If you asked 100 cigar smokers for their 10 ten cigars they would someday like to smoke, the odds are that the Fuente BBMF would be on quite a few of the lists. The cigar has an iconic look that makes it hard to miss, and they are not easy to get ahold of (and even harder to get ahold of at anything close to MSRP).
Having said that, Opus X cigars (and some other "Hard to Find" sticks like the BBMF, Chili Peppers, LBMF etc especially) have some detractors who say that the best thing about the cigars is how they look, and the smoke is nothing special at best, and downright horrible at worst.
I went to Las Vegas on business recently, and while there, I hooked up with a fellow BOTL to do some smoking at Casa Fuente. I wanted to try a couple of cigars I had not had before, and while I had had a BBMF before, it had been quite a while (ie, many years) and I was not taking photos like I am now
The fello BOTL chose the BBMF, and so I chose the same thing and we got to it.
* Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
* Wrapper: Opus X Rosado
* Binder: Opus X Rosado
* Filler: Opus X Blend
* Size: 6.5 inches
* Ring Gauge: 64
* Est. Price: $125-Exclusive to Casa Fuente in Las Vegas (although you can get the same cigar with different bands in other locations for various prices)
The first thing I noticed was the obvious form of the cigar...it is a Gorgeous stick and the band is one of the best I have seen, the only word that comes to mind is AWESOME....(sorry, I am stuck in the 80's)...
The wrapper is a flawlessly constructed reddish brown, and smelled faintly of cinnamon...It has some fairly major veins running along it, but honestly, they just added to the look.
The first puff after lighting has some nice spice to it, but very little pepper, and it mellowed out fairly quickly and morphed into a great toasted tobacco taste that stuck around for the whole stick, sometimes in the background, sometimes in the foreground, but always there somewhere...
For the rest of the first third, there was also a nice oak flavor which went will with the mellow spice...
The second third was extremely mellow, with notes of leather and nuts, but with that same oak taste carried over from the first third...I was wondering where the spice went, but it was nowhere to be found...
The last third picked up the spice considerably, so much so that I found it hard to believe it was the cigar...it came back with a vengeance, and I started to feel the effects at the end...Dominant flavors were espresso and leather, a great combination...
Some Final Notes:
* This was a fairly mild cigar for the first 2/3rds, then hit me over my bald ass head on the last third... I was a little surprised with the strength that was present at the end...
* It was extremely easy to light, but the draw was fairly tight until after the bulb, where it evened out (which is typical of this vitola)...
* The burn was great on this stick until the end, where it came unravelled...
* The smoke coming from the cigar was extremely fragrant, almost floral...This is not unusual (in fact, some would say quite normal and even expected) from an Opus X blend...
* The smoking time was exactly 1 hour and 40 minutes (and 4 Mojitos, as I recall)...
The Bottom Line: In my humble opinion, no one cigar is worth $125, and this was no exception...It was a very good smoke, but obviously not an everyday smoke, more of a special occasion smoke for sure...Final Score: 91
~brooks
Having said that, Opus X cigars (and some other "Hard to Find" sticks like the BBMF, Chili Peppers, LBMF etc especially) have some detractors who say that the best thing about the cigars is how they look, and the smoke is nothing special at best, and downright horrible at worst.
I went to Las Vegas on business recently, and while there, I hooked up with a fellow BOTL to do some smoking at Casa Fuente. I wanted to try a couple of cigars I had not had before, and while I had had a BBMF before, it had been quite a while (ie, many years) and I was not taking photos like I am now
The fello BOTL chose the BBMF, and so I chose the same thing and we got to it.
* Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
* Wrapper: Opus X Rosado
* Binder: Opus X Rosado
* Filler: Opus X Blend
* Size: 6.5 inches
* Ring Gauge: 64
* Est. Price: $125-Exclusive to Casa Fuente in Las Vegas (although you can get the same cigar with different bands in other locations for various prices)
The first thing I noticed was the obvious form of the cigar...it is a Gorgeous stick and the band is one of the best I have seen, the only word that comes to mind is AWESOME....(sorry, I am stuck in the 80's)...
The wrapper is a flawlessly constructed reddish brown, and smelled faintly of cinnamon...It has some fairly major veins running along it, but honestly, they just added to the look.
The first puff after lighting has some nice spice to it, but very little pepper, and it mellowed out fairly quickly and morphed into a great toasted tobacco taste that stuck around for the whole stick, sometimes in the background, sometimes in the foreground, but always there somewhere...
For the rest of the first third, there was also a nice oak flavor which went will with the mellow spice...
The second third was extremely mellow, with notes of leather and nuts, but with that same oak taste carried over from the first third...I was wondering where the spice went, but it was nowhere to be found...
The last third picked up the spice considerably, so much so that I found it hard to believe it was the cigar...it came back with a vengeance, and I started to feel the effects at the end...Dominant flavors were espresso and leather, a great combination...
Some Final Notes:
* This was a fairly mild cigar for the first 2/3rds, then hit me over my bald ass head on the last third... I was a little surprised with the strength that was present at the end...
* It was extremely easy to light, but the draw was fairly tight until after the bulb, where it evened out (which is typical of this vitola)...
* The burn was great on this stick until the end, where it came unravelled...
* The smoke coming from the cigar was extremely fragrant, almost floral...This is not unusual (in fact, some would say quite normal and even expected) from an Opus X blend...
* The smoking time was exactly 1 hour and 40 minutes (and 4 Mojitos, as I recall)...
The Bottom Line: In my humble opinion, no one cigar is worth $125, and this was no exception...It was a very good smoke, but obviously not an everyday smoke, more of a special occasion smoke for sure...Final Score: 91
~brooks
