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Cigar Life & Culture May 4, 2026

The CSWC is Upon us

During Draft Night at the newly opened JB Lounge by Mareva Club at Hotel Marmont in Split, Croatia, founder Marko Bilic and his crew announced the dates for almost all the qualifiers, including seven new additions; Kenya, Morocco, Chile, Argentina, Singapore, Serbia and Mauritius.

Text: Simon Lundh
The CSWC is Upon us

57 qualifiers in 56 countries and territories, means it’s another record breaking year for the Cigar Smoking World Championship (CSWC). About 28 percent of the world’s countries are now part of the largest cigar competition in the world, and earlier this week the schedule for this year went official. During Draft Night at the newly opened JB Lounge by Mareva Club at Hotel Marmont in Split, Croatia, founder Marko Bilic and his crew announced the dates for almost all the qualifiers, including seven new additions; Kenya, Morocco, Chile, Argentina, Singapore, Serbia and Mauritius.

“This was actually the first time it was hosted outside the Mareva mother club in Split, and only two days after its grand opening,” Bilic says proudly.

Disregarding Norway’s early bird special on April 18, the season started on May 3 in the most spectacular way possible. At the fashionable Hotel Selman in Marrakesh, the organizers of the CSWC Morocco treated their participants and guests to a horse show, among other things.

June 6 and July 25 will be the most intense days with four qualifiers at the same time. June 6 will be an Eastern Europe slow smoking bonanza as the Baltic, Latvian, Romanian and Georgian competitions will all take place on the same day. On July 25, a national slow smoking champion will be crowned in Poland, USA, Chile and Belarus at the same time.

As always, the circuit wraps up in Estonia two weeks before the grand finale in Dubrovnik, but this year they have company. On August 15, China and Malaysia also host their qualifiers. Due to the time differences, though, Estonia will most possibly have the last puff once again.

Get ready to slow things down, and let the best smoker puff the last puff.

Morocoo, May 3
Albania, May 8
Mauritius, May 9
Serbia, May 11
Kuwait, May 13
Greece, May 13
India, May 16
France, May 19
North Macedonia, May 20
Uzbekistan, May 20
Kazakhstan, May 23
Reunion Island, May 23
Switzerland, May 28
Armenia, May 29
Kenya, May 30
Sweden, May 30
Baltic, June 6
Latvia, June 6
Romania, June 6
Georgia, June 6
Finland, June 8
Ireland, June 10
Hungary, June 10
Slovakia, June 11
Spain, June 11
Austria, June 11
Dominican Republic, June 12
Germany North, June 13
Azerbaijan, June 13
Hong Kong, June 20
Cyprus, June 21
Japan, June 27
Italy, June 27
Belgium, June 28
Denmark, July 6
Montenegro, July 9
Australia, July 10
Bosnia and Hercegovina, July 11
Israel, July 17
Singapore, July 18
Poland, July 25
USA, July 25
Chile, July 25
Belarus, July 25
UK, July 26
Canada, July 30
Croatia, July 30
Jordan, August 1
Thailand, August 1
Qatar, August 3
Lebanon, August 5
Germany Eisenach, August 8
Malaysia, August 15
Estonia, August 15
China, August 15
Saudi Arabia, TBA

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