Tabac Shave Soap

I started using this soap last year but it didn't go too well as I mistakenly tried to use a pre-shave prep before it. I got back to it earlier this year though after purchasing a newer puck from fragrancex.com.

50 years old this year and made from the makers of 4711 and Acqua di Colonia, Maurer & Wirtz, there is not really much more I can say about this soap that has already been said. It's just simply the benchmark for soaps - what all soaps are compared to and what they aspire to be.

Any amount of water and it seems very forgiving - it lathers like anything. In fact the lather is so slick and thick you can actually hear - yes hear - your brush working it up. It just explodes out of the brush.

At first a new puck will smell very strongly. After a few shaves, this will disappear and settle to a much milder scent when dry. It still smells of course when you lather it up again. If the smell is too much at first, just stick it in your sock or underwear drawer which won't fill the room.

It's definitely one for the autumn / winter as the scent seems to be designed for that. No week is complete without at least one Tabac shave. Very moisturising and slick to say the least.

Finally, I'd like to put a few sentences together on what goes best with it. No soap review is complete without some text on what goes best with it. As I said at first, there is no need to use a pre shave for this soap. A good after shave for me has been Lotion Opaline, but on really cold days, it doesn't beat Roger & Gallet's L' Homme after shave balm. The Gentleman's Refinery Balm is also a good one to use. In terms of fragrances, the L'Homme by R&G is good, but I also like to use Zegna Extreme by Ermenegildo Zegna.

Ever since I began my wetshaving journey, I have experimented with various soaps and creams, trying to find "the one". I have used some great soaps that remain in my rotation now and then (Mama Bear's comes to mind), as well as creams (Tom's mint is fantastic during the summer). But as we all know, the quest is never truly over. After reading all the rave reviews for Tabac, I decided to give it a whirl. I ordered a sample from The Shave Den, along with some of their own soap samples. While their samples were very generously sized and performed admirably, they simply did not hold a candle to the Tabac.

For the money, you get an awful lot of soap in a classy ceramic bowl. I wouldn't mind a sealing lid, but that's a minor quibble. The scent is marvelous. Very distinctive and decidedly masculine, but timeless. I loved it so much that I bought the cologne. I can't stand the synthetic stench of Axe so adored by my fellow 20-somethings, and this stands out quite nicely.

At the end of the day, the lather is why I will keep this soap around for a long time. Even with my very modest Vulfix pure badger brush, I whipped up mountains of rich, cushioning lather with unprecedented ease from a meager amount of soap. It almost brought tears to my eyes. If you can't get good lather from this stuff, you're doing something very wrong. The shave is a treat. Effortless razor glide, no irritation. My face can be fragrance-sensitive, but this soap is no problem. It doesn't moisturize for me at all, but I always follow up my shave with Thayers SuperHazel and C.O. Bigelow unscented ASB, so it isn't a big deal. All in all, this stuff is a class act.

Tabac, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Somewhere, out there, there's a newcomer to wet shaving. He's checking out the B&B website, he's trying to figure out all this new information, he's thinking about picking up a shaving soap. He might even feel a overwhelmed at all the choices, and maybe a little alone.

He reads about Tabac and wonders, "Can all this be real? I've been let down by over-hyped products before."

He comes here and reads all the glowing reviews, and maybe thinks it's too good to true. He thinks that maybe, dreams are for others, and he's heard some talk about the scent being hard to take.

That's when when this little cricket clears his throat and sings his review:


When you finally try Tabac
You will find you can't go back
To the way that things once were
with your canned goo

Tabac's the soap that's in your dreams
No need for fancy shaving creams
Try a puck and you will see
My point of view

Fate is kind
She brings to all Tabacanists
The sweet fulfillment of comfortable shaving

It's shaving goodness through and through
Just wait, the scent will grow on you
When you finally try Tabac
Your dreams come true

After all, if you can't trust a talking insect dressed in vintage duds with a top hat, who can you trust?

Try Tabac, and always let your conscience be your guide.

Bought this after reading the glowing reviews. While checking out at the cash register, I opened up the package and took a whiff. Ugh! If the checkout lady hadn't already swiped my card, I would have put it back. After using this for a few weeks, though, I have to say - the scent has grown on me. Now I love it. My wife loves it too. It doesn't lather quite as easily as my AOS lemon cream, but is close. But this is much "slicker" than my AOS ever was. Tabac is now my go-to, and I love it every time I get to shave.

I love everything about this soap, especially the smell. And the lather is so protective and easy to develop. A few swirls with the old silvertip and it just explodes. Problem is, its hard to get in Australia. Sigh...

This is hands down my go to shave soap. It is the soap by which I judge all other soaps. I have tried several soaps and none of them shave me as smoothly with no bumps, nicks or weepers.

For the record I shave daily with this soap and it lasts forever. After two months of using it almost exclusively. I have barely made a dent in it.

All I can say, is BUY THIS SOAP...it will always have a regular spot in my rotation.

--Matt

I'm new to wet shaving and my brother sent me this...and I fell in love with it after one use!

This soap has not been much of a pleasure for me. First, the smell! It does smell like a cigar shoppe which is not my thing. Secondly, it just doesn't seem to make a very lubricating lather. I had rather used a stick or cream in place of a straight soap. Although, this one is better than some of the other soaps I have flirted with.

Amazing. My go to soap.

After reading all the reviews here, I was initially thoroughly disappointed by what I received in the post.

So ill start off by strongly disagreeing with several points in Joel's initial review.

The packaging is cheap. The bowl is cheap. The lid is made of plastic. So it is utter nonsense to suggest that the packaging or bowl are in any way superior to the supposedly "rickety fit like the british stuff". My british stuff is crafted out of real wood! Further, if you like a ceramic bowl, you can find a much better quality bowl/ramekin in any kitchen/homeware shop for a lot less money.

Now lets get started on the stink of the stuff. My word! As soon as you open the outer cardboard packaging, you are punched in your gag reflex with an overly pungent, sickly sweet, completely synthetic scent. It has to be the tackiest scent I have ever come across! By the time I lifted off the foil, I was already tempted to just chuck the thing in the bin.

Thankfully I didnt! Thankfully I listened to that little voice in the back of my head that reminded me that so many people just couldnt have got it so terribly wrong. So I grabbed my gear and hit the bathroom.

This is where tabac really showed what it is about, and where I start aggreeing wholeheartedly with Joel's review. It lathers up like a complete dream. It lathers far closer to a cream than the other (non tallow) soaps I have used. The shave was close, entirly irritation free, and the most pleasurable shave experience I have encountered.

Post shave, I was left with a very soft and well moisturised face. I would rate this even more favourably than my skin's response to trumper's coconut cream, which up until now has been the most well received by my skin. I have been feeling my face, and being impressed by how it feels for 2 days now (thats even with the development of significant stubble).

For these reasons, I am willing to forgive and overlook the only major shortcoming of this soap: its nauseating and tacky scent. Overall, this is not just a good soap. This is something truly special.

If i were to buy from scratch again, I wouldnt bother with the higher priced jar. I would go for the cheaper refill, and find a good fitting ramekin instead.

This whole experince has encouraged me to try and get hold of some Irisch Moos, which is apparently the same formulation, but smells nicer. Unfortunatley, I cannot find any UK suppliers. Please PM me if anyone has any insight into this.

This has also encouraged me to investigate other tallow formulations. Hell, sign me up to the TLC!

Price: The product is here in europe readily available (8 to 10 € for a puck, 15 € for the bowl incl. puck). The price of a puck is the same as many high quality shave soaps such as L'Occitane etc. If one does not have an issue with the lack of moisturizing properties of Tabac, the bowl incl. puck is a very nice deal.

Quality: Bowl, Puck, Packing all fine. Allthough the puck tends to change it's shape if not used daily. Maybe as it's drying out. My other soaps don't have this issue (it doesn't change it's performance though).

Scent: I like the scent very much. I even bought the AS and Deo.

Lather: Took me a while to get the proper lathering techniek, but once found, there is plenty of thick, creamy lather.

Efficacy: A shaving soap is effecient to me if it provides a smooth, irritation free shave preferably enjoying a great feel and scent. This soap lets me down on slikness, not assiting the blade enough to glide smoothly over the skin ending up with more irritation and dry skin then accepatable.

Moisturizing: That's the big issue with this soap. This soap sucks all softness, slikness and flexibility out of my skin, leaving it feeling very dry and sticky, forcing me to grab to high quality ASB to limit the damage and start the healing process.

Conclusion: I whish the soap would work for me as I like the scent and my father always used this shaving soap when I grew up so there is a part of nostalgy. However, since I have experienced other shaving soaps I noticed the huge difference in slikness and moisturizing performance, so the Tabac soap will lead a lonely existance in the back of my shave den.

I found this as a refill for less than I expected at http://www.deepdiscount.com , but it seems unavailable at present.

Quality? It's soap! I enjoyed the wrapper!

The scent is, impressive, manly, refreshing, barber-shop, old style and I love it! If you haven't yet, you need to make plans to give yourself this experience. It's well worth it.

The lather is outstanding. I can mix up it's dense, smooth lather very quickly and it's good for 4-5 passes of my trustworthy Futur using Astra blades on setting #1 - #4. Tabac's lather is smooth and it's high tallow content leaves my face nourished and smooth feeling all day. I have fairly sensitive skin so I can't enjoy Tabac every day but on that special day each week Tabac is my go to soap!

Although I've only recently expanded my soap den, Tabac continues to be my "go to" soap and my standard for comparison. While others may lather, smell and perform well at first, my Tabac is the only one (so far) that lasts and lasts with the lubrication we all seek. Excellent product!

I just bought my first piece of Tabac soap in a local store, and man... am I a happy shaver right now.

Price: very reasonable. The soap lasts for ages, but the price doesn't seem adapted to this fact. Which is good..

Quality: a good smelling, hard tallow/glycerine based soap in a great package. Superb moisturizing lather. Grade A+.

Scent: I am one of those brush sniffers. And while I really like the scent of Tabac (very spicey, but still mild) I like a little more intense scent that sticks to your brush. TOBS does this better IMO, but some might find this not something to look at.

Lather: I was shocked by the extreme creamy moisturizing lather I produced with my Semogue 2015HD Silvertip badger brush and the Tabac soap. I thought I only could do this with super lather! Well, I was proven wrong. The lather was shiny, very thick and lubricating. I had problems with making lather at first, as I'm not used to using soaps and the Tabac soap seems to need less water than my "De Vergulde Hand" soap.

Moisturizing: Tabac leaves my skin better moisturized and very smooth. Something to faceturbate at

Thanks Tabac!

Really, there is only one way to describe this soap, and it's FANTASTIC. I ordered it on Friday; I took the advice of many and bought it in the ceramic base. From it's arrival, I was impressed. Great packaging, as one would expect from a great product. First thing I had to do was remove the foil and take a whiff to see what everyone was ranting about...and really, it's not bad at all. Very soapy and clean smelling. But the true nature of this product is in the lather it produces and man, does it produce some lather! Shaving was an absolute joy. I achieved in my third/fourth week of DE shaving what I thought would take months: A near BBS, irritation-free shave. A totally awesome soap, 'nuff said.

I love this soap.

It has the distinct luxury feel about it. From the heavy bowl to the scent to the great lather; It a solid performer that makes it's way into my rotation all too frequently.

I used Tabac for the first time today, and MAN!!! I wish I hadn't waited so long to try it out, because it was so much fun to use. I've never had a soap this easy to make a rich lather from. EVER. It's probably going to end up as my mainstay soap, unless I can get ahold of some Sir Irisch Moos...but that's a different story altogether.

This has become my all time favorite everyday shaving soap. Many have tried to come up with what its scent is. From the moment I first smelled it I new I smelled this scent before. For me, it smells like oatmeal hand/face cleansing soap. Go figure. Pretty rich and pleasant. Quite solid stuff, too. Unlike glycerines, you can't melt it in your microwave too form fit it in a mug, but you really don't need too. It's such a heavy thick puck, it's not going anywhere if you have it in a mug or bowl. Mine did not come in the majorily provided bowl, just the cake. No problem. The lather it produces is awesome. Pretty thick, but not dry. My EJ/Feather blade glides right through it. Leaves me babyface smooth everytime. Trying this highly reputed brand was a great decision and has brought much more enjoyment too my DE shaving experience. If you haven't tried it yet - you really ought too. It's decently priced for a long lasting, high quality brand. And, the best I've ever used.

Great stuff. I was hesitant at first because everybody's comment about the scent. But it smells great. The lather is thick and I could of shaved all day without any irritation.

I intentionally avoided Tabac when I was first learning how to wet shave. After reading all the positive reviews, I was concerned that I would be too easily disappointed by other soaps and not venture out enough. Well after trying it, I can see why many feel that this is the standard by which other soaps should be judged. While I can't honestly give Tabac 10's in all areas, I agree that it is one of the best in class. I plan to always have it in my rotation from this point on.

I paid about $17 for the ceramic jar and soap. I wouldn't be surprised if the soap lasts over a year in my current rotation. I think you easily get what you pay for.

If what some other reviewers say is true, then it smells like Tabac cologne. According to the Basenotes website the scent is a rather complex mix. I can detect some of the floral carnation note and the musky basenotes. I generally use Aqua Velva Musk aftershave and Calving Klein Obsession EDT after shaving with it.

The lather is great, but sorry no 10. I have actually been able to make thicker and more lasting lather with SCS and Mama Bear's soaps. This sort of surprised me.

Efficacy- gives an excellent close shave like it is supposed to do.

It moisturized pretty well, but not like L'Occitane, SCS, or Mama Bear Soaps.

Still, I'm not sure that there is a perfect soap and would recommend it to any wet shaver with an interest in shaving soaps.