“In only our second year, we’ve seen a significant increase in competitor interest and skill” says organizer Ivan Lukaroski, minutes after the official Cuervos y Sobrobos competition clock had been halted after recording this year’s best Canadian time.

Lukaroski is chiefly responsible for bringing the CSWC qualifier to Canada after competing in a CSWC competition in Macedonia two years ago. After the eye-opening event, Lukaroski was left feeling highly compelled to import the slowest race in the planet to Canadian soil. “This year we had eight participants who all beat last year’s best time set by Konstantin. Canadians are catching really on to slow smoking”.

Having acquired valuable slow-smoking tactics from his international CSWC finals experience last year in Dubrovnik, Konstantin S. strategically defended his Canadian title, which was once again held at The Smokin’ Cigar in Toronto. Also noteworthy is the fact that he improved upon his 2024 Canadian CSWC score by nearly a half hour.

The big win qualifies him to represent Canada in Split, Croatia, the location for this year’s prestigious CSWC world finals.

This year, a total of eight Canadian contestants deftly surpassed the one hour mark, with second-place competitor Marian Todorovski and third-place competitor Dan Danyshun forcing Konstantin to work hard (and slow) to earn his second Canadian title. Amidst a cloud of smoke, Konstantin was all smiles as he received the enthusiastic chant “he’s number one, he’s number one!” from all twelve fellow competitors.

For a second year, good camaraderie and good sportsmanship were on display at the Canadian VSWC qualifier.