Reg Barber Tamper

[Joey]

Ok, as there were complaints about not enough posts lately, I'll feed the forum with some information, wether it's worldshaking or not - if not, please forgive me and move to the next thread

I ordered a RB tamper last year and was very pleased with the weight, material and design. It's a great tool and made my tamping as pleasurable as watching the perfect shot dripping out of the PF.
I took the short "Ball Bubinga", stainless steel, convex, rosewood, with my personal engraving. (see pic below)

This year I needed a new one as my La San Marco has a different PF size.

My mistake was - although I measured 55mm inside the sieve, able to still move my measuring-tool, the tamper now is too wide. I should have take 53 - 54 mm. I can get it in deep, turn it, but sometimes, when some grounds get stucked on the border before knocking and twisting again, the tamper get's stucked, too and pulls out the sieve of the PF.
So the moral is - always take 1-2mm less then your diameter is

And another thing happened, but that wasn't my mistake:
As the old picture shoul have been black & white, and not white & black (coffee bean in the middle should have been black) - Reg told me that it is not possible to make bigger areas in black! Keep that in mind before you order something. The don't tell you about it - they just make it the other way/color around.
But that wasn't much of a problem for me. This time I've sent a new picture for the engraving, but they made the old one again! -
..and the white color was chipping off, too.
I told Reg about it and he replied immediately and offered to send me a new handle for the tamper, which I can screw on myself. That's really nice customer service!
Mistakes happen, everywhere, but I still love the product so much, I can highly recommend it
http://www.coffeetamper.com/

Second picture shows my new design - new handle must come any day now >yipiee<
Greetings
Joey

[Ian]

If I ever feel rich enough to order a Reg Barber, Joey, I'll get you to design my logo

[Joey]

Thanks, I would love to.
But I'm not rich either
I just forbear of buying a pair of new shoes from time to time (at least that's what I tell my husband) >grin<

[pault]

Hi there,

I'd mentioned this on another thread but just in case people hadn't seen it ...

there's some great tamper designs from a Swedish maker who apparently does them to order

http://www.impod.se/produkter_1.htm

I've already got a 58mm Reg Barber but find the long handle a bit awkward to use and need a tamper for my Pavoni Pro (which I found out on the new models should be 51mm) so I'm going to order a couple and see how they work out. My sense of aesthetics is not finely honed but personally I think they're the best looking tampers I've seen and I think weigh 1/3 more than the Reg, so it'll be interesting to see what they're like to use ...

[Joey]

Nice site. Personally I like the rosewood better then black handles. what do they cost?
And do they have convex bottoms, too?
Sorry, but I can't read that language...
Tell us how you like them when you've got one!!! I'll watch that thread.
Thanks Paul
Joey

[pault]

Sure I'll let people know how they work out ...

My Reg B is convex but unless anyone's going to tell me it's a bad idea I was going to order some flat bases for the new ones. A professional on CoffeeGeek told me that for under 53mm at least convex bases don't work as well and as for above 53mm my impression was people tend to be divided over the convex/flat issue???

I'm expecting a Santos mini electronic and a Cona Vac Pot in the next few days as well, and in addition to a few of coffee books I've been reading - I'd like to find the time to do a full article on various stuff along the lines of "experiences of an intermediate" (I've promoted myself from newbie
)

[Joey]

Cool! I'm interested in the Santos m.e., too - I thought that's a nice idea in the store - if a couple wants "brewed" coffee, i would plug the Santos into the plug under the table and tehy can watch it brew - then they have several cups to drink. I don't have to watch for refills, and it's kind of an attraction.
So what's kind of interesting for me is: is that stuff horrible to clean? Will it be complicated or easy to brake?
Thanks again
Joey

[zix]

Hi there,

I'd mentioned this on another thread but just in case people hadn't seen it ...

there's some great tamper designs from a Swedish maker who apparently does them to order

http://www.impod.se/produkter_1.htm

Then, if you like that one, you can have a look at this one, also Swedish:
http://www.xpressivo.com/theespressoguide/shop.asp
http://www.xpressivo.com/catalog.html

His website is a bit queer to navigate on and I tend to get lost trying to find info on his products, but these are the two pages with the most info... I think...
Anyway, this is the one that had good results in the 2003 CG review "tamper shootout". (that was the mkI model he sent to CG).
I have had the mkII "Barista" model some six months now and really like it, grip, size, balance, looks, all of it. As you can see from the xpressivo homepage they also look a little different now than in 2003.
The one I bought is wood/aluminium, last time I looked at his tampers he did the Barista in wood/steel also, but as he is constantly experimenting with both wood/metal and all metal tampers the best thing is probably to email him and ask.

[pault]

Thanks very much for the post - I'd seen this before but hadn't seen the mark II - I much prefer its better wood luck and what looks to be its heavier weigth - I still think the Impod looks better and probably weighs more and hopefully I can get it from Sweden rather than from the US (cos it says on your guy's site that he now only sells through WholeLattelove)

the other issue was I'll need a 51mm for my Pavoni and the Impod bloke will hopefully do that size for me.

having said all that the MkII does look really good and I may just get one

this in conjunction with another thread's call for more content from members for this site makes me think that there's a "how a coffee interest turns you into an obsessive" article in me somewhere ...

thanks again,

Paul.

[pault]

Sorry - tired and my spelling in the last note was awful!!

meant to say "wood look" not "luck"!!! and "weight"

[zix]

Thanks very much for the post - I'd seen this before but hadn't seen the mark II - I much prefer its better wood luck and what looks to be its heavier weigth - I still think the Impod looks better and probably weighs more and hopefully I can get it from Sweden rather than from the US (cos it says on your guy's site that he now only sells through WholeLattelove).

I thought it said he sells all of his tampers through wll, not only through wll? If it is "only", that´s sad.
Edit: accchhh, now I see it "there is no longer an option to buy my tampers directly from me". I´m tired too...
Hmmmm... I remember seeing the Barista (s/s I think) at our local coffee shop as late as last week so maybe I could buy one for you and mail it to you if you are interested. Probably cheaper than ordering from U.S. anyway.

[pault]

If you could get me a 58mm one and there was some easy way I could pay you back that would be great - I don't want to put you out if it proves to be a hassle I can always get it from the States

email me if it's a possibility,

all the best,

Paul.

[moccafaux]

Joey, how about having 0,5mm milled off all around the tamper? And then maybe rounding off the lower edge a bit, another 0,25mm?
This should make the tamper compatible with all your baskets.
On the other hand, why depraving oneself of the pleasure of ordering another nice and shiny toy/tool?

[Joey]

You are right, that would be the best. But as I always fill the PF very full - it works quite nice because it fits well in the upper 3mm. Only when I dip the tamper deeper it gets stucked. So this doesn't happen often.
I will see if I can afford RB tampers for my staff, too - on the other side I am afraid that they will be stolen. Hmmm. Maybe I'll start with cheaper ones, and when they were working good they will get one for X-Mas....nah, maybe they don't even appreciate it....
I think RBs are only for us coffee-nuts
Joey

[moccafaux]

Yes, plastic ones for the ordinary staff-members! If they qualify they get promoted via aluminium and brass to RBs.