601 La Bomba Review

There’s an old joke around these parts that asks, “What’s West Virginia’s official state flower?”
Punch line: The satellite dish.

Like most digs at what’s still a largely rural state, the joke worked because it contained more than a grain of truth. Homes with little else in the way of creature comforts had at least a satellite dish; just as towns—no matter how sleepy—had at least a Rite Aid, a Family Dollar, or a Dairy Queen. A booming West Virginia metropolis had all three.

There was a real possibility last week that the punch line “an umbrella” would have also worked. I can’t remember a wetter July in the Charleston area, or less welcoming conditions for the outdoor cigar smoker. But that’s not much of an obstacle for an addictive personality with cabin fever, and the soggy weather broke just long enough for me to enjoy a 601 La Bomba Napalm.

These cigars are made in Erik Espinosa’s La Zona factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. I’m pretty impressed with almost all of La Zona’s output, from the 601 lines down to the humble La Zona Habano and La Zona Connecticut lines. And I was excited to hear that Erik is reviving the Murcielago brand—an enjoyable cigar with great imagery (Murcielago translates to English as “bat”).

Speaking of imagery, the 601 La Bomba is forbidding. With names throughout the line like the “Atomic,” the “Nuclear,” and the “Sake Bomb,” and a pigtail cap worked to a “fuse” that runs alongside the cigar, the La Bomba evokes a blend packed with heaping amounts of strong, spicy ligero tobaccos. Sold in boxes of ten, the Napalm is a large robusto—a 5x52, rather than the more traditional 5x50.

Don't let the name or the scary imagery intimidate you. This IS a powerful cigar. But if you can weather the peppery blast of the first third, the La Bomba settles into a complex, full-bodied treat, loaded with dark fruit and syrupy sweet flavors.

There’s some talk in the blogosphere about what this cigar was like when it was still in the hands of Pepin Garcia. I can’t speak to that—I never smoked any of the Pepin-made La Bombas. But the peppery opening remains true to Pepin form. And I can say that, like a once-legendary athlete, if the 601 La Bomba has “lost a step,” it had it to lose. This is still a great cigar.