In Defense Of Watch City Cigar

[Mr.Mike]

Huh, I always thought being an asshole was an endearing quality? Then again I'm from northeast Pennsylvania ?

 

[jmill208]

Well we use a mix of different manufacturers. Sutliff being the largest supplier right now in the USA of course we use their stuff. We also use Stokkebye and most recently some bulk we had an importer bring in from the UK.
we do use Sutliff blenders though but we absolutely do not simply repackage blends and stick our label on them.
in the store, however, 1Q, BCA, and RLP-6 are labeled also as Faneuil Hall, Boston Blackie and Harvard Square since these were the old CB Perkins names that older customers would come in and ask us for.
All blends are my own recipes, casings, toppings and traditional methods.

Excellent reply! School is over fellas.

 

[ernieq]

Huh, I always thought being an asshole was an endearing quality? Then again I'm from northeast Pennsylvania ?

Yikes. Pennsylvanians frighten even the most dyed in the wool Bostonians.

 

[ofafeather]

McClelland is sorely missed. When an ingredient goes missing I always discontinue a blend...such as McClelland’s Oriental Cavendish which was a key player in our old “Justice Mixture”.
we have used such houses of the past as Red Lion, House of Windsor and McClelland depending on what result we were looking for, but in this climate where tobacco goes missing without much warning, you need to be flexible.
Nothing wrong with Sutliff Blenders. They happen to be the cleanest base tobacco’s on the market and they are good people to work with. But damn, if only we could get some African and Brazilian Burley and Virginia.

Ernie, thanks for sharing that. I appreciate having your insight on the subject.

 

[ofafeather]

Excellent reply! School is over fellas.

Nah, school’s just started! That’s just lesson 1! There’ll be a quiz next week.

 

[sablebrush52]

You guys really love sutliff blending tobaccos resold back to you lol

Not exactly accurate. Sutliff makes the flakes for WCC, but the blend is Ernie's, ribbon cut is made in-house.

 

[ernieq]

So Peace out folks! Anyone has any questions or need any blending advice give me a PM and I’ll help where I can. Hell, I’ve learned a lot from reading forums. Got a full plate and if I gotta get back to it!
E.

 

[ernieq]

Not exactly accurate. Sutliff makes the flakes for WCC, but the blend is Ernie's, ribbon cut is made in-house.

The crumble flakes are made with my recipes and my casings to my specs. It was a lot of fun working with Jonathan and Paul there over the years. Previously I would ship finished blends down for pressing and cutting but it got to be too much to do that. I’m sure some will say they are a Sutliff Product and that’s fine but they are all unique in that they are not relabeled bulk.

a shop press would be nice but it’s not in the cards until things settle down.

 

[BROBS]

Excellent reply! School is over fellas.

Right. I can throw TS1 and 507S in a bowl meself tho. ?. Make my own Music. ?

 

[ernieq]

Right. I can throw TS1 and 507S in a bowl meself tho. ?. Make my own Music. ?

You could. Then you’d have a basic Black and Gold. Good by itself but you add a pinch of granular Perique and properly tweak the TS1 with just enough of a specific casing, you’ll have something else entirely.

 

[BROBS]

You could. Then you’d have a basic Black and Gold. Good by itself but you add a pinch of granular Perique and properly tweak the TS1 with just enough of a specific casing, you’ll have something else entirely.

I love your blends, especially flakes, not dissing you at all.
Have enjoyed most of your blends in some way. I do disagree with treating a customer with disrespect, no matter the case, regardless of where you’re from. A location is just an excuse.

 

[ernieq]

I love your blends, especially flakes, not dissing you at all.
Have enjoyed most of your blends in some way. I do disagree with treating a customer with disrespect, no matter the case, regardless of where you’re from.

No dis taken. Disrespect goes both ways though.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

It's worth noting one side of this story is missing. Not that it matters much. Ernie has an incredibly loyal following and rightly so based on his brilliant in house blends and great customer service.

 

[ernieq]

It's worth noting one side of this story is missing. Not that it matters much. Ernie has an incredibly loyal following and rightly so based on his brilliant in house blends and great customer service.

I do not feel that a business getting into detail regarding any unpleasant dialogue with a customer on any public forum is necessary. The support on this forum proves that point.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

One thing I notice up front is that you are being forthright, and that says something. I still won't go into the Gatlinburlier, because they had all of these obvious just straight up Stokkebye products and the owner kept telling me that they were his own blends that he does at home. He even told me they were grown just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, by him, himself. I even pulled out a flake of Stokkebye's Twisted Flake and showed him that it was exactly what he was calling his own homemade flake, and he still kept telling me that he made them himself.

A couple of weeks later, after I told Skip at The briary about it, Skip showed me an article from a TN paper where the Gatlinburlier had gotten like a $20,000 fine and temporarily shut down for telling an ATF agent that he was growing and producing all of the tobacco in the store, ha ha. He did the same thing to an ATF agent that he did with me. Kinda made me chuckle.

There's nothing wrong with blending from the big companies, as long as you're upfront about things. I have a particular distaste for the casings used by one of the companies mentioned in particular. I even dislike it when I have tried blends made for an other smaller blender by this big blender, and it still leaves me with a bad taste. I'm picky... I know. Ornery and picky, ha ha.

 

[BarrelProof]

It's worth noting one side of this story is missing. Not that it matters much. Ernie has an incredibly loyal following and rightly so based on his brilliant in house blends and great customer service.

An inference can be made pretty easily, given the source. In today’s day and age, the idea of “I’m taking my ball and going home” manifests itself as “I’ll show you, I’ll RUIN YOUR BUSINESS ON THE INTERNET!!!! Now, where’s my Yelp password!”

I would imagine there’s a substantial part of this story that’s missing and kudos to @ernieq for not sharing it publicly. THAT’S quality customer service. Stay above the BS, let the blowhards blow hard, have a product good enough to develop and maintain a customer base, and don’t get mixed up in their whining pity party.

The train rolls on.

What if we pulled a wallstreetbets and all of us went and put in big WCC orders today to spite a failed attempt to run their name through the mud? Put some unique phrase in the order comments section so Ernie knows it’s us. I think it’d be hilarious if the attempt to run them down ended up coincidentally giving them a huge boost.

Think I’ll go put in an order now! In the order comments section, I’m simply gonna write, “All to be packaged in 1oz portions, please!”

 

[BarrelProof]

I do not feel that a business getting into detail regarding any unpleasant dialogue with a customer on any public forum is necessary. The support on this forum proves that point.

This. You beat me to it. See above post.

 

[ernieq]

One thing I notice up front is that you are being forthright, and that says something. I still won't go into the Gatlinburlier, because they had all of these obvious just straight up Stokkebye products and the owner kept telling me that they were his own blends that he does at home. He even told me they were grown just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, by him, himself. I even pulled out a flake of Stokkebye's Twisted Flake and showed him that it was exactly what he was calling his own homemade flake, and he still kept telling me that he made them himself.

A couple of weeks later, after I told Skip at The briary about it, Skip showed me an article from a TN paper where the Gatlinburlier had gotten like a $20,000 fine and temporarily shut down for telling an ATF agent that he was growing and producing all of the tobacco in the store, ha ha. He did the same thing to an ATF agent that he did with me. Kinda made me chuckle.

There's nothing wrong with blending from the big companies, as long as you're upfront about things. I have a particular distaste for the casings used by one of the companies mentioned in particular. I even dislike it when I have tried blends made for an other smaller blender by this big blender, and it still leaves me with a bad taste. I'm picky... I know. Ornery and picky, ha ha.

We like what we like and there can and should be no accounting for that.

 

[ashdigger]

So let me get this straight. I ordered 4 pounds of various flakes a couple years ago and it shipped in one pound bags. Now it appears I can get customized “dime” baggies??

I’m all in.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

An inference can be made pretty easily, given the source. In today’s day and age, the idea of “I’m taking my ball and going home” manifests itself as “I’ll show you, I’ll RUIN YOUR BUSINESS ON THE INTERNET!!!! Now, where’s my Yelp password!”

I would imagine there’s a substantial part of this story that’s missing and kudos to @ernieq for not sharing it publicly. THAT’S quality customer service. Stay above the BS, let the blowhards blow hard, have a product good enough to develop and maintain a customer base, and don’t get mixed up in their whining pity party.

The train rolls on.

What if we pulled a wallstreetbets and all of us went and put in big WCC orders today to spite a failed attempt to run their name through the mud? Put some unique phrase in the order comments section so Ernie knows it’s us. I think it’d be hilarious if the attempt to run them down ended up coincidentally giving them a huge boost.

Think I’ll go put in an order now! In the order comments section, I’m simply gonna write, “All to be packaged in 1oz portions, please!”

That's right, Ernie has taken the high ground (and rightly so) in not making this a cyber war with some guy wanting to buy one ounce of tobacco. As I stated, I suspect there's more to the story if Ernie told his side. Ernie is handling this the right way which is no surprise.