L.J. Peretti 150th Anniversary Fuente Fuente Opus X (FFSJun24)

Pmo13 · June 5, 2024

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Missed the first round of these that were sold a few months back, but managed to stumble across a few stragglers. LJP has always been my local shop, even since moving out of the city so I love throwing a few bucks their way when I can. On top of that, I’m lucky enough that with their history, they get some really cool stuff from big names. In this case it’s a slightly tweaked blend of the Opus 25th that only came in those four figure humidors, which Fuente blended for LJPs 150th Anniversary.

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Upon light up I got a huge burst of oak, on par with some bourbons. I’ve gotten that note before, but nothing quite like this. After a few puffs it gradually started to develop with a nice nutty quality that I would peg somewhere around a walnut.

From here is where the fun really began, though. As soon as I hit the midway point of the stick, I started to get a really strong dark fruit note. Nothing super specific, but a really nice jammy sweetness reminiscent of figs or strawberries. As I smoked towards the final third this turned into something of a red licorice note, dead on par with twizzlers which I’ve never gotten on any stick before.

Entering the final third, that red licorice note pulled a total 180 and swung toward a black licorice/anise note. This was probably the last thing I would ever have expected, with those flavors being so different. As I burned through the final third, a strong (but dry) cocoa note popped into play, along with dark roasted black coffee.

Those two notes held until the end which is unsurprising as I tend to get things like that as darker sticks crescendo. Overall this was a super interesting smoke, and for the price tag, it’s lucky it was. Glad I have another to hang onto for a while and see how it develops as I think a little time to rest may smooth out some of the transitions.