Espinosa Cigars: Erik Espinosa, La Zona and the 601 Line

Espinosa is one of the few brands in the category whose owner also owns a share of the factory that rolls it. Erik Espinosa entered the industry as an independent broker in 1997, co-founded EO Brands in 2003 with Eddie Ortega, and in 2012 established Espinosa Premium Cigars and became the third owner of the La Zona factory in Estelí. Our Espinosa collection carries Crema, Murcielago, Laranja Reserva, 601 La Bomba and the full Knuckle Sandwich range.

This profile covers the company, the two factories that actually make the cigars, every line with its wrapper, and the award the brand is measured by.

Broker to factory owner

Erik Espinosa started as an independent broker in 1997. Around 2003 he co-founded brands with Eddie Ortega under EO Brands and United Tobacco, producing Rio and Vibe through Plasencia in Honduras, and building 601, Cubao and Murcielago. When the partnership split, Ortega kept Cubao, Rio and Vibe.

Espinosa Premium Cigars was established in 2012. It relaunched 601 and Murcielago and added Laranja and Las 6 Provincias. Erik Espinosa Jr. is also involved in the business.

Espinosa is credited as the blender behind the lines. The company does not publish a separate named master blender, so we do not invent one.

La Zona, and the lines made elsewhere

La Zona Cigar Factory in Estelí was founded in 2001 by Humberto García Alayon and his son Carlos Alberto García, Cuban emigres. Espinosa joined as the third owner in 2012. The factory runs fourteen pairs of rollers and produces around 1.4 million cigars a year.

Here is the detail most retailers leave out: not everything with an Espinosa band comes from La Zona. Crema, Espinosa Habano and Laranja are made there. The 601 and Murcielago lines are made by A.J. Fernandez, and the Knuckle Sandwich Chef Special is made at the San Lotano factory in Ocotal. That is not a criticism. It is how the modern industry works, and knowing it tells you why the lines taste as different from each other as they do.

Four Espinosas across the range

Two Cremas for the light end, a Murcielago for the middle, and a La Bomba Warhead for the top.

The portfolio, wrapper by wrapper

Also in the range: Crema, Espinosa Habano, Murcielago, Azucar, Wasabi, 601 Red Habano and 601 Green Oscuro. Brazilian wrapper is the unusual one here, and if you have not tried it, our Brazilian wrapper collection is worth a look. Mata Fina is darker, sweeter and less peppery than a Nicaraguan leaf of the same colour.

Knuckle Sandwich

Knuckle Sandwich is Espinosa's collaboration with the chef Guy Fieri, and it now accounts for roughly a quarter of the company's sales. It runs across four wrappers, which makes it the easiest single line to use as a tasting flight.

The Connecticut is the mildest. The Habano sits in the middle with an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. The Maduro uses an Ecuadorian Sumatra Maduro leaf and is the sweetest of the four. Puro Nicaragua is exactly what the name says. The Chef Special, a 6.5 by 52 box pressed figurado under an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, is the limited one, made at San Lotano in a run of 15,000.

One Knuckle Sandwich from each wrapper

The Laranja award

The Laranja Reserva Toro, a 6 by 52 with a Brazilian wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler, placed number thirteen on Cigar Aficionado's Top 25 of 2015 with 94 points at a list price of 10.90 dollars. That combination, a 94 point cigar in the low teens, is the argument for the whole brand.

What we notice first-hand

Espinosa is where we send people who want serious flavour without a serious price. The whole catalogue sits in a band where you can try four different cigars for the price of one from a luxury house, and that makes it the best brand we carry for actually learning your own palate.

The Crema Lancero is the sleeper. A 7.5 by 38 forces a slower, cooler smoke and puts the wrapper flavour front and centre, because the ratio of wrapper to filler in a thin cigar is much higher. If you have only ever smoked Toros and Gordos, a lancero is a genuinely different experience and this is an inexpensive way to find out. See the rest in our Lancero collection.

A caution on 601 La Bomba. The name is honest. It is a genuinely powerful cigar and it is a poor choice on an empty stomach or as a first cigar of the day. Start with Crema or a Knuckle Sandwich Connecticut and work up. Our full body collection is where La Bomba belongs.

Espinosa at Cigar Inc., live

Browse all Espinosa

The bottom line

Crema for the mild end, Knuckle Sandwich for the flight, Laranja for the Brazilian wrapper, Murcielago for the everyday medium, and 601 La Bomba when you want to be hit. Very few brands cover that much ground this well at this price.

If you are not sure where on the strength scale you sit, our medium bodied and full body collections and the Cigar Finder will help.

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