My First Panama Hat- First Post

[Hotel Charlie]

Hello all, I wanted to post a thank you to the forum and to Panama Hats Direct. First thanks to all of you for the information that you share on the forum that helped me make a decision to purchase my first Panama hat, and to pick where to buy it from. When I did finally decide to take the plunge it was Wednesday of last week. I made a call (toll free) to Panama Hats Direct in Ecuador and spoke with Casey directly; I explained to him that I wanted a hat and that I would like to take it with me on vacation next week. He took a lot of time helping me decide which style and quality to choose from, confirmed that he had the hat I wanted, finished the hat and sent it out that morning. Yesterday, five business days later I have a fabulous hand made Panama hat from Ecuador. From phone call to my door in five days, life is good. Now I will take my family on vacation proudly wearing my new panama hat.

Thanks again :cheers1:
HC

 

[Johnnysan]

Congratulations on your new hat, HC! Take some vacation photos of your new prize and post them soon. Have a safe trip!

 

[Hotel Charlie]

Johnnysan

Thanks, and I will get some pictures of me in my hat and the Head Mouse while on vacation.

HC

 

[dlgilbert]

Congratulations! I, too, had a wonderful experience with Panama Hats Direct. Welcome to the Montecristi club!

 

[Panamabob]

You can't go wrong with a Montecristi.

 

[riccardo]

Congratulation.

Hallo HC,
Montecristi Panama hat are magnific, i've bought one from Casey and he was very nice with me.
What kind have you got...grades and style?
I'm very proud of my Montecristi Panama hat.
Bob is right: you cant go wrong with a Montecristi Panama hat!!

Regards.
Riccardo.

 

[Calico Jack]

I've been holding out on getting a new one. I had a J. Peterman of the most beautiful shape that fit me like a dream, but over the years the constant doffing has worn away the weave in the front dents, and now it's in terrible shape. The new Peterman company is a sad shadow of its former self (No long sizes? The Peterman shirt only available in colors?) and they do not carry this fine item. It had a very open weave, far less thick than those I've seen since, and it breathed wonderfully. Que, Cera...

 

[Hotel Charlie]

Again Thanks to all for the well wishes.

Riccardo, I ended up getting a Fedora #2 style in the Fino grade with a horse hair band. I liked the Fedora #2 because I like the western style hat shape. As far as the grade I have nothing to compare it with except pictures and descriptions on the web, but the weave is tight and consistent, it has a light silk liner with a comfortable leather sweat band. I will say that I find myself looking at the weave and thinking how amazing it is that someone made this hat by hand. In my opinion no matter what grade you get it is truly a privilege to own and wear a fine hand made hat. I wish the maker would have signed it because the hat is art.

HC

 

[nicolasb]

How about posting a photo of it?

 

[Hotel Charlie]

nicolasb, I took some pictures this weekend I would be glad to email them to you as I can't upload them and don't have a site to use to host them .

HC

 

[Johnnysan]

Charlie...

Hope that you enjoyed your vacation! Here is a previous thread that might help you with posting some photos:

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=2517

James Powers gave an excellent tutorial on this subject that helped me post photos to the Lounge. Follow the link and look for JP's post dated 03-02-2005. Cheers!

 

[Hotel Charlie]

thanks for the link johnnysan but I could only get the link to show up, not sure where I went wrong.

I have a couple more but I wont bore ya'll with them. Hope they come out ok.

HC

 

[jimmyfed]

nice hat and thank you for posting the pictures, I have 6 montecristis now, I started buying them over a year ago

 

[Panamabob]

I'm dying to know how many weaves you can count in one inch of the hat. Can you put a ruler up to one of the rows and take a picture. I'm dying to know the weave count. Can you tell I'm dying? What did that hat cost?

 

[nicolasb]

thanks for the link johnnysan but I could only get the link to show up, not sure where I went wrong.

Here, I'll post the pictures for you :

 

[Panamabob]

The proof is in the pudding, so I'd like to see a one inch or one centimeter rule against the paja. The second and third photos up might be misleading.

 

[dlgilbert]

That's a nice-looking hat, Hotel Charlie! I wish my first Montecristi purchase would have gone that well! Congrats!

 

[Hotel Charlie]

Thanks to all for the kind words, what a great group and forum.

Johnnysan, thanks for posting the pics, except for the one with the ugly mug in it. I wish you could PM me to tell me if you could tell where I went wrong.

Jimmyfed, what styles do you have? Which is your favorite? I am thinking of getting another in the plantation style.

Panamabob, I will try and get a pic with a scale in it, the hat is a grade fino.

I apologize to Casey, my hat condition may not be the best representative of a panama hat, as you can see the brim is not in the best shape. I don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t mistreat the hat intentionally, but in the time I have had it I wear it almost daily and it does get banged up. I guess I am not that worried about the shape.

I understand the interest in gauging quality and cost and I have followed some of the other posts on the subject and they seemed to leave some folks defending their hat and what they paid. So I am hesitant to get in to that whole ball of wax, after all it?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s a hat.

Thanks again
HC

 

[Panamabob]

I'm not convinced the hat is a fino, but then what do I know?

 

[Johnnysan]

Actually, thanks go to nicolasb for the photos...but I'm always happy to take the credit!

I followed your original links and was somewhat curious about the hatband until I saw the photo of you wearing the hat. What a perfect fit! The hatband really works with your coloring, the mustache and the soul patch...very nice!

I think the photo issue is easily resolved. When you post a photo to Photobucket, you will see it in the folder accompanied by three html code options: "URL", "Tag" and "Img". If you highlight the "Img" code and copy it, you can then paste it directly into your message here in the Lounge. That should cause the photo to appear as the page loads.

Again - nice hat!