NEWS
Rafael Cesar Solano Portorreal IS DIRECTLY Qualified FOR THE 2023 GRAND FINAL.
Travel visa issues for the Dominican champion force him to miss the Grand Final in 2022.
Rafael Cesar Solano Portorreal - Dominican Champion 0f 2022
The CSWC GRAND FINAL is the world's largest and final battle of the best slow smokers; it is a gathering of national slow smoking champions from around the world in the final race for the title of World Champion. Over 37 national champions plus cigar competitors with slow smoking times good enough to place them among the top 20 best smokers of the season, competed in the Grand Final 2022. The CSWC board awarded some additional wild cards to the slow smoking legends who deserved such VIP treatment. But close time of last national qualifiers and Grand Final made participation for some champions impossible.
We will design the qualification season's timframe for the 2023 season so that every national champion has ample lead time to finalize all of their travel arrangements and obtain the necessary travel papers. Because the CSWC is now so international, we must address these challenges for national champions who are traveling from all over the world. - Marko Bilic, CSWC Founder
Rafael Cesar Solano Portorreal after winning national champion title
Rafael with Danayas Leon, organiser and judge of CSWC DR after he establish official DR slow smoking record.
Rafael Cesar Solano, the Dominican Republic's national champion for the 2022 season, experienced just that circumstance. He was unable to get a travel visa in a timely manner despite the best efforts of the DR CSWC organization and himself due to the limited time between the DR qualifying and Grand Final weekend. It was a tremendous pity since Solano not only succeeded in becoming the national champion of the Dominican Republic, but he also had incredible slow smoking talents that placed him and the country of the Dominican Republic on the TOP 20 list of the finest smokers of the 2022 season. He held the high 15th position after amazing 2 hours, 5 minutes.
Due to this circumstance, the CSWC board has informed Danays Leon, a CSWC judge and organizer for the DR, that Solano will receive a reserved spot in the Grand Final 2023 regardless of how well he performs in the 2023 season. CSWC will, of course, reserve a spot for the DR 2023 champion, regardless of whether Solano wins or not. In any case, we are excited for the DR season in 2023 with such outstanding rivals.