In 1998, Hurricane Georges Created the Añejo.. seriously.

Finding a rare Añejo #77 Shark is like finding the gold at the end of the rainbow.  I guess you could say that the creation of the Añejo is the rainbow to the end of a terrible natural disaster.  If it weren't for Hurricane George the world would never had the chance to smoke an Añejo. 

Here's the story.

In 1998, Hurricane Georges hit the Dominican Republic as a Category 4 storm causing more than $1 billion in damage and killing nearly 400 people. It displaced more than 150,000 from their homes.  It was that storm that destroyed several tobacco barns at Chateau de la Fuente, where The Fuentes grow wrapper leaves for its Fuente Fuente Opus X.

Carilto Fuente Jr., now with no curing barns to house the famous tobacco, feared a shortage of his renowned wrappers.  The storm temporarily halted the production of the OpusX.

Sooooo... Carilto started buying rich, toothy, sweet Connecticut broadleaf tobacco and created the Añejo Brand using the same filler and binder blend as OpusX, but used the Connecticut broadleaf wrapper on the outside.  

Wow.

I had no idea that from that tragedy came one of the most sought after cigars in the Fuente lineup.  And yet another story behind the Fuente Family and their ability to roll with the punches and create the pot of gold!