New, non-tallow Tabac reviews go in here

[never-stop-learning]

never-stop-learning's Quest for Knowledge

Modified Marco Method. For hard and medium soaps and croaps: 1. Soak your brush in medium hot water for a couple of minutes.. 2. Turn your brush upside-down. I usually give a very slight flick of my wrist, but do not shake. Keep most of the water in the brush. You want a nice wet brush. 3...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[kingfisher]

Ok, well, I fired up “Badger” again for this morning’s shave.

TL;DR: This is a competent but lackluster shaving soap that stinks (but smells better than “blade”), is slick but not protective, tends to lather up more billowy than I like regardless of how I lather it, and has a neutral post-shave face feel.


Full Report
So I took on the task of ”science” again this morning for my second shave with the soap labeled “Badger.” I took some of the suggestions made in this thread into account, and tried to get it so the lather never got too much air in it too early. I also thought that perhaps it was slightly under hydrated the last time I used it, so I tried to get the hydration level optimized for today’s shave.

I switched to a smaller synthetic because I was sure I loaded too much soap last time. I also started with the brush slightly wetter than it was last time (I normally shake and then squeeze out the water; I like to start dry and add water to my taste). I also moved the brush lightly and slowly in an attempt to not bring too much air into the protolather too soon. It started up immediately kind of bubbly, but not as bad as last time, and as I continued slowly adding soap it tightened up more and never got really frothy like it did last time. I took this as a good sign.

I took a less aggressively loaded brush to the bowl and began working the lather. It looked a bit tighter than last time, although it tended toward wanting to become more billowy than I prefer, and I am absolutely sure that no kind of alchemy known to mankind could ever make this soap have a “low structure lather.” But it wasn’t as full as it was last time.

I added a bit more water this time around, taking time to incorporate it fully before adding a bit more, and continuing bit by bit. On the last shave with this soap the lather didn’t rinse off the shavette very easily, which told me the lather needed more water. Today I got the lather to a wetter place with a nice sheen and applied it.

I also switched razors, from the Kai Kasho with a Kai blade to the Feather SS loaded up with a Schlick Proline on its third shave. Clean-up DE was also changed from the iKon Shavecraft 101 to the vaunted Hybrid Tech on a UFO Titan Fine L handle.

The lather wasn’t as opaque as I prefer; I could almost see my pink skin beneath it even though the lather looked reasonably thick and white. I started the shave and was pleased with the slickness. It was definitely slicker than it was the last time I used it. It also rinsed clean from the SS. First pass went smoothly and quickly. When I rinsed, I could feel, however, that there were some areas in which I had a bit of irritation. No weepers, though.

I added lather for the second pass; by this point, I could definitely see through the lather more than I like. I decided to do the entire second pass with the Hybrid Tech because I didn’t think it had enough cushion for a second pass with the Feather SS. It went pretty well, but when it came time for final clean-up along the jawline, I didn’t really trust the lather that was left in the bowl and brush, and I actually resorted to squirting a little bit of Gillette Foamy out a travel can I bought on a trip a few months ago. The Foamy definitely provided more protection than the lather from this soap, which by that time I believe was over hydrated.

Post-shave face feel was entirely neutral. It didn’t dry my face at all, but it also didn’t provide for any sort of a really nice, soft, smooth feeling like my best soaps do.

I used the same alcohol-based aftershave and felt a little bit of sting, but not as much as I expected after what it felt like after the first pass.

In short, I don’t really like this soap much. It works, but it doesn’t do much more than that. It naturally wants to make a billowy lather that looks good but doesn’t really provide for me what I want from a shave soap. It continues to remind me of RazoRock’s What the Puck? soap; it is extremely similar in the way it lathers, the amounts of air it incorporates, the way it shaves, and the post-shave face feel. The RR soap is triple milled and extremely affordable, and, for me, it smells a lot better than this stuff, too.

Personally, I wouldn’t buy this soap if it cost $1.50 a pound, but I realize that at least part of what turns me off is the scent. But the performance is “meh” at best, for me. Every soap I currently have in my meager soap collection out-performs this, including two non-tallow soaps (Dr. Jon‘s and Wickham’s). I am really happy that I will never have to shave with this soap again, to be honest.

On Saturday night, I will put “Blade” through its paces one final time, using the Feather SS and, perhaps, the Hybrid Tech or maybe my Toggle, or perhaps my Pils as the clean-up razor. Once that shave is finished and reported here, I will never ever shave with Tabac again, either version, in my entire life. More for all y’all that love it.

Oh, after I’ve reported my last shave with ”Blade,” I’ll have the gentleman who graciously provided these samples unmask the trial.

 

[JAHE]

Excellent and very informative review.
Thanks for taking two rounds for the team...

 

[kingfisher]

OK, gents, final report in my experiment. I used ”Blade” for last night’s shave.

TL;DR. I got a nice, rich, smooth lather that was slick and protective, provided for a great shave, and had a pretty darn good post-shave face feel. “Blade” is a considerably better shave soap than “Badger” for me and my face; it is not close, and there would be no way I would confuse one of these lathers for the other.

Longer Version
So, I took one more for the team last night, firing up the “Blade” sample for my final Tabac shave of all time. I chose the Feather SS and I put my Polsilver SI blade into my Toggle for clean-up. I used the same Rubberset brush with a smaller synthetic that I used for my second shave with Badger.

Once again, this sample took a bit longer to load than Badger, but it loaded up a better-looking protolather than only had a few small bubbles in it, that disappeared fairly quickly with further work in the bowl. I made several additions of water to the lather and worked it in; at all points the lather looked promising but I knew a better lather was only a bit more work and a bit more water ahead. When I got it to where I liked it, I applied it to my face.

Again, with the exception of the scent, applying this lather to my face was a pleasure. The first pass went very smoothly; the lather was plenty slick, and rinsed off the blade fairly easily. Rinsing after the first pass revealed no areas of sensitivity, and a good first-pass reduction.

I did the second pass and it was equally pleasurable (except for the smell). After that I did some touch-up, then a final rinse. I got a DFS+ shave result and the face feel after rinsing off the lather was very good; soft, supple, smooth without feeling oily or like it had a thick residue on it.

The alcohol splash felt good; no irritation.

Bottom line? If this didn’t stink, I would really enjoy this soap.

Ewk is the guy who graciously provided these samples for me to try out. I will allow him to unmask the trial. I have a pretty good idea which was the old Tabac and which was the new simply by the fact that people raved about the old Tabac and I don’t think they would rave about the Badger sample I received. It’s capable, yes, but not much more. I’ve mentioned this before but to me it is almost a carbon-copy of RazoRock WTP soap. I guess if you are a huge fan of WTP and a huge fan of the Tabac scent, the reformulation would be a wonderful soap for you.

Thanks again, ewk, for allowing me to do this. I enjoyed it. I hope it provided some useful information for somebody.

I am also happy that I will never have to put this scent to my face again. The samples are going into a plastic bag that can be tied off and then they are going into my garbage can. If you really like the scent of Tabac, please accept my apologies for blasting it so much in these reviews.

 

[ewk]

@kingfisher what a thorough, thoughtful, edifying, and entertaining review. Both soap samples were taken from "fresh" pucks still in their foil wrappers that had just arrived from two difference vendors.

This experiment demonstrates that there is a significant difference between the scent and performance. I was very much hoping that the new formulation would at the very least maintain the wonderfully delightful pungent aroma found in the original. It will probably come as no surprise that:

"Badger" sample = new formulation
"Blade" sample = old tallow formulation

I guess I will just have to shave the new formulation puck into a tub mixed with Arko and Williams shavings just to increase its effectiveness and motivate me to actually use it. At least I have a fresh original "Original Tabac" puck to savor.

 

[CJB3]

Thanks to both @ewk and @kingfisher! Very informative!

 

[Frank Shaves]

Legendary experiment and reviews - thanks to both of you!

 

[Multum in parvo]

Oh my, I wanted to use them alternately during Tabactober but I guess I will finish my old puck first to not have 2 open ones at the same time. I definitely like the fatty dense lather structure of the old formula so I don’t see any gains in jumping into the new one prematurely.

 

[JCinPA]

Excellent, excellent reviews, @kingfisher ! That's how you do a soap review, not only were the reviews done exceedingly well, you've provided a perfect example of how to do a soap review.

I was slightly heartened by some positive reviews of the new stuff from others, but I was nonetheless suspicious. I think you've proven that Mauer & Wirtz, as @luvmysuper so aptly put it, have killed a legendary shave soap. That despite the fact that this was not the first reformulation of Tabac. Such a shame.

And I've always loved the scent, from my very first use. Glad I got 4 pucks of the old stuff. I think I will consider vacuum sealing them next time I do a sous vide cook.

 

[luvmysuper]

Excellent, excellent reviews, @kingfisher ! That's how you do a soap review, not only were the reviews done exceedingly well, you've provided a perfect example of how to do a soap review.

I was slightly heartened by some positive reviews of the new stuff from others, but I was nonetheless suspicious. I think you've proven that Mauer & Wirtz, as @luvmysuper so aptly put it, have killed a legendary shave soap. That despite the fact that this was not the first reformulation of Tabac. Such a shame.

And I've always loved the scent, from my very first use. Glad I got 4 pucks of the old stuff. I think I will consider vacuum sealing them next time I do a sous vide cook.

I'm not sure which sample was which and will wait to hear that.
Re the previous "reformulation" it was really just shifting the relative quantities of the ingredients to different ratios.
If I made sweet tea with 1 gallon of water and one cup of sugar and then changed it to .97 gallon of water and 1.25 cups of sugar, it's technically a reformulation I suppose.
But not like changing to a half gallon of water and a half gallon of saccharine solution is.

EDIT: I just read above the reveal on the samples, and to be honest, I am saddened. I had secretly hoped in my heart that the better of the two was the new so as not to lose a great traditional soap.

 

[Bglayer]

OK, gents, final report in my experiment. I used ”Blade” for last night’s shave.

TL;DR. I got a nice, rich, smooth lather that was slick and protective, provided for a great shave, and had a pretty darn good post-shave face feel. “Blade” is a considerably better shave soap than “Badger” for me and my face; it is not close, and there would be no way I would confuse one of these lathers for the other.

Longer Version
So, I took one more for the team last night, firing up the “Blade” sample for my final Tabac shave of all time. I chose the Feather SS and I put my Polsilver SI blade into my Toggle for clean-up. I used the same Rubberset brush with a smaller synthetic that I used for my second shave with Badger.

Once again, this sample took a bit longer to load than Badger, but it loaded up a better-looking protolather than only had a few small bubbles in it, that disappeared fairly quickly with further work in the bowl. I made several additions of water to the lather and worked it in; at all points the lather looked promising but I knew a better lather was only a bit more work and a bit more water ahead. When I got it to where I liked it, I applied it to my face.

Again, with the exception of the scent, applying this lather to my face was a pleasure. The first pass went very smoothly; the lather was plenty slick, and rinsed off the blade fairly easily. Rinsing after the first pass revealed no areas of sensitivity, and a good first-pass reduction.

I did the second pass and it was equally pleasurable (except for the smell). After that I did some touch-up, then a final rinse. I got a DFS+ shave result and the face feel after rinsing off the lather was very good; soft, supple, smooth without feeling oily or like it had a thick residue on it.

The alcohol splash felt good; no irritation.

Bottom line? If this didn’t stink, I would really enjoy this soap.

Ewk is the guy who graciously provided these samples for me to try out. I will allow him to unmask the trial. I have a pretty good idea which was the old Tabac and which was the new simply by the fact that people raved about the old Tabac and I don’t think they would rave about the Badger sample I received. It’s capable, yes, but not much more. I’ve mentioned this before but to me it is almost a carbon-copy of RazoRock WTP soap. I guess if you are a huge fan of WTP and a huge fan of the Tabac scent, the reformulation would be a wonderful soap for you.

Thanks again, ewk, for allowing me to do this. I enjoyed it. I hope it provided some useful information for somebody.

I am also happy that I will never have to put this scent to my face again. The samples are going into a plastic bag that can be tied off and then they are going into my garbage can. If you really like the scent of Tabac, please accept my apologies for blasting it so much in these reviews.

Excellent review thank you for doing it especially since you hated the scent.

 

[Hannah's Dad]

I'm not sure which sample was which and will wait to hear that.
Re the previous "reformulation" it was really just shifting the relative quantities of the ingredients to different ratios.
If I made sweet tea with 1 gallon of water and one cup of sugar and then changed it to .97 gallon of water and 1.25 cups of sugar, it's technically a reformulation I suppose.
But not like changing to a half gallon of water and a half gallon of saccharine solution is.

I'm not sure which sample was which and will wait to hear that.
Re the previous "reformulation" it was really just shifting the relative quantities of the ingredients to different ratios.
If I made sweet tea with 1 gallon of water and one cup of sugar and then changed it to .97 gallon of water and 1.25 cups of sugar, it's technically a reformulation I suppose.
But not like changing to a half gallon of water and a half gallon of saccharine solution is.

EDIT: I just read above the reveal on the samples, and to be honest, I am saddened. I had secretly hoped in my heart that the better of the two was the new so as not to lose a great traditional soap.

I was also hoping for that. It’s always sad when legends die.

 

[Bglayer]

@kingfisher what a thorough, thoughtful, edifying, and entertaining review. Both soap samples were taken from "fresh" pucks still in their foil wrappers that had just arrived from two difference vendors.

This experiment demonstrates that there is a significant difference between the scent and performance. I was very much hoping that the new formulation would at the very least maintain the wonderfully delightful pungent aroma found in the original. It will probably come as no surprise that:

"Badger" sample = new formulation
"Blade" sample = old tallow formulation

I guess I will just have to shave the new formulation puck into a tub mixed with Arko and Williams shavings just to increase its effectiveness and motivate me to actually use it. At least I have a fresh original "Original Tabac" puck to savor.

Thank you for setting up this review much appreciated.

 

[VerbaVolant]

Well done @ewk and @kingfisher! Thank you.

 

[never-stop-learning]

Also posted to my journal:

never-stop-learning's Quest for Knowledge

Modified Marco Method. For hard and medium soaps and croaps: 1. Soak your brush in medium hot water for a couple of minutes.. 2. Turn your brush upside-down. I usually give a very slight flick of my wrist, but do not shake. Keep most of the water in the brush. You want a nice wet brush. 3...

www.badgerandblade.com

Regarding original, tallow Tabac vs. new, non-tallow Tabac:

In my opinion, the new non-tallow Tabac is a decent non-tallow soap. It is not, however, as good as the original tallow Tabac in the areas of lather density or slickness (initial or residual). Since only the non-tallow version is available, each one of us has to decide to either go unicorn hunting, migrate to the new version or accept that, moving forward, non-tallow Tabac may not be in the cards.

For me? I don't hunt unicorns. On occasion, I'll use my remaining puck of original Tabac until it's gone and that will be that.

Will I use the new, non-tallow Tabac? Sure. It probably won't break in to my favorite vegan/non-tallow category, but it's decent non-tallow soap that gets the job done.

How does the new, non-tallow Tabac compare to other non-tallow and vegan soaps? There are several (MdC, WSP Rustic, SV, Haslinger, to name a few) excellent non-tallow shaving soaps out there that I would rank ahead of the non-tallow Tabac.

Will I use the non-tallow Tabac again? Of course I will. It is a nice option to have and (occasionally) use.

This doesn't even count the number of good/excellent tallow soaps out there for us to use and enjoy.

Hope this helps.....

 

[Sotiris_A]

Thank you @kingfisher , @ewk and @never-stop-learning for these reviews!

 

[StratMan]

thanks for the reviews guys.. glad I stocked up on enough Tabac to not have to worry about it for a long while

 

[Atlantic59]

With the Tabac I have already, plus all the other soaps, I expect to be running out sometime in the 2030's. Hopefully, I'll still be alive then. If not, I can put the unused soaps in my will.

 

[luv2shave]

Excellent reviews @kingfisher and a big thank you to @ewk for his generous contribution to make this blind compare happen.

If the new formula tabac is compared to the Razorock WTP soaps, it makes me happy as I am a huge fan of WTP, albeit a notch below the tallow tabac in scent and lather qualities. WTP is a great soap on its own.

I would rather buy WTP as it is a more value for money soap perhaps rather than the new Tabac. At $11 for 400 gms in 4 scents during frequent sales, it's an unbeatable deal in the wetshaving world. plus the scents like blue and gold (xxx) are fantastic.

I may buy a new formula Tabac puck to see where it exactly stands but it won't be compelling enough to buy knowing my bias to the discontinued Tabac at the same price. The scent and its performance will always make me miss the old Tabac.

 

[tyoung]

Thank you both for doing this experiment, it was really fun following along! It makes me even more happy that I have plenty of old school Tabac to last forever (I only use Tabac about once a week, but do absolutely love it)