Barnjak Finally Wins CSWC Latvia

Over 25 competitors from Latvia, Finland, Czech Republik and Slovakia gathered at the 19^th century mansion, K.K. fon Stricka villa in the heart of Riga for another battle of the slow.

Prizes from Cuervo y Sobrinos, Oliva Cigar Company, S.T. Dupont, Les Fines FLames, Boveda and others were at stake, as well as a trip to the Cigar Smoking World Championship grand final in Split later this year, of course.

After a barbecue lunch accompanied by live jazz music, port tasting, cocktails and, unavoidably, cigars, the event moved to the competition venue and after just nine minutes Karel Hana from the Czech Republic was the first one to fall. To honor this incredible feat he received a special award from Riga Cigar Club.

The big upset of the evening occurred only 24 minutes later, when reigning champion Oleg Roshchin had to face reality and leave the table. 33 minutes is far from his 2024 performance of 1 hour and 55 minutes, to say the least.

Instead the race belonged to Nikola Barnjak. Finally. In 2022 he was in the lead when his cigar unexpectedly went out and he had to concede to Denis Demitch. The year after he was just a minute and a half behind Alexander Ostrovskiy, but this time he made it to the top of the podium, in a convincing manner, nonetheless.

The two-time runner-up beat last year’s second runner-up and Riga Cigar Club’s own Elnur Rahimov by almost 16 minutes, when he came in at 1 hour 45 minutes and 55 seconds, and the gap could’ve been bigger.

“Nikola was in the lead from the very beginning, showing great composure and confidence,” organizer Dmitry Smirnov says. “He could’ve gone well over the two hour mark, but he decided not to delay the award ceremony and started to smoke at a regular speed.”

In third place, Anatoliy Evseev, showed great resilience when he managed to outlast at least three people ahead of him by holding on to a small piece of cigar. He couldn’t bereave Rahimov of the silver medal, though.

1. Nikola Barnjak 1:45:55
2. Elnur Rahimov 1:29:50
3. Anatoliy Evseev 1:26:00