Taylor's Herbal Pre-Shave gel

I have been wetshaving for many years and know my beard extremely well. I have a very tough, coarse beard and have tried many pre-shave products including Proraso, many oils and other products. I was recommended this by a barber in the Gentlemans Shop so I had to try it.
I have to admit I was sceptical at first but boy was I surprised. This stuff softens my beard like nothing else and even prolongs the life of blades because it works so well. You need to let it "soak" for a few minutes but I have never used a product that has made such a difference to my beard prior to shaving.
It might not make such a difference to softer beards but I can tell you from experience that it significantly softens your stubble if you are in my category.
It knocks spots off Proraso pre/post shave and anything else I have tried and I couldn't imagine shaving without it now.
It might not smell the best, or come in the fanciest container, but it is the most effective shaving product I have tried in 27 years of shaving and I have tried plenty!
N.B It doesn't lather or moisturise but I wasn't going to mark it down for that.

I am a great fan of many of TOBS products. This, however, isn't one of them. I detected no improvement in lubrication when I used this product. In fact, on multiple passes it seemed to slow down the razor, kind of making your skin 'squeaky clean', causing the razor to skip.

If there is an effective pre-shave oil or gel out there, this isn't it.

I got this when I first got into wetshaving figuring that anything that added to the softening and lubricating of the beard would make for a better shave. As with 66.6% of the preshaves I've tried (2 out of 3), this really doesn't do anything for the shave.
The gel comes in a small plastic puck as shown below

nothing special about the packaging, but it fits the bill. When you open the preshave you get a clear amber gel that smells primarily of rosemary.

according to classicshaving.com, you're supposed to apply to the beard and let it soak in for 2 minutes while you're whipping up lather, loading your blade, etc. Then apply shaving cream (it is safe for brushes, the primary reason I tried it). When you put it on, it's got a slight warming sensation, which makes me think it most likely has some pepper in it, but besides that, any improvement you might get I would think would be a placebo affect from adding one more component to your shave. I used it the first two weeks I had it, thought it was fantastic because my shaves were so good, then forgot to pack it when I went on the road, and still got great shaves with just cream and ASB. At that point I decided to give the proraso pre-post a whirl, and noticed that it did soften my hairs quite a bit more, as my shave became much quieter. I then went back to the Taylor's and definitely noticed an increase in the sound (louder) and feel (tougher). As far as I'm concerned, pre-shaves are pretty much an unnecessary luxury, and I wouldn't go spending $19.99 on something that slightly warms your face and adds another step to your shave. If you want to try a pre-shave, I'd go with proraso as it is much cheaper, does soften the hair a bit, and gives you that great cool tingly feeling on your face. Pass on the Taylor's herbal pre-shave gel.