You have never seen a carbon touring bike. I doubt you EVER will.
If I had more money I would get custom Ti. You can make a carbon frame last if you baby it. I can't even imagine doing that. If there's nothing but rocks it gets leaned up against a rock. Yeah, it doesn't look great. But that just means nobody is
going to want to steal it

Old school was to buy one good bike and ride it the rest of your life. People are
wealthier now, they have more options. It's not that big a deal for a guy to have a number of bikes. I have two, a commuter and a sport bike. A sport bike is just
a road bike with relaxed geometry.

If you are going to be buying a bike every year or two none of that matters.
Personally, I would love to have a carbon bike, but I go on group rides so rarely it makes no sense to do it. I am an old fart and can't keep up. If I ever pull off a miracle and get back in shape I just might treat myself to one. But...having said that... if I had my druthers the performance bike I would get would be something like the Litespeed Tuscany or one of those Carbon/Ti bikes.