2 hours 8 minutes and 17 seconds is not a bad time in the slow smoking world, especially with the new unpredictable Oliva competition cigar. In fact, Anton Lashkovs performance would’ve given him a national championship title in the majority of countries on the Cigar Smoking World Championship circuit by now. In Belarus, however, he didn’t just have to settle for a second place, he was also outsmoked by almost an hour.

The atmosphere was reportedly electric in the elegant setting of Wood & Fire Cigar Lounge in Minsk, when 22 participants took stage, including regional giants like Alexander Shagai, Anastasia Arsenova, and Sergey Galevsky. Arsenova had recently smoked for 3 hours 42 minutes and 6 seconds in Kazakhstan, but this night belonged to someone equally far from a stranger to the CSWV community.

Last year the 2019 world champion and former world record holder Oleg Pedan made what the CSWC organization called “one of the biggest comebacks of all time” when he won the qualifier in Belarus. His time of 3 hours 25 minutes and 9 seconds was impressive enough, but if he hadn’t burned the ring and received a 15 minute penalty, he would’ve even beaten his old personal record.

Unfortunately he didn’t make it to the grand final, but hopefully this year he will be able to add a dimension to the competition by challenging the likes of reigning champion Walter Hauke from Germany, Borys Szkodziak and Klaudia Ide from Poland, and of course, Arsenova. At the qualifier in Belarus he became one of the few to make it past three hours, as he smoked for 3 hours 4 minutes and 9 seconds.

“All the giants showed top-tier skills, but it was Pedan’s performance that set the room buzzing and sent shockwaves through the global CSWC community,” CSWC founder Marko Bilic says. “With a stunning slow-smoking time like that, he didn’t just win the event – he made a statement.”

Behind Pedan and Lashkov, Anton Karpov grabbed third place, coming in at 1 hour 7 minutes and 8 seconds.