Opus Green: A New Look From Fuente
Some are calling it the Opus Green. Others refer to it as Opus 25, but the official name is the Fuente Fuente OpusX 25 Aniversario El Tributo, and it’s shipping to retailers, albeit in small allotments. At one time, you could only get these cigars if you bought an expensive Elie Bleu humidor. Now, they’re available on their own. Each Churchill-sized smoke is adorned in an OpusX band rendered in green, as well as a second band that reads “Opus 25.”
When the cigar was first announced in 2021, it was to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the OpusX brand (which was actually the previous year). The cigars were only offered in two Elie Bleu humidors: a desktop model with 25 cigars that had a retail price of $9,250, and a large, lavishly detailed double-door cabinet with 150 cigars. This package retailed for $70,000.
After giving the humidors a few years to sell, company patriarch Carlos Fuente Jr. has made the cigars more accessible, putting them in wooden, 25-count boxes. He’s also changed the theme a bit. While they still celebrate the brand’s 25th anniversary, they now also pay tribute to his father, hence the name El Tributo. Every lid is decorated with a dedication penned by Fuente to his dad, Carlos Fuente Sr., who died in 2016.
El Tributo comes in boxes of 25, measures 7 inches by 50 ring gauge and has a suggested retail price of $50 apiece. It’s rolled in the Dominican Republic at Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia., and is made entirely from Dominican tobacco. Like all OpusX cigars, the wrapper was grown at Chateau de la Fuente, only this isn’t the same wrapper found on other OpusX cigars. It’s a hybrid cross between the original Corojo-seed wrapper and another seed that Fuente developed. It’s also not a top-priming wrapper, culled from the midsection of the tobacco plant, so it’s lighter in color.
In terms of strength, Fuente describes the Tributo as being not as strong as the regular line (red label), but stronger than the 20th Anniversary series (blue label).
Initial shipments went out a few weeks ago, and the company tells Cigar Aficionado that another shipment is expected next week, so retailers who have not received their Tributos will be getting them soon.
In further celebration of the brand’s major milestone, Fuente also released the OpusX La Familia 25 Years, a perfecto-shaped cigar that comes in the green band as well. According to Fuente, these perfectos are a bit stronger than El Tributo, with a slightly darker wrapper.
For a blind tasting of the OpusX El Tributo and La Familia, see a future issue of Cigar Insider.
