La Grand Fumada Russia has always been one of the most exciting qualifyers for the Cigar Smoking World Championship (CSWC). And this was the case, again, this year. Although the world record itself was not wobbling at the 2019 event in April, observers could enjoy amazing slow smoking skills, an exciting finish and some major changes in the top 20 list of best smokers.
Like in 2018, the winner of the Russian qualifyer 2019 was the two-time world champion and member of the Horsepower Cigar Club St. Petersburg, Alexander Shagai, at 182 minutes and 25 seconds. However, the best result was achieved by the current champion of Latvia, Sergey Galevsky. He finished his Macanudo Inspirado Mareva after 188 minutes and 13 seconds. Peter Grishin reached an impressive time for a novice „cigar athlete“ and won the second place. The third place (now no. 4 on the top 20 list) was won by another member of the Horsepower Cigar Club: Vladimir Vorontsov.
The prize for the best woman went to Anastasiya Arsenova from Moscow. With a smoking time of more than 150 minutes she pitchforked herself into the top 20 list.
As always, the main sponsors of the event were Macanudo, Cuervo y Sobrinos, S.T. Dupont, Le Fin Lames, and Cigar Journal. Also Davtian cigars sponsored the Russian qualifyer.
