Carbon washers?
 

Anyone deal with these guys?

http://www.smoothdrag.com/

They also have a forum http://alantani.com/

Do you usually change out your drag washers when buying a new or used reel?

Smoothdrag Carbontex are a great product. Dawn is a pleasure to deal with if you order direct. You can also find their product at most legitimate tackle shops that deal with reel repair.

Alan Tani is not Smoothdrag. But he does have a subforum there for Smoothdrag.

For me I don't change out drags unless the reel needs it whether new or used. Half of my reels still have factory drags and they work fine. Once they get sticky or jerky then that's when I replace them with a set of Carbontex along with a coat of Cal's or equivalent drag grease.

Also, reel manufacturers are starting to use carbon fiber drags in their reels. From what I've seen from reels that come across my workbench they are just as good as Carbontex. So depending on what model reel you get you may not have to upgrade drags at all.

If you have an older reel, especially shimano, change them out. I have a torium and tekota that for both, I had to scrape out the old drags. With the new carbontex washers, they are awesome! Don't put too much drag grease or performance will decrease.

X2 on the new reels. I bought a new Shimano recently and bought two sets of carbontex thinking I was going to change it out. Looks like Shimano has already upgraded the drags in the Cardiff to carbontex-like drags.

The folks at smoothdrag.com are awesome! Quick shipping to CA and they stand behind their product. I had an issue with one of the drag pieces and they sent a replacement for free and no hassle!