njstone
BoM January 2010
So I'm here in Hawaii, stuck taking care of the baby most of the time while my wife is at her Air Force conference, but I've been able to get out at night and smoke some great sticks. I brought a bunch of sticks I haven't yet tried, one of which was my first Opus X, given to me by a brother here!
I'm not good at identifying Opus sizes, but it was basically a robusto, and had a cedar sleve and red band at the foot. After lighting it up, I wasn't too impressed. Just toasted tobacco flavor. After about a half inch, the tobaccco flavor opened up some and it started to remind me a bit of the Illusione tobacco flavor, though more grassy. But it lacked the other rich flavors an Illusione has, so I was still underwhelmed.
At the one inch mark I decided just to relax and take the stick for what it was ... And inadvertently started smoking it slower ... Like 1.5 - 2 minutes between puffs. I'm not sure if it was this, or if the stick just needed to burn down a bit, but it started getting much better.
After this, I started getting some nuttiness, sweetness like caramel or honey, some fruit and even floral notes. The thing about this stick that stood out to me was how complex it was--the finish lasted for a LONG time between puffs, and the flavors kept changing during that time. I've smoked a number of cigars with a dynamic finish, but nothing this dynamic. And even more importantly, I loved the flavors. So the middle third = awesome!
The final third continued with this complexity and great flavors, but it became much more full bodied after the cigar ashed it's one and only time, and pretty quickly. So for the final third my underdeveloped palate couldn't pick out many specifics--I still really enjoyed it, but there's not much to describe other than a full-bodied yumminess.
Bottom line: My first Opus X experiece started out shakey, but then grew to a really great smoke. I can see why people go crazy for these. At retail these are out of my usual price range, but I'd pick up some for special occasions ... If I could find them, lol. I know there are a million sizes, and I'd like to try some of the thinner ones as I tend to lean that way lately.
So if you haven't given these mythical cigars a chance, I'd recommend you do, especially if you can find one at retail or have a generous friend
I'm not good at identifying Opus sizes, but it was basically a robusto, and had a cedar sleve and red band at the foot. After lighting it up, I wasn't too impressed. Just toasted tobacco flavor. After about a half inch, the tobaccco flavor opened up some and it started to remind me a bit of the Illusione tobacco flavor, though more grassy. But it lacked the other rich flavors an Illusione has, so I was still underwhelmed.
At the one inch mark I decided just to relax and take the stick for what it was ... And inadvertently started smoking it slower ... Like 1.5 - 2 minutes between puffs. I'm not sure if it was this, or if the stick just needed to burn down a bit, but it started getting much better.
After this, I started getting some nuttiness, sweetness like caramel or honey, some fruit and even floral notes. The thing about this stick that stood out to me was how complex it was--the finish lasted for a LONG time between puffs, and the flavors kept changing during that time. I've smoked a number of cigars with a dynamic finish, but nothing this dynamic. And even more importantly, I loved the flavors. So the middle third = awesome!
The final third continued with this complexity and great flavors, but it became much more full bodied after the cigar ashed it's one and only time, and pretty quickly. So for the final third my underdeveloped palate couldn't pick out many specifics--I still really enjoyed it, but there's not much to describe other than a full-bodied yumminess.
Bottom line: My first Opus X experiece started out shakey, but then grew to a really great smoke. I can see why people go crazy for these. At retail these are out of my usual price range, but I'd pick up some for special occasions ... If I could find them, lol. I know there are a million sizes, and I'd like to try some of the thinner ones as I tend to lean that way lately.
So if you haven't given these mythical cigars a chance, I'd recommend you do, especially if you can find one at retail or have a generous friend
