Cigar smoking has become a big hit at Scranton's Iron Furnaces. There are numerous cigar fans who have visited this event and they are enjoying this event to the core. Many cigar samplers were available here and cigar aficionados were offered best cigar deals here. The amount collected from the tickets was donated to the Lackawanna County Historical Society.
The scent of cigar smoke filled the air behind the Scranton Iron Furnaces on Saturday afternoon at the first Electric City Smoke.
"There's a great core of cigar smokers in Scranton," organizer J.J. Fadden, owner of Big House Tobacco, said. "We figured, why not have an event right here?"
The convention featured nine cigar makers, beer tastings, food and live music. Tickets cost $100 and proceeds benefited the Lackawanna County Historical Society.
Organizer John Argonish, director of sales for Hilton Scranton and Conference Center, said he hopes the event will become annual.
"We wanted to do something good for the community," he said. "Now it's a reality, and it's a great thing."
Cigar enthusiasts gathered under vendors' tents to enjoy the cigar deals each one provided, even challenging one another to contests.
The Ashton Cigars tent hosted a "longest ash" competition - cigar smokers went head-to-head to see which one could leave the most ash on their cigar as they smoked.
George Siracuse of Scranton won the contest with a 5¼-inch-long ash.
"My strategy was a steady hand and many years of training smoking cigars," Mr. Siracuse said. "A well-rolled cigar will give you a long ash."
