Okay, this topic has come up at least a thousand times before but I'm too lazy to do a search.
Until now, in spite of its reputation as a monster latherer I have been staying away from Tabac for 1) its price and 2) comments people make about its scent.
Well, I finally broke down a bought a used puck at a great price from a very nice gentleman on this board.
As a precaution, I used my 'least favorite' boar brush with it this morning, and, by gum, its reputation as a latherer IS well deserved. Never has so much been generated by so small a puck with so little effort. It foams up like a junkyard dog in Michael Vick's kennel. It beats my Cade, Mama Bear's, MFW and Proraro hands down.
BUT...as Lynyrd Synyrd once sang: "Ooooooo, that smell!"
I could smell the thing through the mail package wrapping. The postman held it away from his with two fingers whilst slipping it through the slot. It was wrapped in ten wraps of plastic and its aroma STILL overcome my living room, I plopped into a plastic container, sealed it tight, and I could SEE the scent trying to shake its way out.
I've read the comments from people who describe its smell as 'pumpkinlike' of other. To me, it smells like an old barn crowded with horses, cows, sheep, badgers and boars that have just come in from the rain. It smells like a new shaving brush before you wash it to get the sweat stink out. It smells like a high school the locker room. This stuff is PUNGENT! Just WHAT was the manufacturer thinking?
In spite of its olfactory-assaulting qualities, I really want to keep this for its amazing lather and not sell it. But how do I deal with the smell? Put a clothespin on my nose? Have my scent glands removed? Douse the puck with Lysol? Conduct an exorcism? Any suggestions from you Tabac-odor hating veterans?
Jeff in Boston
Until now, in spite of its reputation as a monster latherer I have been staying away from Tabac for 1) its price and 2) comments people make about its scent.
Well, I finally broke down a bought a used puck at a great price from a very nice gentleman on this board.
As a precaution, I used my 'least favorite' boar brush with it this morning, and, by gum, its reputation as a latherer IS well deserved. Never has so much been generated by so small a puck with so little effort. It foams up like a junkyard dog in Michael Vick's kennel. It beats my Cade, Mama Bear's, MFW and Proraro hands down.
BUT...as Lynyrd Synyrd once sang: "Ooooooo, that smell!"
I could smell the thing through the mail package wrapping. The postman held it away from his with two fingers whilst slipping it through the slot. It was wrapped in ten wraps of plastic and its aroma STILL overcome my living room, I plopped into a plastic container, sealed it tight, and I could SEE the scent trying to shake its way out.
I've read the comments from people who describe its smell as 'pumpkinlike' of other. To me, it smells like an old barn crowded with horses, cows, sheep, badgers and boars that have just come in from the rain. It smells like a new shaving brush before you wash it to get the sweat stink out. It smells like a high school the locker room. This stuff is PUNGENT! Just WHAT was the manufacturer thinking?
In spite of its olfactory-assaulting qualities, I really want to keep this for its amazing lather and not sell it. But how do I deal with the smell? Put a clothespin on my nose? Have my scent glands removed? Douse the puck with Lysol? Conduct an exorcism? Any suggestions from you Tabac-odor hating veterans?
Jeff in Boston
