September 3, 2019 – The 10th Cigar Smoking World Championship opened on the beautiful terrace of Roof 68 in Split over the weekend. A few years ago, the festival organized by the Split club Mareva, was proclaimed the 4th most important cigar festival in the world, which placed Split and Croatia on a very short and exclusive list of the most desirable destinations for all cigar lovers, reports Dalmacija Danas.
Although Split is not traditionally related to this topic, the enthusiastic team from the Split club Mareva, led by President Marko Bilic and his first associates Ivan Vrdoljak and Zeljana Bilic, successfully built the brand for ten years, which made not only their club famous but also Split and Croatia. In 2015, Marko Bilic received the prestigious Cigar Trophy Award for Best cigar ambassador in the world, and two years later their club was nominated among the top 5 cigar lounges in the world. The award was won by the Davidoff club that year.
The Cigar Smoking World Championship is by invitation, which invites prominent individuals from Croatia and the world to come to Split to participate in the festival of indulgence and gastronomy, but also a festival of culture and tradition. Namely, the Cigar Smoking World Championship is a Croatian brand designed by Croats Marko Bilic and Nenad Medak. It is organized in Croatia, more specifically in Split, and in every respect promotes the city and country from which it originated.
Although based in Split, the Mareva Club does most of its activities internationally, organizing qualifying tournaments for the central festival in Split around the world; from Chicago, Nashville, New Orleans and New York in the west, across European metropolises like London, Rome, St. Petersburg, Paris, Copenhagen, Oslo, Helsinki, Kiev, all the way to Beirut, and Hanoi and Bangkok to the east. At all qualifying tournaments, the club representatives, in addition to promoting their Mareva brand, also promote the country or city they come from. The vice-president of the club, Ivana Vrdoljak, often points out that Cigar Smoking World Championship is actually a tourism project, which is designed to present Croatia, that is, its tradition and culture in an innovative way.
“We feel we must promote ourselves and the country we come from in the best possible way, when we are already enabled to do so. True, every year we strive to organize a high-level event and provide guests with the level of luxury they are used to, but we also strive hard to do so in the spirit of our culture and tradition, including as many local partners as possible. So we had a great collaboration with Nadalina, who gave us the pralines for the event in the first years, and we are grateful to Mr. Marinko Biskic for supporting our project and believing in us when a lot of people around us didn’t even understand what we were doing, let alone support us. We can never forget that.
We had a similar situation with Pernod Ricard Croatia, which includes Martell, Chivas, Havana Club and Mumm. And they have been following us since the first year, because they believed in this idea as much as we did. One does not forget such things. In the meantime, we have had offers from various competing firms, but we have remained true to them, as they have been faithful to us from the beginning. Those were our beginnings and they were really hard. It got easier with age. Now partners are mostly approaching us and looking to promote themselves on our platform. So, over the years, we have collaborated with many exclusive names like Sunseeker, McLaren, Cuervo y Sobrino Swiss Watches, Boveda, ST. Dupont. But with all these sound names, we are always especially pleased when we cooperate with a Croatian brand, as in the last few years we have had the opportunity to collaborate with Croata, Nadalina or the Museum of Oil on Brac. We must not forget the individuals who have been with us from the beginning, such as photographers Jadran Babic and Ante Majic. And they are part of one big puzzle, which makes the picture complete. We are therefore, grateful to them for their support over the years.”
The club points out that through every part of the event, they try to promote as much of Croatia’s tradition and culture as possible. So this year, on the terrace of Roof Restaurant 68, guests were greeted with prosciutto, which was cut in front of them, along with award-winning homemade olive pate by Katja Cukrov from the Museum of Oil on Brac.
The club also boasts cooperation with numerous Croatian wineries, such as Meneghetti, Bibich, Korta Katarina, Belje, Tomić, Duboković, Kutjevo, Kozlović, Krauthaker, Roxanich, Tomac, Rizman, Matošević, Vukoje, Boskinac, Galić, Degrassi, Babic, Kolaric, Posip Milan and Bruno Ferenac.
Marko Bilic points out: “We are very happy that for 10 years, Croatian wineries have been following us and supporting us in the realization of our ideas through the Championship. Every year, we design a very intensive three-day program for 200 people, and in each part of the program, we have wines, champagnes, spirits… In the evenings, each wine goes with a new plate, before dinner there are cocktails, after dinner, there are cocktails, during the workshops, there is Havana rum, there is champagne at breaks… They are large quantities and that is why we are extremely happy that this year we have cooperated with Dalmacijavino, which gave us wines for the second night of the festival. It is a company with a long tradition and was one of the symbols of Split. So we are really happy that they are back on their feet and if we as a club can help them to rise even more, whether, through branding or sales, we will be happy to do so.”
The Cigar Smoking World Championship is held at the Radisson Blu Hotel ballroom, where it has taken place for the last six years.
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