How do you improve on perfection? The finest razor I owned was the Cobra Classic. Recently I purchased a King Cobra. I have now shaved with it three times and am ready to share my initial impressions of the razor. I found the Classic Cobra to be a bit too aggressive when I used the Pro Blades. I switched to Pro-Guard blades early in my experience with the razor. The Classic Cobra even with Pro –Guard blades and extreme caution on my part often left me with 2 or 3 weepers around my chin and upper lip for the first 3 uses of the blade. I decided I would use a Pro-Guard blade in the King Cobra for this trial. As previously stated I shaved three times with the razor. The first shave was on a two day beard. The second shave was a once over lightly on a one day beard. The final shave was again on a two day beard but with the pro-guard blade having been used on two previous shaves. My beard preparation was the same as I use for the Classic Cobra. The first thing you notice when using the King is the handle is considerably longer and easier to grasp than its predecessor. Furthermore, the heft of the razor is noticeably greater. Given the weight and the increased leverage afforded by the extra length of the razor I proceeded much slower with my shave technique using even shorter and lighter strokes than I do with the Classic model. I performed my three pass shaves on each of the three different shaves. The end result of the three shaves was the same result I regularly achieve with the King’s little brother. The big difference was I only got two weepers on the first shave and no weepers on the second and third shave. At first I thought that the King was less aggressive than was the Classic razor. However, the more I used the King the more I became convinced the heads of the razors were the same. Instead, the difference in the 2 razors was a matter of technique. The increased weight and heft of the King caused me to exert less pressure on the razor. The result was as perfect a shave as the Classic gives me but with fewer initial mishaps while the blade is at its newest and sharpest. I am looking forward now to trying the King with a Pro blade to see if I can shave with a sharper cheaper blade and get the same results without weepers. In conclusion, at the present time, I do not see the need to own both the classic and King razors at the same time. If purchasing a Cobra for the first time. Decide if the increased length of the handle and increased weight and heft of the King is worth the extra cost. The bottom line is both razors deliver a perfect shave.
The song lyrics, "...you'll have to pry it from my cold dead hands..'' comes to mind in answer to this question.
I have 10 fingers and 10 toes. I confess I do have my favorites among them. However, once in place that's where they remain
I'm hoping that I can snare one of the the batch of King Cobras promised for the first week of September!
You will require the speed of a mongoose Best of luck and happy shaving! Please post your impressions if you are successful.
Great review. It seems like a great razor, but I have never seen them for sale, where can you buy them from?
At that price I'll take 10. They are very hard to get. Only a few are made at a time.Resold Kings have gone for as high as $400
The latest blurb on the Classic Shaving site says delivery of the King Cobras (and the Cobra Classics) has now been re-scheduled for the third week in Sept. At least I can stop checking that evil page every five minutes for the next couple of weeks! You have to put the price into proper perspective: it's about the same as 60 Fusion cartridges. Of course, you still have to wonder if they are consciously manipulating the supply vs. demand equation to squeeze out the maximum profit. However, with any luck, the recent arrival of the Mongoose and maybe someday, the HuntLee Katana, will re-jigger that equation in the buyer's favor somewhat. All the same, hats off to Classic for having the guts to design and market the Cobra Classic, in a totally new razor/blade configuration. (Or was there an earlier effort to introduce a safety razor using Feather AC blades?)
I am also on the list for the second batch of Mongoose. After I receive it I will gladly review the 3 razors
I'm in for the 2nd batch of Mongoose as well. What intriques me about the mongoose is that I can use one of my BRW handles. I don't care for the length of the KC handle that makes it a bit unnecessarily awkward.
