A pipe-smoking championship was held in Odessa in memory of actor Komarov

The seventh Black Sea Cup in slow pipe smoking was held in Odessa, dedicated to the memory of actor and "Mask Show" participant Vladimir Komarov, who passed away in March of this year.

An Intenta photojournalist attended the event.

According to the organizers, athletes were allowed to participate in the championship only if they used pipes made specifically for the Black Sea Cup and “sports” wooden tampers. If necessary, the organizers provided the required equipment to the participants.

The official tobacco for the championship was Peterson Sherlock Holmes—the same blend that will be smoked at the World Slow Smoking Cup, to be held in Italy this October.

Dmytro Gorinchik, chairman of the board of presidents of the Ukrainian Association of Group Pipe Smokers, spoke about the history of the competition.

“This is the seventh Black Sea Slow Pipe Smoking Cup, because we stopped holding championships at the start of the war. Before that, we had held 10 championships,” Gorinchik said.

According to him, in addition to Odesa, pipe-smoking clubs are active in Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Lviv.

This year’s cup was dedicated to the memory of Volodymyr Komarov, whom the club called “Lord.”

“Today we honor the memory of our comrade, friend, and outstanding actor Volodymyr Komarov, who passed away in March of this year. He was an integral part of our Odesa pipe-smoking club and did a great deal to popularize pipe smoking in Odesa,” Gorinchik noted.

According to the association’s president, Komarov also handcrafted his own pipes, and it was through them that some customers began to distinguish high-quality tobacco from the kind typically used in cigarettes.

Gorinchik explained the purpose of the tournament.

“First and foremost, it’s an opportunity for good people with good tobacco to get together and simply enjoy each other’s company in Odessa,” he said.

According to him, each competitor is given 3 grams of tobacco and a new pipe. Participants light their pipes simultaneously with two matches, and the winner is the one who extinguishes it last.

There is usually no separate women’s division at the Cup—unlike at world championships, where women’s categories receive special attention.

This year’s Cup consisted of two competitions. The first was a friendly small-pipe smoking session featuring pipes crafted by Kostyantyn Shakita. Each pipe purchased by the participants served as a donation to the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the air defense unit in Vasylkiv, where one of the club members serves.

The winner of this competition was Boris Yavorsky, a forensic pathologist and professor at a medical university.

In the second competition, using Peterson Sherlock Holmes tobacco, Dmytro Gorinchik himself won with a time of just over an hour. The world record for slow smoking is 3 hours and 30 minutes.

Ірина Глухова