Two American Teams travelled to Poznan, Poland to compete in the 2013 World Club Pipe Smoking Championship held on October 13, 2013. Team A consisted of two-time national champion Chris Karas, national champion Raymond Lykins, and national champion Mike ‘Doc’ Garr. Team B consisted of Roxy Willoughby, the first female to win a regional championship; Rick Willoughby, Roxy’s husband who never before competed in a smoking contest; and Andy Hamilton. The contest pipe was a Mr. Brog and the contest tobacco was Captain Black
Team A placed 14th out of 77 teams and was formally recognized at the prize ceremony as one of the top 20 teams. Individual times were:
Chris 1h 36m 38s
Doc 1h 26m 24s
Raymond 1h 00m 07s
Team B placed 43rd. Individual times were:
Andy 1h 10m 47s
Roxy 0h 47m 43s
Rick 0h 40m 36s
The Corsellini Pipa Club Firenze Team A of Italy came in first place with a combined time of 7h 16m 14s.. Hans Sonderman of the Dutch National Team had the best individual time with 3h 06m 56s. In the female division Erzsebet Sziber of the Kisvaros Pipaklub of Hungary came in with a winning time of 1h 20m 07s.
At the annual meeting of the Comite International des Pipe Clubs (CIPC) a new president was elected. Cornelius Crans of The Netherlands replaces Alain Letulier as president of CIPC. Cor was also selected to be the CIPC representative to the 2014 Chicago pipe show. Mike ‘Doc’ Garr was elected as Vice-President of the Americas. Lebanon petitioned to become a member of the CIPC and was voted in as a new member. The 13th World Championship of Pipesmoking will be held October 12, 2014 in Cologne, Germany.
A number of picture galleries of the all the events at Poznan can be found at http://www.pipeworldcup.com/media/
Respectfully submitted,
Mike ‘Doc’ Garr,