"Pretty amazing to see 2,000 people from 47 different states come all the way to the ‘boonies' for this annual event," Meier noted, "and it actually sold out in nine days."

Held this year at the Split Rock Resort in the Pocono Mountains area, it was quite a show with every attendee receiving 50 cigars, a humidor, a CigarFest ashtray, an event poster, duffel bag and whatever else they could scoop up. "All in all, over 100,000 cigars were given out this year!" he wrote in a post-event e-mail.

There was a live band, a pig roast, 10 different brands of spirits for sampling, six different micro-brewed beers and an enormous raffle. The grand prize was a new Jeep Wrangler courtesy of 5 Vegas Cigars and there were two different trips to cigar factories in Honduras (courtesy Camacho Cigars) and Nicaragua (courtesy Drew Estates). And there were plenty of cigars, including "cigars for a year" with a 2,000-capacity cabinet humidor from Drew Estates, a Gurkha 500-capacity "Museum Case" humidor, two Perdomo 100-count humidors, the new Alec Bradley carbon fibre humidor and dozens of signed and special boxes.

Not bad for a $90 ticket! But the most important aspects of the event were not the highlights that most attendees might have thought of during the merriment:

• About $17,000 was raised for LifePath, an organization dedicated to the support and care of individuals with cognitive challenges and mental retardation. It serves about 1,200 people in the state of Pennsylvania.


• Meier and his team also made an important outreach to Pennsylvania politicians. "We also hosted a delegation of eight different state legislators," he wrote, "in order to show them what the cigar industry is all about and how this is a group of real guys, real enthusiasts, unlike cigarette smokers . . . which surprisingly too many still seem to lump us in with."

This aspect of the event should not be underrated; if more politicians saw more smokers – especially cigar smokers – their attitude toward the increasing restrictions pushed by the anti-tobacco crowd would be more balanced.