Fuente Fuente Opus X Lost City Piramide Review |

Every time I picked up a Lost City Piramide I have put my notebook aside and just enjoyed the experience. This time, however, I decided to select it from my humidor for a review and as a birthday smoke. I noticed that there weren’t many reviews out there either of the Lost City cigars or the Piramide shape and thought it would be very beneficial to cigar smokers if more information about people’s experiences existed especially when spending $20-$30 on a cigar.

From Fuente Aged Selection:

In the Caribbean basin, cigar tobacco is normally planted in the beginning of the year and harvested in the spring. Thus, Carlito Fuente initially intended the summer crop only as a setting for Garcia’s movie. Garcia, though, had other ideas. “When we finished shooting the scene, I asked Carlito what he was going to do with the tobacco,” Garcia recalled. “He said if the tobacco was good he’d use it. I suggested using it to make a cigar with the logo from The Lost City, and that the project would benefit his foundation” – the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation, which provides education and health services to communities in the Dominican Republic.

After five years of careful aging, the summer-grown tobacco turned out to be superb: a leaf exhibiting all the celebrated complexity of the original Fuente Fuente OpusX wrapper, but with a unique character all its own. The medium-to-full body, and complex and sophisticated flavors of the summer-grown wrapper make Fuente Fuente OpusX The Lost City a distinctive experience for any cigar connoisseurs, no matter what their taste or preference.

2/22/2012

Fuente Fuente Opus X Lost City Piramide Review

Wrapper: Dominican Republic

Binder/Filler: Dominican Republic

Size: 6 3/8 x 52

Vitola: Piramide

MSRP: $25-$30

Time In Humidor: 16 months

Smoke Time: 1hr 25min

Location: Tasty Tobacco Shop

Construction/Appearance:

The summer grown wrapper of the Lost City is of medium color without any tears, watermarks or holes on it. The double bands go well with the cigar because they contrast and don’t dominate the cigar. From my experience sometimes the head of torpedos and other vitolas where the tobacco gets bunched at the end is very firm and tight. This cigar is no exception although the rest of the Lost City Piramide has some give when squeezed. The one or two prominent veins on the cigar are on the underside and it does have some bumps. Lastly, the bands did come off very easily and didn’t damage the wrapper when I removed them (big plus).

Burn/Draw:

The Xikar made a very clean cut across the head which was probably made easier due to the “toughness” of the point. The cold draw was nice and smooth and not tight as I feared. I absolutely loved lighting this cigar as it was perfect combined with an open draw. The burn started even and finished perfectly razor sharp all the way to the end. The ash was almost white and very beautiful, lasting almost 1.5 inches before falling into the tray. If you’re paying $25+ for this cigar, this is exactly how you want the burn and draw to be.

Flavor/Aroma:

I couldn’t get any identifiable smells from the foot or wrapper other than hints of floral notes. The initial draw represented some sweet cinnamon notes and subtle tartness. The transition into the first third had some hints of raisins, nuts with a dab of spice similar to cayenne. These notes are delicious and inviting but not something I experience all the time with cigars. I can see the relationship between the Lost City and Forbidden X “13″ release of this past year.

The second third continued with notes of raisin mixed with nuts and cocoa finishing strong with black pepper. The retrohale was of spice and pepper followed by some tartness (unique). The final part of the Lost City Piramide developed the raisin notes even more with a nice transition into leather and spice. However, at the 1.5 inch mark, almost all of the flavors picked up previously in the cigar faded to the back while pepper and some heat moved forward. I decided to space out the draws even more and fortunately, that brought some of the sweeter flavors back.

Final Thoughts:

Wonderful and unique flavor profile only experienced in the Lost City and Forbidden X “13″ (though the Small Batch #3 from LFD has some overlapping notes in regards to the tartness)
Construction, burn and draw were all on point and exactly how I prefer them
This cigar could have been rated a few points higher if not for the diluted finish (previous experiences were much better)
I would certainly pick up a few singles or five pack and then proceed from there

Rating: 89