“Felix Matei as the Romanian national slow smoking champion is starting to get as reliable as nighttime turning into day,”I wrote after the Romanian’s fourth consecutive Cigar Smoking World Championship national qualifying trophy last year. Two years ago he even broke the national record, coming in at 2 hours 34 minutes and 15 seconds, but now the reign is over. It was as unexpected as it gets, but this year Matei had to pass the torch to Robert Ionescu.
The 2025 CSWC qualifier in Romania was held at the Asian fusion restaurant ZaZ at the Holiday Inn in Bucharest this time, and according to organizer Radu-Alexandru Cucuta it was a successful one.
“The event registered the largest number of participants in the Romanian Championship, with no fewer than 23 smokers attending,” he says.
The competition also saw two participants breaking the two-hour limit. Trailing the new Romanian champion Ionescu, who came in at 2 hours and 4 minutes, was Ştefan Moroşanu, and it was a close one. The runner-up was just two minutes behind in the end, leaving the reigning champion Matei with a third place. In fact, if the runner-up from the last two years, Lucian Laza, hadn’t received a three minute penalty, Matei wouldn’t even have made it to the podium.
Maybe it was the new competition cigar, but others struggled too. Last year’s second runner-up Manuel Aelenei was even one of the first ones out, lasting only 15 minutes. Organizer Cucuta himself came in at an honorable fifth place, with 1 hour 29 minutes and 38 seconds.
- Robert Ionescu 2:04:00
- Ştefan Moroşanu 2:02:00
- Felix Matei 1:32:17
