Opus X Sammy Sosa Bat
(7 3/4" x 50), created to honor the baseball player Sammy Sosa, these cigars were presented at a charity dinner honoring Mr. Sosa, and have been occasionally gifted/auctioned by Fuente. I wouldn't normally smoke a cigar like this (it's more of a collectors item), but this
bat had a crack in the wrapper at the fat end of the bat.
I didn't expect the cigar to taste much different than an Opus X with 4-5 years of age on it; my main question was whether the cigar would burn and draw properly, given its unusual shape. With that in mind, I
clipped the handle off, cut the fat part of the bat (which is where it is meant to be smoked from), and
torched it up.
The question about whether it would draw or not was answered as soon as I
took a few puffs: the draw was excellent. I also had no burn issues at all,
smoking it down to a rather fat nub with no re-lights or touch-ups needed.
The taste was indeed that of an Opus X with a handful of years of age, though a bit milder than I expected. The cigar picked up towards the end, for a very nice finish, but in the end, it wasn't anything special in terms of taste beyond your average Opus. Still, a very enjoyable cigar, and a testament to the rollers at Fuente that it burned like champ.
I also smoked a Padrón Millennium, which are smoking fantastic currently, as well as an original release slide top box Opus X Reserva d'Chateau from 1995/6 that had
big chunks of plume on it, like barnacles stuck to the side of an old boat. The old Opus was utterly epic, definitely the cigar of the day; it's amazing how complex and enjoyable these cigars are with a decade or so of age on them.
