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Cork vs Duplon

I have a couple of Kev Baine’s 1.5lb 11ft Specialist No 1 rods, my go to Barbel rods. They have shrink wrapped handles, 15+ years old and handles are in excellent condition 👍🏻

Re Duplon, tackle companies use it because its cheap. I rave about the Drennan Vertex Medium Feeder rods for Chub and Perch. Awesome rods, but the duplon elements of the handle are shite. One is cracked and the other is chipped. Drennan are definitely going down the cheap rod component route, which includes Acolyte. A shame really, as historically we associate Drennan with quality. That seemed to end when Series 7 rods were retired, including the textured cork rod handle!

The duplon on my Normark Legacy Avengers seems much better quality than what Drennan use, but time will tell.

The biggest issue with Duplon is when you make rods up at home and place in a rod sleeve. The line guides on the rod section placed parallel to the Duplon, both dig in and damage it, if you’re not careful.
 
Neil Blood said:
I have a couple of Kev Baine’s 1.5lb 11ft Specialist No 1 rods, my go to Barbel rods. They have shrink wrapped handles, 15+ years old and handles are in excellent condition 👍🏻

Re Duplon, tackle companies use it because its cheap. I rave about the Drennan Vertex Medium Feeder rods for Chub and Perch. Awesome rods, but the duplon elements of the handle are shite. One is cracked and the other is chipped. Drennan are definitely going down the cheap rod component route, which includes Acolyte. A shame really, as historically we associate Drennan with quality. That seemed to end when Series 7 rods were retired, including the textured cork rod handle!

The duplon on my Normark Legacy Avengers seems much better quality than what Drennan use, but time will tell.

The biggest issue with Duplon is when you make rods up at home and place in a rod sleeve. The line guides on the rod section placed parallel to the Duplon, both dig in and damage it, if you’re not careful.
Click to expand...

Hi Neil, when you mention the acolytes' and components' quality going downhill, in what way do you mean?
 
Hi Ian, I hate the cheap metal end cap, which they now put on all their rods including acolytes and which scratches easily. The textured cork ends on previous rod handles were far better.

I have wider issues with their Specialist rage of rods. The fittings seem to be on a par with the budget Red Range Rods and the green lacquered finish wasn’t on a par with the original Super Specialist rods.
 
I always had Drennan as a benchmark for quality, aside from an acolyte I haven’t been able to convince myself to buy a Drennan rod since the series 7.
 
Neil Blood said:
Hi Ian, I hate the cheap metal end cap, which they now put on all their rods including acolytes and which scratches easily. The textured cork ends on previous rod handles were far better.

I have wider issues with their Specialist rage of rods. The fittings seem to be on a par with the budget Red Range Rods and the green lacquered finish wasn’t on a par with the original Super Specialist rods.
Click to expand...

To be honest i've had no issues with the metal end cap, but i'm very carful what I rest it on and usually lay the rod down on grass if possible.
For quite some time now, I put a old but slim Wychwood butt protection sock on most of my rods to prevent scratches etc.
When the acolytes were first released I wouldn't buy one as it kinda peeved me that the guides weren't fujis. To be fair and after using Acolytes a lot from not too long after they were released the guides have been fine. At least they fit them with a fuji screw down reel holder.
I get what you say about the rest of the drennan rods nowadays, I also feel that they have lowered their standards quite dramatically, and yes, the older avon duo's, having screw down fuji reel seats etc felt way better quality than the cheap feeling specialists they produce today.

I don't think there are many rod manufacturers that use fuji fittings anymore, which is a pity!
Even my quite high end DaiwaTournament float rods arn't kitted out with fuji guides!

Props to the normark production team for using fuji fittings on their new Legasy range of rods.......but that hook holder on the lower end of the butt section was a mistake imo.
It is a pity they couldn't source the fuji SIC guides which were fitted to the original MKII range of rods though. I think they missed a trick not adding the rubber butt also. Those rubber butts meat you could rest the rod butt on most surfaces without fear of damaging it.

Happy new year Neil 😄.
 
IMO
Around the reel seat, always natural cork.
Predominantly natural cork on rods that need to be light.
Where the rod does not need to be light decorative reconstituted cork is OK.
Duplon is marmite to me, never really tried it but I don’t like it!
 
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