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Mistura May Madness

I've had my SOC Mistura in Taj resin since February of 2019. I used it exclusively for a couple of months when I got it and in frequent rotation ever since. I'm sure I have 150 or so shaves on it. Here's the best I can do in terms of general impressions of its journey in my den:

Shaves 1-5 - Makes and releases plenty of lather, but a tiny hint of scritch along the lines of a brand new Shavemac Finest
Shaves 6-20 - Still makes and releases huge volumes of lather, and all scritch slips away gradually, as it does with a new Shavemac Finest; however, this thing has more density and backbone than my Shavemac Finests and approximates the best versions of Simpson Best I have encountered (including my old Somerset Polo, to which this very favorably compares). Sometimes the glue bump annoys me.
Shaves 21ff - I know exactly what I'm getting every day: no scritch; good backbone; huge lather; easy lather release; ergonomic handle. It hasn't changed much at all after that first month, but I've gotten to know it and do not find any trouble with the glue bump (in fact, I think it helps a bit with lather release). It feels like a Simpson Better Than Best.

Actually, that's damning it with comparisons. It is its own thing. The boar bristles have more presence than Best Badger. The backbone doesn't come via extra density, so there's never water or have-formed lather trapped in the heart of the knot.

It is, for my tastes, the best brush I've ever used. The only thing that comes close is the Torga C3 Mistura, which may indeed surpass it after I know that one better. I've had short-term brush fixations over and over again, only to find that after a while there's some flaw or annoyance that ruins a brush for me. The SOC Mistura, on the other hand, has remained my favorite brush for the entire time I've owned it.
Amen.
 
I've had my SOC Mistura in Taj resin since February of 2019. I used it exclusively for a couple of months when I got it and in frequent rotation ever since. I'm sure I have 150 or so shaves on it. Here's the best I can do in terms of general impressions of its journey in my den:

Shaves 1-5 - Makes and releases plenty of lather, but a tiny hint of scritch along the lines of a brand new Shavemac Finest
Shaves 6-20 - Still makes and releases huge volumes of lather, and all scritch slips away gradually, as it does with a new Shavemac Finest; however, this thing has more density and backbone than my Shavemac Finests and approximates the best versions of Simpson Best I have encountered (including my old Somerset Polo, to which this very favorably compares). Sometimes the glue bump annoys me.
Shaves 21ff - I know exactly what I'm getting every day: no scritch; good backbone; huge lather; easy lather release; ergonomic handle. It hasn't changed much at all after that first month, but I've gotten to know it and do not find any trouble with the glue bump (in fact, I think it helps a bit with lather release). It feels like a Simpson Better Than Best.

Actually, that's damning it with comparisons. It is its own thing. The boar bristles have more presence than Best Badger. The backbone doesn't come via extra density, so there's never water or have-formed lather trapped in the heart of the knot.

It is, for my tastes, the best brush I've ever used. The only thing that comes close is the Torga C3 Mistura, which may indeed surpass it after I know that one better. I've had short-term brush fixations over and over again, only to find that after a while there's some flaw or annoyance that ruins a brush for me. The SOC Mistura, on the other hand, has remained my favorite brush for the entire time I've owned it.

Thank you for taking the time to provide such a thoroughful review. :thumbup1:
 
MMM SOTD
SOTD-L-K_2021-05-20.jpg
:001_wub:

Brush: Semogue Torga-C3 Finest Mistura 22/49
Croap: TFS Mandarino Tachibana
Razor: RazoRock SS Lupo 95 head on El Fantasma handle
Blade: Personna Red (3)
ASL: Iced Orange (home brew)

A very pleasant shave. :biggrin:

The whole team were great and the super light handle (5.6g) transformed the razor into a high performance model (Lupo 95 GT).


Happy shaves guys. :cornut:
 

linty1

My wallet cries.
I've had my SOC Mistura in Taj resin since February of 2019. I used it exclusively for a couple of months when I got it and in frequent rotation ever since. I'm sure I have 150 or so shaves on it. Here's the best I can do in terms of general impressions of its journey in my den:

Shaves 1-5 - Makes and releases plenty of lather, but a tiny hint of scritch along the lines of a brand new Shavemac Finest
Shaves 6-20 - Still makes and releases huge volumes of lather, and all scritch slips away gradually, as it does with a new Shavemac Finest; however, this thing has more density and backbone than my Shavemac Finests and approximates the best versions of Simpson Best I have encountered (including my old Somerset Polo, to which this very favorably compares). Sometimes the glue bump annoys me.
Shaves 21ff - I know exactly what I'm getting every day: no scritch; good backbone; huge lather; easy lather release; ergonomic handle. It hasn't changed much at all after that first month, but I've gotten to know it and do not find any trouble with the glue bump (in fact, I think it helps a bit with lather release). It feels like a Simpson Better Than Best.

Actually, that's damning it with comparisons. It is its own thing. The boar bristles have more presence than Best Badger. The backbone doesn't come via extra density, so there's never water or have-formed lather trapped in the heart of the knot.

It is, for my tastes, the best brush I've ever used. The only thing that comes close is the Torga C3 Mistura, which may indeed surpass it after I know that one better. I've had short-term brush fixations over and over again, only to find that after a while there's some flaw or annoyance that ruins a brush for me. The SOC Mistura, on the other hand, has remained my favorite brush for the entire time I've owned it.

Thanks for the summary and is lining up with what I'm experiencing rn.
 
20210521_190158-01.jpeg

... but since the month of May doesn't have more days, I just stick with enjoying the remaining May shaves with my Misturas. :001_wub:
 
MMM SOTD
SOTD-L-W_2021-05-21.jpg
:001_wub:

Brush: Semogue Torga-C3 Finest Mistura 22/49
Soap: TFS Rabarbaro Italiano
Razor: RazoRock SS Lupo 95 head on El Fantasma handle
Blade: Personna Red (4)
ASL: Lilac Vegetal

An excellent shave. :biggrin:
Today's team put on a great show, not to mention some interesting scents. :Veg:


Happy shaves guys. :cornut:
 
First shave with my just opened it yesterday, super brand new SOC-C5 Mistura Finest. I actually ordered the boar and discovered on delivery I'd been given an accidental upgrade from the shop. I may still go back for the boar, but this Mistura is excellent and I'm absolutely loving it.

PXL_20210522_143801352.jpg
 

linty1

My wallet cries.
First shave with my just opened it yesterday, super brand new SOC-C5 Mistura Finest. I actually ordered the boar and discovered on delivery I'd been given an accidental upgrade from the shop. I may still go back for the boar, but this Mistura is excellent and I'm absolutely loving it.

View attachment 1270478

Did you by any chance order from amazon?
 
MMM SOTD
SOTD-L-R_2021-05-22.jpg
:001_wub:

Brush: Semogue Torga-C3 Finest Mistura 22/49
Soap: TFS Rabarbaro Italiano
Razor: RazoRock SS Lupo 95 head on El Fantasma handle
Blade: Personna Red (5)
ASL: Spearmint BLAST (home brew)

Another great shave. :biggrin:
All is well in ZenShaveLand.


Happy shaves guys. :cornut:
 
Great and lucky upgrade.
The shop I bought it from, I emailed the guy to let him know he'd sent the wrong one and even offered to cover the price difference if he wanted to invoice me. He let it ride... I gotta say, after just one use I liked the brush so much I went back for another Mistura in Taj Resin... what can I say, I really like this mixed knot!
I think we need to start a Semogue Mistura Lovers Society. :001_wub:
 
The shop I bought it from, I emailed the guy to let him know he'd sent the wrong one and even offered to cover the price difference if he wanted to invoice me. He let it ride... I gotta say, after just one use I liked the brush so much I went back for another Mistura in Taj Resin... what can I say, I really like this mixed knot!

I did the same thing....butterscotch first then the Taj. The mixed knot is the bomb.
 

linty1

My wallet cries.
Didn't mean to leave you hanging, I didn't know if I could post where I bought the brushes from here in the forums so I sent you a message. It wasn't Amazon.

You can say it, it was Bullgoose, and I beleive? he has an account here, I did see him (I wanna say his name is Peter, but my memory is not good) a few weeks ago posting. From what I know, a standup vendor, as you found out. I'm glad it worked out for you, enjoy the shaves!
 
I've been curious about the new Semogue line, particularly the horse knots, so I broke down and ordered the Galahad g3 premium black horse, the Pharos g3 pure black horse, and the Torga c3 finest mistura. In looking at the tips of each brush before use with a 10x achromatic triplet loupe, the tips of the premium black horse and the pure black horse knots appeared to consist of finely tapered hairs blended with hairs that appear to have been clipped. The premium knot had more finely tapered hairs at the tip than clipped when compared to the pure knot. This differs from the Vie-Long horse-hair knots in that the Vie-Long 50/50, 33/66, and 25/75 mane-to-tail blends all consist of finely tapered hairs without any noticeable clipping. The tips of the Torga mistura knot as viewed with the loupe revealed the badger hairs as tapering to a fine tip with the boar tips already starting to split. It would seem that some sort of prior treatment is being applied there during manufacture and may account for the claims that little or no break-in period is required straight out of the box. As far as animal smell goes, I did not detect any at the start; indeed, it seemed that a little bit of perfume might have been applied to mitigate matters here.

In order to clean them a little as received, I gave each of them a test-lather, palm-lathering with Stirling sheep soap and following the same procedure in all cases, one exception being that I soaked the mistura knot a little bit longer in advance. Both the premium and the pure black horse behaved similarly, with lather left on the palm versus lather in the knot being pretty much the same. The mistura knot differed from this in being quicker to arrive at the desired result, plus having more lather in the knot relative to lather the same amount of lather left on the palm.

After rinsing and drying out, the horse knots now appear to smell a wee bit "horsey," the pure smelling just a little bit more "horsey" than the premium knot. The mistura, on the other hand, smells more like a new leather shoe as just purchased.

Here are a couple of shots of them, just out of the box, followed a first test lather comparison. I took a chance on the yellow-handled Pharos as it does not appear to have been shown by users on the forum before, and the product shot as advertised suggests a very loud coloration. Thankfully, it is not as loud as marketed, but it does have a fairly strong turmeric coloration, which I hope will fade a little through use.

P5210135-(PS-web-bis).jpg

P5210140-(PS-web).jpg
 
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