tankerjohn
A little poofier than I prefer
If you've seen any of my other threads on Long Rifle soap, you know I've taken the proverbial plunge into Long Rifle's offerings this fall and winter. Well now I've plunged a little deeper. Everyone kept talking about Brown Bess, so I wanted to give it try myself. At 12 bucks and free shipping from West Coast Shaving, it was easy enough to get past SWMBO.
Leaving aside that the real world "Brown Bess" was a musket, not a long rifle... And an English musket, no less - not 'Merican... And further putting aside that I would expect a woody and smoky, maybe gunpowerdy, scent from a soap named after an 18th century musket... this is a really great soap! I am not disappointed. The scent is black cherry, pipe tobacco, and leather. To my nose, the cherry is front and center and the tobacco and leather are playing the background, giving the sweet cherry some depth and preventing it from turning into a gourmand. I wish the leather was a bit more prominent, but that's probably just my nose.
A note on the packaging. Yes, the 3 oz pour-in tub that WCS sells is pretty small. Its actually a bit smaller than the red tub of Cella, if that gives you any idea. Ideally, I'd want to scoop it out into a mug, but I don't have any mug space free at the moment, so I left it in the tub. Loading from the tub was fine, but there's not enough room to get a good prelather going. Aside from the size, its a pretty solid package. The plastic is nice and thick, and the graphics are classy and waterproof. Of the three ways Long Rifle packages soap - 3 oz puck, 6 oz pour, and 3 oz pour - I like this one least. However, since WCS ships for free and its the only one they carry, its also the most economical. So go figure.
Sorry for not having any pics ready to go. Honestly, it looks just like the other soaps that I've posted. You guys have seen lather porn before. The lather performance was excellent. Post-shave feel is outstanding for a non-lanolin soap. Really the standout here is the scent. Voyageur is an excellent fougere scent, but there's lots of awesome fougere/barbershop scents out there. Leatherstocking is a great woody scent, but there's lots of those too. Brown Bess really is quite unique. There might be something similar that I'm just not familiar with; the world of artisan soap is pretty big. But on the whole, I'd say if you wanted to give Long Rifle a try and you want something that will likely standout scent-wise from the other soaps in your stash, this would be a good one.
Leaving aside that the real world "Brown Bess" was a musket, not a long rifle... And an English musket, no less - not 'Merican... And further putting aside that I would expect a woody and smoky, maybe gunpowerdy, scent from a soap named after an 18th century musket... this is a really great soap! I am not disappointed. The scent is black cherry, pipe tobacco, and leather. To my nose, the cherry is front and center and the tobacco and leather are playing the background, giving the sweet cherry some depth and preventing it from turning into a gourmand. I wish the leather was a bit more prominent, but that's probably just my nose.
A note on the packaging. Yes, the 3 oz pour-in tub that WCS sells is pretty small. Its actually a bit smaller than the red tub of Cella, if that gives you any idea. Ideally, I'd want to scoop it out into a mug, but I don't have any mug space free at the moment, so I left it in the tub. Loading from the tub was fine, but there's not enough room to get a good prelather going. Aside from the size, its a pretty solid package. The plastic is nice and thick, and the graphics are classy and waterproof. Of the three ways Long Rifle packages soap - 3 oz puck, 6 oz pour, and 3 oz pour - I like this one least. However, since WCS ships for free and its the only one they carry, its also the most economical. So go figure.
Sorry for not having any pics ready to go. Honestly, it looks just like the other soaps that I've posted. You guys have seen lather porn before. The lather performance was excellent. Post-shave feel is outstanding for a non-lanolin soap. Really the standout here is the scent. Voyageur is an excellent fougere scent, but there's lots of awesome fougere/barbershop scents out there. Leatherstocking is a great woody scent, but there's lots of those too. Brown Bess really is quite unique. There might be something similar that I'm just not familiar with; the world of artisan soap is pretty big. But on the whole, I'd say if you wanted to give Long Rifle a try and you want something that will likely standout scent-wise from the other soaps in your stash, this would be a good one.
