OpusX Scorpio Maduro

In November of 2011, Arturo Fuente and Prometheus released the latest version of the popular The Fuente Story humidors. The humidors commemorate the 99th anniversary of the Arturo Fuente Cigar Co. Inside each of the 1,912 humidors are four different, fairly rare cigars.

One of those is the Fuente Fuente OpusX Scorpio, which was first released in 2007 as part of the Journey to Chateau de la Fuente humidor release. Since then, it has gone on to appear in numerous Prometheus/Fuente humidors.

The astrological scorpio is fairly important to the Fuente family, so it is no surprise they named a cigar after it. An excerpt from “Journey to Chateau de la Fuente” reads:

And when one asks about the picturesque painted rock scorpion colorfully stretched out across a green expanse of lawn, Carlito will tell you that Scorpio was the astrological birth sign of his grandfather Arturo, born on November 18th. Perhaps not by chance, this was also the date the very first boxes of Fuente Fuente OpusX were shipped to America.

Included in each sampler are:

• The biography of Carlos Fuente Sr.
• Don Arturo Gran AniverXario Natural
• Don Arturo Gran AniverXario Sun Grown
• Don Carlos Edicion de Aniversario Double Robusto
• Fuente Fuente OpusX Scorpio Maduro

(Pictures via press release)

In May 2011, there was another release of the same humidor, but included:

• 1 Don Arturo Gran Aniverxario Natural
• 1 Don Arturo Gran Aniverxario Sun Grown
• 1 Don Carlos Edicion de Aniversario Double Robusto
• 1 OpusX Tauros the Bull

Instead of 2,011 humidors, Fuente released only 1,912 humidors, a reference to the year Fuente was founded.

• Cigar Reviewed: Fuente Fuente OpusX Scorpio Maduro
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia
• Wrapper: U.S.A. (Connecticut Broadleaf)
• Binder: Dominican Republic (Sun Grown)
• Filler: Dominican Republic (Sun Grown)
• Length: 5 3/4 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 56
• Vitola: Double Robusto
• MSRP: $41.50 (Travel Humidors of 4 Cigars, $165)
• Release Date: November 2011
• Number of Cigars Released: 500 Opus 22 2010 Humidors of 1 Cigar & 2,011 The Fuente Story of 1 Cigar (2,511 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 2

The Scorpio Maduro is covered in an extremely dark brown wrapper that smells strongly of barnyard, manure, wood and leather. It has the ideal amount of give when squeezed and the Connecticut broadleaf is quite toothy along its length, although there are no bumps or seams to be seen.

The first third starts off with quite a strong black pepper overtone, along with flavors of toast, barnyard and dark bitter chocolate. Very strong flavors to start, and the strength of the Fuente creation is fairly high out of the gate as well.The second third shifts a bit with less obvious black pepper, although definitely still noticeable, and more of a dark earthy profile. Still a bit of bitter chocolate as well, but no spice to speak of. Strength is increasing and by the end of the second third of OpusX Scorpio Maduro, the cigar is easily a strong medium.The final third continues like the previous with about the same black pepper, and the same dark chocolate and earth. However, the big change was the strength, which continued to ramp up until it was a solid full by the time I quit.

Final Notes

• While the original OpusX Maduro wrappers were Cuban-seed grown at Chateau de la Fuente, the newer ones all use Connecticut broadleaf.
• A portion of the sales proceeds will be donated to Cigar Family Charitable Foundation.
• The ash on the OpusX Scorpio Maduro is a very light gray, not quite white.
• Burn and draw were great for both samples that I smoked, a pleasure to smoke.
• The Final Smoking Time for this cigar was one hour and 25 minutes.
• Although just about every place I looked only sell these in the Fuente Story packs (for around $165), site sponsor Tobacco Grove are selling them in singles for $41.50. Go here if you want one.

Brooks Whittington

I have worn many hats in my life up to this point: I started out as a photojournalist for the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, then transitioned to photographing weddings—both internationally and in the U.S.—for more than a decade. After realizing that there was a need for a cigar website containing better photographs and more in-depth information about each release, I founded my first cigar blog, SmokingStogie, in 2008. SmokingStogie quickly became one of the more influential cigar blogs on the internet, known for reviewing preproduction, prerelease, rare, extremely hard-to-find and expensive cigars, and it was one of the predecessors to halfwheel, which I co-founded.