Just the second Cigar Smoking World Championship Australian qualifier, with the first held in Perth in 2022, the Sydney event, held on 28 August, welcomed 13 competitors and close to 20 guests. The night commenced with Rocky Patel cigars from Cigar Hut and featured a whisky, cognac, and rum tasting from BarMania.
The top three competitors had never encountered the Rocky Patel CSWC Mareva cigar before and did extremely well to deliver their times.
The competition was won by George Zaiter with a time of 1 hour, 5 minutes, and 57 seconds.
Taylah Commisso, a travelling from Canberra with four other Commisso family members for the event, placed second with a time of 1 hour, 3 minutes, and 37 seconds. Taylah held her nerve, narrowly edging out Sasa Kostaski by thirty seconds who placed third with a time of 1 hour, three minutes and 7 seconds. Kostaski and Commisso declared their time to avoid any penalty due to burning the competition ring.
The Australian record is still held by 2022 winner Sarkis Akopov with a time of 1 hour, 46 minutes.
