Arturo Fuente Honors L.J. Peretti’s 150th Anniversary With Special OpusX

Founded in 1870, Boston’s L.J. Peretti Co. is one of the oldest tobacconists in America. To celebrate the accomplishment, the store’s pipe tobacco blenders created special blends and also asked some cigar companies to make anniversary cigars. Given that the anniversary took place in 2020, it should be of no surprise to learn things didn’t go exactly as planned. Last month, roughly three years late, Arturo Fuente finally delivered the cigar it created for L.J. Peretti’s 150th anniversary.

It’s the Fuente Fuente OpusX L.J. Peretti Toro, a 6 3/4 x 50 toro extra size. According to Carlos “Carlito” Fuente Jr., the cigar is very similar to the OpusX 25—a cigar Fuente made to celebrate the 25th anniversary of OpusX—though it’s not identical. L.J. Peretti priced the 10-count boxes at $320, though they have since sold out.

Fuente Jr. said the store asked about making an anniversary cigar roughly eight years ago, and he agreed. Then the anniversary came and went without a cigar and the store stopped asking about the anniversary cigar. Last year, the cigars were finished, and Fuente sent them to the store as a surprise.

“Since (Robert) “Bob” Peretti (owned it), in the front of the store, right in downtown Boston, they have had a big Fuente sign,” said Fuente Jr. to halfwheel. “Edgar Cullman Sr. (the former owner of General Cigar Co.) used to go by there all the time and say, ‘I want to have a Macanudo sign and this and that.’ And (Peretti) said, ‘no, the Fuente sign will stay here.’ And we were no one. But they loved my father. The relationship goes back to Fred Zaniboni, our original sales manager who was instrumental in taking Fuente from Tampa and Union City, N.J. and Miami—the Cuban markets. He was the one that started going smoke shop to smoke shop, and he was very close to Bob Peretti. (Peretti) believed in us. And they’ve been very loyal, very faithful to us and I wanted to do something very special. That’s something I don’t do for everyone.”

Robert Peretti was the store’s third-generation owner, the grandson of founder Libero Joseph Peretti, who left Switzerland for Boston. The business once included a cigar factory and multiple stores in Boston, though today it has just one location at 2 1/2 Park Square, right on the outskirts of Boston Common. Steven Willett is the current owner and the connections between the Fuente family and the store remain unique. For example, Carlos Fuente III, Fuente Jr.’s son, recently worked at L.J. Peretti while he was studying at Northeastern University.

Featured Image via L.J. Peretti