Comments on: Guest Commentary: One Should Be Wary of Greed

By: Former Black Cat Emp

Former Black Cat Emp — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:25:48 +0000

Sam, why don't you man up? I worked for you for months and watched you insult, degrade, scream at, and treat with utter condesention every single one of your employees, many of your customers, and your own father. You lost Don Pepin because you treated him with the same lack of respect as you do everybody else aside from the reps who shove free cigars at you. Why do you think you can't retain any employees for over a year? Every rep and salesperson I talked to after quitting had horrible things to say about you.

I'm sure you're rolling your eyes as you read this Sam, if you read it, the same way you did to me every time I opened my mouth, even if it was to inform you I had just doubled one of your wholesale accounts or upsold a customer to the tune of a few hundred extra dollars. But for all the spouting you did about 'common sense' you never figured out the most basic one. Treat the people around you with some respect and decency.

By: 502

502 — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:46:28 +0000

This commonly occurs for apostrophes and quotation marks when they are written with software that uses its own proprietary non-standard code for these characters, such as Microsoft's Smart Quotes. ,

By: 502

502 — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:54:30 +0000

Far from a contrivance the muscle-up is hugely functional. ,

By: S.

S. — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:29:28 +0000

The line between business relationships and friendships can grow fuzzy or fade entirely at times and in places.

I don't think the entire cigar industry is all about profit and nothing else. Tradition and passion can be just as important or more so, depending on who we're talking about.

By: MMarsden

MMarsden — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 20:10:39 +0000

I'd have to wonder about your claim that it is only a normal business practice to cut 40% of the price of Pepin's cigars. No doubt you do offer cigars at that discount, but the fact you post a story of how Pepin has betrayed you on the same pages as your Pepin products leads me to believe that no, this is not just "Business as usual."

What the Pepin company did was completely professional, if not polite. However, he's running a business, not a cabal of friends. Maybe you should learn to discern between your friendships and your business relationships so you don't take these things as a dramatic betrayal next time it happens, and I would bet top dollar it will happen again.

~Michael

By: kevink868

kevink868 — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:01:30 +0000

Cigarfan: Yes, I noticed the CK increases! Brutal. I was going to reload on Nacionales Ws and nearly soiled myself when I saw the price. Needless to say, I couldn't pull the trigger. I may be sorry later when they're gone, but…

By: big mike

big mike — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 07:35:21 +0000

I loved the rey miguels. But he also stopped making the padilla that should strike more of a chord with cigar smokers. I live 2 miles from pepins factory but i will go across the street to el titan de bronze.Thank you very much.

By: John Tant

John Tant — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 07:32:19 +0000

A lot of times in this industry, contracts are informal and based on little more than a handshake. That's not to say that there shouldn't have been a contract, but in this case I can understand if there weren't.

By: cigarfan

cigarfan — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:15:46 +0000

Has anyone noticed the HUGE increase in prices for Cigar King's Pepin blends? Ashton VSGs are now more affordable than Sancti Spiritus or Habana Leon. Craziness.

But I don't think anyone should be surprised. At the end of the day it's just business. And at those prices, I'll be taking my business elsewhere.

By: jackson

jackson — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:45:06 +0000

Maybe I should buy up as many old henrys as I can find