The Slow Smoking Final is here

It’s that time of the year again. Expectations are as high as the stress level of Cigar Smoking World Championship founder Marko Bilic the days before the big day. What are we to be treated to this year? Last year’s grand finale of the CSWC gave us a returning champion in the form of Germany’s Hauke Walter. Will he be able to defend his title, making him the first person ever to become world champion three times, or will someone else make the climb to the top? God knows there’s an eager bunch of contenders out there.

It’s been an eventful season as always. 2023 saw the birth of a few new nations in this ever expanding competition, and this year there was supposed to be nine more. Unfortunately Jordan, China, Hungary and the Netherlands were canceled, but at least we got to see new national champions in Canada, Cyprus, Kosovo and the two smallest, and in one case the most remote, places so far, La Reúnion and Andorra. In addition, Serbia, Lebanon, Kuwait and Bosnia were also canceled and Finland became part of the Estonian event, making the grand total of qualifiers 37, including two in Germany.

There have been superior winners and close calls, like always. We’ve seen favorites defend their titles for the third or fourth time in a row, like Drew Emch in the US, Hauke Walter in Germany, Felix Matei in Romania and Dimitri Smirnovs in Estonia, and we’ve seen remarkable comebacks from both Igor “The Swedish Tiger” Kovacic in Sweden and Oleg Pedan in Belarus. After a few years hiatus they both came back strong and passed the three hour-mark like it was a breezy Sunday afternoon.

But the big headlines, for all the wrong reasons, went to Greece. For the first time in CSWC history a national winner was caught cheating. The participant was caught on tape relighting his cigar and was immediately disqualified upon discovery, as was a fellow competitor involved in the incident. They have both received a lifetime ban from the CSWC.

But back to the matter at hand; Who will be the next slow smoking world champion? Here are some of the top contenders.

Hauke Walter from Germany.
The way things have been going Hauke Walter is definitely the top favorite. If you were able to have more than one time in the Top 20 list of the season he would’ve eliminated a few of his fellow contestants. He has the best time of the season and his winning time in Germany of 3 hours 26 minutes and 45 seconds would’ve rewarded him with the second place as well
Best time this season: 3:35:10
Position in the top 20: 1

Oleg Pedan from Belarus.
CSWC calls it “one of the biggest comebacks of all time”. The former two-time world champion Oleg Pedan made a great re-entrance to the slow smoking stage when he outsmoked everyone in Belarus by more than an hour. In fact, if he hadn’t received a 15-minute penalty he would’ve claimed the top spot.
Best time this season: 3:25:09
Position in the top 20: 2

Borys Szkodziak from Poland.
After a bad year in 2023 Borys Szkodziak seems to be back in shape. Last year Marko Bilic said Szkodziak was content having won the world championship once and that he’s aiming for the world record his girlfriend Klaudia Ide has instead, but if he’s going for the world record, why not do it at the grand finale? After all, he’s more than proven he has the potential.
Best time this season: 2:58:14
Position in the top 20: 8

Klaudia Ide from Poland.
A world record holder is always a top contender. Even though she hasn’t passed the three-hour mark this year, she obviously knows how to. 3 hours 53 minutes and 9 seconds is no joke and last year she finished 6th in the final.
Best time this season: 2:50:54
Position in the top 20: 12

Marcin Sakowski from Poland.
He beat both Klaudia Ide and Borys Szkodziak in the national qualifiers and he came in 7th at the grand finale last year. He’s definitely someone to keep an eye on. Given the right circumstances, he might be able to push himself that last bit necessary.
Best time this season: 2:51:22
Position in the top 20: 11

Igor Kovacic from Sweden.
The other big comeback of the year. Igor Kovacic became a mystery in Sweden for a few years when he kept signing up for the qualifier but never turning up. This year he was back and beat other top names like Henrik Kristensson and Mikael “Zeke” Zander.
Best time this season: 3:21:46
Position in the top 20: 4

Henrik Kristensson from Sweden.
The 2021 world champion might have lost the national qualifier to Igor Kovacic, but he still smoked for 3 hours 3 minutes and 52 seconds, with a 15 minute penalty that is. Once a world champion, always a world champion.
Best time this season: 3:03:52
Position in the top 20: 7

Anastasya Arsenova
Few people on the circuit seem to train as hard as last year’s second runner-up, Anastasya Arsenova. Not only did she win the Kazakhstan qualifier at an impressive 3 hours 24 minutes and 11 seconds, with which she’s also at third place on the Top 20, she’s also given impressive performances in both Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Best time this season: 3:24:11
Position in the top 20: 3

Drew Emch
The top performances might not have been there so far this year, at least not officially, but few can forget him exploding on to the stage in 2022 from nowhere, smoking for 3 hours 19 minutes and 24 seconds in the US national qualifier. A 10th place at the grand finale last year speaks volumes as well. The best might yet be to come.
Best time this season: 2:08:00
Position in the top 20: –

Tormod Skarmaas and Rolf Broch from Norway.
Just like last year the two Norwegians came out of the gate running. In one of the first qualifiers of the season they both made it passed the three-hour limit once again, and Skaaraas even made it to 5th place in the grand finale in Split in 2023.
Best time this season: 3:14:18 and 3:05:36
Position in the top 20: 5 and 6

And then we have the rest, Dimitri Smirnovs from Latvia, Marian Nedela from Italy, Daniel Friedenthal from Austria, last year’srunner-up Andrej Leontijev from Belarus, Etan Patel from the UK, and so on. As mentioned before, Hauke Walter might look confident up there, but many are the suitors ready for the throne. On Saturday night we’ll know. Let the games slowly begin!