BACKGROUND: I first featured the Fuente Opus X The-Lost City Piramide in Episode 200 of the Stogie Fresh 5 podcast back on Sunday, December 20, 2009. These cigars have been resting in my cabinet humidor for 1 year, 3 months and I pulled out my last 2 samples last week for a revisit.

Lost City is the name of the 2006 movie, written and directed by Andy Garcia. It was a labor of love for the Cuban-born Garcia, who wanted to tell the tale of what it was like in Cuba during the Cuban Revolution. In many aspects, the movie paralleled Garcia's own life. At 5-years old and during the Cuban revolution, Garcia's family, who was fairly affluent, was forced to leave Cuba with little more than the clothes on their backs.

But how does this movie related to our featured cigar? Well, in the movie, the character of Uncle Donoso owns a tobacco farm. In order to accurately portray the dilemma of Cuban tobacco growers at the time of the Cuban revolution, Garcia decided to film a crucial scene in the movie in the midst of the tobacco field. So, he sought the help of legendary cigar maker Carlito Fuente

Since the Fuente's were just getting ready to harvest the tobacco at the time, Carlito Fuente planted a crop of tobacco in the famous Chateau de la Fuente farm and he did so after the normal harvest season.

After five years of careful aging, the summer-grown tobacco turned out to be excellent. The tobacco exhibited all the complexity of the original Fuente Fuente Opus X wrapper, but with a unique character all its own. This summer crop was initially only intended to play a role in the movie, but after filming and with a little prompting from Garcia, Fuente decided to create a special cigar using this late harvest tobacco. The result was the Fuente Fuente Opus X Lost City.

The Lost City comes in 5 sizes and the cigar I'm featuring today is the 6.1 inch by 50 ring pyramid.

TASTING NOTES: This cigar started with lively grassy notes, white pepper spice and tangy cedar on the palate. Retrohaling brought on mild black pepper spice, musty old cellar notes and some tobacco sweetness.

A year ago, this cigar was a black pepper bomb when retrohaled, but that has tamed considerably, being replaced with more nuanced characters. I especially like the long finish that allows me to continue tasting the cigar long after I have set it in my ashtray between puffs.

As I continued through the cigar it displayed medium to full flavor and body, while the strength weighed in at about medium. This cigar is not as strong as many Opus X cigars that I've smoked, but it demonstrates good complexity. It's a sneaky cigar because you get some very pungent aromas and flavors on one hand, and on the other you notice layers of complex nuances that seem to defy description. The construction should not to be overlooked; this stick burned evenly and the draw was perfect.

FINAL THOUGHTS: This cigar, in many ways, is more appealing than the regular Opus X lines. It is not as full-bodied, but rather it showed more complexity and nuance and was nicely balanced. This cigar showed off some nice tobacco sweetness and is a great performing smoke.

These cigars run almost $30 per stick, but are they worth the price? That is a question that ultimately only you can answer, but for me, these cigars are worth a try, in part because they are an excellent smoke and in part because of the interesting history of the tobacco. I think these cigars will age well and they have already demonstrated excellent potential over the first year and change. If you haven't already seen the movie, I can recommend it highly, perhaps you can enjoy it along with this cigar.

~Doc