The "King" Cobra Classic Tour

Mojo88 said:

Just a quick up-date... The King arrived safe and sound.. Will be testing tomorrow!!!

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Awesome news. Enjoy it!

The main difference for me with respect to the King is the grip, it is a little tacky and provides a somewhat better feel. The blade gap is very similar and If anything is just a touch less aggressive. The learning curve is very similar to the original and after one shave I did not feel uncomfortable.
I have often thought that the Cobra would have been a bit more ergonomic if the head had been turned 180 degrees and the grip would be against the palm of you hand. The King accomplishes that, but not enough to sell mine and wait for something that I feel is comparable to what I have now. I very much appreciate the chance to participate in the tour.

Overall, my 1st shave with the King went great. I look forward to using it this coming week.

WARHAWK

Just had my second face and head shave with the King. It was comparable to my 1st shave. I'm going to sleep good tonight.

King Cobra : Feather Pro : Petal Pusher Fancies Sandalwood : Semogue 620 : Ice cube rub, refrigerated WH, refrigerated FINE Fresh Vetiver



WARHAWK

List updated. Point forward I am willing to accept names for a "second round" of the tour, but I do plan to bring the King home for a bit after this list of members have had an opportunity. I only used it a couple times before sending it on the road, and would like to take a turn myself. [emoji6] Please see the first post in this thread for requirements of participation, and contact me if interested in joining the list.

CONUS List
warhawk (shaving)
JeffBr
Monsieur Blaireau
TripleG
intotheforge
cpacamper
Haggises
mielbadger
dfoulk
Moondoggie
texquill

International List (Uncertain if it will happen, but accepting names)
celestino
targa88
StuMcB
Snuff-Belgium

Hi Gents: The King has officially left my neck of the woods and it was mailed off this morning to JeffBr. I would like to thank Poonjaji (Michael) for your generosity and allowing me to be in the KC Tour. It was fun and I enjoyed it.

Overall, I loved the King Cobra. As a proud owner of the Cobra Classic, I still prefer the CC slightly over the King. If I had to choose between the Cobra Classic & the King. I would pick the CC every time. It is sexier & more aggressive. Again... I would like to Michael for his generosity in allowing the B&B community an opportunity to try this great razor.

Here is my Sunday SE SOTD: King : Feather Pro : Mike's Natural Hungarian Lavender : TGCO



WARHAWK

Received package from Warhawk, this afternoon...Thank You. I have been travelling and actually forgot about arrival! I worked in my home office today and so had a two day beard. The Cobra Classic has been my daily shaver for over a year, normally with a Feather Professional blade, so I was anxious to try. The "King" was packaged well and I decided to use a new Feather Professional and my normal routine. Took a hot shower and used JR Liggett (Tea Tree Oil) on hair and beard. After shower used Proraso anti-irritation pre shave after plenty of water. I have been using Castle Forbes Lime, often, this summer, so used my Morris and Forndran Bonde Badger to whip up a nice lather. I shaved, as usual WTG, re-lathered after plenty of water and then ATG.
The King Cobra handle was easy to use and not a slick as the Cobra Classic. The shave itself was very good with no nicks or irritation,
I found the "king" to be less aggressive than the Cobra and my "trouble" spot along my jaw, needed much touch up.
Overall the shave was excellent with my face very smooth. Finish with witch hazel and St. Charles Lime. I may try a different blade, but with the King Cobra, less aggressive, may need to think about? Will report after next shave!

Hi Jeff: Glad that the King arrived safe and sound. Nice that you got an excellent shave with it.

WARHAWK

Decided to try the Dorco blade from a package that was included in shipping box (Thank You!) and shaved Sunday morning. I had an uneventful shave (Truefitt and Hill Lime) with usual Pre shave. The Dorco blade was less aggressive than my normal Feather Professional. I enjoyed shaving with the "King" and Dorco blade was fairly smooth with again having to touch up my jaw lines. I still like the longer handle and had no trouble navigating my face with the larger head.

I shaved this AM with the Dorco again (MDC) and overall shave was not as smooth as with Cobra Classic and Feather Professional for a 2nd day blade shave. Overall shave was Good.

I plan to shave one more time with the Feather blade and then send on to Monsieur Blaireau.

I have enjoyed trying the "King" and greatly appreciate the opportunity to try!. I have Mongoose on order and would say that if I owned both the King and Classic Cobras, the Classic would be my choice. I would recommend the King to anyone who wants a slightly less aggressive shave. I find the longer no-slip handle and the overall weight to be very positive.

I find that I enjoy the Dorco blades in the Cobra. So much so that I bought a 10 tuck carton of them which is why I tossed in a 20 blade tuck of them for others to try on the tour.

Mick, where did you get your Dorco's blades?

Sullybob said:

Mick, where did you get your Dorco's blades?

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I got them from another B&B member (casus4844) who had an "in" in Korea.

They are not imported into the US for some reason

Thanks Mick!

All, the "King" has left Northern Indiana and is headed to Monsieur Blaireau. Thank you again for facilitating this "Tour" I enjoyed my time with the razor and had good shaves with different blades. Added a St Charles Shave Coconut sample that hopefully someone will enjoy! Jeff

The King Cobra arrived in this morning's mail, very well packaged by Jeff, with all the goodies included. Stay tuned for a full report once I shave.

Right out of the box, however, I have to say I am genuinely underwhelmed with the look and feel of this razor. It may be that the way the head is machined creates an optical illusion, but looking at it, I could swear the head cants to the right when looked at with the blade facing away from you. I'm going to put this thing next to a T square, because I really can't say for sure. Either way, it looks odd.

Turning it over, the finish underneath the head, where the blade goes, looks second rate. There's a proportionality to the Classic Cobra that this new version just plain lacks. The CC looks almost scultpted; wrought in a way that makes any flaws seem like part of the design. I love the contrast between the sleek, smooth finish on the back of the razor and the gnarled, ridged curves on the underside of the handle. It looks balanced, and feels that way in the hand, too. At least to my hand, and in my eye. You might look at the same features and just see DeLorean's wet dream, and I wouldn't necessarily argue. But I like it.

The King Cobra, on the other hand, looks like one of those suburban mansions where they've piled on all these architectural goo gaws trying to make it look classy, and it just comes out pretentious. I hope I'm not being too harsh, but this thing is just ugly. And the knurling on the handle is on the sharp side. Not so much that it feels like it will cut into the skin on your fingers, but to a degree that feels like overkill. I'd compare it to the feel of cordura nylon. A fine material, plenty strong, I just don't really associate it with a razor handle.

Well I shaved with it. Before that, though, I went back to the top of this thread and discovered that most of my observations about the bent head and all have been noticed before. Sorry for any redundancies.

I do think it shaves well. I used a Feather blade that I actually took out of the CC, in an effort to reduce the variables. The bigger handle made me wonder whether I was supposed to be shaving or installing a new roof with the thing, but all that weight behind it makes it pretty easy to let the razor do the cutting. On the SWMBOmeter smoothness test, it comes in at equal to the CC. Not better. Not worse. We'll see how long this shave stays this smooth, but smooth it is.

Monsieur Blaireau said:

Well I shaved with it. Before that, though, I went back to the top of this thread and discovered that most of my observations about the bent head and all have been noticed before. Sorry for any redundancies.

I do think it shaves well. I used a Feather blade that I actually took out of the CC, in an effort to reduce the variables. The bigger handle made me wonder whether I was supposed to be shaving or installing a new roof with the thing, but all that weight behind it makes it pretty easy to let the razor do the cutting. On the SWMBOmeter smoothness test, it comes in at equal to the CC. Not better. Not worse. We'll see how long this shave stays this smooth, but smooth it is.

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Thanks for the update. We look forward to hearing more.

WARHAWK

I shaved again today, same razor - obviously - same blade. Again, the weight of the handle does show its advantages, as you can really let the razor do its job without having to apply any pressure. And something I noticed last time happened again. It was almost as if the longer handle allowed me to get up closer under my nose. You'd think the head had more to do with that, and this head being the same width as the CC, it shouldn't be any different. Maybe I just noticed it more, and I won't be able to draw further conclusions until I go back to the Cobra Classic, but it may just be that this longer handled razor has shown me afew things about how to get a more effective shave from the CC, which I still think has it over this one by a country mile in the looks department. I do notice that the King is slightly less aggressive - I am not getting quite the same close, efficient shave on my chin, but it's not far off.

Last time I shaved I used a Cade Plisson synthetic brush. This time it was my little Omega boar, the birch handled one. MdC both times. Both are great brushes, and I don't think there was a whole lot of difference in the shaves owing to choice of brush.

One new thing I tried each shave was Captain's Choice aftershaves following them. I got a sampler pack from them this week. It's for another thread, I guess, but I really like these a lot. Great scent (North last time, Bay Rum today) that isn't heavy and doesn't linger, and it leaves the skin smooth, toned and irritation free. Great stuff.

I may give it one more go, and then it's off to Triple G.

Thanks for the keen, informative posts, Monsieur. Much appreciated!