THE FALL 2016 and spring 2017 RELEASES

1,600 sets of the Fall 2016 Release of Opus6 (also known as Fuente Fuente OpusX 6 for Cigar Family Charitable Foundation) were shipped to the authorized Fuente Aged Selection dealers worldwide in November 2016. An additional 1,250 sets of the Spring 2017 Release were shipped in May 2017. A portion of the sales proceeds was donated to Cigar Family Charitable Foundation, which strives to improve underprivileged children's lives in the Bonao region of the Dominican Republic. These releases came with three special Fuente publications and six rare vintage Fuente Aged Selection cigars presented in the limited edition Opus6 travel humidors produced by Prometheus:

20 Years of Fuente Fuente OpusX:
An Interview with Carlos "Carlito" Fuente Jr.

The Fuente Story Passion behind the Tradition and Legacy
(biography of Carlos Fuente Sr.)

Journey to Chateau de la Fuente (photo essay book)

CIGARS FOR MACASSAR EBONY TRAVEL HUMIDORS:

1 Fuente Fuente OpusX Love Affair
1 Fuente Fuente OpusX King Power 
1 Fuente Fuente OpusX Tiger Shark
1 Fuente Fuente OpusX Tauros The Bull
1 Don Arturo Gran AniverXario Toro 
1 Fuente Fuente OpusX Lancero

CIGARS FOR BLUE, RED, AND YELLOW TRAVEL HUMIDORS:

1 Fuente Fuente OpusX King Power 
1 Fuente Fuente OpusX Forbidden X 13 Belicoso
1 Fuente Fuente OpusX Tauros the Bull
1 Don Arturo Gran AniverXario Toro
1 Fuente Fuente OpusX Oro Oscuro Churchill 
1 Angel's Share Churchill

The cigars were presented in the limited edition Opus6 travel humidors produced by Prometheus. The Opus6 travel humidors do not include humidifier.

Fall 2016 Total Release Quantity: 1,600
525 Macassar Ebony, 375 Blue, 375 Yellow, 325 Red

Spring 2017 Total Release Quantity: 1,250
400 Macassar Ebony, 290 Blue, 290 Yellow, 275 Red

Each set is serial-numbered and came with a certificate of authenticity.

MSRP $260.00 in 2016 and 2017

The Fall 2016 and Spring 2017 Releases of Opus6 in the Blue, Red and Yellow Opus6 travel humidors came with: Angel's Share Churchill Toro (left), FFOX Oro Oscuro Churchill, Don Arturo Gran AniverXario Toro, FFOX Tauros The Bull, FFOX 13 Belicoso and FFOX King Power (right).

The Fall 2016 and Spring 2017 Releases of Opus6 in the Macassar Ebony Opus6 travel humidor came with: FFOX Love Affair (left), FFOX King Power, FFOX Tiger Shark, FFOX Tauros the Bull, Don Arturo Gran AniverXario Toro and FFOX Lancero (right).

Journey to Chateau de la Fuente is a photo essay book, which features 25 unforgettable photographs of Chateau de la Fuente where the legendary wrapper leaves of Fuente Fuente OpusX are grown.

Excerpt from The Fuente Story: Passion Behind the Tradition and Legacy

Carlos Arturo Fuente speaks to his son, Carlito, about moving their cigar factory to Dominican Republic from Tampa, Florida (year 1979).

“I realized that we had to try another foreign country,” Carlos says. “This was a scary thought. We'd had some hard knocks when we tried it before.”

“I was actually close to quitting. I couldn't take the pain anymore. Meanwhile, there were people who wanted to buy us out. I didn't want to sell, but I had to ask my son what his feeling was.”

“Papa,” Carlito replied, “this is my life. I want to stay in this business forever.”

“Well,” Carlos countered, “you know that we're almost broke. So we have to move. And if we go to any foreign country, it has to be as a family. I don't want any more partners. I don't want to have to deal with anybody else.”

“Whatever you want, Dad.” That was Carlito's answer. From that moment, their decision to move forward to a new home overseas was firmly set. And a pattern was set, too. Many times in the years to come, Carlito's energy, determination and dedication would inspire Carlos to keep pressing ahead, pushing himself, working to make the business ever stronger, and to create cigars that would be known as the ultimate in quality and flavor.

It would be no exaggeration to say that Fuente Fuente OpusX changed the cigar industry as much as the iPhone changed the mobile phone industry. It might even be an understatement.

When it came out in 1995, Fuente Fuente OpusX was an immediate sensation: a cigar so different in its taste, look and origin that cigar enthusiasts literally lined up to buy it. Retail shops sold out so quickly that some imposed a “one per customer per day” rule. It remains one of the world’s most coveted cigars, with each new release eagerly awaited by cigar enthusiasts, reviewers and retailers.

The entire premium cigar industry felt the impact of OpusX. Competing manufacturers introduced heavier-bodied cigars to try to compete with OpusX’s rich, robust flavor. Even the image of the industry changed. Suddenly, it seemed every cigar company, even huge multinational corporations, attempted to claim for themselves the Fuentes’ focus on tradition and family. They even copied the Fuente look, which has become as much an iconic image for cigars as Juan Valdez is for coffee. “Fuente Fuente OpusX has changed not only the taste of cigars, it’s changed the vision, the appearance and the way we think about cigars,” says Carlos “Carlito” Fuente Jr., the man who conceived OpusX cigar.

It wasn’t always this way. Because OpusX uses wrapper leaf grown in the Dominican Republic - a region other tobacco growers felt couldn’t produce good wrapper leaves - many industry observers initially doubted its quality, and even doubted the Fuentes could deliver a finished product. Shortly after Fuente Fuente OpusX finally hit the market, a major wine producer filed a trademark lawsuit that might have killed the entire project.

In this interview, conducted in New Orleans the night before the 2015 International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers (IPCPR) trade show opened, Carlito Fuente considers the impact Fuente Fuente OpusX has had on the cigar industry, and recalls some of the struggles that nearly destroyed his family’s company as they worked to bring OpusX to market. (Excerpt from Page 2, 3, and 4)