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Badger lover considering a badger/boar mix - Survivable? Sacrilege?

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
Hey Jim @chaneliwhiskers looks like my “Mistura” arrived at JFK airport yesterday :) .
Hope they get it on road to NC post haste.
Fingers crossed 🤞 both yours and mine will arrive soonly.

Thanks for the update (for some reason I've not been able to track my package). Yes, it shouldn't be too much longer. I'm really looking forward to using the brush and wondering what the break in process will be.

What handle did you order? Mine's the butterscotch.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
Hey Jim @chaneliwhiskers looks like my “Mistura” arrived at JFK airport yesterday :) .
Hope they get it on road to NC post haste.
Fingers crossed 🤞 both yours and mine will arrive soonly.

Yours was ordered, like mine, from the Portuguese Factory?
 
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Your ordered, like mine, from the Portuguese Factory?


Yup, I too ordered Butterscotch Mistura. Date was May 28.
I was finally able to track mine by copying the number on PF’s expanded “Order History” page and then using the link to CTT provided by Frank Shaves in post #51 above.
Trying to use link to CTT on PF page did not work for me.
Hope yours is getting close also.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
Yup, I too ordered Butterscotch Mistura. Date was May 28.
I was finally able to track mine by copying the number on PF’s expanded “Order History” page and then using the link to CTT provided by Frank Shaves in post #51 above.
Trying to use link to CTT on PF page did not work for me.
Hope yours is getting close also.

Mine was ordered a day earlier, but I can not get the tracking to work (tried everything and used the link provided in post #51, etc.).

Not a big deal. It's going to arrive when it gets here.

We should have some nice brushes, and pretty handles, pretty soon.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
The Mistura SOC has landed :thumbup:.
1592693436765.jpeg
Quick pic of mine right out of the box.

Great looking brush with some serious backbone!! Gonna take a little practice and break-in to get the lathering and feel just right but looking forward to it.
Here’s hoping that Jim @chaneliwhiskers has also received a delivery 😬
 
The Mistura SOC has landed :thumbup:.
View attachment 1115666
Quick pic of mine right out of the box.

Great looking brush with some serious backbone!! Gonna take a little practice and break-in to get the lathering and feel just right but looking forward to it.
Here’s hoping that Jim @chaneliwhiskers has also received a delivery [emoji51]

It’s an amazing knot that gets better over time. My cherry handle Mistura will never leave my den. Enjoy!
 
I'm not wild about the handle's looks but am open to being talked into it. The knot's a huge selling point in my view (not that I have the knot, but I have a 24 mm Mistura SOC in transit, and I like my Maggard 70/30).

Happy shaves,
'
Jim
It arrived today with my particular 2019 Barbear LE brush engraved on the bottom as #62. I'll put into action day after tomorrow. I have scheduled the mutton tallow Stirling Port-Au-Prince soap, which produces a rich lather, so it should be a fun shave.
 
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Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
It arrived today with my particular 2019 Barbear LE brush engraved on the bottom as #62. I'll put into action day after tomorrow. I have scheduled the mutton tallow Stirling Port-Au-Prince soap, which produces a rich lather, so it should be a fun shave.

I believe they're now sold out and unavailable. I still want to hear about it so I can vicariously enjoy it.

Semogue should make 26 mm brushes on a routine basis I think.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
I believe they're now sold out and unavailable. I still want to hear about it so I can vicariously enjoy it.

Semogue should make 26 mm brushes on a routine basis I think.

Happy shaves,

Jim
I used the Barbear 26mm LE yesterday and liked it, particularly the brush itself. Maybe I am seeing things but it looks to me like it is developing split ends after only one use. I compared the brush with my other Semogue Mistura and the Barbear feels softer on the face--as if Semogue used batches of higher quality boar and badger to make the Barbear. It is noticeable.

I am not sold on the handle itself insofar as use is concerned. Ultimately, I found my fingers sliding up its barrel shape to the ridge built at the top to gain leverage when I prepared my lather in a bowl. I am in the habit these days of cutting out some soap and smearing it on the bottom of my Captain's Choice heavy copper bowl. I add water slowly in the form of drops on to the brush as I build the lather. Depending on the consistency of the soap (in this instance Stirling Mutton Tallow Port-Au-Prince), I have to move the lather paste around the bowl as the lather builds and this sometimes requires a little leverage. To get the leverage needed, I ended up using the ridge as noted above.

Aesthetically, the handle is a looker with its retro Cherrywood barrel shape and an old school label script label "Excelsior" on the side. The bottom is total class with the words engraved thereon "Barbear Classico Limited Edition" around the edge. "Semogue" is in script in the middle with "62/100" and "2019" above and below it, respectively. Given the number and date, it appears to be unique.

In other words, the Barbear shaving group got a really nice custom limited edition shaving brush with better quality badger and boar in a larger 26mm size for not a whole lot of money. I am pretty darn happy.
 
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Definitely considering perhaps a couple of Semogue brushes one a boar and one of the mixed knots.

My question is would the 50mm loft on the Torga C-5 give the brush too much backbone? Appears to be the same knot just set lower in a different handle.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
Definitely considering perhaps a couple of Semogue brushes one a boar and one of the mixed knots.

My question is would the 50mm loft on the Torga C-5 give the brush too much backbone? Appears to be the same knot just set lower in a different handle.

Can't say that I know. I doubt it, but that's not the same as knowing. I suspect I'll consider a C-5 in a few months, but I've not yet received my SOC Mistura.


6-22-20.FOCS.70:30.VitosRed.640.JPG



Probably this knot's not close enough to be helpful, but my Maggard 26 mm 70/30 knot set in an old Thater handle has a loft in the 50 - 52 mm range. It's certainly not giving the brush too much backbone (but then again it's a different knot from the Semogue).

Let us know what you find out.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
I just received the Torga C5 in finest badger the other day and even though I knew this was a smaller brush, I didn't appreciate how small it is (to me) until I unboxed it. I like the handle shape, and after only a single hand lathering and drying cycle, the knot seems very nice too....but the size.

This is most definitely a YMMV thing, but if you do not like small brushes, I don't think the C5 Torga is a good fit. Hopefully I'll be able to overlook this when I start using it tomorrow, but I have the feeling I'm gonna conclude this was a bad impulse buy. Oh well, thems the breaks; not the first one, and won't be the last either, hahaha.
 
I just received the Torga C5 in finest badger the other day and even though I knew this was a smaller brush, I didn't appreciate how small it is (to me) until I unboxed it. I like the handle shape, and after only a single hand lathering and drying cycle, the knot seems very nice too....but the size.

This is most definitely a YMMV thing, but if you do not like small brushes, I don't think the C5 Torga is a good fit. Hopefully I'll be able to overlook this when I start using it tomorrow, but I have the feeling I'm gonna conclude this was a bad impulse buy. Oh well, thems the breaks; not the first one, and won't be the last either, hahaha.

I know what you mean, I bought a Zénith 27mm synthetic brush not realizing how small the handle was going to be. Worked out though, a smaller brush actually is a little easier to use lathering my head[emoji57].
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
I just received the Torga C5 in finest badger the other day and even though I knew this was a smaller brush, I didn't appreciate how small it is (to me) until I unboxed it. I like the handle shape, and after only a single hand lathering and drying cycle, the knot seems very nice too....but the size.

This is most definitely a YMMV thing, but if you do not like small brushes, I don't think the C5 Torga is a good fit. Hopefully I'll be able to overlook this when I start using it tomorrow, but I have the feeling I'm gonna conclude this was a bad impulse buy. Oh well, thems the breaks; not the first one, and won't be the last either, hahaha.

I love the look of the C-5 but believe I'll wait for the C-7, the C-9, or the C-11. Imagine the C-3.

Thanks for confirming what I feared about the C-5.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
I love the look of the C-5 but believe I'll wait for the C-7, the C-9, or the C-11. Imagine the C-3.

Thanks for confirming what I feared about the C-5.

Happy shaves,

Jim
I still strongly prefer a (significantly) larger handle/brush than the C5, however....I need to eat a bit of crow, at least in terms of me proclaiming that this might be "a bad impulse buy."

I know, only a sample size of one, but dang...this little guy (again, with finest badger knot) is a lather-making machine. I just wish it was more comfortable in my hand...again, too dang small. So we feel confident larger brushes in this style are coming? I agree, a C9, heck, even a C7, would be very welcomed. If a C9 comes out, it will be an insta-blind buy for me.
 
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