General Info
- Price: $26
- Made By: Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia.
- Factory Location: Dominican Republic
- Dimensions: 7.6” by 49 ring gauge
- Shape: Double Corona
- Filler: Dominican
- Binder: Dominican
- Wrapper: Dominican Sun Grown Rosado
- Cold Draw: Spice, Caramel, Cedar, Fresh Ground Coffee, Fruit
- First Third: Coffee With Cream, Cedar, Old Leather, Spice, Caramel, Dark Fruit
- Second Third: Black Pepper, Cedar, Caramel, Dark Chocolate, Coffee, Spice
- Final Third: Robust Black Pepper, Cedar, Caramel, Cocoa, Spice, Leather
Appearance
If you are able to get your hands on a Fuente Fuente OpusX Double Corona the first thing you will notice when is the impeccable construction that comes from four generations of cigar knowledge. The wrapper is smooth, vein-free, and shimmering. Only the best of the best Fuente rollers touch the Fuente Fuente OpusX Double Corona cigars. Carlos “Carlito” Fuente Jr. stated that these rollers train from day one to build up the skill necessary to twist these gems.
Many said the sun grown Corojo Cuban-seed wrapper would never grow in the Dominican Republic. Well, Carlito proved them wrong, and this oiled-up toothy Rosado leaf now serves as the foundation of the OpusX blend. The Fuente OpusX Double Corona is a Dominican puro, so beneath this reddish-brown miracle leaf is a core blend of Dominican long fillers and binder.
The cigar’s large Double Corona shape is similar to a standard Corona, though much longer. Corona shaped cigars are parejos, which are straight-sided cigars usually with an open foot and rounded closed head. The Fuente Fuente OpusX Double Corona measures in at an impressive 7.6” by 49 ring gauge.
This larger ring gauge helps set the scene for a full flavor, complex cigar. Larger gauges create more room for the filler blend to reveal its flavor. These cigars also burn slower, which makes for a cooler smoke. The cigar’s band is especially striking, with each symbol representing something important to the Fuente family (more on these symbols later).
Taste & Draw
A lot of cigars make significant flavor shifts on the journey from cold draw to ashtray. However, this isn’t necessarily the case with the Fuente Fuente OpusX Double Corona. The spice, caramel, and cedar from the cold draw stayed with us the entire smoke. And new notes appeared while others disappeared and reappeared. You could say the cigar’s consistency involves an ongoing game of hide and seek coupled with the majority of notes too dug in and stubborn to take even a moment’s break.
The OpusX Double Corona is an intriguing cigar from the first small flash of spice to the full-on assault of black pepper and spice toward the end. Keeping a cigar this complex balanced is a testament to the dedication and talents of the Fuente family. Along the way, each time a spicy note popped up, there was a calmer one to balance it out. You could say this stick is a flavor bomb after taking in notes of spice, fruit, cedar, caramel, various coffee flavors, old leather, robust black pepper, and much more.
The draw was effortless the entire session. You could say the cigar practically smoked itself. The Double Corona shape lends to a slower burn which keeps the smoke cooler. It’s hard not to go on and on about the quality of this cigar, so let’s go ahead and jump right into the review.
Cold Draw
Spice, Caramel, Cedar, Fresh Ground Coffee, Fruit
Ah, the cold draw, or first peek at what flavor treasures Cigar Aficionado’s 2005 Cigar of the Year holds. And I’m not talking about just the blend—it was the Double Corona version that took home the 2005 big prize. But this isn’t surprising when you consider the OpusX was initially blended exclusively for Carlito’s daily use. Lucky for us, he decided to share!
When cold drawing the Fuente Fuente OpusX Double Corona, the first notes to hit your palate are spice and caramel. There is a strong cedar presence that quickly lines up with the spice. Just beneath these notes are flavors of fruit and fresh ground coffee.
I’ve stated before how cold draws are by no means exhaustive and often misleading. This particular cold draw is revealing the first brushstrokes of a complex painting. A number of these are notes you’ve come to expect from Arturo Fuente sticks. Let’s add some fire and see if they continue.
First Third
Coffee With Cream, Cedar, Old Leather, Spice, Caramel, Dark Fruit
Once burning, the Fuente Fuente OpusX Double Corona opens with flavor notes of cedar and coffee with cream. The smoke is thick, creamy, and chewy, and the output is indulgent. I puff a little further down, and a faint spice note pops up and mingles with the cedar, just as it did on the cold draw.
Something tells me we’ll see this spice flex as we smoke further down this long stick, but for now, it has taken on a supporting role. In the background, the caramel and fruit from the cold draw call out, though the call is a faint one. The fruit has shifted into more of a dark fruit. For most of the first third, an old leather note has been with us, clearly coming off the Cuban-seed wrapper, as are the coffee, cedar, and spice notes.
At this point, the finish is long, with notes of cedar, baking spices, and coffee with cream. So far, this long cigar is smooth and mellow. The complexity, though, is already forming though every centimeter has remained well balanced. This balance is due (in part) to the use of vintage tobacco carefully chosen from the Fuente family’s legendary tobacco inventory.
So far, the draw is unforced, and the burn line is excellent. I can see why Carlito Fuente kept this blend a secret as his personal everyday cigar.
Second Third
Black Pepper, Cedar, Caramel, Dark Chocolate, Coffee, Spice
In the second third, we see a return of many of the usual suspects of an expertly crafted Fuente blend along with a few new faces. The cedar and caramel notes remain unchanged, while the cream has fled, leaving us with straight coffee. The fruit is long gone. A dark chocolate note is making a cameo and jiving nicely with the coffee flavor. The leather is far from tasting old, seeing as I can barely taste it at all.
As a result of the higher priming long fillers in the core blend, a black pepper note has shot straight to the forefront, and the spice is intensifying as expected. Nonetheless, the cigar remains smooth. This complex stick continues to gain in flavor and strength, though each note balances out another. I cannot wait to see how this baby ends.
Final Third
Robust Black Pepper, Cedar, Caramel, Cocoa, Leather, Spice
For me, heading into the final third is always suspenseful. How is the story going to end? Will the note I savored that disappeared return? Will the forces of spicy and sweet continue to reach a nicely balanced peace treaty?
In the final third of the Fuente Fuente OpusX Double Corona, the first thing you’ll notice is the dark chocolate has morphed into a delicious cocoa note. The leather is back, though barely breaking through now. The cedar and caramel both remain toward the front, as they have since the first pull. As the nub nears, the strength picks up. Big time. This is definitely a fifth gear grande finale with spice and robust black pepper packing a serious tobacco punch.
All along, the OpusX Double Corona remained smooth and balanced. Now I see why the brand boldly calls it the “finest cigar of our time.” Whether that is true or not is subjective, though, in my opinion, the Fuente Fuente OpusX Double Corona undoubtedly holds a seat at that table.
Fuente Fuente OpusX Double Corona Cigar Summary
The Fuente Fuente OpusX Double Corona Cigar is the leading cigar from one of the most respected cigar families in the industry today. These Dominican puros represent all that is truly great about the Arturo Fuente brand—the best craftsmanship, attention to detail, growing practices, and perhaps even a touch of stubbornness. The critics claimed it was impossible to produce a sun grown Cuban-seed wrapper in the Dominican Republic, so the Fuente’s got to work to prove them wrong.
But the story of the OpusX Double Corona doesn’t end with the wrapper. The core blend consisting of five different tobacco varietals from different growing regions of the Dominican Republic plays a big role in the complexity here. All of these tobaccos are ligero, which come from the top of the tobacco plant, where they receive the most sunlight. This leads to thicker leaves with the most flavor, body, and complexity.
Even with all this ligero, thanks to blending master Carlito Fuente, the stick is smooth throughout, balancing robust black pepper and spicy notes with calmer flavors like caramel, cocoa, and fruit. This is the perfect cigar to smoke in your quiet backyard at the end of a stressful week. Use this time to take in all the flavors and let the stress melt away from your shoulders.
This cigar is full in body and strength. It’s complex and smooth and never becomes overbearing, though new smokers should steer clear of this beast until they have a good number of sticks in the rearview.
Fuente Fuente OpusX Double Corona Cigar Pairing Notes
Pairing drinks with cigars is both exciting and challenging. It’s important to complement the notes in your cigar without overwhelming its character. Some notes are begging for amplification, while others need further balancing. I built this list around the flavor notes of the cigar while still considering that this stogie is full strength and needs a strong partner.
- Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout
- Jameson Black Barrel Irish Whiskey
- Powers John’s Lane Irish Whiskey
- Bomb! Stouts by Prairie Artisan Ales
- Redemption High Rye Bourbon
- Chocolate Doberge Cake Stout by Abita Beer
- Glenlivet Caribbean Reserve
- McAllister Red Cedar by McAllister Brewing Company
Fuente Fuente OpusX Double Corona Cigar History
When one of the leading cigar families dating back a century calls this blend the “finest cigar of our time,” you better believe there’s a story behind it. We covered how no one thought a sun grown Corojo Cuban-seed wrapper could grow in the Dominican Republic and how the Fuente family proved everyone wrong by doing exactly that. So what else makes this cigar so special? For starters, it’s the first Dominican puro ever produced. Then there’s how they age. Other Arturo Fuente cigars age on shelves, but the OpusX cigars remain in closed cabinets for at least one year.
The wrapper is grown exclusively on the Chateau de la Fuente farm. Since the Fuentes do not sell tobacco from this farm, you will only find the OpusX wrapper leaf on Fuente branded cigars. And then there’s the aforementioned band with various elements all holding special meanings for the Fuente family.
The left half of the band’s oval forms a “C” for Carlos Fuente Sr. The band’s orange glow represents the light emanating from the nickel mines in the mountains near the Chateau de la Fuente tobacco farm. At night, one can see this warm glow from the farm. The torn edges of the band reference Carlito’s childhood, where he tore a valentine in two, keeping one half for himself while giving the other to his sweetie.
The double “Fs” on the band symbolize both Carlos and Carlito Fuente. Finally, the right half on the oval completes the letter “O” for Opus while still representing the other “C,” which is for Carlito Fuente.
Fuente Fuente OpusX Double Corona cigars are extremely limited and always in high demand. So if you come across any, your best play is to get them into your humidor as soon as possible. You don’t want to miss out on this prized cigar.
