Received my first panamas from Panamabob today.

[Woodfluter]

A couple of days ago, I received an eBay Cuenca hat from Panama Bob. This is a planter-style, with 3-1/4" brim and telescope crown.

On the head:


The crown backlit - notice that the size of the holes is vastly exaggerated by light diffraction:


The crown from the top - you'd scarcely notice any space between fibers - black thing is a bug:


I'm waiting (patiently, no rush!) for a Montecristi from Mr. Bob. I just wanted to say that the less-expensive hats he offers seem to be of exceptional quality for the price. Virtually a steal, based on this one. Nicely blocked. I trimmed back and re-joined the back of the sweatband, trivial stuff really - helped to reduce the size a bit to accomodate my in-between head. I will take out one or maybe two stitches on the ribbon and re-position them to even out the lay, again a very minor matter. Apart from insignificant stuff, perfect in every way for its type. Amazing amount and quality of hand labor.

The openness of the weave, relative to a Montecristi, may be a very good thing at times. This hat is very cool in our current hot weather. Honestly, coming from experience with lesser straws, I have to say I really didn't "get" the entire Panama phenomenon until:

(1) I watched "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" again recently and noticed some things about the broad-brimmed straw hat that Eastwood's character wears in the first part. It keeps its shape, but when a slight wind blows, the brim bends way up and the hat stays on. That was kind of a revelation. It didn't look floppy but it stayed on in drafts because it flexed.

(2) I got this hat and discovered it did the same thing. It is on the loose side for me which is good from a coolness perspective, but apparently not in significant danger of flying away because of the flexing. Yet it isn't floppy! A perfect balance of stiffness and give.

Despite the larger brim, this hat weighs only 3.27 oz on a triple beam balance. Including substantial leather sweat. Incredible. You hardly know it's there. Bravo!

- Bill

 

[Woodfluter]

I want one of those! Too late to get one for this summer, I suppose.

I have these two same problems with my Montecristi: Too bad you didn't do an illustrated tutorial!

The sweat band is not conical-ized but is a cyllinder, so the top overlaps or buckles, and the ribbon is also cyllindrical, so it's loose towards the top, which is exaggerated a bit after the hat conforms to my head.

Keep checking eBay for your size Kabuto, never can tell.

Re sweatband: Yes, the back was overlapped a bit and sewn together with cross-stitches, fortunately having holes far from the edge of the leather. So while watching something on PBS, I cut away and removed the stitches and sliced through the tape holding it together in the back. I then used a very sharp knife to carefully trim the edges back at a slight angle, giving it a more conical form and shortening the circumference toward the top. That still left the old holes pretty far inboard. I used a glovers needle (three-sided) to ***** new holes opposite from each other nearer the new edge, then used a fine needle with button & carpet thread to **** stitch it. I have a photo but it probably isn't worth uploading - I did a neater job than the original, probably because I took more time. I should add that the quality of the leather in the sweat is pretty decent.

The irregularity in the ribbon is very slight, and most folks would never notice it, but I figure after I've worn it a bit I'll take up some of the slack. It really wouldn't be that much work to just remove it entirely and re-tack it after stretching the lower part a bit with steam, but mine probably doesn't need that. I'll see.

It really is a great hat and I love it! Amazingly light and cool. You couldn't touch something made with such time-consuming labor and detailed work for anything near the price from any other source. Thank you Bob!

Oh, one more little thing I forgot to mention. The edge is folded under and sewn, not back-woven. Not a surprise at this price. But this isn't anything like the other sewn-down edges I've encountered on straw hats in stores! I don't know if they glued it before sewing or what, but it is really very well done and doesn't look like it would be prone to coming apart or fraying, ever.

- Bill

 

[Beowulf67]

Thanks for posting the detailed pics, Woodfluter. I've been contemplating buying one of Bob's hats for a while now and I think you've provided the final impetus I needed.

 

[DominusTecum]

I bought one (optimo royal) from the website earlier this month.... *waits patiently*

It's easy to get jealous and antsy when looking at these wonderful hat pictures, though!