Review: Opus X 952R
For those of you who don’t know, in 2002 Fuente partnered with Prometheus to release the so called Forbidden X Humidor, a limited run humidor (only 100 made) with 100 cigars priced at $10,000.00 each. Fifty of the cigars included in the humidor were fairly rare smokes and vitolas (for example, there were 5 of FFOX Forbidden X BBMF, 4 Forbidden X Maduro Robusto, 4 Maduro Churchill and 4 Maduro Lanceros, along with others, click the link to see the entire list.)
Among the other cigars in that humidor were ten of the so called “952R” which is a 5 3/4 x 50 Short Pyramid that had supposedly been aging since 1997, which would make the cigar 13 years old at the time of this review, and one of the oldest Opus X there is, since the Original Release of the Opus X brand was in late 1995. (Sixteen of the 952Rs were also included with each of the 200 Opus X Millennium humidors, making the total number produced of this vitola 4,200 sticks in 300 humidors.)
Now, when I purchased these five cigars, they were still in the packaging from the original humidor release, and I put them away for a while, thinking I would get to them at a later date. Well, I kinda forgot about them, and just happened to run across them recently, and decided it was (past) time to do a review.
Now, IMHO, well aged Opus X are one of the most amazing smokes in the world, and I expected this to be no different, but alas, I was to be disappointed…
- Cigar Reviewed: Fuente Fuente Opus X 952R
- Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
- Factory: Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia
- Wrapper: Dominican Chateau de la Fuente Sun Grown Rosado
- Binder: Dominican Chateau de la Fuente
- Filler: Dominican Chateau de la Fuente
- Size: 5 3/4 Inches
- Ring Gauge: 50
- Vitola: Short Pyramid
- Est. Price: $10.25 (Boxes of 18, $184.50)
- Date Released: December 2009
- Number of Cigars Released: 100 Humidors of 10 Cigars & 200 Humidors of 16 Cigars (4,200 Total Cigars)
The cigar itself was a great looking specimen, and quite firm when squeezed…the band on the cigar was quite yellow where it should be white (as it should be if it is this old), and the wrapper is a nice medium brown color and smells faintly of chocolate and cinnamon.
The dominant flavors in this cigar were a creamy cedar, coffee, a bit of spice, tobacco and a taste of an extremely earthy “grit” that was not pleasant, but was fairly interesting. The flavors just never seemed to “gel,” it was almost like they were sitting on top of each other. At the end, the cigar got so mild and flavorless that I almost put it down, since it was obvious I was wasting my time, but I DID finish it, waste of time and all.
In fact, I was so surprised about the outcome of this smoke, I gave one to a local friend to smoke, not telling him what it was before he smoked it, and he agreed with my assessment, and was astounded at what the cigar turned out to be, perhaps he will make a comment on this thread with his thoughts.
Also, while the draw and burn were great for the whole stick, the wrapper split on me in the first third of the cigar, and when I say “split,” I mean it. VERY annoying, but did not affect the flavor of the cigar in any way that I could tell, so it is just an interesting note.
The Bottom Line: I was surprised that this was an Extremely disappointing cigar, especially considering that I have smoked some OR Opus that have blown me away…This was a Very mild and annoyingly boring specimen that never got any better, in fact, at the end of the cigar, it was so flavorless, it was almost like I was smoking air through a straw. Just chalk this up to yet another “Hard to Find” cigar that has much more purpose in its rarity then in its actual flavor. (It is also an interesting look into how too MUCH age might effect a cigar negatively, but that is something I will get into at a later date.)
Final Score: 75
Man, that sucks - sorry to hear it.
Thats a shame... I hate when a stick splits. Usually an aged Opus is pretty fantastic, maybe it was a dud???
There is not always a direct correlation between price and quality.
Thanks for the review Brooks, great stuff as usual. Really sad to hear it was suck a bad stick. All of that beauty and no flavor to show for it.
Sorry about the bad luck with the stick, it seems like it stings more when you're dealing with a stick with high expectations with a price tag to match.
I agree on aged Opus. last week I had a petit lancero with about 9-10 years on it that was amazing.
Interesting. I am thinking that you may be right. Too much age, especially on a NC. Would still be interesting to try though! Thanks for the review and contest.
that's gnarly.
Cigars are like children, you like to see them mature, but you don't neccissarily like the results.
Love the reviews, both positive and negative. I've always worried about having too much age on certain cigars, maybe this one falls into that category.
YIKES!!!! A 78 from Brooks. I hope the humidor is nice. LOL Nice review.
Now if it came with an EP Carillo like AJ had I'm sure that would sweeten the deal ;)
Too bad these didnt perform well. I am a huge fan of aged opus, and would love to try one of these, even with the bad review
But the BAND was so nice!
That was a bummer. We win some and we lose some, but we have fun playing the game.
Can't all be winners. sorry brooks.
Thanks for the review. I agree with you an aged Opus is a thing of wonder. I'm surprised this one wasn't. Maybe it has too much age.
Would be willing to use my palate for science though!
I wonder what the perfect age for an Opux is, I am curious when certain cigars peak and when certain cigars decline. I've got a few sitting up for a while, and I won't wait 13 years just to be safe....;-)
Hey brooks sorry to hear about this cigar wasting your time, nice review and thanks for the contest
I smoked the Opus Maddie Churchill out of said humidor once... it was an excellent experience... oh wait, that is a different cigar. Oh well. Nothing to see here, please move along.
Thanks for the review. This is just another example of a super expensive, exclusive smoke that actually sucked. I guess in a sense its even worse than the Gurkha HMR, because you expected it to be great like other opus.
Thx for the review Brooks. It is this type of review which makes me more than happy to smoke an aged regular production Opus rather than the HTF ones.
Bummer it turned out that way. But you can now say to everyone... yup I've smoked one of those...
Dan
Yikes!
As always: negative reviews are appreciated as much as positives!
Looks like a tasty smoke, but looks can be deceiving....sometimes expectations make a cigar taste better and sometimes worse. Thanks for the review.
Hopefully mine will be better.
E
Thanks for the review Brooks; I enjoy mild smokes, so maybe I'd enjoy this one than you!
Thats too bad such a rare smoke didn't hold up to the expectations.
Well, I had the pleasure (or dis-pleasure) of being given one of these sticks recently by Brooks. I was quite excited to b given an opportunity to smoke of these "rare" Opus, as any gift from Brooks is usually NEVER anything i can find or even afford.
It had that nice Opus prel-ight smell, along with a very nice pre-light draw. For me, that's where the "positives" ended.
I was very bored with this stick from start to finish. It was VERY mild, which is shocking for an Opus, and I NEVER picked up any hint of spice or pepper whatsoever. I'm glad I followed it up with the EP Carrillo to get the taste out of my mouth. While it sounds harsh, I think I might have even uddered the words "This thing sucks" a few times.
Brooks, if I happen to be the lucky "winner" of this stick, please pass it on to someone more worthy!! :)
I'm surprised at the outcome here. It's kinda hard to believe that it was a fluke since both of your were the same.
That's too bad. It seems as though this cigar as peaked and now it's in its decline. 5 years ago it might have been good but it's all over now. Or you just got a bad couple sticks. Who knows? that's too bad though. Thats definitely the kind of cigar you have high hopes for!
Great Review Brooks. Sorry to hear that you were disappointed...
Will they keep going down? I am curious since your experience with the Robert Burns and Farachitos, etc. seems to be at least OK; now both Millenium and this are not good enough... anyway let's see whoever gets the prize may comment on the results.
Like in life, you win some, you lose some. Too bad it was a disappointment.
that's a suprise... i guess you never know how well a stick will hold up to time
How long ago did you last smoke an OR Opus? Maybe they peak?