Surprising Win at CSWC Malaysia

The Cigar Smoking World Championship qualifier in Malaysia promised to be epic, as four previous slow smoking champions showed up to the biggest CSWC event in South East Asia. The stage was set at Marini’s on 57 in Kuala Lumpur, as it has been for the last several years. It’s hard to think of a more suitable location, than a high end cigar lounge on the 57^th floor overlooking the Malaysian capital right next to the famous Petronas Towers. Just imagine the views at night, with the towers all lit up.

Anyway, competitors from Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia turned up, as well as one person from Poland, living in Thailand, and one from Cuba, living in Malaysia.

“Add in judges from Greece and The Netherlands, and you can say it was the United Nations of slow smoking,” organizer Hazely Harun from Trinidad Cigars says.

Among all the favorites to win, four time champion Wilson Lim was probably the top candidate. After a fourth place in 2023 he reclaimed the title last year, finishing five minutes ahead of Mutia Faisal Chaniago, who won the CSWC qualifier in Phuket earlier this summer. She showed up in Malaysia this year as well, but maybe the win in Thailand was enough because she didn’t even make it to the top three. Neither did Julian Lo, the winner of the CSCW qualifier in Borneo, or two-time winner Yadie Dayana, who won in 2023 but was out after eleven minutes last year. According to the organizers in 2024, he was “so busy coaching the fellow contenders at his table that he forgot to puff on his own cigar”, and as the runner-up in Borneo, he’s still to be officially qualified for the final in Split this year. The only one of the champions to actually make it to the top three was Lim, but it wasn’t enough to defend his title.

“With all these hard-hitters competing for the trophy, it was surprisingly MH Zahari who took home the title, with the new Malaysian record time of 2 hours and 16 minutes,” Harun says.

Lim came in twelve minutes behind him, while third place went to the best Indonesian competitor, Abdul Rokib from BIN Cigars. He smoked for 1 hour and 58 minutes.

1. MH Zahari 2:26
2. Wilson Lim 2:04
3. Abdul Rokib 1:58