Panamabob
Call Me a Cab
- Messages
- 2,012
- Location
- Fort Wayne, Indiana
Geez, I have to wait 30 seconds between searches and I can't even ask questions on the classified section!!! 
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Panama Hats
- Thread starter WineGuy
- Start date
Chinaski
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,045
- Location
- Orange County, CA
Off topic to the thread, Scotrace, but since you brought up the speed of the search function, I asked earlier in this thread if it's possible to search by phrase rather than word and didn't get an answer. Can you give me some insight?
Is it possible to search "Cavanagh edge," for example, without getting every thread that has the word Cavanagh and every thread that has the word edge? I'm sure you can see how that might be very useful. The word "edge" will pick up every time a poster has mentioned mode edge or any other utterance of the word "edge." It would be great to have the search function just pick up threads with both words and exclude the rest.
Is it possible to search "Cavanagh edge," for example, without getting every thread that has the word Cavanagh and every thread that has the word edge? I'm sure you can see how that might be very useful. The word "edge" will pick up every time a poster has mentioned mode edge or any other utterance of the word "edge." It would be great to have the search function just pick up threads with both words and exclude the rest.
WineGuy
A-List Customer
- Messages
- 363
- Location
- Las Vegas. (Formerly Metro New York)
I'm finally wearing a REAL Montecristi!
Well folks, after that whole episode with Ultrafino Hats I finally have a Montecristi on my head! Ultrafino did refund my money in full to their credit, although I had to cajole them to make a prompt refund rather than the three weeks time they wanted. Then I ordered a nice Cuenca from PanamaBob which came quickly and was significantly much better quality and $30 cheaper than the so-called $99 "Super fino" from Ultrafino. But as fate would have it, the hat was not the size indicated and turned out to be too big, I sent it back to Robert who ordered a replacement from Ecuador. While waiting for Robert to receive the replacement Cuenca he received a great Montecristi C-Crown fino that he offered me at $249. I snatched it and it has made this whole episode worth it. So while I ended up spending two and a half times the original hat, I feel like I traded up from a Yugo to a Lexus.
The hat, in my humble newbie opinion, is very fine with a 23wpi (529 cuenta) all Llano weave with apparently 12 vueltas. It's light as a feather and the the straw color seems very consistent and evenly woven. Robert tells me that the hat was woven in Pampas, a near by town that competes with Pile for "top hat" status. It was hand blocked to 59.5 cm in Ecuador and hand finished with USA supplied leather.
The fit is perfect but apparently the shape of my head is torquing the brim on the right side a bit and causing it to form a wave when I put it on. I've been gently steaming it and shaping it with my fingers to get the rear upcurve to flow more to the side and give it rigidity. Any suggestions?
I'm also thinking of replacing the band with one at least half an inch taller, again, any suggestions? Does a band need to be Grosgrain? Can other materials work? Pictures below.
The hat is actually whiter
The Cuenta
The Inside
The Vueltas
The Mug shot
Well folks, after that whole episode with Ultrafino Hats I finally have a Montecristi on my head! Ultrafino did refund my money in full to their credit, although I had to cajole them to make a prompt refund rather than the three weeks time they wanted. Then I ordered a nice Cuenca from PanamaBob which came quickly and was significantly much better quality and $30 cheaper than the so-called $99 "Super fino" from Ultrafino. But as fate would have it, the hat was not the size indicated and turned out to be too big, I sent it back to Robert who ordered a replacement from Ecuador. While waiting for Robert to receive the replacement Cuenca he received a great Montecristi C-Crown fino that he offered me at $249. I snatched it and it has made this whole episode worth it. So while I ended up spending two and a half times the original hat, I feel like I traded up from a Yugo to a Lexus.
The hat, in my humble newbie opinion, is very fine with a 23wpi (529 cuenta) all Llano weave with apparently 12 vueltas. It's light as a feather and the the straw color seems very consistent and evenly woven. Robert tells me that the hat was woven in Pampas, a near by town that competes with Pile for "top hat" status. It was hand blocked to 59.5 cm in Ecuador and hand finished with USA supplied leather.
The fit is perfect but apparently the shape of my head is torquing the brim on the right side a bit and causing it to form a wave when I put it on. I've been gently steaming it and shaping it with my fingers to get the rear upcurve to flow more to the side and give it rigidity. Any suggestions?
I'm also thinking of replacing the band with one at least half an inch taller, again, any suggestions? Does a band need to be Grosgrain? Can other materials work? Pictures below.
The hat is actually whiter
The Cuenta
The Inside
The Vueltas
The Mug shot
jonbuilder
My Mail is Forwarded Here
- Messages
- 3,563
- Location
- Grass Valley CA Foothills
I'm also thinking of replacing the band with one at least half an inch taller, again, any suggestions? Does a band need to be Grosgrain? Can other materials work? Pictures below.
The Mug shot
[/QUOTE]
You made a good choice wineguy. I think a color full fabric band gives a sharp looking panama with flare
The Mug shot
You made a good choice wineguy. I think a color full fabric band gives a sharp looking panama with flare
WineGuy
A-List Customer
- Messages
- 363
- Location
- Las Vegas. (Formerly Metro New York)
The "Art" of buying a Panama hat...
Lesson number one: buy the best quality "unblocked" and "unfinshed" Montecristi you can afford THEN give it to Art Fawcett for finishing.
I know this is not news to the mavens on this thread, but I just had an epiphany. I purchased a beautiful finished Montecristi Fino from Panama Bob but it immediately warped and went wavy on my head (SEE ABOVE). After a month of screwing around with an iron and steam I could not tame the beast. I had just completed the "conformer" stage with Art for a felt he's going to build me soon so I sent him the Panama. Art suggested a new sweatband and I figured at this point I might as well have him fabricate a hat band that would stand out in my wineshop.
Just got the hat back an hour ago, fits like a glove, no waves and the bands are perfect....Art, you are the greatest!!!!!!
Lesson number one: buy the best quality "unblocked" and "unfinshed" Montecristi you can afford THEN give it to Art Fawcett for finishing.
I know this is not news to the mavens on this thread, but I just had an epiphany. I purchased a beautiful finished Montecristi Fino from Panama Bob but it immediately warped and went wavy on my head (SEE ABOVE). After a month of screwing around with an iron and steam I could not tame the beast. I had just completed the "conformer" stage with Art for a felt he's going to build me soon so I sent him the Panama. Art suggested a new sweatband and I figured at this point I might as well have him fabricate a hat band that would stand out in my wineshop.
Just got the hat back an hour ago, fits like a glove, no waves and the bands are perfect....Art, you are the greatest!!!!!!
daizawaguy
Call Me a Cab
- Messages
- 2,661
- Location
- Tokyo
A very fine hat and work by Art. A wine colored ribbon a very fine choice for a wine collector :cool2:
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