Pleasure, friendship and sharing...
Big Smoke Paris 2016
We land at Paris CDG airport in a little rainy and hazy weather. Unfortunately, after losing the Croats 1-0, I'm in the air on the day and the exact time of our match with Spain. Hopefully, I am waiting for the announcement that we won our second match in Euro 2016 from the captain, but there is no sound, I cannot tire of it. Otherwise, especially on THY flights, such announcements do not bounce at all, and if we think that THY is a sponsor, they should not escape. Unfortunately, when we land and when we are greeted, the hazy atmosphere of Paris becomes a little flatter for us with the sad 3-0 news. However, we were very hopeful at the beginning of the tournament. However, it is necessary to get rid of this troubled situation, because the next day, we will compete in a different branch as a Turk, although it is not official, and of course we want to get a degree.
This is how we think positively and prepare ourselves for the next day, Big Smoke Paris, the Paris leg of the World Cigar Smoking Championship. In the daytime, with the "tourist walks" mentality, after bringing the gold of Paris to the top, we retreat to the rooms to prepare for the night. After a short while, we set off towards Le Cercle Foch, the venue for Big Smoke Paris. There are not many people yet when we arrive, and the host, Guilliame Tesson, is busy completing the final preparations. For the first time, I have had the opportunity to promote the place with a live broadcast on El Lector's Facebook account. I am making my first connection. The place is a residence with a spa center and restaurant. We will organize the competition and dinner using the lounge and restaurant parts of this place. Slowly, as the participants arrive, we start meeting and chatting again. The atmosphere, as always, becomes sincere with conversations under cigar smoke and everyone is mingling.
During the cocktail, which continues for a while, I find the opportunity to chat with a few contestants, including both the organizers and the world record holder, in a couple of live broadcasts whenever I have the opportunity. The shirt of one of the competitors is quite interesting. She wears a shirt with pockets on the chest, both on the right and left. At first glance it is quite normal, but when I look closely, I notice that both of the pockets are stitched from the inside specifically to carry 3 cigars. I learn that these custom made shirts are custom made by a Canadian company called Guaya Bers. Although it is not a daily shirt, it will definitely attract attention on such nights. The cocktail is also a promotional time for sponsors. Big Smoke exhibits Scabal and Havana Club Rom products exclusive to Paris. In addition, Cuervo y Sabrinos, who will present a watch to the winner in its own humidor, exhibits both the gift product and other watches.
Everyone is excited as the Paris leg of the championship is held for the first time this year. In this excited crowd, there are three contestants representing our country, Deniz and Erhan Bey, including me. Towards 7 o'clock, we go to the lounge, take our seats and start reading the rules. Taking this opportunity, I am going live once again. All the rules are read and the first minute for slaughter is entered, and then the competition begins. This year, Macanudo Inspirado, a corona vitola, is smoked on all legs of the championship, instead of Montecristo No.4. It is easier to train before the competition with this cigar, which is more consistent in box, box and quality. By the way, it is also sold in Istanbul duty free.
The night of the competition is quite rainy, like the aftershocks of flooded rain a few weeks ago. This makes the air of the lounge, which is partially covered with awning, very humid. The referee and also the creator of the championship, Marko Bilic, often expresses this after the start, warning the competitors to be careful. However, around the first 30 minutes, most of the competitors are unable to save their cigar from going out. Unfortunately, in the 32nd minute, I also join this caravan. But the remaining two Turks from Paris continue to race to put our name on success in a different subject, even if it is not football. The funny thing is, after I burn my extinguished cigar again, I smoke it for another 40 minutes without extinguishing it. 3 min from me. Unfortunately, Erhan Bey's cigar goes out until after.
As time passes and the cigars of the contestants continue to fade one by one, I am again in a rush of live broadcasts. By the 51st minute, one of the local participants, Emmanuelle Rusquart, whose cigar is still on fire, goes out and declares his 3rd place ... and one of the remaining two contestants is world record holder Darren and the other is Deniz Bey, who is now securing second place. Waiting for Darren, who is not even halfway through his cigar, to make a mistake to take first place. This waiting and strife ends after about 18 minutes and Deniz Bey's cigar goes out after 1 hour and 9 minutes.
Of course, Darren has to keep going until his cigar goes out. Besides, he already has a world record to recover. Participants continue to watch Darren with great care and admire his smoking success. As time passes, Marko turns to me and says, "I think there will be another world record," and indeed, when the stopwatch shows exactly 2 hours 50 minutes 9 seconds, it becomes too small to hold a cigar and goes off. The world record is set as a result of Marko checking that his cigar band is not lit, and Darren is holding the world record he lost once again in two weeks. After this record, we are all hungry and we are going to the celebration dinner.
Although I have reduced my smoking time by 7 minutes, from my point of view, once again, meeting so many cigar-loving people and experiencing the world record excitement makes me happy. More importantly, of course, at night, a Turk had his name written in the top three.
Now, two weeks later, I'm going to be joining Big Alpine Smoke in Bad Ragaz like last year, and hopefully, I'll do more than 30 minutes. Of course, again, I will try to give you the excitement of the competition by broadcasting live as much as possible.
You can access live broadcast recordings of Big Smoke Paris on the el Lector Facebook profile.
Enjoyable smoking ...
