Montechristi Panamas: are these types of holes normal?

[emigran]

I've smoked some pretty bad hand rolled cigars.

True dat... but you get the point anyway...

 

[Bob Roberts]

True dat... but you get the point anyway...

I do and did. Are you getting a Montichristi?

 

[Genuine Classic Gangster]

Palm fibers do not come in endless lengths on a spool. As the hat is woven, the weaver will have to add fibers to the ones he started with. Everytime he adds a fiber, it's laid alongside the one to be extended - they can't be "butted" together. This will inevitably result in the tiny irregularities you interpret as "holes". Yes, they are part of a genuine Montecristi.

Thanks for the good information.

I have two supplementary questions:

1. In theory, could a weaver avoid that issue by starting in the first place with fibers that are long enough to weave the whole hat? Or do fibers just not exist in that length?

2. In theory, could a weaver avoid that issue by tying many fibers together (to make them as long as they would need to be in order so that he wouldn't ever need to add new fibers later) before they are woven into the hat?

I think this thread is important because when I read about "irregularities" on sites like Brent Black's, I thought he was talking only about unevenness in weave and different colors in the straw. I didn't know that "irregularities" also means holes. But this thread taught me that it does.

I actually feel better about the holes now. I wouldn't want to be the only one with a Montechristi hat full of holes. But if everyone's Montechristi hats have holes, that makes the holes much more acceptable to me.

 

[TheDane]

No, there's no way the holes can be avoided - and I'm beginning to doubt, you will ever understand a Montecristi.

To worry about the holes is like worrying about visible paint strokes in a Leonardo da Vinci painting. If you better like the "evenness" of a tattoo - you should probably invest your money in a tattoo

 

[Daniele Tanto]

In most of the Montecristi I saw in my life you can find some pinholes, above all in the brim.
I never thought they are a problem since the weavers use hands

 

[HudsonHawk]

No, there's no way the holes can be avoided - and I'm beginning to doubt, you will ever understand a Montecristi.

To worry about the holes is like worrying about visible paint strokes in a Leonardo da Vinci painting. If you better like the "evenness" of a tattoo - you should probably invest your money in a tattoo

Perhaps they should just make the hats out of PVC using heat injection molding, those weavers down in Ecuador obviously aren't getting it.

 

[Bob Roberts]

If this "thread" isnt thankfully dead by the time I wear my Stetson Panama Brewster, I'll post some pics of "pin holes" that look more like shark bites.

 

[LuvMyMan]

Thanks for the good information.

I have two supplementary questions:

1. In theory, could a weaver avoid that issue by starting in the first place with fibers that are long enough to weave the whole hat? Or do fibers just not exist in that length?

2. In theory, could a weaver avoid that issue by tying many fibers together (to make them as long as they would need to be in order so that he wouldn't ever need to add new fibers later) before they are woven into the hat?

I think this thread is important because when I read about "irregularities" on sites like Brent Black's, I thought he was talking only about unevenness in weave and different colors in the straw. I didn't know that "irregularities" also means holes. But this thread taught me that it does.

I actually feel better about the holes now. I wouldn't want to be the only one with a Montechristi hat full of holes. But if everyone's Montechristi hats have holes, that makes the holes much more acceptable to me.

The Montechristi hat...the hat of Golfers...hole in one. Haha! Yes no straw is going to be perfect, in fact no fedora is going to be perfect. We as owners of hats, have to make them "perfect" as to how we wear them!

 

[GHT]

The Montechristi hat...the hat of Golfers...hole in one. Haha! Yes no straw is going to be perfect, in fact no fedora is going to be perfect.

A golfer's hat? Hole in one, just one hole? (Don't worry, I'm not a golfer but I get the pun.)I've never had a Montechristi Fedora, but for our quintessential game of cricket I have an Optimo. And no apparent holes. Have I been short changed?

 

[LuvMyMan]

A golfer's hat? Hole in one, just one hole? (Don't worry, I'm not a golfer but I get the pun.)I've never had a Montechristi Fedora, but for our quintessential game of cricket I have an Optimo. And no apparent holes. Have I been short changed?
View attachment 48686

Not sure, but if you want to ship it across the pond we can always customize it with some holes! Hahah!
You have a super nice hat there, for sure!

 

[LuvMyMan]

If this "thread" isnt thankfully dead by the time I wear my Stetson Panama Brewster, I'll post some pics of "pin holes" that look more like shark bites.

Jaws!

 

[Genuine Classic Gangster]

I'm beginning to doubt, you will ever understand a Montecristi.

That may well be true, but that is because I am a layman on the subject of Panama straw weaving and information about it is not readily available. So under those circumstances, it's natural that I wouldn't understand it.

The only and the best source for an explanation that I could find for whether or not holes must always appear, and why they must, was your posts and carouselvic's posts in this thread. And even with those explanations, I still don't fully understand what is going on.

 

[Bob Roberts]

That may well be true, but that is because I am a layman on the subject of Panama straw weaving and information about it is not readily available. So under those circumstances, it's natural that I wouldn't understand it.

The only and the best source for an explanation that I could find for whether or not holes must always appear, and why they must, was your posts and carouselvic's posts in this thread. And even with those explanations, I still don't fully understand what is going on.

No questions are dumb questions but if you can't understand all you've just been told, I think it's simply time for you to accept the fact that some Montichristi Panama straw hats may have some type of "irregularities" to the weave. What's acceptable or not is up too you...

 

[Bob Roberts]

Jaws!

Lol. Stetson.

 

[HudsonHawk]

No questions are dumb questions but if you can't understand all you've just been told, I think it's simply time for you to accept the fact that some Montichristi Panama straw hats may have some type of "irregularities" to the weave. What's acceptable or not is up too you...

Panama hats are like church...many attend, but few understand.

 

[Rogera]

I've smoked some pretty bad hand rolled cigars.

Did they taste funny? Like funny cigars?

 

[Bob Roberts]

Did they taste funny? Like funny cigars?

Ha!

 

[tropicalbob]

Panama hats are like church...many attend, but few understand.

It's always seemed odd to me that the Panama is probably the last kind of straw you'd actually want for the Tropics. Turbulence is one of those areas of physics that no one understands, and this explains why weather reports in this part of the world are so laughable for most of the year. One good downpour and your high-end Montechristi investment is a fistfull of horse-fodder. Besides, the higher the weave-count the less air gets admitted, and then, also, the harder it is to maintain the shape of the brim. I've seen super-expensive Monte's looking like Jed Clampett's hat on The Beverly Hillbillies. I'm not saying they're not lovely hats (just look at those weaves on the previous page), it's just that you couldn't wear them here.

 

[HudsonHawk]

It's always seemed odd to me that the Panama is probably the last kind of straw you'd actually want for the Tropics. Turbulence is one of those areas of physics that no one understands, and this explains why weather reports in this part of the world are so laughable for most of the year. One good downpour and your high-end Montechristi investment is a fistfull of horse-fodder. Besides, the higher the weave-count the less air gets admitted, and then, also, the harder it is to maintain the shape of the brim. I've seen super-expensive Monte's looking like Jed Clampett's hat on The Beverly Hillbillies. I'm not saying they're not lovely hats (just look at those weaves on the previous page), it's just that you couldn't wear them here.

This is where authenticity clashes with modern marketing. Straw hats weren't designed to be "investments", or particular style elements, they were simply a means to keep the sun and rain off your head, using the materials you had readily available. We've placed far more value on them then was intended, to the point they've lost much of their original function.

 

[TheDane]

I'm not saying they're not lovely hats (just look at those weaves on the previous page), it's just that you couldn't wear them here.

Then I'm extremely grateful, I don't live "there"!