“The New Generation of Luxury Cigars”
~ Belmaachi Cigars
The Cigar
Everything happens for a reason. Just ask ‘International Man of Mystery,’ Sam Falaki, who is Moroccan, Bulgarian, previously lived in Italy, and now resides in Montreal, Canada. His serendipitous friendship with former San Francisco Giant, Marvin Benard, aka ‘The Pride of Nicaragua,’ led him to Estelí, Nicaragua in 2021. There he was introduced to renowned Cuban tobacco and sixth generation cigar maker, Carlos Pereda, owner of Tabacalera Flor de San Luis.
Another extraordinary friendship emerged.
Sam said, “the friendship between Carlos and I grew, and he convinced me to get into the cigar business. I came up with the idea of honoring my uncle, Taibi Belmaachi, who passed away during the pandemic from Covid related complications. I named the cigars ‘Belmaachi’ to honor him. I was very fond of him as he taught me how to smoke cigars, coincidentally and inspirationally, during our 2008 trip to Nicaragua.”
“Belmaachi Cigars offers premium hand-rolled cigars crafted from top-quality Nicaraguan tobacco. Our unique blends feature tobacco grown in Somoto and Jalapa, with Somoto’s high-altitude environment near Honduras contributing to our distinctive flavor profile and excellent burn rate. Produced by Tabacalera Flor de San Luis, our cigars benefit from six generations of Cuban expertise. We use high-quality Ecuadorian wrappers to complement our signature blends.” ~ BelmaachiCigars.Com
The Whiskey
My visit to the 2024 WhiskyFest Chicago led to the discovery of my favorite new bourbon brand, Stonestreet Bourbon. From top level thoroughbred horse racing, a family estate vineyard, and their Founder’s Edition Small Batch 47% ABV bourbon, this Bardstown fourth generation Jackson family farm represents an “endless pursuit of victory.”
This inaugural release by Stonestreet Bourbon, aged 5 years, was distilled at Green River Distilling, yielding a total of 131 barrels, at only $60 MSRP per bottle. The very smooth and sweet mash bill consists of 70% Corn, 21% Wheat, and 9% Barley. “Today, with the Founder’s Edition, we honor the entrepreneurial spirit that shaped America’s whiskey legend, as well as the unbridled competition that keeps that spirit alive today. In time, we aim to build our own distillery, craft distinct mash bills, and share our artisanal creations, while respecting those who have ventured before us.” ~ Christopher Stonestreet Jackson, Founder
Tasting Notes From: Stonestreetwhiskey.com
Nose: Toasted caramel with sweet corn and touch of lemon oil.
Palate: Rounded approach and a silky mid with baked peach, vanilla, and toffee.
Sumatra Toro
Produced By: Tabacalera Flor de San Luis in Estelí, Nicaragua
Blended By: Sam Falaki, Belmaachi Cigars
Vitola: 6×52 Toro
Tripa (Filler): Somoto Jalapa & Condega Nicaragua
Capa (Wrapper): Ecuadorian Sumatra
Capote (Binder): Somoto, Nicaragua
Body: Medium
Price: $14
Visual/Pre-light Draw
Experienced cigar connoisseur, Tiffany Shotwell of Pennsylvania, emphasizes that cigar bands really do matter to consumers. She is absolutely correct, and Belmaachi absolutely nailed it! Just look at that classy crested gold, red, black, and silver double band, displaying the brand’s crowned lion logo. Sam said “I adopted the North African Barbary Lion as the brand logo, emphasizing my Uncle Taibi’s Moroccan heritage.” The gold foot band also displays the crowned Barbary Lion, for an extra kiss of class to the cigar’s presentation.
The cigar’s smooth and oily Ecuadorian-Sumatra wrapper leaf is a very beautiful shade of bold dark roasted coffee bean. Sumatra tobacco migrated from the Indonesian Sumatra Island, where it is known as “black tobacco”. Ecuador Sumatra, made by blending Cubano and Sumatra varieties, is a mild and sweet leaf that produces sweet floral and earthy notes of cinnamon.
There are hints of both fruitiness and cocoa over fresh hay notes on the side sniff, and dark chocolate on the dry foot odor. There is a slight tingle on the lips when prepping the cigar’s head for a nice straight guillotine cut. The dry draw is bold and full of dark orchard fruits notes over fresh oats.
First Third
That foot band slides right off and we’re off to Morocco! The cake battered foot smoke odor is dark, creamy, leathery, and chocolaty. Extraordinary! The first puff immediately reminds me of biting into a sweet, Little Debbie fudge brownie, with those unique English walnuts. The cigar’s fudge brownie and nutty notes definitely dominate the first third. The draw is a bit tight, but I anticipate the cigar’s bouquet will open up shortly. The retro hale is creamy, yellow cakey, and salty, causing the palate and sinus to salivate all the same.
Cigar to whiskey: The cigar enhances the sweet peach fruitiness of the bourbon, with the sweetest finish of drizzled caramel I have ever experienced on a pairing.
Love it!
Second Third
As suspected, the cigar’s salty draw opened right up, delivering even more flavor, as the palate salivates for more! Those brownie and nutty notes are now overlaid with woody notes, and a roasted cinnamon glaze that coats the entire palate. The now bolder retro-hale has a very nice hint of spiciness, overlaid with leathery roasted brownie notes. The cigar’s burn slows, which really allows the smoker to sit back and fully enjoy its flavor packed blend of high quality tobaccos.
This second third is also extraordinary. Nice job Sam!
Whiskey to cigar: The peachy fruitiness of the bourbon is doused in sweet fudgy chocolate from the cigar.
This direction of the pairing is bold and delicious, providing us the perfect little escape to “Morocco” by Moon Taxi:
Final Third
Time to tap off that lengthy perfect ash and settle back into the remainder of this flavor bomb cigar. That beautiful crested band slides right off, perfectly toward the foot. No damage. It actually makes for a fancy pinky ring. Just try it!
All of the blend’s flavors have really come together, like a delicious Culver’s hot fudge Turtle Sunday, with nice sweet oakiness on the finish. “Morocco tell me where you’ve been, won’t you tell me what you know,” because all I can do now is sit back, and indulge in this incredible cigar.
Cigar smoked whiskey: The boldest and sweetest notes of candied apricots explode into an amazing Angel food cake battered creaminess over the entire palate.
BOOM! WOW!! BELMAACHi!!!
Overall…
I am awestruck at how perfect and ‘unusually awesome’ this fudge brownie, creamy, and fruit bomb pairing evolves over each of the three pairing directions.
Cheers!
Acknowledgment & Live Pairing
Thank you Belmaachi Owner, Sam Falaki, Stonestreet Bourbon’s National Brand Ambassador, Rickey Wethington, and contributor, Tiffany Shotwell, for joining us Chooches on The Great Cigar & Pipe Show. We definitely had a blast discovering these new brands and how perfectly they pair.
Cheers to Sam’s Uncle Taibi Belmaachi (September 2, 1933 – November 19, 2020). Taibi loved nature, he even published his own little dictionary of plants, called Le Petit Diccionaire Des Plants. Thank you Uncle Taibi, for your kindheartedness and natural inspiration.
Whisky & Cigar Photography by: James Archie
