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New Fuente Fuente OpusX Double Robusto

Posted: Monday, January 14, 2008

By Gregory Mottola

It doesn't happen often, but the Fuente Family has released a new size in it's coveted Fuente Fuente OpusX brand, the Double Robusto. This fat cigar, which measures 5 3/4 inches by 52 ring, is selling out as quickly as it is being shipped to the retail market -- typical of OpusX cigars. It is packaged in chests of 42, has a suggested retail price of $12.75 per cigar and comes in a cedar sleeve with a ribbon at the foot, much like the PerfecXionX or the PerfecXion No. 4 Serie X.

The Double Robusto, although part of the regular OpusX line, will be released only periodically throughout the year. According to Wayne Suarez, an Executive at Fuente/Newman Premium Cigars, the cigar will appear in retail shops with the same frequency as the giant "A" size.

Despite its limited availability, the Double Robusto is not being distributed by Prometheus International Inc., the California-based company that markets many of Fuente's atypical, limited-edition cigars such as the BBMF or the Chile Pepper.

If the Double Robusto sounds familiar, it is because it debuted as part of the 2005 Opus22 offering, an annual set of 22 special OpusX cigars that sells for $750 (proceeds go to Fuente's and J.C. Newman's Cigar Family Charitable Foundation). The Double Robusto reappeared in the 2006 Opus22 set, but was not found in the 2007 release, replaced by the Scorpio, which is a similar size. Regardless, the Double Robusto will more than likely become a collector's item, as fans of the Opusx brand tend to obsessively buy up the cigars, sometimes paying a premium many times the suggested retail price.

OK Cigars in New York City was one of the few retailers to get one of the shipments of the cigar right before Christmas.

"When the buzz started going around that this was something no one else had, they started to fly," said Len Brunson, owner of OK Cigars. Brunson restricted the amount of Double Robustos customers could buy at one time, a common rationing practice among retailers when selling OpusX cigars.

Including the "A", the new Double Robusto will bring the OpusX line to 13 sizes.