As usual, there wasn’t really any question who’d win the Austrian Cigar Smoking World Championship qualifier. When Daniel Friedenthal’s cigar faded out after 2 hours 17 minutes and 2 seconds, his opponents were long gone, and he had secured his third title in a row. With a total of five national titles, he’s now one of the most decorated slow smokers out there, alongside names like Felix Matei in Romania and reigning world champion Hauke Walter in Germany.
In 2023 Friedenthal, who owns one of Vienna’s most respected cigar shops and currently resides at the number 11 spot on the all time Top 20 list, won by 27 minutes, in 2024 by more than an hour and this year by 34 minutes. He’s also been Mr Consistency. All of the last three winning performances have seen times within 16 minutes, despite the new Oliva competition cigar which has decreased the average winning time by about an hour on the circuit so far this year.
So the fact that he doesn’t seem to have been affected very much by the change of the cigar makes him a top contender for the title.
“He’s not just a great smoker,” CSWC founder Marko Bilic says. “He’s one of the greats, period.”
Behind him, new names appeared. For Darko Ankic-Vrijanski who finished second at 1 hour and 43 minutes, and Clemens Eberhard who came in third at 1 hour and 38 minutes, this was their first times on the podium.
“With Friedenthal holding his position among the best in the world, and new Austrian names climbing fast, Austria has firmly secured its place among the CSWC nations to watch in 2025,” Bilic concludes.
- Daniel Freidenthal 2:17:02
- Darko Ankic-Vrijanski 1:43:00
- Clemens Eberhard 1:38:00
