601 La Bomba Napalm

[Don Fernando]

This is an addition to the 601 series that every cigar aficionado knows or should know. The brand has a bit of a history, first owned by Erik Espinosa and Eddie Ortega at EO Brands and made at My Father cigars, then made by Rocky Patel when he distributed EO Brands and when EO Brands fell apart, Espinosa got the brand and now makes the cigars at his own La Zona factory downtown Esteli. And he created this new La Bomba line.


Now I was trying to find some information on the blend and I read about Ecuadorean wrappers, Connecticut Broadleaf, Nicaraguan Habano, so I’m confused, some websites even say it’s a Nicaraguan puro and the Espinosa website is ‘coming soon’ at the time of writing this review. All I can tell is that I bought it at one of the Smoke Inn locations back in 2014, after I returned from Nicaragua and spend a week in Florida before I flew back home.

The dark wrapper is dry and leathery, but what stands out is the long pig tail, that looks like a flint that is on a stick of dynamite, kind of like the firecrackers that the Two Guys Smoke Shop has made as a yearly limited edition by different factories. The wrapper is flawless, The construction feels good and the long flint makes the cigar quite unique. The ring is bright yellow with a 601 print of which the 0 is a bomb, a white banner saying la bomba, the brightness of the yellow is great. The aroma is quite strong and smells like barnyard with manure.

I cut the cigar because of the flint on the cap. The cold draw is a bit easy and has a well fermented tobacco taste with a spicy undertone. I lit the cigar with a single torch. I taste coffee, full and strong. After a quarter of an inch I taste wood and pepper. After a third I taste cedar, pepper and cinnamon, all strong and bold. Halfway the pepper toned down a little and I taste wood with a strange but tasty carrot flavor. The final third starts very peppery again.

The draw is loose, too loose for my liking. That makes the smoke a little thin. After a few puffs the draw and smoke get much better. The frayed ash is almost white. The burn is pretty straight. This cigar is one of the strongest cigars I have smoked in a long time and the flavors are equally strong and bold. The smoke time is an hour and a half.

Would I buy this cigar again? In the future I’ll be singing La Bomba every time I hear Ritchie Valens or Los Lobos. Great cigar.

Score: 94

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