OldSaw
The wife's investment
I placed an order with Tryphon for a Speick shave stick and some single-edge blades, and he tossed in a free Arko stick. After reading this thread, I decided to see what the fuss was about.
It smells like Ivory soap to me - which I don't find offensive. My wife has extremely sensitive skin, and after many years of experimenting, found that Ivory was the only soap that did not eventually start irritating her skin. So I use Ivory soap daily. Arko smelled nice and pleasant - and the smell is nowhere near as strong once you lather with it.
In terms of performance, I was impressed. For such a cheap soap (comparable to the Williams mug soap I have come to despise), this stuff is incredible. The lather I was able to work up on my face using my Vulfix 660 medium pure brush (thanks to Lee Cantor for the recommendation) was very rich, slick, and cushiony. I got a great 3 pass shave with it. Honestly, even if you find the scent offensive, it is barely there in the lather. For ~$2, and for a tallow soap (I know there are a lot of you tallow snobs out there), it seems insane to not give this stuff a shot.
Incidentally, I got a large sized medicine bottle from my local pharmacy, wet one end of the soap, and smashed it into the inside of the lid of the bottle, so it stays and makes a nice handle. When I am done and have dried out the soap, I simply screw the bottle over the soap - perfect travel container. Incidentally, I do the same thing for the Speick shave stick - except you can use a smaller bottle, and it fits perfectly (discard the plastic handle that comes with that stick).
It is very pliable. I flattened mine by pushing the ends toward the middle and then pressed it into my Old Spice mug. It works great. My wife doesn't like the smell, but it does fade after a while.
Another thing I have done with an Arko stick was grate it with another soap that I liked the smell of, but didn't lather very well. The combination worked very well.