when JB said that Claremont would never let go of an idea it all made sense.

You can see an alternate take on this in the "What if Phoenix had lived" issue by Claremont where we see the alternate history of a depowered Jean in the same stories culminating in a fight with Mastermind where she shoots him (and he is revealed as a pawn of the Shadow King - which I think was also hinted at in the Paul Smith issues and then dropped).

JB says it was the Paul Smith era where sales went to #1 and stayed there until Claremont left (and past that of course but we're talking about him specifically).

Including top ten spinoffs and the best selling issue of all time with Jim Lee. And perennial trade paperbacks and reprints.

All helped by a solid foundation in the Cockrun and JB years IMO.

.......

Never thought about it before. Is ruby quartz not translucent?

"...The material used was revealed to be a translucent mineral called ruby-quartz that nullifies the optic blasts, absorbing the energy constantly emitting from Scott's eyes...."

"...While a similar pair of sunglasses with the lenses made from ruby-quartz simply cancel out the optic blast, the visors contain various sets that allow Cyclops to adjust the intensity, size, and shape of his optic blasts to varying levels of pinpoint accuracy and devastating effect. Monitored constantly by neutron detectors and regulated with powered microchips installed within it, the visor allows Cyclops to project a blast small enough to fire through a standard coin or wide and powerful enough to punch through an entire mountain."

Heck, what's your take on how Cyclops' optic blasts work?  How big and far can he go?  How small and near?  Can he over-use it and run out?  If so, how long to re-charge?

Still, my complete quote was this:

"Here's an article at CBR I've just found as I was looking for a more or less official explanation online that explains that the lenses absorb/cancel out the optic blasts." 

I don't see any explanation of that in that OHOTMU text shared in your post, Mark. Admittedly, I mostly skimmed that text as between the low res and pseudo-techno-jargon, my eyes were getting crossed.

Edited to note:

Ok, trying my best to read the full description from OHOTMU as presented on the site Mark linked to in his post above, here is the part that actually comes closest to addressing what I wrote in my post, as opposed to all that other stuff in the section Mark shared:

"...(Cyclops's) body is protected from the effects of the particles [i.e., his optic blast], and even the thin membrane of his eyelids are sufficient to block the emission of energy. The synthetic ruby quartz crystal used to fashion the lenses of Cyclops's glasses and visor is resonant to his mind's psionic field and is similarly protected...."

I read that as the lenses doing what I wrote, and CBR also seems to agree, in that the lenses can absorb or prevent the progress of the optic blast, not that ruby quartz negates Cyclops's ability to project the beam from his eyes. The ruby quartz resists the blasts and acts as a barrier that Cyclops can control.

The ruby quartz is, in effect, like a second pair of eyelids,  only he can see through them as they are acting as a shield to his optic blasts.