What started with 60 competitors in Copenhagen in May and an uncertainty filled with curiosity about what the new Oliva competition cigar would bring to the table has now come to an end. The last results from the Cigar Smoking World Championship qualifiers have come in and the picture has gone from thrillingly unpredictable to… well, at least a little less unforeseeable when the participants at the grand finale take stage in Split tonight.
The first signs of the Oliva Mareva CSWC stirring things up were in Norway, about a week after Denmark’s qualifier. The seasoned three-hour smokers Tormod Skaaraas and Rolf Broch were about an hour short of their times from last year, and other examples followed. Three-time, as well as reigning, champion, Hauke Walter didn’t last longer than about 2 hours and 40 minutes at the German qualifier, for instance. It didn’t hinder him in taking home the title of national champion for the seventh time in a row, but the boat had been rocked.
“My time wasn’t good by my standards,” he said then. “The cigar didn’t have a nice, even burn and it wasn’t smoking as I liked it to. It kept wanting to drag itself forward, and I had to counteract it.”
At the same time, other smokers didn’t seem affected at all, creating speculations whether this cigar was actually leveling out the playing field.
However, as time went on and slow smokers across the world got some fumes under their fashionable vests, the times started coming. The first time someone made it past three hours was at the Baltic qualifier in June. Three very experienced slow smokers pushed each other to reach new heights with the Oliva cigar. In the end former Belarusian and Latvian champion, Sergey Galevsky, took home the title as he smoked for 3 hours 18 minutes and 7 seconds. Behind him, the 2017 world champion Alexander Shagai and former world record holder Oleg Pedan also crossed that magic line as well.
“All three shattered the season’s previous ceiling, sending a clear message to the CSWC world that this cigar is ready for big times,” CSWC founder Marki Bilic said then. “It was a moment the global CSWC community had been waiting for.”
Some time after that, last year’s runner-up Anastasya Arsenova set the still standing 2025 season record of 3 hours 42 minutes and 6 seconds at one of the Kazaki qualifiers. It’s also the fourth best time ever, by the way. Walter also improved significantly when he came in at 3 hours 38 minutes and 16 seconds at the second German qualifier in Eisenbach, and a lot points to another nailbiter between these two at the grand finale.
The question is if the favorites finally managed to master the Oliva cigar or if the change has given way for new names who might not know the difference? The answer could be both. A few new names have emerged this year, after all. Like Mariusz Kowalczyk in Poland, the rookie who smoked for won it all when he smoked for 3 hours 8 minutes and 15 seconds in one of the most impressive performances for a newcomer in the history of the CSWC. Or Ivan Krišto from Croatia, who’s been improving quickly, getting closer and closer to that four-minute mile of slow smoking. The fact is that there haven’t been as many three hour performances as we’re accustomed to. One of the reasons is that world record holder Klaudia Ide and the 2022 world champion Borys Szkodziak from Poland as well as former world record holder Igor Kovacic from Sweden are all sitting this one out, but still… the race has every chance of getting tighter than ever.
Here are some of the top contenders.
Anastasya Arsenova
Anastasya Arsenova keeps up the training. She appears in every other qualifier in the former Soviet states, and this year it really seems to have benefited her. Her time in Kazakhstan chocked the slow smoking world, and with last year’s unfortunate burning of the ring in the final fresh in mind, she’s ready to take that final step up on the podium.
Best time this season: 3:42:06
Position in the top 20: 1
Hauke “The Iceman” Walter from Germany.
Despite the slow start, nobody can take away the fact that his experience his unprecedented. Nobody has won more and few can keep their cool in stressful situations like The Iceman.
The result in Eisenbach proves his going hard for his fourth world champion title in a row.
Best time this season: 3:38:16
Position in the top 20: 2
Sergey Galevsky
Being the first one to make to three hours and win gives Sergey Galvesky a psychological advantage. Nobody knew it could be done until he did it, and with his experience he can be a real threat to both Walter, Arsenova and the others.
Best time this season: 3:18:07
Position in the top 20: 3
Alexander Shagai
He hasn’t won since 2017. Maybe this is his year. Alexander Shagai definitely has the experience and with the new Oliva cigar, the outcome is more uncertain than ever.
Best time this season: 3:11:10
Position in the top 20: 4
Oleg Pedan from Belarus
CSWC called it “one of the biggest comebacks of all time” last year. The former two-time world champion Oleg Pedan outsmoked everyone in the Belarus qualifier by more than an hour. This year he first had to settle with a third place in the Baltic qualifier in a highly competitive starting field, but in Belarus he crushed it again, improving his time with three minutes. Pedan will always be a contender. There’s definitely more in store with him. It only remains to see how he handles his nerves in the final.
Best time this season: 3:04:34
Position in the top 20: 7
Mariusz Kowalczyk from Poland.
He came from nowhere. With 3 hours 8 minutes and 15 seconds in his first competition ever, there’s no telling how far Mariusz Kowalczyk could go? Is he this year’s Drew Emch? Was it just a fluke, or does this rookie have it in him to beat the favorites and take home the title? In the absence of Klaudia Ide and Borys Szkodziak, he’s at least carrying the Polish flag high.
Best time this season: 3:08:15
Position in the top 20: 5
Tormod Skarmaas from Norway.
You just can’t rule him out. Even though his performance this year was modest, Skaaraas made it to 5th place in the grand finale in 2023. It says something. A final is always something different.
Best time this season: 2:30:30
Position in the top 20: 17
Etan Patel
At precisely two hours he put his cigar down at the UK qualifier in order for the prize giving and socializing to take place with enough time before the venue closed. A true gentleman, with what could be something extra up his sleeve. It’s obvious Etan Patel has something more in store for us. He has done better, after all. The question is how much he can fit up that tight sleeve of his?
Best time this season: 2:48:02
Position in the top 20: 9
Drew Emch from the US
Just like Etan Patel, he put down his cigar after two hours, saying he’s saving the real surprise for the final. He’s said that before, but it’s never taken him all the way, although it was close in 2022 when he ended up second. Last year he wasn’t even in the top 10, though, but maybe this is his time to shine?
Best time this season: 2:48:02
Position in the top 20: 9
And then we have the rest, Tomasz Żołądkiewicz, Marcin Sakowski and Elena Tronina from Poland, the 2021 world champion Henrik Kristensson from Sweden, Dimitri Smirnovs from Latvia, Marian Nedela from Italy, Daniel Friedenthal from Austria, the 2023 runner-up Andrej Leontijev from Belarus, and so on.
