Wrapper: Nicaraguan Broadleaf
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: 7 x 50 Churchill Box Pressed
Strength: Full

I reviewed this cigar in October 2021. The new version, albeit slightly different, is now for sale as another limited edition. They are solid cigars and have always been a favorite go-to when I want to hallucinate incandescently.
You might want to check out the new 2025 Espinosa 601 La Bomba The Warhead: Independence Day. Sponsor Small Batch Cigar has them. Take 10% off with promo code KAMTAN.

SMELL THE GLOVE:
Back in the 1840’s, when Espinosa was in his teens, he came up with the 601 La Bomba. I remember buying a box and there was a warning on the lid about its strength. Great marketing idea. Flies swarming to detritus…but in this case, the cigar was pure gold with full color hallucinations.

Since that debut, lots of cigar blenders followed suit and made stronger cigars. The original La Bomba isn’t as strong as I remember. Hence, the release of limited editions over the years that up the strength and finds other sizes to play with.

First to bat is a deep, dark chocolate that is exactly 92% cacao. There is a creaminess along with a sweet caramel that is food for the nostrils. Before I go further, this blend ain’t nothing new in terms of a Nic puro. I smell the same things I smell in most Nic blends: Licorice, espresso, cinnamon, peanuts, bread, heavy malt, lemon citrus, cedar, barnyard, and dried fruit.

The cold draw presents flavors of dark bittersweet chocolate, espresso, licorice, malt, caramel, vanilla, creaminess, dried fruit, sweet bread, and carraway seeds.

Thank goodness the cigar is rolled by professionals instead of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. The flow of air is on the money. I gently lift my PerfecDraw draw adjustment tool and place it in its oxygen filled Lucite case so it doesn’t age. I experimented with a hyperbaric device for a while, but my electric bills were nuts.

FIRST THIRD:
Right away, the cigar blend sings to me…arias from Puccini, symphonics from Bach, violin concertos from Vivaldi, and Best of The Archies 1965-1965.

A tease of complexity hits the airwaves. There are sweet notes of stone fruit, vanilla ice cream, black licorice, chocolate nougat, intense maltiness from an English Guinness, caramel, black cherries, cedar, and black pepper.

The strength is toying with me. It is merely at an easy going medium. As I have smoked two sticks prior to this review, I know the dastardly deed this blend plans for me. The second half will require you hire an Esperanto translator to make any sense of my garbled verbiage.

The cigar is packed to the gullets…gallstones? Mood stones? The pubic bone? In other words, a very slow roll here.

Strength, after only half an inch, strides up to medium/full. I feel the effects of being lost in the inner city and asking folks if they can release the pressure on my brain?

Savory kicks in with notes of beef jerky, buttered corn bread, and marsupial jelly.
So here we have a ten dollar stick that tastes light years better than the $400 OpusX I reviewed yesterday.

The flavor points are exactly what I expected. No surprises. Could be an Espinosa, AJ, Pepin Garcia, or a Quorum XXL blend.

Balance is invaluable to this blend. Sweet v. Savory is right there and will get better.
As strong as the cigar is becoming, it maintains an even keel of smooth and erotic behaviors…I say erotic because my boxers are bunched up around my saggy bits. I bought a Scrotum Enhancement Sling from Amazon.

And then Courteney Cox jumps on stage with The Boss. A deeper, richer complexity hits my palate like a moil out of control and drunk. I’ve been circumcised 3 times. By accident of course. Unfortunately, there was no Krazy Glue in 1950. My dad used a caulking gun to put back some of the penile flesh that looked like sauteed mushrooms.

The cigar is holding steady at a potent medium/full. I’m in fear that when the cigar goes for broke, all those lost plugs will do the cha cha in my lower intestine. I mean…how do you get those things out once they find a home?

SECOND THIRD:
The blend becomes a stunning example of richness, transitions and finish. I get a slit of root beer now. As well as a Fleet enema cocktail.

Sammy the cat stands nearby holding the defibrillator paddles. He is a patient feline. I just never get a warning when he yells, “Clear!”

Black cherries and dried apricot come out of nowhere. Transitions are as fast as a 13-year-old boy with his first Playboy.

We now have full tilt.

The live version of “Crossroads” by Cream is playing. It was Jack Bruce, in the 60’s, that taught me improvisation on the bass. I can now play the “Can Can” and Chick Corea’s “Spain” at the same time.

This behemoth of strength cauterizes my natural openings. And then my colostomy bag fills instantly with katman juice.

The cigar is a bona fide flavor bomb. Keeping track of the flavors is difficult as they whizz by at the speed of the drum solo in “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. Every band I played with in the 1960’s used that drum solo to step outside and smoke a J.

Have I ever mentioned that it was Copeland and I that played on the old hit, “Year of the Cat” by Al Stewart? We got conned into playing with him in the studio when we were mixing the 1975 Curved Air Live album at Air Studios in London. Naturally, we got no credit and no dough. The first time I heard that song was after I returned to the States and wondered why the song sounded so familiar. And when I saw Copeland in Santa Barbara in 1980, the first thing I asked Stewart was if that was us playing? His older brother, and our manager Miles, just smiled and walked away. Stewart nodded his head in shame.

I’ve just passed the halfway point and I’m happy as a clam. A delicious cigar. I will need 30 minutes to walk off its effects.

The cigar now changes directions and discards the flavor bomb profile. The sum of its parts takes over. The La Bomba has a brain.

What a great cigar. But only stout and hearty smokers need apply. This stick will decimate the golfer set and their Macanudos.

I keep finding myself just staring at the laptop screen. I can’t move. I can’t write. We could have killed Castro with this cigar.

The burn is exemplary. No char line issues at all.

I couldn’t finish the first two sticks I smoked. But today, I’m going for the gold. I will finish this cigar even if it causes brain damage and turns me into a trombone player.

LAST THIRD:
No idea how I got here.

This is the strongest cigar I’ve smoked in years.
I need to pee, but I can’t get up from my chair.

Sips of water unleash a cornucopia of flavors. Everything I’ve described is in the mix.
It is difficult to be funny or clever when the brain shuts down. I’m struggling just to stay conscious. I’m now further into the cigar that I’ve gotten previously. I’m now in the unassailable mode.

Still, a very smooth blend. No sudden lurches. I try to slow down and be more careful of my input. Remember when you were 15 and you got your first BJ with a girl wearing braces…it’s like that. I still carry those scars.

The complex nature of this cigar has been on a true path. Never wavering. Always balanced and smooth. No nipping at or sniffing my genitalia.

I don’t recommend smoking this cigar on an empty stomach…like me. What was I thinking?
1-1/2” to go. I plan to nub it as masochism runs in my gene pool. The strength goes nuclear.

I see people I don’t know in that tunnel of light. Most wave me on by.

I know why Espinosa made this a limited edition…Liability and illegal aftereffects.

I’m done now that my charming personality dissolves into a flaccid no man’s land.

If you can man up and aren’t prone to sudden crying, this is the cigar for you.

You can purchase the 2025 version called Espinosa 601 La Bomba The Warhead: Independence Day from sponsor Small Batch Cigar. Take 10% off with promo code KATMAN.

RATING: 95

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS

Tags: 601 cigars, cigar reviews, cigar reviews by the katman, cigars, erik espinosa, katman, Katman’s Rekap ~ 601 La Bomba Warhead VII Churchill – Limited Edition | Cigar Reviews by the Katman, la bomba, phil kohn