OpusX The Great Smoke 2021

One of the things I enjoy about the cigar community is the ability to pleasantly surprise a fellow cigar smoker with a certain cigar, maybe something rare or simply something they’ve been wanting to try but haven’t yet been able to. Likewise, I’ve been fortunate to be on the receiving end of some gifted cigars that were certainly pleasant and very welcomed surprises.

But when it comes to getting people to spend money on a surprise, the results can be mixed. Personally, I’m not always crazy about the idea, more for an aversion to feeling like I didn’t get my money’s worth than embracing the possibility that I could get something worth more than what I paid. Yet spending a good amount of money on a sampler of unknown cigars is what a small number of companies and a prominent retailer have been doing more recently by way of Advent calendars, and in the case of that retailer—Smoke Inn in South Florida—a Hanukkah-themed sampler.

This leads to how we got this cigar, the Fuente Fuente OpusX The Great Smoke 2021.

As the name suggests, it came out two years ago as part of The Great Smoke 2021, the store’s annual consumer event held in February. The cigar wears the same primary band as that of the OpusX 2020, a Dominican puro line created for exclusive release in the United Arab Emirates. As part of the blending and production process for that line, Carlos “Carlito” Fuente Jr. created this vitola with the intention of saving it for the birth of his grandson, an event that was not on the horizon but something he hoped to be around to see. However, Fuente said that the COVID-19 pandemic changed his perspective on stashing things like this away “like a squirrel,” as he put it, since he may not be around to see the birth of that grandson.

So Fuente pulled the cigars out of his aging room to be released at The Great Smoke 2021 so that Fuente could be around to see the cigars enjoyed by people he considers friends and family.

The cigar measures 6.92 inches long, close enough to call it seven inches long, with a 49 ring gauge, which makes it a double corona, though a bit shorter than the traditional Cuban double corona, which measures 194mm—or 7 5/8 inches—long with a 49 ring gauge.

From what I have been able to find, the Fuente Fuente OpusX The Great Smoke 2021 was made available to attendees of The Great Smoke 2021, limited to just 100 boxes of 10 cigars, and it appears to have sold for $400 per box.

We acquired this cigar by purchasing Smoke Inn’s Hanukkah Holiday Box, a nine-count sampler that was created last year for Hanukkah. Those samplers were priced at $159, and just 500 were made, all of which have since been sold.

• Cigar Reviewed: Fuente Fuente OpusX The Great Smoke 2021
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia.
• Wrapper: Dominican Republic
• Binder: Dominican Republic
• Filler: Dominican Republic
• Length: 7 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 49
• Vitola: Double Corona
• MSRP: $40 (Box of 10, $400)
• Release Date: February 2021
• Number of Cigars Released: Undisclosed
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

Note: Since halfwheel launched in 2012, we have started off each new year with a week of reviews that are different from the other parts of the year. Rather than reviewing new cigars, we try to find cigars people might consider a holy grail cigar. These reviews are scored the same as our regular reviews, though oftentimes we are only able to procure one of the cigars, so many of these reviews are based on smoking one cigar instead of our normal three cigars per review. You can read more Holy Grail Week reviews by clicking here. — Charlie Minato.

After sliding the Fuente Fuente OpusX The Great Smoke 2021 out of its cellophane, the next thing I need to do is slide off the cedar sleeve, which has a red ribbon just above its foot. Once that’s off, the wrapper reminds me a bit of a Cameroon leaf, though without the reds. There’s some mottling and some variation in the color between the visible seam lines. The wrapper doesn’t appear to have much in the way of oils, though my fingers pick up a bit of oiliness. The cigar has an interesting feeling of density and firmness; the cigar appears to have just a bit of a press, but it doesn’t have the density of a box-pressed cigar. But it also doesn’t have the density of a round cigar, as its front side feels like it has a bit more give than the back side, while the left side—as the cigar faces me—feels like it has more give than the right. Visually, the cigar looks very good, but as I approach the cap to clip it for the cold draw, it does appear to be a bit flatter than the norm. The wrapper has a light and slightly sweet aroma, not too far off from the top of a glazed donut. The foot is much more developed, reminiscent of a cross-section of a glazed old-fashioned donut. The cold draw is smooth and easy but not open or loose, while the flavor skews towards dry tobacco with a bit of sweetness.

The Fuente Fuente OpusX The Great Smoke 2021 starts off smoother than I think of most OpusX releases, which I generally associate with some pepper out of the gate. Instead, I get a slightly sweet profile that reminds me of some sweet breads until the first clump of ash falls off, at which point I get some hearty black pepper from the profile. There is some very enjoyable creaminess that comes in not long after that to provide an interesting counterbalance to the pepper, as well as a fantastic complexity that quickly elevates how enjoyable the profile is, hitting my palate the way a rich, creamy dessert would. Once the flavor hits that high point, it stays there for most of this section, making only minimal changes in the finishing sweet note that I find in the aroma, shifting to a floral and light fruit note from a more vanilla and cream combination. While there are some heavier flavors of nuttiness, dry earth, and the previously mentioned pepper, I don’t find them to have quite as profound of an impact as this section seems aimed right at my sweet tooth, though I don’t want this to be interpreted as the cigar being overly sweet. I think it’s more that what this OpusX has to offer in this section just really aligns with some flavors I find very enjoyable in food. Flavor is medium-plus, body is medium and strength is mild-plus. Construction is fantastic, with solid smoke production, an even burn line and no burn issues thus far.

Creaminess is the first thing that comes to mind as the second third gets underway, though it is quickly challenged by pepper both on the palate and through the nose. There seems to be a bit of a mellowing of the flavors as this section begins, as the intensity settles down just a touch and the flavors don’t feel like they are quite jumping off the cigar as they had been in the first third. By losing some of the top-end creaminess and sweetness, it creates the opportunity for other flavors to stand out, and in this section, I begin to get some coffee, cereal grains, a thin sensation of oatmeal, touches of lumber and a touch more dry earth. It’s not quite what I would describe as an abrupt transition, but once it starts, it progresses steadily and leaves the fantastic first third further and further in the rearview mirror. Flavor is still in medium-plus territory, though by way of a different profile than what the first third offered. Body is still in medium territory as well, while strength is closer to medium than mild. The draw, burn line and smoke production are still good, but one relight has me wondering if it was an isolated incident or a sign of issues to come.

The final third starts with a bit of irritation to the eyes, as the Fuente Fuente OpusX The Great Smoke 2021 gets a bit smokier and seems to be taking on a distinctively different profile from what it offered in the first third. The woodiness has a bit of char and campfire to it, the coffee note is a touch stronger, I get touches of charred steak, and with it, a more pronounced black pepper. The smoke gets drier and picks up a bit of dry cream, which is about the only connection I can make to the first third making for an increasingly stark comparison. The one thing that the Fuente Fuente OpusX The Great Smoke 2021 doesn’t pick up is a heavy earthiness, which,  given its other aspects, might seem like a natural progression. Still, the Dominican tobaccos might not be capable of delivering. A vibrant pepper leads the way for the rest of the flavors as the cigar heads to its conclusion, reiterating the changes that the OpusX The Great Smoke 2021 has undergone since its beginning. Flavor is full, body is medium-plus and strength is medium but not enough to affect my system. The combustion issues I was concerned about in the second third continued into the final third, slowing down and interrupting the flow of the cigar, but it managed to maintain a pretty decent draw and burn line amidst the handful of relights needed.

Final Notes

• During The Great Smoke, Abe Dababneh, owner of Smoke Inn, along with Michael Herklots of Ferio Tego, did an interview with Carlos “Carlito” Fuente Jr. that can be seen here.

• I love that Arturo Fuente adds the name of the cigar to the cellophane, both of this cigar and many of the releases for Casa Fuente and other limited editions.
• I don’t know how simple or complicated it is to apply such imprints to the cellophane, but I’d love to see more manufacturers do it to help better identify their limited editions for which a secondary band either isn’t practical or gets omitted for some other reason.
• I must also say that the detail on the OpusX bands is top-notch; these are consistently some of the best bands in the industry, and no matter how many I smoke, I find myself stopping to appreciate the level of detail in them.
• I have yet to figure out why eye irritation almost always seems to hit me in the final third of cigars. I have to think some of it is proximity, but I rarely get the kind of irritation I got in the final third of this cigar in the first third of other cigars.
• At the end of the interview, two singles of the Fuente Fuente OpusX The Great Smoke 2021 were auctioned off by Michael Herklots, fetching $1400 per cigar from two people.
• In terms of production numbers, Fuente Jr. referenced there being about 1,500 cigars made, which lines up with the 100 boxes of 10 cigars for the initial release, and while I don’t know if every Hanukkah sampler contained this cigar, given that there were 500 of them, makes for pretty tidy math.
• In terms of strength, I found this cigar to offer just enough to be noticeable but not enough to be impactful to my system.
• Arturo Fuente advertises on halfwheel.
• Smoke Inn sent a Hanukkah Box to halfwheel, but the cigar that was smoked for this review was out of a separate box purchased by halfwheel.
• Final smoking time was two hours and 20 minutes.

Patrick Lagreid

I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League. I also work in a number of roles for Major League Baseball, plus I'm a voice over artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.