Ultrafinopanamahats?

[Chris Rimby]

Has anyone ever bought a panama from ebay seller Ultrafinopanamahats?

 

[Kaleponi Craig]

No reason to when we have Panama Bob and Art Fawcett right here in the Lounge. You know you're going to get your money's worth with them. Many of us here have Montecristis from Bob and Art...KC

 

[tonyb]

I took a look at that link you posted in the other thread, Rimby, and couldn't help but notice they say they use cotton sweatbands for "comfort" in warm weather.
Unless a more-knowledgable person gives us reason to think otherwise, I'd steer away from them. I have several bought-new, low-end straws with cloth sweatbands. Each and every one of them readily transferred sweat to the ribbons and hat bodies and left 'em stained. The sweatbands stay damp for a good, long while after the hat is removed and turn funky-looking in fairly short order. I don't feel that I got less than I paid for with any of those cheap straws, but I kinda wish they would tack on another five or ten bucks to the retail price and put in leather sweatbands. I'm guessing that would result in a hat that keeps its like-new look a good while longer.
Oh, and my straws with leather sweatbands are very bit as "comfortable" as those with the cloth bands.

 

[squid]

I have seen this person's auctions, and I would not buy anything from them unless I was trying to buy a cheap hat.

I don't get a warm fuzzy feeling about buying Panama hats on ebay. My first Panama was one of those cheap unblocked hats that comes rolled up in a box. I paid around $40 after the inflated s&h. I would be really careful buying from someone who uses words like ultrafino.

Read Brent Black's page on grading Panama hats. Even if you don't agree with his pricing he does have a lot of info on hats.

The only straw hat that I would buy on ebay is the one with a closeup of the weave on the exact hat I'm buying. An example of the weave quality is not good enough for me.

 

[Twitch]

I wouldn't consider purchasing a higher quality new one on Ebay but have no problem with 3 vintage ones I picked up there for a combined total of $36.

I have noticed that if I sweat enough some will get past even leather head bands and mark the hat band.[huh]

Squid, you know when I see any item and I spot an excessive, inflated shipping fee, I just keep scrolling. You know where one guy has $10 S/H and another has $20 both for a hat. THAT ticks me off.

 

[RedPop4]

Not that I'm buying, however, before I bought my hat from Panama Hatworks of Montecristi, I looked long and hard at this guy's auctions. The one e-mail I got wasn't nearly sufficient and subsequent missives went ignored.

 

[Chris Rimby]

Thanks for your replies. I ended up ordering one from Panama Hatworks of Montechristi:

http://www.panamas.biz/cuenca.html

 

[squid]

I believe he said he was leaving for Ecuador tomorrow. That is the third order I've seen here today. He will be up all night shipping hats.

 

[tomatesa]

"My opinion of what makes a quality Montecristi hat"

How you can measuring the quality of Montecristi or Ultrafino? The more traditional way is to count the vueltas, or rings, in the crown of the hat to determine the finest of the weave. The grade is also determined by uniformity of the weave from crown to brim, color of the straw, the backwoven edge, etc., so you could have two hats with the same count that are not graded identical. In fact, it is quite true, that there are no two hats identical and trying to have predetermined counts to establish grade doesn’t really work on these handmade items. Most quality panama's are also handblocked and even the blocking can be considered in the final grade of the hat. In my personal opinion, any hat would be enormously devalued if it were machine-blocked. I have one and is the real thing!

Cheers,

 

[feltfan]

Wow, now that really is ("was")SPAM.

I know nothing about tomatesa, but I do resent
seeing ad text copied and pasted in as a "contribution"
to our discussion. I'd have no problem if he wanted to
join the discussion (like other hat vendors), but this is
just flogging product.

Largate vendedor codicioso.

 

[Mr. 'H']

Wow, now that really is SPAM.

I know nothing about tomatesa, but I do resent
seeing ad text copied and pasted in as a "contribution"
to our discussion. I'd have no problem if he wanted to
join the discussion (like other hat vendors), but this is
just flogging product.

Largate vendedor codicioso.

You bet!

In fact it is SO in-yer-face that I thought he was being sarcastic! I really thought it was a spoof with the grammar being so tacky.

What gives?

 

[PabloElFlamenco]

Largate vendedor codicioso...(me gusta su proza). In the "Panama Canal" thread, PB posts a photo of an alleged superfino hat which, if I read the caption correctly, would imply it's...a fake "chinese paper" hat. The plot thickens... I just "won" a Panama hat on the bay (awaiting delivery) and it's got me plenty nervous now.

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

I saw that PanamaBob post and it obviously was, in fact, a fake Chinese paper woven hat being marketed like a panama. It happens.

As far as the number of vueltas being an indicator of fineness of weave, well, yes and no. The photo below is of my 2,500 wpi Montechristi and it only has eleven vueltas.

 

[LordBest]

This has happened to my panama with a cloth sweatband, now I need to find somewhere in Australia which will replace it with a leather sweatband and new ribbon before the temperature starts heating up. Dashed inconvenient.
Next time, I shall be buying from Panama Bob.

I took a look at that link you posted in the other thread, Rimby, and couldn't help but notice they say they use cotton sweatbands for "comfort" in warm weather.
Unless a more-knowledgable person gives us reason to think otherwise, I'd steer away from them. I have several bought-new, low-end straws with cloth sweatbands. Each and every one of them readily transferred sweat to the ribbons and hat bodies and left 'em stained. The sweatbands stay damp for a good, long while after the hat is removed and turn funky-looking in fairly short order. I don't feel that I got less than I paid for with any of those cheap straws, but I kinda wish they would tack on another five or ten bucks to the retail price and put in leather sweatbands. I'm guessing that would result in a hat that keeps its like-new look a good while longer.
Oh, and my straws with leather sweatbands are very bit as "comfortable" as those with the cloth bands.