a rustic foundation that is bold without becoming harsh. As the cigar settles, notes of leather, roasted walnuts, bitter cocoa, and espresso emerge, adding depth while retaining its characteristically savory profile.

The initial flavors of this particular cigar were softer than I remember from freshly purchased examples. That gentle rounding of the profile is exactly what I expected after two years of rest, as the flavors have had time to meld and mellow.

The first sip of the Amaro Nonino introduced orange peel, honey, alpine herbs, and warm baking spices to the mix. The honey lends just enough sweetness to soften the sharper edges of the Kentucky tobacco.

One of the more surprising aspects of the pairing is how it changes both components. The cigar becomes slightly rounder and more refined, while the amaro loses much of its perceived sweetness, revealing additional layers of herbs and spice. 

As with my earlier pairing of Southern Draw Evening Primrose and Amaro Montenegro, I found that those moments are what make pairing cigars with amari so enjoyable. Neither simply accompanies the other; rather, each subtly reshapes the experience of the other. Discovering those changes is part of the pleasure.

Midway through the smoke, the cigar truly hits its stride. Deeper cocoa and espresso notes emerge. The interplay of bitter cocoa and espresso from the cigar complements the orange marmalade, toasted oak, vanilla, and herbal complexity of the amaro. Even in the finish, the flavors linger on the palate with lasting wood smoke, herbs, citrus, and sweet nuts.

As the cigar neared its end, nearly ninety minutes after lighting, roasted wood and black pepper reached their peak. The warm herbs and bright citrus of the Nonino refreshed the palate, keeping the final third from becoming heavy.  

I found myself slowing down, allowing several minutes between draws and small sips. The Toscano Antico burned slowly and steadily, requiring little attention beyond simply savoring the flavors.

Toscano Antico and Amaro Nonino proved to be an exceptionally satisfying after-dinner combination. More than simply complementing one another, they captured something of the relaxed rhythm of evenings we’ve enjoyed in Italy.

As the sun slowly disappeared beyond the trees, I found myself thinking once again of the sunsets over the canals of Venice. While I may have been sitting on a screened porch in rural Virginia rather than beside an Italian canal, for an hour and a half, the pairing brought those memories pleasantly back to life.

Cheers!