CSWC NORWAY DELIVERED BIG SURPRISES IN WINNING TIMES WHILE KEEPING TOP COMPETITORS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

The expected outcome came through in CSWC by Oliva cigars Norway, but with fresh names in the top three and dramatically different finish times compared to the past few years.

The Norwegian qualification for the CSWC was held in Oslo on April 18 with a total of 23 participants present. Among the competitors were both former national winners and completely new players who had never tried slow smoking before. From the very start, it quickly became clear that this year’s cigar, supplied by Oliva specifically for the competition, behaved differently than last year’s. The cigar smoked significantly faster, and there were several surprises along the way.

Already after six minutes, the first participant was out—Erik Andli, who last year achieved a time of 1 hour and 54 minutes. Before 45 minutes had passed, eight participants had already been eliminated from the competition. In 2025, this was only two participants! Four competitors lost their ash before 45 minutes, and it was clear that the ash was less stable on this year’s cigar.

Several of the cigars burned both unevenly and quickly, so after 1 hour and 30 minutes only three participants remained: Reidar Valberg (last place in 2025), Brede Rørhus (2nd place in 2025), and Tormod Skaaraas (1st place in 2025).

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The winner was decided by just a few seconds between the finalists, with Brede smoking under the band and Tormod just above it. For the fourth year in a row, Tormod Skaaraas won the Norwegian qualification, with Brede taking second place. Tormod recorded a time of 01:59:21 and Brede 01:59:04.

The entire competition was finished before two hours had passed, which is well below our previous qualification times. In 2025, Tormod reached 2 hours and 30 minutes and Brede 2 hours and 26 minutes. Their technique was the same as in previous years, and it is clear that this year’s cigar differed from those of earlier years.