Just like last year, Denmark was the starting point for the 2025 Cigar Smoking World Championship qualification circuit. Denmark is normally one of the biggest qualifiers, and the Nordic country immediately set the standard for the rest of the competing countries. 60 participants made their way to the new venue, a former dance school in the Brønshøj area of Copenhagen, to compete for the Danish national title. Today a restaurant, Pejsegaarden set a scene which ended with a national record.

“It was the biggest Danish competition so far,” organizer Jesper Pedersen says. “The atmosphere was really good all the way through. Afterwards the owner of Pejsegaarden told me he was impressed by how much we were able to consume and still be calm and relaxed.”

That’s Denmark for you, and to no surprise, the breaker of the national record was the champion of the last two years, Nick Shawnley. Just like in 2024, he left Dennis Hjulmand Holme yearning for more when he came in at 2 hours 17 minutes and 44 seconds. It was about 16 minutes ahead of Dennis and 32 minutes ahead of Mads Groth Olsen in third place.

“All in all this was Nick’s fourth win, and Mads actually made it past the two-hour mark as well, but he burned the ring and got a 15-minute penalty.”

A day that had started with a whiskey tasting ended after the competition with a three-course dinner and the mandatory after party at Pedersen’s cigar bar Musen & Elefanten in the centre of Copenhagen.

Fun fact: Jesper and the owner of Pejsegaarden first met 30 years ago when they both worked as aerobics instructors at a fitness studio.