Herfin' with Pete Johnson at Tobacco Road in DFW

[Swissy]

Doc, when you ask "I thought we was pissed at Pete?" the inference is that vendors / members should be supporting a boycott of Tatuaje. If this was not what you meant to imply, I'm sure that in hind site you can see how others could come to this inference.

The problem is that when a vendor posts an event, that thread, in a sense, becomes an extension of the vendors shop. No matter how well meaning the intent, when you step into the thread and discourage customers from attending the event, or buying a featured product the impact on the manufacturer is truly minimal but it can severely hurt the vendor and his ability to provide for his/her family.

Honestly, I take no issue with anyone who chooses to boycott but if anyone were to come into your B&M and encourage customers to boycott a particular brand, especially a bread and butter brand, you'd expect the staff and management to express their displeasure and defend their right to offer that product in a very strong and decisive way.


Gentlemen, as disappointed as I am that Jim chose to express and defend himself in those particular terms, I am equally disappointed that well meaning brothers chose to express their distaste for Pete Johnson at the expense of other brothers.

Very good points Mike.

The one thing I would like to add, however, is that when you say that the thread someone starts regarding an event "becomes an extension of the vendors shop", so does the attitude and manner in which the original poster posts. And that does just as much damage towards his livelyhood, if not more. Seeing that I have not met him, shopped in his shop, or had any dealings with him in any fashion here, first impressions go a LONG ways towards building a relationship. True? And you have to admit that was a really poor first impression. With so many shops available, I have no other option in my mind that to find a shop that will treat me better. He may treat me like gold, but with what I have seen I cannot say that will be the case.

And if anyone at my local shop defended the suggestion of a boycott with the "ES&D" comment you can be damn sure I'd never shop there again. That just is NOT good business practice. And I have mentioned it to my local shop that sells a few of Pete's cigars, and they simply told me I didn't have to buy them, which is the simple truth, and easier to put up with.

again, my $.02 worth, my opinion and so on. I hope the event goes well, I hope Harpu is what everyone says, and I hope he reconsiders his comments and appeals the ban.

 

[bfreebern]

Mike - try and separate yourself from your shop for a moment. Would you want someone, regardless if they are a vendor or not, to treat other members here like that?

I know it's hard, since you know him personally. He might be the nicest guy in person, but the way he conducted himself here was out of line.

 

[Devil Doc]

All he had to do was respond with, "business is business and I'm just letting you guys know what's going on." That would have been the end of it. He chose to show who he really is. A crude fellow, with little business acumen. And as far as character goes, It can only be measured when that person is under stress. He failed miserably.

Doc.

 

[Ginseng]

All he had to do was respond with, "business is business and I'm just letting you guys know what's going on." That would have been the end of it. He chose to show who he really is. A crude fellow, with little business acumen. And as far as character goes, It can only be measured when that person is under stress. He failed miserably and showed us who he really is.

Doc.

There's wisdom in those words.

I am always concerned when a man can so readily and so callously call up such contempt for his fellow men (and cigar smokers.) The vast majority of insults are easily brushed aside and attributed to petulance but contempt speaks to a fundamental intolerance and scorn, not just temper.

I am also puzzled by the observation that such and such is completely different online than he might be in person. I have no idea why this is or why it should be so readily accepted. How are we supposed to get to know Jekyll, or even want to, when Hyde is who we get to know over a thousand posts, or a dozen?

I guess I've said my piece. Tom, Doc, Jim, and Brandon have presented their cases most eloquently and in a respectful, reasoned fashion. As a fellow CPer, I couldn't have asked for a better example of how we do things here. I'm proud of you guys.

Wilkey

 

[Smokyballs]

This is like suddenly hearing that two dear friends are getting divorced. When I read this last night I was stunned. I can’t begin to express my disappointment.

I haven’t spoken with Jim (harpu) about this yet and though I’ve read the quotes, I didn’t see his posts before he deleted them so I’ll limit my comments regarding them to this for now. I wish that he had chosen his words better and he shouldn’t have deleted his posts.

Having said that, Doc, Tim, and Brad, you know that I admire and respect each of you and nothing has changed in that regard but I think you were out of line.

Doc, I’m disappointed that you would suggest to a vendor (no matter how subtle or direct) that he should not host an event with Pete or any other manufacturer or that members should not support a vendor who hosts such an event. Certainly there are members who choose not to patronize Pete but there are many more members who will continue to buy Tatuaje. Jim has chosen (as is his right) to make Pete’s products available to his customers and many of his customers are members of this community.

Any vendor in good standing (and the local members standing up for Jim demonstrates his good standing) should be able to post an event without having the event disparaged.

Tim, you’re post that you’d be sure to not be at the event was equally out of line; it’s not as if you were planning to be in town that day anyway.

Brad, you as a vendor surprise me. To jack another vendor’s event thread to express your opinion of Pete by promoting an Outlaw event is beneath you. You’ve proven yourself to be much better than that.

True enough Jim’s language was out of line, no one would dispute that but he should not have been put in a position to defend his choice to invite Pete Johnson to Tobacco Road.

For the record, though you don’t see it in this thread, Jim is one of the finest people you could ever hope to meet. I don’t say this because I work for him on Saturdays; I work WITH him on Saturdays because it’s true. Hell, my daughter even named her kitten after him.

Where the fuck did I express any opinion of Pete Johnson or this event? Tim had told me that he was going to come to the Outlaw for the Padron event, I noticed it was on the same day and made that post. I hope there event is as good as any we put on and wish them all the luck in the world. I'm not promoting my event in the slightest(I don't need to). For the record we still sell Tatuaje as well. DFW and Kansas City are very far away. Our events have nothing to do with each other! Good Luck Tobacco Road!!!

Edit to say that I took my sig line out so I stop shilling for the Outlaw events with every post I make!

 

[preembargo]

Mike - try and separate yourself from your shop for a moment. Would you want someone, regardless if they are a vendor or not, to treat other members here like that?

Absolutely not, I have not and never would condone anyone telling Doc or anyone else to ES&D. Calling someone dickwad however, is sometimes just stating a fact but absolutely uncalled for in this case.

All he had to do was respond with, "business is business and I'm just letting you guys know what's going on." That would have been the end of it. He chose to show who he really is. A crude fellow, with little business acumen. And as far as character goes, It can only be measured when that person is under stress. He failed miserably.

Doc.

Agreed, that would have been the preferred response. I understand the community's reaction to the course he chose, my stance is that I don't think he should have been placed in the position to respond at all. But he was and he did.

<snip>
Brad, you as a vendor surprise me. To jack another vendor’s event thread to express your opinion of Pete by promoting an Outlaw event is beneath you. You’ve proven yourself to be much better than that.
<snip>

Where the fuck did I express any opinion of Pete Johnson or this event? Tim had told me that he was going to come to the Outlaw for the Padron event, I noticed it was on the same day and made that post. I hope there event is as good as any we put on and wish them all the luck in the world. I'm not promoting my event in the slightest(I don't need to). For the record we still sell Tatuaje as well. DFW and Kansas City are very far away. Our events have nothing to do with each other! Good Luck Tobacco Road!!!

Edit to say that I took my sig line out so I stop shilling for the Outlaw events with every post I make!

Brad, no vendor would go into an Outlaw event thread and promote his own shop's event, for any reason. I sincerely believe you're better than that.

As for your sig tag, I'm not aware that anyone has ever considered it inappropriate.


Now gentlemen, I've just brought Bargogirl home from the hospital this evening and she deserves my attention.

 

[dk_ace]

I kept reading through this thread looking for the punch line. Unfortunately there wasn't one. It's a damn shame too.

I can't comment on posts I can't read, but I really hate that things went the way they did. I don't know why Jim said the things he did (I can assure you that is out of character for him). I also can't imagine why a bunch of you guys who were not affected by this herf in any way would take the time to click on it and post your thoughts.

I'll miss seeing Jim randomly drop in on the boards, but his shop isn't too far away so I'll be seeing him soon anyway.

D

PS Isn't banning someone that left kind of like firing someone that just quit???

 

[Double D]

Good riddance where the hell does he get off telling doc to eat Shit and Die good job Rod.

 

[Rod]

For the record, harpu was banned for his comment of "ES&D". Having to ban someone is not something I enjoy; it's reserved and used sparingly.

It's unfortunate that the falling out between a vendor and a mfgr has caused aftershocks. I think it's time we all put our differences aside and move on. Don't like Pete/Tatuaje? Just don't smoke them. No need to trash anyone's event because Tatuaje is sponsoring it.