It was all new names in the top three at the French Cigar Smoking World Championship qualifier this year. The biggest surprise was the very early exit of the 2023 national champion and last year’s runner-up, Mathieu Ginglinger.
“He was the first to exit, after applying too much pressure to the new Oliva Mareva CSWC competition cigar,” CSWC founder Marko Bilic says. “He was of course considered one of the favorites, but it was a harsh miscalculation that ended his run before it had a chance to begin.”
Instead the 2025 title went to first-time winner Pierre Einhart, on this exciting slow smoking night in Colmar, close to the border of Germany an hour south of Strasbourg. At 1 hour and 18 minutes he comfortably finished 14 minutes ahead of Marc Wolff and 21 minutes ahead of Philippe Lebel.
“Einhart emerged as the national standard, poised and prepared for the world stage.”
Yet he wasn’t the brightest shining star of the evening. Out of competition, the 2023 runner-up, Oliver Steinhäeuser from Germany, smoked for another ten minutes, reaching the best time of the evening: 1 hour 28 minutes and 46 seconds.
“The art of slow smoking demands discipline, patience, and an unshakable rhythm,” Bilic concludes. “While Steinhäuser may have contended only for time, he left Colmar as a reminder to all: in the world of slow smoking, form is fleeting, but mastery endures.”
