Cigar Review: Fuente Fuente Opus X Perfection
So for Christmas I splurged and bought my boys the "Cigar of the Year for 2005" Fuente Fuente Opus X. This is probably the most hyped cigar of the year and I've seen some in this line sell for over $150 for one stick. I figured that with all the hype this thing receives I just had to try it. So I got them and we sat on them for about four and a half months waiting on the perfect opportunity to burn it. Well, what better opportunity than to celebrate the engagement of one of my boys? So I arranged for us all to meet up, have some dinner, and light this bad boy up.
From first off, I was extremely excited to see what all the fuss was about. The tobacco is all dominican but I can't seem to find exactly what strain the wrapper, binder and filler is. I just know that it's the cream of the crop from Chateau de la Fuente. The prelit aroma was very different from other cigars, it was very strong. Had a heavy wood smell and a cinnamon or nutmeg aroma. I couldn't quite put my nose on a few other things I was smelling though, those were pretty powerful smells and seemed to overpower anything else that was there. The wrapper was semiglossy, suggesting it had a nice amount of oil, nice and rich. I couldnt tell but it looked like there might have been some plume on a few spots, so that was good. The wrapper was pretty veiny, but a nice rich brown color and overall the construction was very good. The cap was perfect.
The cut was uneventful, though every time I cut a cigar I tell myself "you need to buy a new Xicar" but I can't seem to spend $40 plus on it for some reason...oh well, one of these days. The cut was fine, a little uneven, but I blame that on the cutter, no big deal, doesn't really effect the way it smokes.
I was a little over excited and immediatly started to light it up, and then realized I didn't do a prelit draw, so I can't comment on the flavors or aromas there. Thats sort of disappointing, but Matt said it was pretty spicy, so I took his word for it.
The light...well, the light was pretty frustrating. At first I couldn't get one section lit, no matter how I tried and I was afraid of overlighting it so I let it smoke for a little while. The first flavor I picked up was spice, and a LOT of it. This started out as THE most spicy cigar I've ever had. It hit me all over my pallate and into my throat. I had to go get some water because it was overpowering. The burn was terrible though! All three of us had to relight (me several times, Chris a few, and Matt once). It burned uneven and needed to be corrected several times for all three of us. I was pretty disappointed in that, I figured for a cigar with this much hype and over 4 months to settle in my humidor it would burn even.
On to the flavor. As I mentioned before, this was the most spicy cigar I've ever smoked, and it produced a TON of smoke (when it stayed lit). The draw started out very light, too light for my particular preference, but then as it smoked it sort of closed up a little to exactly where I like it to be. There is one thing that I can say about this cigar though: Power House. Without a doubt, the strongest cigar I've ever had. This is NOT for amateurs (and I paid for it haha). There weren't too many complex flavors in there, but what was there was very prevalent. A very heavy wood flavor, some described it as an oak flavor and after reading that I can understand that yes that is what it was (I couldn't figure it out last night). I couldn't pick up on much else though because this cigar is so dang strong. Again, I think I might have been expecting too much, but I was a little let down by the simplicity of the flavor...and that's probably because its so strong. I feel like I'm saying the same things over and over again haha.
The ash was eh. Pretty white, not very solid, held on as it should, nothing special there.
To sum it up, this cigar is not to be taken lightly. Do not smoke on anything less than a full stomach, or you will regret it. The appearance is very elegant, the smoke is overpowering, very strong, but it had some problems staying lit.
Would I smoke this one again? Probably not (price, too strong for my taste). But at least I can say that I have tried it.
Ratings out of 10:
Appearance - 9
Cut - 7
Draw - 8
Light - 4
Flavor - 6
Ash - 7
Final: 41
From first off, I was extremely excited to see what all the fuss was about. The tobacco is all dominican but I can't seem to find exactly what strain the wrapper, binder and filler is. I just know that it's the cream of the crop from Chateau de la Fuente. The prelit aroma was very different from other cigars, it was very strong. Had a heavy wood smell and a cinnamon or nutmeg aroma. I couldn't quite put my nose on a few other things I was smelling though, those were pretty powerful smells and seemed to overpower anything else that was there. The wrapper was semiglossy, suggesting it had a nice amount of oil, nice and rich. I couldnt tell but it looked like there might have been some plume on a few spots, so that was good. The wrapper was pretty veiny, but a nice rich brown color and overall the construction was very good. The cap was perfect.
The cut was uneventful, though every time I cut a cigar I tell myself "you need to buy a new Xicar" but I can't seem to spend $40 plus on it for some reason...oh well, one of these days. The cut was fine, a little uneven, but I blame that on the cutter, no big deal, doesn't really effect the way it smokes.
I was a little over excited and immediatly started to light it up, and then realized I didn't do a prelit draw, so I can't comment on the flavors or aromas there. Thats sort of disappointing, but Matt said it was pretty spicy, so I took his word for it.
The light...well, the light was pretty frustrating. At first I couldn't get one section lit, no matter how I tried and I was afraid of overlighting it so I let it smoke for a little while. The first flavor I picked up was spice, and a LOT of it. This started out as THE most spicy cigar I've ever had. It hit me all over my pallate and into my throat. I had to go get some water because it was overpowering. The burn was terrible though! All three of us had to relight (me several times, Chris a few, and Matt once). It burned uneven and needed to be corrected several times for all three of us. I was pretty disappointed in that, I figured for a cigar with this much hype and over 4 months to settle in my humidor it would burn even.
On to the flavor. As I mentioned before, this was the most spicy cigar I've ever smoked, and it produced a TON of smoke (when it stayed lit). The draw started out very light, too light for my particular preference, but then as it smoked it sort of closed up a little to exactly where I like it to be. There is one thing that I can say about this cigar though: Power House. Without a doubt, the strongest cigar I've ever had. This is NOT for amateurs (and I paid for it haha). There weren't too many complex flavors in there, but what was there was very prevalent. A very heavy wood flavor, some described it as an oak flavor and after reading that I can understand that yes that is what it was (I couldn't figure it out last night). I couldn't pick up on much else though because this cigar is so dang strong. Again, I think I might have been expecting too much, but I was a little let down by the simplicity of the flavor...and that's probably because its so strong. I feel like I'm saying the same things over and over again haha.
The ash was eh. Pretty white, not very solid, held on as it should, nothing special there.
To sum it up, this cigar is not to be taken lightly. Do not smoke on anything less than a full stomach, or you will regret it. The appearance is very elegant, the smoke is overpowering, very strong, but it had some problems staying lit.
Would I smoke this one again? Probably not (price, too strong for my taste). But at least I can say that I have tried it.
Ratings out of 10:
Appearance - 9
Cut - 7
Draw - 8
Light - 4
Flavor - 6
Ash - 7
Final: 41