Hat vote...Cuenca or Montecristi.

[Panamabob]

I'm posting a photo, or linking a photo, that was a hat sold originally by a world famous hatter in UK. I'd like to know if you think it is a Cuenca or Montecristi Panama Hat.

 

[Matt Deckard]

Just a guess!

 

[SHARPETOYS]

Cuenca or a very low grade Montecristi like a $20.00 hat body.

 

[android]

Oops, thought you were asking about a preference, not to pick a hat in the picture. The hat in the picture is crap with a capital K.

 

[Art Fawcett]

Definitely cuenca Robert...whats the story behind the question?

 

[Kentucky Blues]

You call that crap? I call that nice...not a montecristi...but nice...I would be proud to own it...provided the guy made sure to label it a cuenca...how is that pronounced, anyway?

 

[Panamabob]

It is really not the best hat out there...sorry to say...but in the world of Panama that is the lowest level you can go...it isn't a fine Cuenca at all. Cuenca is kind of like "Kwanka" like Sanka coffee. There isn't a schwa sound in Spanish, however.

 

[Panamabob]

Some of the company's hats appear to be Montecristi, some are not. They are mislabeled at best, misleading at worst.

 

[cmalbrecht]

Cuenca

Having spent most of my life around Spanish speakers, Cuenca would be pronounced (as closely as possible in print) like: kwaynkah. But the k isn't as aspirated as much as in inglés. Very soft.
Of course for most of us, kwenka is close enough.

 

[EggHead]

I have a cuenca Panama hat that I wear on warmer days and I love it!
It's a simple hat with 'natural' color, I mean it didn't seem to be dyed or processed because I can still smell the 'straw' and it's not stiff. It was made in Ecuador, where all real Panama hats are made. I believe it's a sub-fino grade. I truly recommend an Ecuador-made Panama hat.

 

[cmalbrecht]

A while back I had a bad experience with Casey on a Cuenca hat. It was only $35 on sale plus shipping, and actually it was all right except that customs had cut through the box to open it and in doing so, inadvertantly cut the top of the hat as well. They offered to replace the hat if I sent the defective one back, but in sending the replacement, they casually nipped another $10 from my bank account. It gets worse: the replacement was way too big and not the style I had ordered. Casey suggested I buy some foam and stick it around the band. I told him where to stick his hats but he still writes and says he hopes I'm enjoying my hat.
Then, not being able to spend a lot of money, I got a Panama Stetson from Delmonico. It looked and fit all right, but stiff as a WWII Wehrmacht helmet. Almost immediately it began to crack at the pinch in front (and I don't handle it that way). Over time it has grown to over an inch long and a quarter inch wide. I thought that with a name like Stetson I couldn't go wrong.
I've heard all the good things about Panama Bob and he just sent me an offer I couldn't refuse: $25 including shipping. I'm really looking forward to a nice soft wearable hat for next summer. I don't expect a super fino at a thousand bucks, but at least a nice hat I can enjoy. I don't know what this hat normally sells for but looks like the cheapest hat he sells is about $85. I paid over a hundred for the Stetson, and with the hat and all the shipping charges from Casey Dalzell, that bummer cost me about $75. And I dropped it off at the Goodwill a while back.:rage:

 

[PabloElFlamenco]

When buying hats from the web, be it eBust or any other channel, there's always the risk you don't get exactly what you reckoned: that's simply part of the system (and that's why, I've heard, some people go to shops to check "live" what they then proceed to buy cheaper, on the internet). I've bought most of my hats off the web. I have (so far) three panama hats. The least good one I bought "live" from a shop in Mexico city -mind you, it's not a bad hat at all, it's just not my best. The "middle" hat is a nice Montecristi I bought from Panama Bob. It's a very good hat, and I love it dearly (I just, today, purchased from Bob for the 3rd time, one purchase was a birthday present to a friend, the one I'm waiting for is a black fino Cuenca costing $70-). My best panama hat is a Brooks Brothers brand Cuenca with a short brim: an extremely fine hat, very thin, with an extremely fine weave. I won it on the bay for something like $60 + shipping. So, I'm not inclined to say Montecristi is "always" better than Cuena; it just depends which hat, at what price.

 

[ManofKent]

My understanding was that Cuenca and Monticristi were geographical descriptors rather than levels of quality. Whilst the best hats tend to be produced in Monticristi, you could get a really nice hat made in the Cuenca area and a fairly average one made in Monticristi.