It’s hard to believe that the Fuente Fuente OpusX has been on the market nearly 25 years. When the brand was first released in late 1995, it gained instant cult status among cigar smokers for a number of reasons: the name was unusual, the packaging mysterious, the production extremely limited, and—most importantly—it was made with a Dominican wrapper.

In the ’90s, the common consensus was that good wrapper leaf could not be grown in Dominican soil, but Carlos “Carlito” Fuente Jr. wasn’t willing to accept conventional wisdom and insisted that Dominican wrapper was possible with the confluence of the right climate, soil and seed. He found it. The seeds are Cuban, the microclimate is found in the region of Bonao and the soil is on the majestic plantation known as Chateau de la Fuente.

The finest example of OpusX we smoked this year was the Reserva d’Chateau, a Churchill that’s fairly thin by today’s standards. Even if you have a penchant for thicker cigars, it’s best to lean thinner when smoking an OpusX. That way, you taste more of the wrapper, which is really what OpusX is all about.

This isn’t a mild cigar, and every puff offers a range of earth, leather, spice, a touch of nutmeg and that unique, inimitable taste found only in tobacco from Chateau de la Fuente.