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Bootleggers Bay Rum review

Moderator G.W. was kind enough to send me a fresh sample of Bootleggers Bay Rum that he had just mixed. Free of charge - plus he paid shipping. Very generous.
All he asked was that I post a review of the stuff - gold, warts, and all.

I have tried only a few other bay rums (Clubman, Superior 70, and one of my own mixes), so I have very little basis to compare. Want to try ebarbershop's branded Bay Rum, but at this point I haven't gotten it yet.

First impressions: Not bad out of the bottle. A bit clovey, but that's not a killer for me. Straight Clubman was a bit too strong on the cloves - this blend mellows that out alot. Much more "background" to the scent than straight Superior 70 - a fuller, more complex aroma. Not bad overall. The Mrs. said it smelled nice, but not nice enough to warrant buying a full bottle.
Only lasted about 30-45 minutes. Kinda short.
For comparison, straight Superior 70 is still noticeable at 2 hours. My Bonney blend is less complex but has more bay, and lasts about 1 - 1 1/2 hours.

We'll try it a few more times, and get back to you with any further comments.

My thanks again to G.W. :thumbsup:
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
Good review. Thanks for the info. As a certified Bay Rum addict, I love to hear feedback from others with the affliction!
 
Hey there, mister, how dare you call me a moderator? I see those guys comin', I cross the street. Hahaha.


Glad you gave this stuff a shot. Thanks for the write up on it, it's interesting to me to see different takes on this stuff. I like it, and as I mentioned in the Lime thread, I find the skin feel is good. Since you like playing with your own mixes anyway, tweak this one. Do some playing around and see what you come up with.
 
Also, the fact that you get such legs on Superior 70 is weird. Of the three ingredients, it's the one that fades the quickest on me. I think it's my favorite of the three, though. Very refreshing when you're a little grimy from working outside in the heat, I found.
 
Hey there, mister, how dare you call me a moderator? I see those guys comin', I cross the street. Hahaha.

Ooops - sorry! I used to hate it when people called me "Sir". Now even I can't ignore the gray, so, yeah - I've arrived at "Sir".

Reapplied in the afternoon. Got maybe 45 minutes out of it. Might try adding a few drops of glycerin, see if I can get some more skin soothing out of it. I've got fairly oily skin, so, I'd think A/S's would last on me.

What I'd really like is a Bay Rum that lasts like Avon Wild Country.:yikes:
 
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FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
Ooops - sorry! I used to hate it when people called me "Sir". Now even I can't ignore the gray, so, yeah - I've arrived at "Sir".

Reapplied in the afternoon. Got maybe 45 minutes out of it. Might try adding a few drops of glycerin, see if I can get some more skin soothing out of it. I've got fairly oily skin, so, I'd think A/S's would last on me.

What I'd really like is a Bay Rum that lasts like Avon Wild Country.:yikes:
The closest I've come to a long lasting Bay Rum is some vintage Avon mixed with vintage Avon Spicy, like 50/50. They mix together nicely, at least to me, and the Spicy really stretches out the longevity of the Bay Rum.... Maybe I should patent it, lol.
 

Ad Astra

The Instigator
First day of fall, I mixed up a batch ... noticed the Clubman BR has gotten a little darker after a couple years, so the Boot's BR is a little darker too.

I think it has decent hang time, but with aftershave it's definitely subjective.


AA
 

JCarr

More Deep Thoughts than Jack Handy
Reviewer said the scent didn't last long...what's the missing ingredient to make the scent last?
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
Reviewer said the scent didn't last long...what's the missing ingredient to make the scent last?
That's just the nature of the beast with most Bay Rums for most people. Vintage Avon is good, best I've tried, but it too fades kinda quick.
 

OkieStubble

Dirty Donuts are so Good.
Reviewer said the scent didn't last long...what's the missing ingredient to make the scent last?

All Bay Rums are fleeting. That’s why they are only made as aftershaves instead of colognes.

However, if Mixed in correct proportions of the recipe, I would put my Bootlegger’s Original Bay Rum against any other Bay Rum aftershave for longevity. My advice would be this. Naturally fleeting scents, especially bay rums and aftershaves which should not be considered to have cologne strength.

In saying this, the fleeting scent of bay rum will last longer on clothing then on skin. My suggestion would be, to put on your shirt after the shave and then splash the bay Rum on your face and then patting your wet hands dry on the chest area of your shirt.

Doing this, will increase the longevity of scent in any aftershave. Which isn’t meant to have cologne type longevity in the first place. :)
 

JCarr

More Deep Thoughts than Jack Handy
All Bay Rums are fleeting. That’s why they are only made as aftershaves instead of colognes.

However, if Mixed in correct proportions of the recipe, I would put my Bootlegger’s Original Bay Rum against any other Bay Rum aftershave for longevity. My advice would be this. Naturally fleeting scents, especially bay rums and aftershaves which should not be considered to have cologne strength.

In saying this, the fleeting scent of bay rum will last longer on clothing then on skin. My suggestion would be, to put on your shirt after the shave and then splash the bay Rum on your face and then patting your wet hands dry on the chest area of your shirt.

Doing this, will increase the longevity of scent in any aftershave. Which isn’t meant to have cologne type longevity in the first place. :)

Thanks for the reply. I'm starting to find that out as I've gone through so many over the years.

Not sure what it is about Olgallala, but even their aftershave when splashed on face and chest will last throughout the day. First listed ingredient is witch hazel.
 

JCarr

More Deep Thoughts than Jack Handy
Going to try the Bootlegger's formula posted frequently in these forums...but also going to try a batch with substituting Olgallala Double Strength Bay Rum for Superior 70 and see how that works. Worth a shot. Olgallala has the staying power I'm looking for. Giving it a try. Will let everyone know the results.
 

OkieStubble

Dirty Donuts are so Good.
Bootlegger’s was designed to take 3 cheap ordinary bay rum aftershaves and combine them to make a quality bay rum that could, can and does, stand up to other more expensive bay rums.

Ogallala is considered to be a more expensive bay rum. It should not need to be mixed? Bootlegger’s mixes are purposed to create a quality aftershave out of cheap and ordinary aftershaves, not take an aftershave that for the price of the amount you get, should already deliver a satisfying experience without mixing?

In my opinion, for the price you paid for that 4 ounces of Ogallala, shouldn’t it be giving you already what you are looking for without wasting the $13 dollars you paid for it by mixing it with Bootlegger’s?
 

JCarr

More Deep Thoughts than Jack Handy
Bootlegger’s was designed to take 3 cheap ordinary bay rum aftershaves and combine them to make a quality bay rum that could, can and does, stand up to other more expensive bay rums.

Ogallala is considered to be a more expensive bay rum. It should not need to be mixed? Bootlegger’s mixes are purposed to create a quality aftershave out of cheap and ordinary aftershaves, not take an aftershave that for the price of the amount you get, should already deliver a satisfying experience without mixing?

In my opinion, for the price you paid for that 4 ounces of Ogallala, shouldn’t it be giving you already what you are looking for without wasting the $13 dollars you paid for it by mixing it with Bootlegger’s?

I understand your logic, but may give this a try regardless. Will be trying the standard Bootlegger's formula out first though and really giving that a go.

Thanks for all the info!
 

OkieStubble

Dirty Donuts are so Good.
I understand your logic, but may give this a try regardless. Will be trying the standard Bootlegger's formula out first though and really giving that a go.

Thanks for all the info!


I hear ya. My logic when creating the Bootlegger's Series of aftershaves was to take 3 drug store bay rums which each one of them individually, had one or two good things going for them, but all also, seemed to be missing something. PVIBR, which isn't a real bay rum by the way (no real bay oil in it's ingredient list) had a nice spicy thing going for it, but didn't really have any face conditioning goodies in it, Had way too much clove, and also burned like hell fire upon application.

Master Bay Rum, had real bay oil, but was very weak and sickly sweet in scent. And while has glycerin for conditioning in it's ingredients list, The problem people had with it was it had TOO MUCH Glycerin in it. :) In fact, it has so much glycerin, the dry down is incredibly sticky and tacky.

Years ago, many were mixing these two 50/50 and had a name for it, and called it PinMaster. I always felt like it was missing something. It still felt tacky, was still too thick in it's overall spicyness and the huge amounts of Cinnamol in the PVIBR, still burned like hell fire upon application.

I began experimenting with other cheap additions of bay rum aftershaves. I wanted something natural and authentic, but had tried a whole host of other brands, Stephens, Lucky Tiger, Gabels and a few others, before finding a very little known product in the ethnic aisle of a Walgreen's drugstore called Superior 70. It was pretty much only alcohol, water and pure bay oil from Puerto Rico and was virtually unheard of in the shave forum at that time. I purchased 12 ounces of it for $1.99 at that time.

Mixing the three and letting them co-exist in the same bottle for a week, I realized that while the three individually had weaknesses, when combined a "synergistic reaction" took place. Synergy- the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.

I soon realized, the high alcohol content in the Superior 70 reduced the heavy, sticky glycerin in the Masters to a perfect level of conditioning, while the glycerin in the Master, reduced the cinnamol and clove in the PVIBR which stopped the hell fire burn and turned it into a very soothing elixir when applying to the face and neck. The pure bay oil in Superior 70 also added to the bay oil in the Master, giving the mix a very authentic and genuine bay rum scent, feel and vibe to the entire concoction. The PVIBR finished off this great mix by adding a rich, not too spicy scent and along with the glycerin in the Master, helped it to have quite the longevity for a bay rum aftershave.

Individually, most bay rums get complaints about their longevity, of anywhere from 30 seconds to just a few minutes. While if someone says Bootlegger's "only lasted on them for 45 minutes" others would say, 45 minutes! That's along time for a bay rum aftershave!

Bootlegger's Original Bay Rum gets reviews of scent longevity from 45 minutes to 2 hours. Some have even said "all day long." Pretty incredible for a fleeting bay rum if you ask me.

One of the pro's of Bootlegger's Original Bay Rum hardly discussed is, for about the same $20 price that you can buy 4 ounces of another brand, you can buy a 12 ounce bottle of Superior 70, a 15 ounce bottle of Master, and a 12 ounce bottle of Pinaud Virgin Island. The math would suggest, this is close to the possibility of a whopping 40 ounces of Bootlegger's Original Bay Rum for not much difference then 4 ounces of something else.

That's pretty much a lifetime supply of an excellent bay rum, with good conditioning, soothing, great scent and excellent longevity for a Bay Rum when all Bay Rums, are supposed to be very fleeting. If I was going to spend a good amount of money on an expensive aftershave, I wouldn't mix it with anything. It already needs to be, where I want it to be.

YMMV. :)
 
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JCarr

More Deep Thoughts than Jack Handy
I am very much looking forward to getting the ingredients this week and mixing up my first batch!
 

OkieStubble

Dirty Donuts are so Good.
I am very much looking forward to getting the ingredients this week and mixing up my first batch!

Let's do this right shall we? PM me your mailing address and I will send you some generous samples of the entire, Bootlegger's Series. :)
 
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I've gotten so used to straight Superior 70 that I don't even think about the longevity anymore. It smells nice, is refreshing, and dirt cheap. If I have to reapply after half an hour or before heading out the door it's no problem at all.
 
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