One of the most important releases in recent memory is the Fuente Fuente OpusX ReXilient. This release is the brainchild of Carlos “Carlito” Fuente, and it is meant to remember the fallen heroes (and their families) of the 9/11 attacks. The release was timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of these attacks.
Over the years, we in cigar media get too consumed with wrapper/binder/filler, box counts, price, etc. As Arturo Fuente head Carlito Fuente has said many times, “it’s not about the cigars, it’s about the people.” Without a doubt, that couldn’t be truer for the ReXilient release. What follows is not a story about wrapper/binder/filler.
As we will see, for Carlito, his sister Cynthia, and the rest of the Fuente family and staff, this was more than a passion project. It’s something that’s been in the making for a quarter century. It’s a story that needs to be told and recorded in the annals of history.
The Year 2001
To tell the story of the OpusX ReXilient, we need to go back to 2001. We know this as the year of the 9-11 tragedy, but it was also the time that the Fuente was setting up the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation (CFCF) and (J.C.) Newman families. CFCF is located in the Bonao region outside Santiago and provides children in this impoverished region with education, vocational training, healthcare, and clean water. Bonao is a region that suffered from extreme poverty and a poor educational system. Before the construction of Cigar Family, this region was also one of the most dangerous in the Dominican Republic. Carlito identified this as a region that was in need of services, so he partnered with the Newmans to build the CFCF facility.
The Fuente and Newman families fund all administrative costs for the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation (CFCF). All donations and fundraising go directly into the CFCF. In 2001, CFCF was registered, and plans were underway to develop it. CFCF sets the foundation for what the ReXilient release will bring to the table.
The Day of the Tragedy and the Aftermath
In September 2001, the 9/11 attacks occurred. On that day, Carlito Fuente and his father, Carlos Fuente Sr., were in Philadelphia. They had plans to meet Robert Levin that morning. As they were coming down the elevators at the Ritz-Carlton in Philadelphia, the tragedy unfolded. Once they were in the lobby, they heard people screaming. It was at that time that televisions in the lobby began to show the first of the World Trade Center towers on fire. Everyone was eventually evacuated from the hotel. Carlito and his father were taken outside Philadelphia because of the uncertainty of safety in the inner city.
Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the world underwent significant changes, with homeland security becoming a top priority. In the weeks after the New York attacks, Marvin Shankan, publisher of Cigar Aficionado, invited Carlito Fuente and other cigar manufacturers to New York to support the city’s recovery. During this time, a special session was held for first responders, where they were given cigars. This moment deeply affected Carlito. He knew he needed to support those first responders and their families, who risked everything on 9/11 to save lives.
A Post-9/11 Release in 2001
One of Carlito’s earliest examples of giveback came when a batch of special OpusX cabinets in coffins was brought to New York. They sold them at a select group of retailers, and the proceeds supported first responders and their families. Those OpusX coffins raised $50,000.00, and Robert Levin, owner of Ashton Cigar, also donated an additional $5,000.00.
25 Years in the Making
“This project has been burning inside me since what I experienced on 9-11-2001 with my father while attending a board meeting with Ashton in Philadelphia. I was right across the street from City Hall and we had to be evacuated. Our country changed that day. I will never forget,” Carlito Fuente said to Cigar Coop.
It was more than Carlito saying he would not forget. He felt everyone should never forget those events. As time passed, Carlito grew worried this was starting to happen. “There are people today who are 35 or younger that have no idea what the hell happened,” Carlito said. The OpusX ReXilient represents a way to express the thought of never forgetting that event through a cigar. As we will see, it’s a cigar project designed with giveback in mind.
One thing that stands out on the box and the band is the red, white, and blue star-spangled banner OpusX logo. This actually is something that also goes back 25 years. Following the 9/11 tragedy, it was a very tough time for the airline carriers. Carlito and his father were very loyal to American Airlines. They ran an advertisement in American Airlines’ American Way magazine featuring this logo. Carlito says the reaction from not just passengers, but airline employees and crew was overwhelmingly positive.
“Well, we didn’t think, my father and I, we couldn’t afford this, or it wasn’t our market. We did it for American Airlines and we did it for 911 and the first responders and everything that we suffered through,” said Carlito Fuente. While the audience wasn’t necessarily Fuente’s target market, Fuente kept ads running for nearly 20 years until COVID-19 shut down the magazine.
The second thing that stands out is the top sheet insert. When it comes to this sheet, Carlito is most passionate and emotional about. The sheet features representations of the badges of the New York Port Authority, New York City Police Department, and the New York City Fire Department. Carlito reached out to those departments to get as many badge numbers as possible for the fallen first responders to include on the insert sheet. Names were not used here. The Infinity logo on the sheet symbolizes “never forget.”
Third, are the box-pressed Toros inside the box. The box itself contains two trays under the top sheet insert. Each tray has 8 Churchill cigars, four on each side. Between the trays sit box-pressed Toro cigars wrapped in the American flag. The cigars represent the Twin Towers and evoke memories of what those buildings stood for. Growing up, I felt they were the most iconic part of the New York City skyline. Now I even wonder whether my two youngest sons, aged 26 and 25, remember them. A side note: those Toro cigars are square-pressed, marking the first time Fuente has done that.
Finally, the box itself is adorned with flags and patriotic symbolism. This includes the words “Never Forget”, “United We Stand”, “God Bless America,” “Home of Heroes,” and “God Bless Our Heroes.”
This video provides a complete view of the packaging:
The ReXilient Makes Its Debut
PCA 2026
We first saw the Fuente Fuente OpusX ReXilient at the 2026 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show. With 2026 marking the United States’ semiquincentennial, many cigar companies released products commemorating the 250th anniversary. Before the Trade Show, Elie Bleu (a distribution partner for special Fuente releases) announced the OpusX 250th Anniversary Collection, which includes cigars and accessories commemorating the Semiquincentennial. At the same time, Carlito wanted to focus his efforts at Arturo Fuente on the 25th anniversary of 9-11 rather than the semiquincentennial.
PCA Trade Show coverage is a little different for the Fuente booth. Fuente hides new releases throughout its booth as Easter eggs. The company also keeps many release details shrouded in mystery, even from the staff members working the booth. At the time of PCA, we knew this wasn’t a Semiquincentennial release, but one for the responders of 9-11. However, we got a look at the product with almost all the packaging done.
At PCA 2026, Carlito told many of us that he and his team were still finalizing the ReXilient packaging. He shared a few details about the cigars, but he stayed true to his mantra: “This was not about the cigars, but about the people.”
As for cigar releases, any new OpusX release gets attention. The ReXilient was no exception. It was easily the most-read article on Cigar Coop from PCA 2026, as far as new releases go. I’ll assume the other publications that covered it had similar traffic. The follow-up questions were pretty much, “When is this coming out?” and “Will it be out in time to pay tribute to 9-11. At that time, Fuente also announced plans to partner with charities that support first responders and their families.
The Freedom 250
In late June 2026, OpusX previewed the ReXilient at a party commemorating America’s 250th anniversary at the United States Embassy in the Dominican Republic as part of the Freedom 250 initiative. Although organizers did not distribute the cigar, the event marked the first public showing of the ReXilient release since PCA 2026. It brought the initiative’s significance to the world stage and reinforced the importance of the “Never Forget” message.
The Rollout and The Controversy
By August 2026, Fuente was getting ready to roll out the OpusX ReXilient. Several initiatives were part of the rollout. Arturo Fuente planned to donate $11 from each box produced to Tunnel to Towers, a leading charity supporting first responders and their families. The company also planned to donate boxes to various cigar and non-cigar events to help raise money for 9-11 charities. Finally, Carlito, Cynthia Fuente, and Carlos Fuente III were present at a series of fundraising and awareness events from 9/9 to 9/11/26 in New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina.
In the weeks leading up to these events, critics targeted this project. Some questioned whether the $11.00 donation on a box was too little. Some questioned whether Fuente should profit from a release tied to the 9/11 tragedy, while others challenged the idea of undertaking such a project at all. Some claimed that lighting the Toro cigars symbolized burning the Twin Towers. Many of the comments were downright vicious.
I’ve previously stated that if you’re evaluating this project solely on an eleven-dollar donation for a box of cigars with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $535.00, you’re essentially subscribing to questionable economic reasoning. Arturo Fuente doesn’t sell these boxes to retailers at that price; they sell them at wholesale. Packaging costs for this release also affect Arturo Fuente’s overall expenses. When you factor in the hundreds of boxes donated for events, along with shipping and the logistics that support numerous retailers’ events, the financial picture changes significantly. Unfortunately, the critics often overlook these important factors.
When you look at this project’s purpose and mission, it’s abundantly clear that Carlito’s mantra of “Never Forget” was coming to life.
Havana Nights 4
Just before the OpusX ReXilient arrived at retailers, the cigar made an appearance at the Havana Nights 4 event in Los Angeles. Joe Montegna, Andy Garcia, and Carlito Fuente hosted this fundraising event. Havana Nights supports the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation and Los Angeles-area charities supporting children and adults with special needs, as well as homeless veterans. Carlito Fuente brought two boxes of OpusX ReXilient to auction, and each raised $10,000.00, for a total of $20,000.00. This contributed to the $213,000.00 raised for these charities. This release was already raising funds, and it hadn’t even shipped yet.
Launch Week
In addition to the launch events in New York/New Jersey and North Carolina (9/11). Carlito also met with Tunnel to Towers CEO Frank Siller. This was an important step for the ReXilient project.
“He was so appreciative to see his brother’s badge number being honored,” Carlito Fuente told Cigar Coop. The meeting was important, as it showed Tunnel to Towers’ appreciation for Arturo Fuente Cigars’ efforts on the ReXilient project. The meeting with Siller was just the beginning.
Xtravaganza 2026 (9/9/26)
This was a Fuente event out by Casa del Tabaco at Stone Water at 3 Peaks Marina at Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey, in support of the Cigar Charitable Foundation. Fuente donated boxes for this fundraising event, including the ReXillient.
Barclay Rex (9/10/26)
At this famous Manhattan tobacconist, Carlito Fuente hosted active and retired first responders and handed them the ReXillient to smoke. In addition, a portion of sales proceeds went to Tunnels to Towers.
Echoes For Courage (9/10/26)
This wasn’t a cigar event per se. This was a special fundraising event for Building Homes for Heroes. This event took place at the Brooklyn Barrel Yard in Red Hook, Brooklyn. It was called “Echoes of Courage – From 9/11 to Now” and described as a “Night to Remember” honoring all lost on 9/11 and in the 25 years after. The event featured fireside conversations with many FDNY legends. It included a full seated dinner and cocktail hour, live music, tributes to 9/11 heroes, and powerful stories from Ground Zero.
Fuente supported the event with a special Arturo Fuente VIP lounge that was an add-on to the base fundraising ticket. With the add-on, recipients received OpusX and Black Pink cigars. They also got a special five-count pack of the OpusX ReXilient. Fuente donated all of the cigars and supported the lounge at the event.
With Fuente’s participation, that event raised over 500k for Building Homes for Heroes.
Fayetteville, North Carolina (9/11/26)
After the Brooklyn event, Carlito and Cynthia headed to Fayetteville, North Carolina. They were there for a 9-11 Fuente event at Anstead’s Tobacco Company. Anstead’s is in Fort Bragg’s backyard. Owner Charles Oxedine put on a clinic at the event. There was plenty of Fuente product. Anstead’s donated $11,000.00 to Tunnel to Towers, and a silent auction raised additional funds. Fuente donated all the ReXilient boxes, including full 20-count boxes and five-packs. They also donated rarities for the silent auction.
I personally attended this event. I was blown away by the time and attention Carlito and Cynthia devoted to speaking with everyone who approached them individually. They stayed well past midnight. The Fuente team and Anstead’s owner, Charles Oxedine, also deserve a shout-out.
The Movement Begins
The kickoff events from September 9 through September 11 were just the beginning. They inspired waves of additional events to support the cause across the country. One thing I have noticed about charity initiatives is that they do require a community effort. Money alone simply cannot check a box. Collective participation increases the human element while building credibility, trust, and momentum.
Over the years, Arturo Fuente cigars has built that collective community effort. When ReXilient launched, it shouldn’t have surprised anyone that others stepped up.
Retailers around the country soon began holding parallel fundraising events. This included: Smoke Inn, Fanatix Cigar House, Blue Smoke Dallas, Sanj’s Smoke Shop, Regency Cigar Emporium, and Leaf Cigar Emporium (and many others who we apologize for leaving off, but please let us know if you do) joined this movement
“The momentum continues throughout the cigar community, which truly is awesome to see,” said Carlito Fuente to Cigar Coop.
Final Thoughts
Based on my conversations with Carlito Fuente, Arturo Fuente Cigars has raised a conservative estimate of $450,000 to $500,000 for various charities. Plus, when you factor in Havana Nights and Echoes for Courage, the money raised for charity is much higher.
As I mentioned, a successful charitable endeavor requires more than one person to carry the load. When I entered the world of cigar media, I distinctly remember Cigar Dave stating that no industry gives back more than the cigar industry. On that point, he was absolutely right. As I got to know the people at Arturo Fuente Cigars, particularly Carlito Fuente, it became clear to me that the Fuentes were exemplary leaders. The ReXilient movement did more than raise money and awareness; it also helped preserve an important moment in history for future generations. Arturo Fuente did an outstanding job, and I couldn’t be prouder of what transpired.
Media Credits: Cigar Coop, except where noted
