A Never Talked About Soap: Bath House Cuban Cedar & Lime

[nav]

I'm a real big fan of hard, milled shaving soaps and recently wanted to try out some soaps that really don't get any airtime on the forums (I recently posted a review of the Baume.be soap, which was a TOTAL DUD!!). In fact, I wasn't able to find any forum reviews on this soap from Bath House.

So, in a blind purchase, I ordered the Cuban Cedar & Lime soap. I was half expecting a dud but I was also hopeful that a soap that has been on the market for many years may actually perform well (although we know what the likes of GFT et al have done to their soaps!).

Anyhow, upon opening the box, I was greeted by such a wonderful scent! It's not at all simple and one dimensional as the name would suggest. It's a beautiful hit of zesty lime and grapefruit (I am guessing the bergamot contributed to the zesty citrus notes also). These top notes are backed up by very mild spicy notes and slightly stronger wood notes. It is so refreshing and also complex. I really, really enjoyed the scent! The best part is that the scent is the same when lathered up and the scrength also remains when lathered (I'd say it's medium to mildly strong).

Now to the performance...to my relief and delight, it lathered up absolutely fantastically! The proto-lather was so thick that I was excited by that stage. I proceeded to face lather and it exploded into really creamy, slick lather. It can take a LOT of water!! I loaded the brush less in subsequent use!

Overall, I'm so glad I got this soap and it will always be in my rotation. I also have their Spanish Fig and Nutmeg on the way. I'd highly recommend the soap to anyone!

 

[cryhavoc]

I've been intrigued by their Spanish Fig and Nutmeg but never pulled the trigger on it. Please post your impression of it as I've not seen a review of it in some time.

 

[Phog Allen]

Nav , good show. I remembered the Spanish Fig & Nutmeg as it is prominently displayed at many vendors Web sites. I had completely forgotten about the other scent. I wanted to try the former but have been so gun shy of commercial milled veg soaps these last five years I never got around to trying it. It may yet make an appearance in the shave den. Thank you for you insights.

 

[nav]

I've been intrigued by their Spanish Fig and Nutmeg but never pulled the trigger on it. Please post your impression of it as I've not seen a review of it in some time.

I confirmed it's the same soap base with the manufacturer so I'd say dive right in!
The soap lathers up a dream!

Nav , good show. I remembered the Spanish Fig & Nutmeg as it is prominently displayed at many vendors Web sites. I had completely forgotten about the other scent. I wanted to try the former but have been so gun shy of commercial milled veg soaps these last five years I never got around to trying it. It may yet make an appearance in the shave den. Thank you for you insights.

Todd, you should give it go. I have really found it to be a great lathering soap, unlike a lot of soaps that have been reformulated to death!

In fact, the bath house soap lathers up like the awesome GFT potassium stearate (1st ingredient) soaps (their first vegetal soap after discontinuing tallow base. One of the best ever vegetal soaps ever IME. Can't believe they decimated this base!).

I know what you mean about being gun shy of milled soaps. Most of them are rubbish! From the UK, we still have MWF which is amazing, DR Harris are still awesome, TOBS is excellent.

I have another soap from the UK that's never ever talked about which has also turned out surprisingly great.

I'll post a review in coming days.

 

[kingfisher]

As I recall, everyone pretty much loved the scent of Spanish Fig and Nutmeg when it first came out, years ago, but reviews of the lather were mixed and mostly bad. Thin, disappearing lather was a recurring theme.

I wonder if they changed the formula or if you are just the shaving soap whisperer?

 

[DEdestroyer77]

I had the cream version of the Fig scent, great scent dreadful shave. then again I dont get good shaves from any cream I've ever tried, might have to give the puck a whirl because I really did like the scent

 

[nav]

As I recall, everyone pretty much loved the scent of Spanish Fig and Nutmeg when it first came out, years ago, but reviews of the lather were mixed and mostly bad. Thin, disappearing lather was a recurring theme.

I wonder if they changed the formula or if you are just the shaving soap whisperer?

I was also expecting a dud but i lathered it up like any other soap and got a rich and creamy lather.

I couldn't be happier with how it turned out.

 

[GoodOutcome]

I have the Spanish Fig & Nutmeg SC (more of a croap) and it lathers and moisturizes very well. Scent is also nice, but unfortunately I'm sensitive to one of the ingredients as I get some burning.
I ordered the Cuban Cedar & Lime for this reason. Good to know it works well!

 

[nav]

I have the Spanish Fig & Nutmeg SC (more of a croap) and it lathers and moisturizes very well. Scent is also nice, but unfortunately I'm sensitive to one of the ingredients as I get some burning.
I ordered the Cuban Cedar & Lime for this reason. Good to know it works well!

I'm sure you'll love the cedar lime (although I'd rather describe it as zesty grapefruit on a smokey, musky base).

I'm sensitive to cinnamon so I'm concerned the nutmeg will cause me issues as it's a close relative of cinnamon. Fingers crossed it goes ok.

 

[BigJ]

Excellent review! Thanks.

 

[nav]

Excellent review! Thanks.

Thanks mate. Hope it helped.

 

[Abz88]

Decided to buy this soap based on this review and another thread "Declining sales at the, "Three T's?"" where @nav mentioned it was a solid perform but often overlooked. I had a non-shaving day today so decided to test lather it. First up it has a great smell with a mix of citrus (mixed citrus scents as opposed to purely lime) and cedar first up then musky/leather undertones. Its not a smack you in the face overpowering type scent, its a bit more subtle but very pleasant to use. It lathered up very easily into a nice creamy lather, painted it on my cheeks and faffed around for 5 minutes, came back and it was still there with no signs of it dissipating and it felt like it would be quite slick.

I'll be moving it into my rotation in about a months time so will update with how the shave goes, but based on my test lather I've already pulled the trigger on a puck of their Spanish Fig & Nutmeg soap.

 

[nav]

Decided to buy this soap based on this review and another thread "Declining sales at the, "Three T's?"" where @nav mentioned it was a solid perform but often overlooked. I had a non-shaving day today so decided to test lather it. First up it has a great smell with a mix of citrus (mixed citrus scents as opposed to purely lime) and cedar first up then musky/leather undertones. Its not a smack you in the face overpowering type scent, its a bit more subtle but very pleasant to use. It lathered up very easily into a nice creamy lather, painted it on my cheeks and faffed around for 5 minutes, came back and it was still there with no signs of it dissipating and it felt like it would be quite slick.

I'll be moving it into my rotation in about a months time so will update with how the shave goes, but based on my test lather I've already pulled the trigger on a puck of their Spanish Fig & Nutmeg soap.

Oh, that's great!!
I'm glad it passed the lather test. It really does lather up nice and creamy.

I used the fig and nutmeg a few days back. What a great experience!

It's a treat to use both the bath house soaps when they come up in rotation.

 

[Abz88]

The one thing that I find odd about the two Bath House soaps is that there is a matching Spanish Fig & Nutmeg Aftershave balm but not a matching Cuban Cedar & Lime balm. Given how nice he scent is, I would have happily purchased a Cuban Cedar & Lime aftershave balm!

 

[Matt O]

Gents,

can someone post a picture or two of this lather? The scents sounds great!

Vr

Matt