Simpson Chubby 2 in Best, Super Three Band, Super Two Band, or Manchurian badger

I currently own only one badger hair brush and it's a Simpson Duke 3 in Best. I like it very much but am now considering the Chubby 2 in either Best, Super Three Band, Super Two Band, or Manchurian badger hair. Price rises considerably with each step (though Two Band and Manchurian are similarly expensive).

For those of you who have compared one Chubby 2 to another, I'd appreciate hearing which you prefer and why. While I've researched this question a bit already, I get the sense that the characteristics of these brushes have changed in recent years. My ultimate Chubby 2 would have good backbone, very soft tips, and good flow through, to the extent that I even understand that term!

Thanks.
John

Ok, I've had a couple Chubby's, but not all the hair grades, certainly not all from different eras. I sold all but a CH1 in Best, the Two Band I had was like many two bands (just an opinion) too stiff, pointy, and not that good at lathering, poor flow for the soap it used. Given the variation brush to brush it is hard to predict which one will make your socks go up & down

That said, the CH 2 Best is pretty close to the Duke 2 Best, so if you want to spread your options and have to have the Chubby in hand I'd try Super 3. Or save the money before splurging & see if a Duke 2 is too small for your tastes? My shaves have never warmed up to most two bands, though I seem to have 5 or 6 they don't get the love that I feel for Super 3 or Best.

I've owned a ch 2 super and Manchurian. This is tough because there is a lot of variation between batches and each brush is hand made. My personal preference is for Manchurian, it's nice and scrubby, but not very soft. The super has way finer hair and is much softer. It has less backbone and more splay. Neither has great flow through and requires lots of product.

I feel Simpson's real stand out hair is their cheapest, the best. I was never overly impressed with their two band offerings. They're not awful, but at the price; I think you can find better.

just got my first ch 2 a 3 band super and went to work. I love lather and lather hogs. hell I have 5 lifetimes of soap and cream. did a full head shave with an att colossus with a m 1. enjoyed every moment and isn't that the end product of all the hardware and software?

I have a bit of an addiction to Chubby 2's. I have them all . I have found that hands down my preference is for Manchurian, particularly the Manchurian batch that Mark has now. This hair is just spectacular! It does not have the softest tips I'd reserve that for the current SilverTip 2-band. but it does have excellent backbone and a pleasant scrubby sensation but in my estimation absolutely no scritch.
This said, I think each of the hair varieties are great in there own way and I don't think you could go wrong choosing any one of them.

The Best grade is hit and miss. The two-band super can be superb, I have one in a Polo and as someone said, the latest Manchurian is a great quality. if I would get another Simpson, then it would have two-band hair, super or Manchurian.

I can't compare them, as the only Chubby I have left is a 2 band Super Chubby2 i got several years ago. absolutely love it. only problem is, I dont think it's currently available. I'd offer to sell you mine, but doubt you want to pay $1000 for a brush (not worth that much, just the point where I'd consider offing it for)

Thanks for all the input. Sounds like there is some love for the Chubby 2 in all varieties, while at the same time there is variation between samples of the same model. By the way captp - I won't go a dollar higher than $975!! ;-)

John

They just sold out of the 2 bands a day or two ago so youll have to wait if you want a new one

I have a Chubby 1 in best and Chubby 2's in Super, 2 band Silvertip and Manchurian. Here's my take...

1.) Best: Does everything well. Don't get caught up in hair grades - more $ doesn't mean better. The version in best offers the best flow through and is a solid all around performer - from face to bowl lathering, soaps, creams, you name it. That said, you have a Duke 3 in best already....
2.) Super: Soap murderer... in a good way. This one will give you a wildly different experience than your Duke, and would be my recommendation. It's a lather hog and a scrub machine, but there's nothing else like it.
3.) Silvertip: The most luxurious in the Chubby line. Like all Chubby's - it'll work great for soap, but it seems to like creams and bowl lathering most.
4.) Manchurian: I still don't know what to make of this hair, i've got 2 Simpson's in Manchurian and I have mixed feelings. Don't get me wrong, it's a great brush... but at about $400, it's only $40 less than buying a Chubby 2 in Super AND Best, and i'd much rather have the combo of those two.

I have all grades of hair on my Chubbys, my preferences are Best and Manchurian.

joel said:

... Manchurian ... but at about $400, it's only $40 less than buying a Chubby 2 in Super AND Best ...

Click to expand...

I'm sorry - but $400 for a single brush is (IMHO) absurd. If I had a brush budget of $400 - I would be buying multiple brushes - but to each his own.

Ten Camrys do not equal one Ferrari....

Cheers, Steve

Is there Chubby Super Two Band for sale ANYWHERE?

Steve56 said:

Ten Camrys do not equal one Ferrari....

Cheers, Steve

Click to expand...

That's true, but have you ever owned an exotic car? Sure looks and sounds nice, but driving it everyday? Meh. If money is no object, it's nice to have one in the garage, but for daily use - i'll take something more pedestrian. If that makes me a pleb, so be it. Calling a Simpson Chubby 2 in Super and Best, akin to a Camry and a Manchurian akin to a Ferrari though - is a posh and inaccurate statement. The Chubby 2 Super is a $230 shaving brush.... now let's just pause on that for a moment as I think we need to all take a step back and apply some perspective. We're talking about a plastic handle with the hair of vermin (that starving/poor people eat) glued into it... for $230. These are not exotic or rare materials - nor is there tremendous craftsmanship, labor, engineering or expensive equipment involved - which is not the case with other items, like say creating a straight razor. A lathe isn't terribly expensive, nor is glue or badger hair. Calling a $230 brush, what was merely 6-8 years ago one of the best/most expensive on the market, a Camry is just plain ignorant.

If you want to use an accurate depiction, it would be the Chubby 2 Best being a Bentley sedan, the Chubby 2 Super being an Aston Martin sports car, and the Chubby 2 Manchurian being a McLauren MP4-12c. If I have to drive one daily, make mine the Bentley. If I can put an Aston in the garage for weekends, all the better - but to forgo the latter two, to only have the McLauren? For me, no thank you. I like to have my cake and eat it too.

Also, when it comes to resale - you're better off with the lower end brushes, and I believe the runway for $400 brushes will dissapear. As the market grows (and it has been) and new players enter, wanting a piece of the pie - things will get tough. In fact, the $400 brushes I think are one of the main attractors, and if I owned a large, established shaving brush company, i'd lower my high end prices from $400 to around $275-300 to effectively block competitive entrants, as they seem to be coming to market in the $175-270 range. Right now, you've got a textbook business/grad school business case of what to do/not do to own a market space. Google the Gartner Hype Cycle and you can apply some of those attributes to what we're seeing now.

Making a shaving brush isn't hard. Getting the knots isn't hard. Making the knots isn't terribly difficult and while I haven't done it, watching a video of it done, it's wildly easier than making razor scales, blades, and other things that folks seem to be doing with relative ease in their garage. With Alibaba and the internet, folks trading in Chinese badger hair are now seeing they can get more $ from their hair and even MORE by investing in the minimal equipment required to make brushes. I get emails near daily from badger hair suppliers in China who randomly find me on the internet and offer to send me free samples, brushes and build badger brushes at laughably low prices... even the fabled two band. You see guys like Lee Sabini, and Florian from Wiborg popping up and making really darn good brushes, at low prices. Knock off's of existing designs? Sure, many of them are... but it further attacks and degrades the value of ANY $400+ shaving brush. Plisson HMW used to be all the rage... now it's largely fallen out of favor and ignored - you can get horn brushes that look the same, and have great two band hair now, for around $200, why pay $685 for a Plisson?

Bottom line - as competition and production increase, prices and differentiation will decrease... it's just a fact. I predict that 10 years from now, there will be few to no shaving brushes over $300 and the ones that are that expensive, will be truly exceptional hand made works of art, with the rarest (mind you, not necessarily best) badger hair. There's just too much money to be made in this business for large number of new entrants to not want a taste. Ultimately, this is the best for consumers - as we'll see new brands popping up with great products, and they'll HAVE to offer them at lower prices than the established competition, thus resulting in the established brands eventually dropping prices to compete - and then the fun begins.

Of this I can guarantee... if you buy a $400+ brush right now, you aren't going to see it appreciate in value but you most certainly will see it depreciate in an accelerated manner. This doesn't mean you shouldn't buy a Simpson's Chubby in Manchurian, as waiting for the prices to eventually drop on them could take some time... time in which you aren't enjoying said brush. What it does mean, is that you must realize that you're buying a brush at the absolute top of the market... the TOP. Sure, this might carry on for another 6 months.... maybe even 18 months, but I know first hand of two upstart brands that haven't yet come to market and released product, but their sole intent is to poke the big boys right in the eye. They have been on the forums for years and they know the market well. They have the marketing, production, design, sourcing and business expertise to build REAL companies out of it, not just a mom and pop upstart. As these guys come to market, and as others see their success and join in, it'll become a rocky sea with which these established brands must sail through, and they're not going to do so with ease. 6 years ago there were just a few brands of shaving brushes. Now it seems that every three months, someone else is making a better, cheaper or more exotic brush and they're coming out of the woodworks.

The old hands will have to adapt, or die. Just look at Plisson... now they're focused on high production, low margin synthetic brushes, with brick and mortar distribution. They barely build the high end stuff anymore. Look at Simpson and the huge shift there. Now they're catering to the desires of the enthusiast to capture the market the smaller guys were once dominant in and also more firmly establish their position at the top, with incredibly high end, eye-watteringly expensive offerings. If they drop prices in the future, the "perceived" value of the brush rockets exponentially - IE: if 1 year from now you can get a Manchurian that once was $450, for $300 - that's an incredible difference/savings and the psychological impact to the consumer gives them a competitive edge over a new entrant, with a $200-250 offering, thus the Simpson will be able to command higher profit margins and have a leg up over the competition, not just with a more established brand, but also with a more established and compelling value... even if it is still more expensive.

Many of these established firms have VERY smart folks at the top managing their businesses and I have no doubt they'll brave the storm and likely come out on top. The wind however, is us... the consumer, and we'll have one hell of a fun time.

Wow... sorry for the rant!

Thus spake Joelthustra. Excellent, well presented post, Joel.

Space_Cadet, the price for mine just went up to $1,500. E-mail me at [email protected]

I'll buy myself a live pet Manchurian badger for 1.500$!

Simpsons Chubby 2 Super. You can find them on the BST for a good price. They are denser and have better backbone than the one in Best. I also find the hair softer. Good luck.

Space_Cadet said:

Is there Chubby Super Two Band for sale ANYWHERE?

Click to expand...

yes but there sold out, contact mark to see when they might have more you're like a week late