Anastasia Arsenova wins Tallinn’s qualifying tournament for CSWC

The 7th cigar festival Fine Spirits & Cigar Weekend (FSCW) carried out by Tallinn Cigar Club and its president Tullio Liblik, came to an end in Tallinn, Estonia on Sunday, June 16.

On Saturday, June 15th, FSCW held the Northern European Qualifying Tournament of the Cigar Smoking World Championships (CSWC) at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds, which is a most significant place to the Republic of Estonia. At that very same sport, the Singing Revolution took place in the late ’80s.

The tournament was won by Anastasia Arsenova from Moscow, Russia who earned a ticket to the CSWC finals held in late summer. The Russian lady is the first ever woman who has won Tallinn’s qualifying tournament.

Arsenova succeeded to keep the official competition cigar, a Macanudo Inspirado Mareva, alight for 2 hours, 43 minutes and 43 seconds.

Winner Anastasia Arsenova |Photo: Veiko Visnapuu

Overall second place finisher was also a woman, Valeria Mikhailova from Russia with a result of 2:20.15, and overall third place was earned by Markku Kukkonen from Finland, the best smoker among men, with a result of 2:12.07.

Among the ladies, third place finisher was Ulyana Galevskaya from Russia with a result of 1:54.23. Men’s runner-up was Estonian Silver Randalu with a result of 1:56.22, and third place finisher was Kaido Randalu, also from Estonia, with a result of 1:49.20.

Both, overall winner Arsenova and men’s winner Kukkonen received exclusive watches from a Swiss company Cuervo y Sobrinos as a prize. Altogether 36 cigar smokers attended the qualifying tournament.

The Estonian competition was followed by a glamorous gala dinner with more than 100 guests. It was presented by the festival’s co-partner Habanos Nordic. Gala dinner was entertained by rockabilly-band The Tri-Tones and dancers from Mystika Dance Studio, the hosts of the night were popular singer Tuuli Rand and well-known entrepreneur Imre Sooäär.

The three-day festival was topped off with a Sunday brunch at Schlösse Hotel.

“The event was a success! We’re expecting all cigar friends back to Tallinn in 2020, from June 12th to 14th for the next, already 8th Fine Spirits & Cigar Weekend,” summarized Tullio Liblik.