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Here we go again. The day is here. Another year, another dollar. The suitable clich\u00e9s are many as the qualifiers in Denmark and Armenia kick off this year\u2019s season of the Cigar Smoking World Championship on May 1st. The competition in itself is far from a clich\u00e9, though\u2026 ok, maybe a little bit, but all in good fun and in the lighthearted spirit of a tournament which has grown in a way founder Marko Bilic never thought possible. The 16th<\/sup> qualification season features an astounding 50 participating countries, which is about ten more than last year. Everyone wants to be in on the deal.<\/p>\n Last year the war in the Middle East put a stop to three qualifiers. Now, Lebanon and Kuwait are back on the circuit, and Jordan finally gets to make its debut. The same goes for China and Hungary. For some reason they both canceled their debuts in 2024, but this year, fingers crossed, they will add to the already exciting action on the circuit. As will Hong Kong, Japan, Colombia and Mauritius in what Bilic says \u201cmight be the most competitive season in history\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWith a record-breaking number of countries joining the circuit and the thrilling debut of the Oliva CSWC Competition Cigar, this year promises a showdown unlike any before,\u201d he says. \u201cVeterans are sharpening their senses. Newcomers are lurking with strategy. The air is thick with anticipation\u2026 and it smells like glory. Like one organizer said: \u2018It\u2019s not about how slow you can smoke. It\u2019s how deep you can connect with the cigar. That\u2019s the real game.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The switch from Rocky Patel to Oliva for the competition cigar is otherwise the big news this year. How will it affect the competition and the smokers? Will they have to learn new strategies to cope with its different characteristics? Bilic says yes.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople will have to adjust their slow smoking technique,\u201d Bilic commented when the news first came out earlier this year. \u201cIt\u2019s a different cigar, after all, but that just adds to the excitement. For the first time in a long time, I think the competitors will be like kids trying new candy.\u201d<\/p>\n According to him, the discussions of strategy are already vivid behind closed doors.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are whispers that new strategies and tactics are trained,\u201d he says. \u201cModified new ways of smoking under the ring are showing great results; even new ways of puffing the first puffs of the race are adding time to the performances.\u201d<\/p>\n The big question, of course, is if this will pave the way for a new champion. Will this be the one thing that takes down what in the last couple of years seems to have been an unbeatable champion. Will this be the end of the reign of three-time slow smoking world champion Hauke Walter?<\/p>\n As dramatic as it sounds, the German is of course still the number one favorite to take home the title also this year. \u201cThe Iceman\u201d is the only slow smoker to win back-to-back titles, he\u2019s won the German qualifier the last three years and more times in total than anyone can count, probably, and he is by far the most consistent three-hour smoker on the roster. At least before Oliva entered the picture, because now who knows? Who will be better at mastering the new cigar?<\/p>\n Will world record holder Klaudia Ide or the 2022 world champion and 2024 runner-up Borys Szkodzik bring back the title to Poland? Or even Marcin Sekowski, who ended up in fourth place last year? Maybe the former world record holder Igor Kova\u010di\u0107 or the 2021 world champion Henrik Kristensson reclaims the title on Sweden\u2019s behalf, if Tormod Skaaraas or Rolf Broch doesn\u2019t claim it for their neighbor Norway for the first time instead. Three-time US champion Drew Emch and last year\u2019s runner-up at the grand final in Dubrovnik, Anastasya Arsenova from Kazakhstan, are also in the race, looking to finally make it all the way to the top. Or will it be one of the numerous other contenders? Ivan \u017di\u017ei\u0107 from Croatia, Rafael Solano from the Dominican Republic, Dejan Pa\u017ein from Slovenia, Andrey Leontiev from Belarus, Daniel Friedenthal from Austria\u2026the list is long, but there can be only one. Let the games begin!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here we go again. The day is here. Another year, another dollar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":71401,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[49,63,44],"tags":[5366],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71400"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71400"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71407,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71400\/revisions\/71407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Season-start4-500x749.jpg\")
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