The Pipe Club of Lebanon
PCoLeb's Pipesmoking Competition results
(Thanks to Pedro for the competition logo!)
16/5/2026: The Pipe
Club of Lebanon holds its annual slow pipe smoking competition
The PCoLeb, along with our friends from Le Pipe Club de
Morez (France) who joined us online, held its annual competition
in Lebanon.
Here are the results for both clubs:
Fares
Irani (PCoLeb): 59:53
Arnaud
Magnien (Morez): 58:39
Salim El Khoury (PCoLeb):
41:03
Tarek Khalaf (PCoLeb):
38:00
Gihad Abi Rached (PCoLeb):
36:38
Hassan Hashem (PCoLeb):
35:07
Ramez Hourani (PCoLeb):
33:30
Paul Jahshan (PCoLeb):
33:22
Lina
Hadchity (PCoLeb): 33:00
Abbas Marouni (PCoLeb):
32:01
Antoine
Charpentier (Morez): 21:05
Bernadette Jaillet (Morez):
03:09
12/10/2025: The Pipe Club of Lebanon members participate
in the World Championship in Slow Pipe Smoking in
Oirschot, the Netherlands
This
competition was for individuals, so no national scores
were listed.
Here are the results of the PCoLeb members:
Tarek Khalaf:
00:44:15
Gihad Abi Rached: 00:38:35
Antoine Sarkis:
00:37:25
Paul Jahshan: 00:30:59
Lina Hadchity:
00:27:30
The
championship's highest score, 01:51:11, was
obtained by Elisabeth Dobnig (Austria).
The Pipe was a classic bulldog made by BigBen, and the tobacco
was "Golden Blend" by MacBaren.
27/10/2024: The Pipe Club of Lebanon participates in the
World Cup Championship in Slow Smoking in
Poznan, Poland
Despite
the war raging in Lebanon, the PCoLeb insisted on going to
Poznan to participate in the World Cup Championship. Our
scores were markedly better than previous world
competitions!
Results
Fares Irani: 1 hour 20 minutes and 06 seconds
Paul Jahshan: 50 minutes and 44 seconds
Gihad Abi Rached: 45 minutes and 10 seconds
Antoine Sarkis: 43 minutes and 55 seconds
Lina Hadchity: 33 minutes and 50 seconds
8/10/2023: The Pipe Club of Lebanon
virtually participates in the Pipe Slow Smoking World
Championship held in Bucharest, Romania
Starting the
competition
The competition
is underway
9/10/2022: The PCoLeb participates in the Slow Pipe Smoking Championship in Istanbul, Türkiye
Seven of us (Abed,
Fares, Gihad, Hassan, Lina, Paul, and Salim)
competed, in two teams representing Lebanon, in the (world)
Slow Pipe Smoking Championship in Istanbul.
A final training session at the hotel before the competition
In front of the
Perpa Center, where the championship was held
Abed
Gihad and Fares
Lina
Paul
Salim and Hassan
The Turkish
National Clubs President, Türgay
Ocak (second from right) welcomed us in his fabulous
pipe shop in the Perpa Center, "Pipo Market."
On board the ship during the CIPC's gala dinner with our honorary member Ali Güler and his spouse
Fifteenth
Competition: December 8, 2019
3 grams of MacBaren's Mixture in a straight,
smooth "Real Briar" billiard
Results:
Fourteenth Competition: November 27, 2016
3 grams of MacBaren's Virginia #1 in a straight, smooth "Real Briar" billiard
Results:
Paul giving the prize, a Principe Albert pipe, to Harvey
Thirteenth Competition: November 14, 2015
3 grams of the Pipe Club of Lebanon's Own Mixture in a straight, smooth "Real Briar" billiard
Results:
Peter Khatcherian, 44:27
Issam Sbat, 42:25
Patrick Georgevitch,
40:30
Ted Haviland (from his home in the USA),
38:20
Paul Jahshan, 37:40
Fares Irani, 35:46
Mohamad Helou, 35:04
John Walker (from his home in the UK),
30:35
Salim Khoury, 30:14
Abed Annous, 25:33
Tony Howayek, 24:47
A salute to all our pipesmoking friends!
John Walker from his home in the UK
12/10/2014: The PCoLeb participates in the 13th World
Championship in Pipesmoking in Cologne, Germany
Twelfth Competition: November
16, 2014
Eleventh Competition: October
6, 2013
Tobacco:
3 grams of MacBaren's Virginia Flake in an all-purpose pipe
stamped "Real Briar"
Prize: A Jobon dual pipe-and-cigar lighter
Preparing the tobacco and filling the pipe
Half-way through...
Paul with the prize
Tenth Competition:
November 1, 2012
Tobacco:
3 grams of MacBaren's Navy Flake
In an all-purpose pipe stamped with the words "Real Briar."
From left to right: Peter, Tarek, Paul, Oli
From left to right:
Salim, Marc, Elie, Fares, Antoine
The
first prize, a beautiful pipe created by Peter Khatcherian, our
pipemaker
A first in the history of our club's annual
competition, Ted
Haviland, member of the PCoLeb
for many years already, "synchronized"
himself with us from southern
Missouri, U.S.A.,
with his wife
acting as time-keeper.
Ted was smoking 3 grams of Peter Stokkebye Luxury
Navy Flake.
Ninth Competition: October 16, 2011
Tobacco: MacBaren's Mixture
In an all-purpose pipe stamped with the words "Real Briar."
Note 1: Elie Seif is not in the photos above, as he arrived just on time for the competition, missing the shots.
Note 2: Marc Haddad officially stopped at 20 mns and put down his pipe. Taking it back about 10 mns later, he found it alight. Amidst general laughter, it was decided that either the pipe was haunted, or that the pipe was so bad the briar had been burning all along!
Eighth Competition: November 20, 2010
Tobacco: MacBaren's Virginia Blend
In an all-purpose pipe stamped with the words "Real Briar."
11/10/2009: The PCoLeb participates in the World Cup in Pipe Smoking in Debrecen, Hungary
Paul Jahshan, Salim Khoury, Marc Haddad, and Richard
Chammas represented the Pipe Club of Lebanon in Debrecen,
Hungary, at the World Cup in Pipe Smoking organized by the CIPC
(Comité International des Pipe Clubs) along with more than 250
participants from all over the world.
Our scores:
Salim: 40 mins
Marc:
34 mins
Richard:
25 mins
Paul: 24 mins
The Four Musketeers!
The competition room a few minutes before the start
9/10/2009: The PCoLeb participates in the Académie Internationale de la Pipe's annual conference at the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest
Paul Jahshan, as a new member of the Académie Internationale de la Pipe, was invited to participate in an academic conference on pipes (the history, excavations, and design of clay, meerschaum, and briar pipes) to be held at the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest, October 7-10. Other members of the PCoLeb registered for the conference: Salim Khoury, Marc Haddad, and Richard Chammas, along with Paul's wife, Raymonda. The conference included the presentation of papers (Paul's paper was entitled "The Changing Representations of Tobacco and Pipe Smoking in the Old and New Worlds between the 17th and 19th Centuries"), visits to museums, a guided tour of Blaskovitch Museum, about 100 kms from Budapest, and a trip to Debrecen, 200 kms from Budapest, to attend the opening of the World Cup in Pipe Smoking on October 11. Our host and conference organizer, Dr Anna Ridovics from the National Museum, did a wonderful job, and made everybody's stay so much more fruitful and enjoyable.
On a bridge above the Duna (Danube) with Pest on the right, and Buda on the left (hence, Buda-Pest!)
A street in Buda
Pipes in the Blaskovitch Museum
Pipes in the Debrecen Museum
Paul being formally accepted as a member of the AIP at the Hungarian National Museum along with other new members
One of hundreds of meerschaum pipes on display in the Hungarian National Museum
Enjoying giants mugs of beer in Budapest!
Seventh Competition: October 19, 2008
Tobacco: MacBaren's Vanilla Flake
As always, the PCoLeb strives to do something new every year. The novelty for the 7th annual competition was the use of identical pipes for all contestants. Indeed, all nine members smoked a straight, rusticated billiard "Real Briar" pipe which beautifully served its purpose.
The details of the competition, as well as the pipe casualties (two pipes burned, one of them quite dramatically) will be recounted in the coming issue of the Journal of the Pipe Club of Lebanon!
Sixth Competition: November 4, 2007
Tobacco: MacBaren's Navy Mixture
Paul Jahshan, 1 hr 9 mns
From left to right: Jihad Asmar, Tarek Khalaf, Elie Seif, Fares Irani, Salim Khoury, and Paul Jahshan
The novelty, this time, was the use of a bell to signal the following events:
1. The beginning and end of the general competition
2. The beginning and end of the bowl-filling stage
3. The beginning and end of the lighting stage
4. The beginning of the smoking stage
5. The moment when the competitor finds that the pipe has gone out
1, 2, 3, and 4 are done by the president, 5 is done by the competitor himself/herself
Below is a photo of the bell, the competitors' pipes, and the tobacco used
Fifth Competition: September 17, 2006
Tobacco: MacBaren's Virginia Flake
Marc Haddad, 11 mns
The prizes for this year were two Royal Guard pipes, one for 1st place, and one for 2nd.
Sadly, Salim and Paul discovered that their pipes had burned in the process: Salim's first-ever pipe, a beautiful Stanwell, and Paul's second pipe, bought in 1989, a Stanwell as well. We mourn the passing of these two trustworthy pipes! Below are photos of the competition and photos of the casualties.
From left to right: Oliver Geha, Jihad Asmar, Paul Jahshan, Fares Irani, Tarek Khalaf, Gihad Abi-Rached and his wife Lina, Salim Khoury, Marc Haddad, Elie Seif, and Kifah Said
The winners, Elie and Paul, and their prizes
Salim's burned pipe, at the very bottom of the bowl
Paul's burned pipe, on the left side of the bowl
Fourth Competition: September 15, 2004
Tobacco: MacBaren's Stockton
Elie Seif, 11 mns
Third Competition: August 15, 2003
Tobacco: Davidoff's Danish Mixture
In an unusual display of pipesmoking cooperation and goodwill, all competitors agreed to lay down their pipes after one hour. Amazingly, all passed the one-hour mark with flying colours.
Competitors (listed alphabetically):
Salim Khoury
Second Competition: August 18, 2002
Tobacco: MacBaren's Virginia Flake
Salim Khoury, 1 hr 3 mns
Sandra Hadchity, 34 mns
First Competition: August 6, 2001
Tobacco: Dunhill's Early Morning Pipe
Salim Khoury, 50 mns
Tony Hadchity, 22 mns
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