Description
“Extra stuffed” knot with ‘33% more hairs’ that is ‘ideal for thick, hard beards’, this Thiers-Issard Super Badger & Boar brush has a dark horn handle which is handcrafted by TI themselves at their factory. This brush weighs approximately 68 grams, with a ~23.5x52mm knot, a ~34.5mm wide handle that measures ~52mm from the top of the ringlet to the base, and a ~26.5mm handle waist.
“Simple to maintain, provides a flexible massage and promotes blood circulation.”
Quite obviously, TI charges the moon and stars for their accessories and especially their scale customizations on the ‘entry-level’ model 1196 Evide Sonnant Extra, so I’d presume we’ll never sell many of these things, and that’s fine.
If you’re a pathetic Francophile apologist, such as this author, there just aren’t many ports of call for a Peugeot 504 anymore, which is a terrible shame. Those that don’t understand, well, what can we do but feel sorry for them?
These knots are made by hand in France and the badger fur and boar bristles both come from the European Union, *NOT* from you-know-where. I would not go so far as to describe those as better than the fur from the common spot, and in fact on the premium hairs, the EU-farmed ones are more grey than truly silver. But they are distinct, as is just having a boar-and-badger premium brush in the first place.
Pity the USFWS are so difficult; I can’t speak toward importing badger fur products via you-know-where, because it seems like they get a hall pass to get in to the USA for a lower cost and a lower trouble than anyone else (there ain’t no damn way those brushes could be soooo cheap if there was any other explanation!), but when it comes to getting European-made badgerstuffs in to the USA, I can tell you from extensive professional experience that here in the post-Brexit, post-pandemic time it is DAMN hard! As I write this, USFWS wants – insists, actually – that I must make the official declaration that the parcel’s en route before it enters the country, the shipping company’s people cannot do that on my behalf. But they also want a customs entry # on that form, which you cannot obtain until it has actually entered the country, because that # doesn’t exist prior (shrug emoji here).
So, the flowchart as I write to you today is 1) get the invoice from the exporter once the box is in the shipper’s possession, 2) log in to the USFWS site and make the declaration 3) USFWS rejects it for not having a parcel customs # [which you cannot possibly obtain until it actually is in the USA] 4) beg by email to the people at DHL/FedEx/UPS, who do NOT like to be bothered, for that #, because USFWS has made it abundantly clear that *I*, and NOT DHL/FedEx/UPS, must enter that # in to the USFWS form 5) the DHL/FedEx/UPS USFWS specialists finally respond when they feel like it, and send that precious parcel number 6) upload that precious parcel info to USFWS site and re-submit the official declaration 7) USFWS releases the parcel, and you’ll receive it one or two days later 8) don’t forget the most important part, burying the lead here…the maximum number of inventory units with any dead animals is only twenty-four units or $5000 value, whichever is lower…so, you only get to import two dozen shaving brushes per attempt, for allllll that hoop jumping just described.
Can you imagine all that fuss over some farmed badger fur?!? Is it really worth it when synthetic shaving brushes have come so far? Only you can decide the ‘worth’ portion, but the overhead just described, when divided by only twenty-four bullets, is quite substantial. But these strict rules, which only ramped up in the last couple of years, are why you will not see small vendors really trying to sell you EUROPEAN badger brushes, like Plisson or Mühle or the like.
