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World Cigar Smoking Championship
London Qualification Round
06/11/2019
This year, the World Cigar Smoking Championship is the scene of interesting events. The world records that have been broken one after another, the smoking time of up to 4 hours, the increase in the number of participation are all proof of how this organization, which celebrates its 10th anniversary, has become a classic.
Although I was not very active last year for different reasons, this year I had set myself a goal for at least one qualifying and final participation. I achieved half of the goal by participating in the London Qualifiers.
In fact, unexpectedly, the day before London's foot in quite cool weather, the air was calm and warm enough to smoke a cigar outside, without a jacket. Marko gave Darren and me the opportunity to smoke together before the championship.
When the big day came and the preparations were completed, everyone started to come to Boisdale of Belgravia, where the elimination will take place one by one. It would not be a lie if I said that there are so many interior spaces in London where the night can be arranged, but the choice of a place that is closed on 4 sides but still able to enter air and moisture did not surprise me a little. Because it has had a great effect on smoking. Of course, the sponsors are getting stronger over the years. Cuervo y Sobrinos watches sold with their own humidor were among the main sponsors of ST Dupont.
The night started with a cocktail as usual, followed by a reading of the rules. After that, the cigars that were cut and burned within a given time of one minute were officially eliminated.
I realized that besides the first time attendees, there has been quite a lot of participation from the previous years. While the cigars were still burning, everyone had one eye on his cigar and the other eye on Darren Cioffi, who broke the record 2 days ago. Darren, whom everyone thinks he will do an incredible amount of time again, unfortunately became the second person who could not protect his cigar after 31 minutes and 12 seconds. Surprisingly, it was once again proved that the weather was unsuitable for forcing the cigar.
The comment of Marko Bilic, who is the presenter with all his skills and good humor, came to me and made a comment on the microphone constantly, "You are too fast, slower, slower". However, like Darren, I kept on smoking, fearing that my cigar would go out. As of that moment, when the cigars of the 2 newcomers were not half yet, mine was already half.
After Darren, only two more people put out his cigar until the 1 hour limit. Although it was a successful hour in general, as expected, the first 60 minutes passed. After the spills started. However, as a result of the fading that did not happen very quickly, a very contentious picture emerged. While I was moving as slowly as possible, the newly added duo still had a lot of cigars. At this point, they made a novice mistake, thinking that their cigars would always burn this way slowly, and they lost interest and their cigars went out at short intervals. From this point on, there was a new chance for those with late cigars like me, and the business became more contentious.
As the rest were on different sides of the terrace, Marko rushed from one place to another with a microphone in his hand, announcing who was in what position. When we stayed with me for the last four years, everyone started to wait for the announcement of the cigar that would go out before theirs. Again for the first time, the French who remained in the last 4, extinguished the cigar in 1h 54min 23s. There are 3 people left. Now, every pull I took from my cigar, which started to get bitter, started to burn, and with 2h 14min 15s, the cigar of the one who was next to me and who now declared the third place goes off. Then, no matter how hard I try, after 2h 20min 13s, my cigar has no more tobacco to burn and it goes out. The German, who continues right next to me and now guarantees the first place, loses the fire of his cigar after 2h 21min 21s.
As a result of the great competition, adding a time of 40 minutes to his own record and being the 2nd was a great pleasure, it did not hurt to miss the first place in a short period of time.
After the competition, as usual, the food and entertainment part was started and we finished the night.
After that, the qualifiers will continue until the end of August and the final will be held in Split at the end of August. So the excitement continues.
Enjoyable smoking ...