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Carlos

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Real brief.

They got the new digs open last Friday!!

Steven says when you walk in to the new place, it looks like they have all the tobacco in the world there. And they are still out of many items. Many of those items are on order, that they hope to have in soon.

I didn't ask much more than that. Just that minimum ordering quantites of some of the tobaccos are huge. :shock: Even by Pipetongue1's cellaring standards. So some are going to be a while, unfortunately.

I did ask about the traffic. It sucks. About the motels out at Strawberry Plains exit, and they are all fairly new it seems.

Maybe if Steven or Pete find time they will post something in the announcements (at the Knox board). Some pictures would be nice. I still hope to chat about a possible (Knox) board pipe. :pipe:

I will try to get an idea of what was up with the board being down so much.
 
Carlos:

Thanx for the update, amigo.

I'm perplexed about the KCC BB. It has been one week since I posted there about topic reply notifications being broken, and still nary a response from a board admin, much less actually fixing the broken notifications. Things sure do seem to have taken a downward spiral. I sort of expected this forum to be a temporary home while they sorted out their problems on the Knox BB, but now I'm thinking it's time to send for the wife and kids and move all the furniture. It's pretty desolate over there. :cry:

Vito :joker:
 
It can't die over there before I make Yoda! Seriously though, I hope it stays afloat, it would be sad to see it go away.
 
ComCast Cable. That's their Internet connection and it's giving the forum grief for some reason. Their server seems fine from what Steven told me, but for some reason the board is suffering. They are working on that. He said he was going to post something over there, but I didn't see it this morning.
 
mdmiller5":wyz57176 said:
jhuggett":wyz57176 said:
It can't die over there before I make Yoda! Seriously though, I hope it stays afloat, it would be sad to see it go away.
Me too :!: :lol!:
I would sure hate to see it go away. I hope they put some more effort into keeping it open and not let it die. The place really did and does mean alot but sometimes they just don't seem to care about it.
 
I can only access the Knox bb rarely and when I do, they bump me out in a minute. So, I am not the only one having troubles there. So much for the guy who called me a liar when I said I could not get in there.
 
CP":molet52t said:
I can only access the Knox bb rarely and when I do, they bump me out in a minute. So, I am not the only one having troubles there. So much for the guy who called me a liar when I said I could not get in there.
I've also had problems with the Knoxboard periodically over the last two weeks.Sometimes I'm not able to get on at all,other times it pops up if I hit refresh a time or two.No matter what I did I was unable to get on for two or three days last week! Since I just bought a new laptop,I though it was possibly something on my end.Now that I hear that a few folks had problems I think it's the site itself. I logged on this morning though and everything seems to be working as it should...

Best,
Dock
:pipe:
 
CP and TJ:

I want youse guys to give brothah Vito a nice Christmas present: Lighten the hell up and stop raggin' on each other. It's already crazy enough in this world without havin' the kids fightin' all the time. Sheesh...now I know how my Uncle Vito felt when he finally reached his limit and threatened to use the "mutual cranial percussion" system of behavioral management. ("I knocka you heads together.")

Youse guys better behave or I'm sending you both to your rooms. No, wait...I'll send you both to the kitchen (aka "Mama's room"), where she makes disciplinary instruction available via yet another Italian innovation in behavioral management, the "wooden spoon" system.

If that doesn't work, you'll leave me no choice...one call to Uncle Guido, and it's Peace on Earth. :santa:

Vito :joker:
 
CP":soz9f3wd said:
I can only access the Knox bb rarely and when I do, they bump me out in a minute. So, I am not the only one having troubles there. So much for the guy who called me a liar when I said I could not get in there.
_________________
*Steven at Knox posted this about the problems there*

We have been losing internet connection with our cable company off and on though out the days. We are trying to get the problems worked out with them. Thanks for everyones patience.
_________________

Best,
Dock
:pipe:
 
I sincerely hope Knox gets the board running smoothly again. I consider it an old friend (if one can feel that way about an internet site!); or I guess more appropriately, I consider all those I've never met but through cyberspace old friends.

Meanwhile, it's good to have yet another resource here. Thanks to Jason.

Mike
 
I think their board is symptomatic of another issue besides merely being technical. Their main retail web page has not been going down.

They have no inventory. Yesterday I went on the retail site and looked at 35 currently popular tobaccos and found 30 of them are out of stock. Pipe and cigar inventories are also down. Their front page has not changed in some time. Pretty ominous signs. This is the season for retailers to be overstocked. Overstocked items are easily and profitably disposed of by post holiday sales.

These are all rumors, of course, BUT there has not been a single word from KC discounting them.

I hope I am wrong here,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,but don't think so.

tj
 
Hey! From Lawrenceville, GA! I was there at Knox yesterday. Spoke with Steven. They are still working on the new place, but it's coming around.

(I hate this laptop)

More details later, but they have tobaccy's in the store, that isn't on the website. I scarfed up several aged tins. More goodies.

They are experiencing trobles with more that the forum, but the forum seems to show it worst. The difference is there was a T1 at the other site and now they are using cable. But may have to work something else out if they cannot get it solved soon. Not sure a T1 or fractional is available there.

More info later. When I get on a real keyboard.
 
Ok, let's try this again. Do it in Word Pad and copy/paste it. Maybe I had the post window open too long earlier.

Stopped in at Knoxville Cigar Co. They are still in the process of getting the bar area and snacks/sandwiches or whatever foods they will be doing, set up. But the retail tobacco sales and shaving accessories is up and running. Shelves quite full and more being stocked as we speak. Two nice lounge areas, one at the entrance, the other around past the bar. Nice comfy looking chairs.

The humidor is well stocked with stogies. Retail sales shelving is fairly full and getting more added all the time. If you check online and don't see what you want, call, as they may actually have it available. Robusto in the 2 oz tins shows out of stock, but they have some on the shelves. I bought some. More GL Pease is, or will be on the way. They will have to be doing some create work getting all the stock in the building. There is an upstairs room or rooms also. Sorry, I forget what Steven said about those, but I think they may also be lounge areas. Perhaps for busy times or gatherings.

Still a lot of work to do. A major investment is being done in the place. Not just their build. But in the whole area, as I walked up to it there were several projects going on. The old city area is going to be a happening place.

Moving the online sales from the warehouse may limit their total storage capacity some, but the will gain improved times for shipping out orders. I never had any issue with delivery times, but some of you may see quicker delivery times. Simply because they won't have to be running back and forth between different locations.

They lost their T1 line. Using cable right now for Internet, and they are working hard to solve the downtimes. They continue to work with ComCast to cure the problems. Not sure a T1 or fractional T1 is available in the current location. Maybe that will change. The bulletin board seems to show the effects of the problem worst than the web site for some reason.

Certain tobaccos may be a long time before they return to stock. Months. It's takes rather large orders with money up front to start an order. Add processing time and shipping. It really does take a long time to get some blends in. So if some of you fellows here simply MUST HAVE a certain blend that is not available, PM me. I will see if I have it in my personal cellar and we can work a trade. I should be able to spare about anything. But I have very limited amounts of some of them. As always, call to make sure they don't have something. The stock count on the web site may not be accurate at the moment. But they seem to be out of Laurel Flake. At least I didn't see any. They are working to correct that.

They are good folks. Like all of us, they have to work within their means. But it will get better, given time.

The Knoxville Cigar Co. Board pipe was discussed. We are free to do whatever we want. I think they trust us to make some good decisions. Steven will help if he can and liked the ideas and discussion on the board about it. I think it's best to get the holidays behind us. Discuss it some more, and make some decisions that we can all be happy with. Further discussion about it to take place over at the Knoxville Cigar Co. forum. But I wanted all here to know. As far as I am concerned, it's a go.

I was only there a short time. But enjoyed the visit. Hope I answered some questions. Keep in mind, I am just a customer, like you guys. Not affiliated in any way. Not sure this post was as eloquent as the lost one was. Now where is that spell checker........
 
Great update Carlos, thanks for taking the time to let us know what's going on.
 
Carlos:

First of all, thanks for the update. I'm sure KCC wouldn't be investing the time, money, and effort in such a major move if they weren't planning on remaining a thriving operation. I'm only mentioning that because some of the brethren have expressed some concern about the possibility that Knoxville Cigar Company is in decline. I don't think that's the case at all. I can certainly understand how the KCC BB is not a particularly high priority for them, especially when they're in the midst of such an enormous upheaval as moving.

Consolidating their operations into one location sounds like a smart move. In the past, it has definitely been true that stock on the store shelves doesn't necessarily reflect stock in the warehouse, and vice versa. The consolidation should give them better inventory information management.

I'm glad to hear that they're working on the BB's technical isssues. I'm sure they'll resolve those problems eventually. It does raise the obvious questions:
  • When everything is back to normal, what will become of the KCC BB community?
    Will we all migrate back to the KCC BB, or remain here?
I almost certainly will not divide my focus between two BBs; it's a simple matter of available time and focus.

I understand that we're free to make our own choices in that regard, and that we have no "customer loyalty" obligations to KCC as bulletin board participants. Of course, I will continue to patronize Knoxville Cigar as a pipe and weed customer, but is there any sort of...er, "moral obligation" to return to the BB? For my part, I do feel a certain amount of loyalty to the KCC BB itself. I recognize the fact that my/our presence on the KCC board is of no direct benefit to its host. Nevertheless, I think there is probably an indirect benefit to KCC to the extent that the board attracts prospective customers. In that regard, I'm inclined to want to participate in the KCC BB as a measure of gratitude for their having hosted the board for so long. In my view, the community of KCC BB brethren has received far greater value than Pete Zaring has ever requested in return for having provided such a venue. I'm inclined to honor that good will and generosity, and if my presence on the KCC BB provides some small value (albeit an indirect one), it seems like a reasonable and fair exchange.

It's not exactly a moral quandary at this point, and I'm certainly not stressing out on it. I'm just sort of thinking out loud. It probably will work itself for the best out one way or another. As Roger McGuinn sez, "I trust it will all turn out all right." 8)

Vito :joker:
 
Vito, that was my question in another thread but it was misunderstood. I will remain on this board if Jason keeps it up. I don't think Knox will lose anything if their board becomes inactive, and we have several advantages here. As the mass chat on January 1 is to be here, Jason will have to decide the future of this board after that, and I hope he decides to keep it going.
 
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