Espinosa 601 La Bomba Warhead IX – Blind Cigar Review

Cigar Info

Last year, Espinosa Premium Cigars released the ninth iteration of their 601 La Bomba Warhead series, continuing a tradition that fans of the brand anticipate annually. The Warhead IX, a 6 x 56 perfecto, joins its predecessors in offering a bold smoking experience, exclusively using Nicaraguan tobaccos and featuring a broadleaf wrapper. This edition, like others in the series, was produced at the AJ Fernandez’s San Lotano Factory in Ocotal, Nicaragua.

With an MSRP of $13 per cigar, the Warhead IX was released in a limited quantity of 5,000 boxes, each containing 10 cigars. The military-themed packaging and warhead-inspired band design returned, maintaining the distinctive aesthetic that has become synonymous with the Warhead line. The Warhead IX made its debut at the 2023 PCA Convention & Trade Show in Las Vegas, cementing its place in the yearly cycle of eagerly awaited cigar releases from Espinosa Premium Cigars.

Vital Stats:

Vitola: Perfecto
Length: 6″
Ring Gauge: 56
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Broadleaf
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Factory: San Lotano AJ Fernandez
Blender: Erik Espinosa, Hector Alfonso Sr.
Number of reviewers: 4 – Ryan H. (Ryan H.) John I. (John I.) Kevin A. (Kevin A.) Doug S. (Unpossible_1)
Price: $13.00
Age: 8 Months
Release Date: June 2023
Contributed by: Espinosa Cigars

Initial Impressions – Espinosa 601 La Bomba Warhead IX

Appearance: 90

“The cigar has a very dark brown oily wrapper. The seams are clearly visible, giving the cigar a somewhat vintage appearance. The wrapper has a minimal tooth and is fairly smooth.” –Kevin A. (Kevin A.)

Aroma: 88

“The aroma is just as rustic as it looks with notes like oak, earth, and barnyard.” –Doug S. (Unpossible_1)

First Third

Flavor: 88
Strength: Medium-Strong
Body/Complexity: Medium-Full

“Once the burn gets to the actual foot of the cigar, it opens up nicely with an almost perfect draw. The first few puffs have some sweetness to it, molasses, toasted marshmallow, and cocoa, along with a sharp black pepper burn on the finish. The retrohale is espresso and black pepper. Just shy of an inch in, the sweetness fades and leather, cedar, and oak replace the initial sweetness. Burn and draw are excellent and the ash is really holding on. Strength, body, and complexity are all medium-full.” –Kevin A. (Kevin A.)

“This was a bit tricky to get started. Typically I’ll trim a tip like this to provide more surface area for lighting, but I wanted to give this cigar a full function check. Typical of a lot of this style smoke it takes a bit of effort to get the tapered head evenly lit. Eventually, I resorted to a pretty serious application of my torch to even out the burn. Flavors in the initial third aren’t tremendously distinct. Pretty big roasted notes with some follow-up maduro sweetness.”-John I. (John I.)

Second Third

Flavor: 87
Strength: Medium-Strong
Body/Complexity: Medium-Full

“Burn is performing rather well for this vitola like this very straight no waves ash is quite strong as well. The cigar produces very thick smoke, with a draw like this I don’t see how it couldn’t very good wide open draw. Profile alot more clean and less tary this third. Clean hard wood notes with black pepper and earth.” –Ryan H. (Ryan H.)

“The heat of the pepper lightens up just a touch, but I’m still getting that smoked meat with some oak. I looked around to make sure I wasn’t transported to a BBQ cook-off.” –Doug S. (Unpossible_1)

Final Third

Flavor: 90
Strength: Medium-Strong
Body/Complexity: Medium-Full

“Hardwood earth and black pepper are still the only notes very consistent. A cinnamon of sorts joining the finish it would have to be a toasted cinnamon but a little sweet.” –Ryan H. (Ryan H.)

“More roastey goodness. Getting much less sweetness toward the finish. I’m finding a little bit of tar build up is developing, so I’m working hard on sipping on this. Strength at the end is closer to full-bodied, but still manageable.”-John I. (John I.)

Overall Impressions – Espinosa 601 La Bomba Warhead IX

Draw: 96

“Good draw throughout. A tad looser would have been nice, but no significant complaints.” –John I. (John I.)

Burn: 93

“Took some patience to get this started evenly due to the tapered foot, but once corrected with a lighter it had a consistently sharp clean burn.” –John I. (John I.)

Construction: 93

“This is a very “classic” or “vintage” looking cigar that would make for a good conversation prior to cutting and lighting.” –Kevin A. (Kevin A.)

Overall Strength: Medium-Strong
Overall Body/Complexity: Medium-Full
Experience Overall: 92

“Now the profile isn’t that amazing, but anyone could smoke this cigar and appreciate it. It’s quite normal and appeasing could be smoked anytime of day and is short enough to get the job done.” –Ryan H. (Ryan H.)

“Really impressive cigar. Gorgeous to look at, and it performed nearly flawlessly. Flavor wise it was fairly simple with a pretty narrow range of flavor, dark, roasty, with some coffee notes and periodic sweetness. Fortunately, that’s all stuff I like a ton.” –John I. (John I.

“Overall this was a good cigar, although it did start off better than it finished for me. The chocolatey sweetness at the beginning would have been phemonimal if it was present the whole way through. All in all, the flavors that were present were good. The shape of the cigar is neat, and while medium-full, it is still not crazy strong, though it should not be enjoyed on an empty stomach.” –Kevin A. (Kevin A.)

“The hardest part of having to write a review after a cigar ends like this is separating the thing that caused it to be ruined from the rest of the experience. I can’t recall the last time I’ve seen so much tar ooze out like that, so it’s hard to ignore. I’m just going to take the L on this one and move on.” –Doug S. (Unpossible_1)

Smoking Time (in minutes): 61

To view the complete scores and notes, click here

Espinosa 601 La Bomba Warhead IX – Blind Cigar Review