Beaver is denser than rabbit, hence the lack of softness and pliability. It with soften a bit with use. That densness and increased durability are what you're paying more for.

Nice review! I am not a fedora guy but I wear a stetson cowboy hat regularly. My pops wore stetsons, as did his pops. Great brand.

Just received my pure Stratoliner in true blue. 7 1/8 fits like a glove and is gorgeous and soft

Ive only ever worn trucker hats or snapbacks but those hats look really cool on other people.

CJ you're killing it bro, I just ordered my 1st stratoliner in black. Just to see how the hat fits me, thank you for the video.

I noticed that the higher Xxx hats have thicker sweat bands. I believe it may be to protect the outter crown from sweat stains on warm days. I have sweat over and through the crown on my open road a few times last summer. You should be able to simply flip the sweat band down to remove the liner in all my 6x stetson it is just held in place by the sweat band. I really like this pure beaver in tobacco. The tear drop shop I love but prefer a more deep fit on my head so open road is my daily. Great video, hermano!!!

The issue with the lining in the pure beaver stratoliner is that they put an embroidered western liner in what is supposed to be a light thin dress hat. It ads to the bulk, and unlike a western hat which would have a crown to accommodate the thicker lining.

I would say keep wearing it and break it in. Don't start taking it apart. Give it a chance to break in.

Color looks great and hat too and suits even better then your older one in my opinion so keep it bro.

your fit issue with the pure beaver is the exact reason why you should start to explore larger crown hats

You don't seem to snap down your fedoras much but which one would you say has the sharpest or best downward snap like the old movies?

Had the same issue with mine it’s more loose then my open road in the same size (7 3/8). My sweatband looks different in the back though, cuts with a band behind, almost as if you can adjust the fit, but it’s glued in there. Might just put something behind the sweatband to get a tighter fit

Which Stratoliner are you wearing at the beginning and where did you get it?

The front brim on a pinch front fedora is meant to be worn down. I don’t make the rules, I just mention them. If you want a brim up, like every other hipster, get the Open Road in dress weight fur.

My Pure Stratoliner in tobacco came with an airplane pin. I guess they’ve changed it up. Didn’t get it for the pin though! One of my favorites.

The stiffer the hat is the higher. The beaver number is which means the more expensive. A stiff felt hat means it’s made of high-quality beaver and will cost a whole lot more, the softer it is the cheaper it is and it cannot be reshaped as much, and it won’t retain its shape as long as the higher beaver number.

Hi CJ, thanks for introducing the Stratoliner in tobacco. I would be much more interested in the introducing of the gray Stratoliner that you are wearing in the video!! do you have a video about it too? Or could you make a video? The gray hat suits you much better. Thank you so much

What specific one are you wearing in the vid? Can u link it

Happy new year CJ. I have been looking for a review on the pure stratoliner and glad you were first.My most worn hats are the strato in walnut then my grey .I have the se sage one i wear more around xmas with the colors. I wear the silver belly color more in summer.I have been searching and waiting to pull the trigger on the pure but waiting to see how the quality isJJ didn't have in stock i was hoping for the discount. Then ebay etc . Glad i waited .I heard full beaver is stiffer and lighter in weight especially in fedora dress felt. I have a mocha stetson 30x cowboy hat that feels more like my walnut strat. I tried a stetson 50 x xowboy hat and it was stiffer and lighter. if i can catch one at jj's when in stock and on slale then i will get one mainly to see if any more water resistant than rabbit. i hear in the fedora felt may not be that much of difff but i want to try. Yea i like my walnut stratoliner more lately and it is my softest of all my strats.Being a retired airline employee i like the plane on the band adds a little touch. i was suprised on the pure overall negatives like you pointed out. I would definitely take the silk lininhg out and do whatever you need to do to make it fit better.I take the ones out i wear most in summer sometimes and put them back in winter. Thanks for sharing and enjoy breking it in . If not i am size 7 1/4 if you sell it for a discount lol.Take care.

Very nice color, the box is a bit jacked-up I can't believe Stetson would ship a hat like that, I would be like hello let me speek to someone important ASAP, 😂 Take that satin liner and and give it a tug up toward the top of the crown, this will release the glue and make it more of a relaxed fit. Looks like they left it a lil tight or low, but then again if they left it loose someone might not like that either. But that box, very disappointed in that for sure, also the pinch point looks a bit off unless you twisted it a bit. love the color, and rebuilding hats that I find here and there. I recently bought a Royal Stetson for $10 bucks, my wife was like Noooo, the hat looks brand new now. She said I never question you when it comes to hats again. 😂

My Pinnacle is "Excellent" Beaver...what is the grade on that hat?

The Sizing is the same since they use the same Hat Block to shape the Crown it's when they shape it and add the Liner it becomes different from other Stetson's Hats and in this Video they put a Foam Pillow inside the Liner for more comfort. It will conform to your Head over Time much like breaking in a new Pair of Boots. So I believe that as you wear a pure Beaver more and more the Beaver Fibers start becoming looser and more softer plus brushing your Hat for a sharper appearance helps it get softer yet,you didn't realize this when you ordered it. Also alot of the stiffness is from the Hat Stiffner applied to the Beaver Cone. Beaver is Water repellent so you'll stay nice and dry wearing it. I think you'll be happier going to an authentic Hat Maker and getting something really nice instead of hoping for perfection online. Seriously I would send it back and request a real Hat Box and if you want the Foam Pillow removed ask that too. I like the Startoliner look and the pure Beaver Hat Pin. Thank you for sharing!

Do a video on how you wear your Tecovas or Rios of Mercedes boots

Happy New Year C.J I hope you have a great 2021. I just wanted to say, you make all your hats look good! You have the perfect style of anyone I've seen! Just sayin! Makes me want a hat! But I wouldn't know how to pick a hat like that, I wouldn't have any clue how it should look or if it would look good on me..lol I have an Australian hat I wear on occasion, which I absolutely love. I've had it for about 22 years now.

I wonder if the hit doens't sit as solid on your head due to the cattleman crease? I believe the tear drop gives you more depth.

Good lookin hats man you wear em well.

I need to get myself a stetson, man! nice vid

Definitely looks smaller and sits higher? Could be just my imagination and I was swayed by your mentioning that it flew off so quickly (?)

Say what you want but it looks damn good on you brother, the tobacco color is banging of your hat, very nice but I understand the complaints, but the way it looks its very magical!

damn, just ordered the exact same hat in 7 3/4, hope I have better luck!

It's a Beautiful hat! I personally would not do anything to it! I would just wear it and as the weather warms up this Spring the leather band should shrink a bit and feel more snug! The box is too generic for such a Great-looking hat! Really enjoyed the video!

Thanks for the excellent review. I have the Stratoliner you’re wearing in the review and was considering the Pure. I’m now convinced I don’t want one. Will probably buy a regular Temple. That padding in the top is a show stopper for me. Thanks again for the excellent presentation!

A number of years I took a factory tour. It was great with all history of the company. I was fitted for a hat. I then spent what I considered a fortune. Looking back it was money well spent. As good as my Sol original. Sol was the guy that made hat trick hats of hockey fame. As well as the hats wore by the 40s through sixties movie stars and made the original Indiana Jones hat.

This hat will age beautifully

Great review

Sorry to hear of your disappointments related to your purchase but it looks like a beautiful hat from the video. Have you ever checked out Optimo Hats is Chicago? A really classy hat shop owned by Graham Thompson. He is a very skilled hat maker.

Should have gone to JJ and got 30% off now. I don't know why even JJ doesn't give you the Stetson box. Delmonico's does. Still a nice looking hat.

My Stratoliner also blows of my head. I am an old White man without much hair on top, just for reference. I would have expected anyone with kinky hair to have less of a problem with that, but apparently I am mistaken. Mine was also kind of puffy under the liner, but after a month or so of wearing it quite a bit, that "cushion" or whatever it is seems to have flattened down. On windy days (I live on the Niagara escarpment in NE Wisconsin... so lots of windy days), I either pull it down more than I usually do or wear an old rabbit fur (I think) Paragon fedora I got at an estate sale for $3.00. It has been around the block a few times... once a waitress spilled chicken soup in it at a restaurant. I washed it our int he sink with Dawn. It's a bit floppy now. My hat is a size 7 3/8, which is a bit larger than my normal 7 1/8 size, but is padded with felt weatherstripping.... they didn't have my size anywhere I could find in phantom gray.. Probably should have waited... but men who have stage four cancer don't like to wait for stuff. My Stratoliner DID come with a proper Stetson hat box, though I have not used it yet. Maybe tomorrow? I too noticed it is a stiffer felt than my old fedora, but other than my own sizing error, the only real complaint I had was that it came without the airplane pin and my email to the hat merchant about that went unanswered. I put a brown feather in it eventually. I am learning to take my hat off before I enter my car (2009 Lincoln Town Car), as it often gets knocked off when it hits the edge of the roof. I am 5' 9" for reference. My Paragon fedora is at least thirty to forty years old, and has outlived at least one owner before I got it, so I figure a 100% beaver hat might take a few years (maybe the rest of my life) to break in properly... also it is the right size.. I am considering their Temple Fedora in either caribou or light gray, but my hat budget is kind of depleted right now. Maybe next month. Interesting video.

Hey CJ, looking into buying one of these for myself. I was wondering if you find that all of your Stratoliners are consistently sized? I already have a strat s.e in caribou and am planning to just order the same size again for this pure strat. Did you find the size varied at all? Also, do you pad your hats out with foam at all to get the fit dialled in perfect?

Is the crown higher at the back? Or is it the same height (4,5')?

I was thinking of getting an open road in tobacco. I see there is also an open road in chocolate. Would you know how they would differ in color? The tobacco seems to be a more washed out brown but hard to tell and no other videos or comparison pics I could find. Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.

I meant to ask which Stratoliner and what colour are you wearing at the start of this video?

In all my Stetson fedoras, none of the linings are sewed or glued in. Why don’t you swap it with another unpadded Stetson of yours that you’re not wearing?

First off the hat once on your head looks great! I agree with your first two strikes though. That sucks! Also the felt interior is a bummer with that pillow effect. Never experienced that with my stetsons. All of mine are the way your other hat is inside. Felt is tight to the crown. I would contact them and have them make it right

Amazing hat.

hi there CJ Cook was thinking about buying a stetson stratoliner special edition fedora? do you own one? the one i wanted was the stetson stratoliner special black with the dark Pink banding great video hugs wheelchair larry

Cj can you please tell me the brand style and color you are wearing as you speak thank you sir!

I'm wondering if the hat you are wearing is Silverbelly or Natural color.

What's the color of the strat you're wearing? Natural?

What watch are you wearing?

Did you buy it from directly from Stetson

Hi where can these be bought online. Very hard to find the tobacco colour.

Might not be soft, but it's durability is 1000x better than most if it's beaver

I always wanted to have this hat and in this color, but I'm from Spain and Stetson doesn't want to send it to me. One day I will have to travel to the US to get it. 😥

What model of hat are you wearing in this videos?

Your 100 percent right. I am referring to the open road pure beaver Stetson. As I have vintage 3x 7x and 100 pure beaver open roads from the 40' to 60's the crown height or depth of fit is about 1/2 inch shallower on the new hats. This results in hat wobble and in order to get a fit that a breeze won't blow the hat hat off in you need to pull it down where it starts to unblock and open up the crown. The other thing that they did on one of the new hats was glue the sweatband to the liner right at the back where the size tag is. The result of the gluing is that if you need to turn the sweat out to dry it out you will pull the silk liner right out of the back of the hat. For the price that is not good at all. Also the blocks between the blue and alabaster are extremely different in block stiffness's. The hat wobble is so bad if you try to snap the brim down the hat will just flip off the back of your head. I measured the crown depth at the side of the hat to the bottom of the cattleman crease and there is a 1/2 inch difference between the vintage, ALL the vintage Stetsons I have, and the new ones. Great if your just sitting there and not bending over or there is no wind at all outside lol They just need a bit more felt height in the crown.

You look better in Larger Crown hats from the videos I've seen i.e. Stetson Calico, Magil Ontario and stratoliner premiere. Try looking at a Borsalino Alexandria open crown or Bellini from bencraft hatters. you have the luxury of being in the NYC are as opposed to Cali like me. where I avoid the Abbot Kinney Nick F disciples of the Venice Beach area. Your boot collection made me feel less obsessive about my shoe and boot collection I showed your collection to my wife and now I don't look bad at all thanks for sharing.

Yes the hat you have on in this video natural or silver belly I’m thinking about ordering me a natural

Strat-O-liner!

Beaver hair is not as soft as other furs. It’s courser nature that I’ve even heard described as barbed is why it makes the best most durable and water resistant felt. It’s therefore not reasonable to complain about what it is. You may not prefer it but you can’t argue it’s superiority. A quality beaver hat with a quality roan sweatband will mold itself to your head as you wear it not unlike a quality leather boot adapts itself to your foot. Therefore you likewise shouldn’t be criticizing the fit prior to “breaking it in” as that would be like criticizing the fit of your Viberg’s or raw selvage denim before breaking them in. 100% beaver is different than rabbit and wool hats and you should be happy about that. I do doubt that when Stetson says 100% beaver that it actually is and their use of powders to finish hats is a horrible shortcut to proper pouncing and other more secret techniques used by true hatters like Rodney Allison of North Valley, O’Farrell’s and Rocky Mountain. Cowboy hat guys primarily but so is Stetson and you can’t deny their skill. Stetson is at best the 1000 mile boot of the hat world. I good company with great history that make a quality product almost worth its price.

Pure beaver hats get softer with age.

It actually looks killer on you, man, but I agree. Since when did Stetson send hats in a crap box?

Do you wear your hats in doors?

Try a wind cord to keep from losing your hat in a wind.

I have been to J&J many times. They might be able to help you with your problem.

Stetson liners are not glued or stitched so easily fixed with a replacement

It isn't a big deal that the hat came in that cardboard box. Since it was shipped it needed it for protection. I collect vintage Stetson hats from the 1950s and for my best hats I get Ziploc Weathershield storage bins, 26.5 gallon size. You have to cut an oval and a piece of cardboard but the result is the best hat box ever made. The benefits of beaver isn't necessarily softness. Beaver was originally desirable because it is more waterproof so it works better in the rain. But I won't wear my beaver hats in the rain so that doesn't matter. Beaver allows the material to be made thinner yielding a lighter and better looking hat. Whereas hare based hats have to employ thicker heavier felt. It is unfair to expect Stetson to make great hats today - they would be too expensive. Even the best hat Stetson makes today isn't as good as the average hat they made in the 1950s. Higher end vintage Stetson hats had a "wind trolley" which is a string with a button on the end. On windy days you were supposed to hook the button to the lapel so if it blew off the hat would hang rather than leave. I consider the wind trolley a neat decoration. In general hats that are 100% beaver are left in the natural color, they aren't dyed.

Hi there… hope you’re doing great 👍🏻 Very nice your videos 👌🏻 My name is Rui and Im from Portugal… Last year Ive purchased an Stratoliner too but unfortunately I’ve lost the Plane ✈️ pin… and cannot contact to anyone on Stetson even here with Stetson Europe 🙃 Dp you know where I can get another pin to my hat? Thank you so much 😊 Continue to share great videos 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Happy Easter 🐣 and best Regards from Portugal 🇵🇹 Rui Miguel Cunha

Dont like it? Ill take it.

600 views Even

Back in the day when my father wore a hat men were supported by a network of people who cleaned, blocked and took care of every inch of a hat! Today we live in a "Burger King" fast food approach to everything(including hats) Your hat came with a clever but sturdy box which should hold up nicely long after you've lost interest in your hat and it winds up behind a pair of Jordans you haven't worn since community college; besides your more of a crushable felt wool hat kinda of a guy. Stick to that!

It’s Strat-OH-liner, not “Strat-liner”🍸

A few more shots when wearing would have been nice. Otherwise nice video-

PLEASE stop saying "J AND J" Hat Center. It's Just J.J.! No "AND". I've been shopping there for decades and whenever I hear you say it, it makes me yell at the screen. Please, just JJ Hat Center. Thanks.

"This is the correct fit" - Sure about that? It looks way too small, all the hats I've seen you in look way too small, lots of space between ears and brim. Did you let the folks at JJ's help fit you?