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My First Impressions With Tabac

Constantly, as many of you may agree, I see a whole lot of praise with Tabac, especially the stick. So I've been itching to try it. Finally picked up a stick. Here are my first thoughts.

Scent: I'm a bit surprised, but also a bit disappointed. I wasn't quite sure what to expect for scent, maybe something kind of like Alt-Innsbruk, but not what I got.
I recall seeing that you're either a lover of it, or you hate it. I don't love it, but I also can't say I hate it. It's very old school and it reminds me of old smells at the grandparents when I was a kid, which I do like that. The scent also isn't very powerful to me. I really enjoy good smelling products.

Lathering: It lathered extremely well. I was kind of shocked at how well it lathered, actually. That said, I learned I do not like face lathering at all. Doesn't feel good to me. Could have been the brush(Progress Vulfix Badger), but all I have otherwise is a synthetic, and I figure that might be scratchier?

Shave: It was great. One of the slickest I've ever had. Got a sample pack of Big Ben blades that I got as well that I used which was real nice.

All in all, I feel like I would be more inclined to use it if I got a puck instead of the stick. I will try again, but I also got a handful of Stirling samples to have fun with.
 

Hannah's Dad

I Can See Better Than Bigfoot.
Constantly, as many of you may agree, I see a whole lot of praise with Tabac, especially the stick. So I've been itching to try it. Finally picked up a stick. Here are my first thoughts.

Scent: I'm a bit surprised, but also a bit disappointed. I wasn't quite sure what to expect for scent, maybe something kind of like Alt-Innsbruk, but not what I got.
I recall seeing that you're either a lover of it, or you hate it. I don't love it, but I also can't say I hate it. It's very old school and it reminds me of old smells at the grandparents when I was a kid, which I do like that. The scent also isn't very powerful to me. I really enjoy good smelling products.

Lathering: It lathered extremely well. I was kind of shocked at how well it lathered, actually. That said, I learned I do not like face lathering at all. Doesn't feel good to me. Could have been the brush(Progress Vulfix Badger), but all I have otherwise is a synthetic, and I figure that might be scratchier?

Shave: It was great. One of the slickest I've ever had. Got a sample pack of Big Ben blades that I got as well that I used which was real nice.

All in all, I feel like I would be more inclined to use it if I got a puck instead of the stick. I will try again, but I also got a handful of Stirling samples to have fun with.
Great review!
 
Try face lathering again with your synthetic; depending on your brush, the tips are generally softer than badgers. I use the Tabac stick exclusively for travel.

That said, if you absolutely hate the stick, you can slice it up like cucumbers into a bowl, smash them together, and you have an instant puck.
 
Thanks for sharing your experience. Tabac is a classic that lathers very well, the scent... well the scent is pretty polarizing - some love it, some hate it.

Agree with the post above, if you don't enjoy the stick, slice it up or grate it into a bowl and load like any other soap. Enjoy the other samples you have. Tabac is a classic.
 
Cool review!

My biggest problem with the scent is that, for a soap, it lasts a really long time. Sometimes when I shave in the early morning, I still catch wafts of it by the end of the afternoon. That’s a bit much. Other than that though, stellar performance.

You should really give your synthetic a try for face lathering, I have a feeling it could change your mind.
 
Can anybody compare the scent of tabac to that of la Toja. I’ve never smelled Tabac but I get a slight flower turned into an ashtray at the bottom of an old purse from la Toja
 
I am trying that sometimes myself. I am calling it "palm-lathering".
This works but I don't do it because I straight razor shave and I need both hands. For DE it works fine.
But I love blwl lathering andmdnt understand why people complain about having to rinse out the bowl. You have to rinse out your brush, too. I use the bowl to help me rinse out the brush. Voila! Both are clean in the same amount of time it would take to adequately rinse the brush.
 
Very cool to see a review from someone who hasn't tried Tabac before. Since you don't hate the scent right off the bat, I am guessing you will grow to like it more with each use! I love the scent, and find the performance comparable to my favorites like Stirling.
 
Very cool to see a review from someone who hasn't tried Tabac before. Since you don't hate the scent right off the bat, I am guessing you will grow to like it more with each use! I love the scent, and find the performance comparable to my favorites like Stirling.

I gave it a smell this morning and it’s definitely more intense after getting some use, which I was hoping for.
I also expect the scent to grow on me, but I also thought the same with Clubman Special Reserve, but that didn’t work out.
 
Can anybody compare the scent of tabac to that of la Toja. I’ve never smelled Tabac but I get a slight flower turned into an ashtray at the bottom of an old purse from la Toja

I'd describe it as having prominent powdery and floral notes along with dry musky undertones and a little bit of spice to balance it out.

The old tallow formula had an additional (somewhat enigmatic) "musty" quality to it as well. This, along with the floral and powder notes, is what I think led some to draw comparisons to an old lady's purse.

The new non-tallow formula has a distinctly brighter profile, although still not what I would call a "modern" scent.

Worth nothing, although I could be wrong about this, I'm not sure that the Tabac scent actually has any true tobacco notes. It is possible there is tobacco flower in that floral mix, but I don't have the nose to detect it. OP mentioned he didn't detect anything reminiscent of Alt Innsbruck in it himself fwiw.
 
The first time i smelled tabac out of the jar i was taken aback. First shave though i loved it immediately and i still do today. I like some variety so i use a couple other soaps, but i would have zero problems if i used Tabac every single day. The scent becomes more mellow as you use it. I don't get the ash tray comments at all. There is nothing smoky or cigarette smell with Tabac at all.
 
I'd describe it as having prominent powdery and floral notes along with dry musky undertones and a little bit of spice to balance it out.

The old tallow formula had an additional (somewhat enigmatic) "musty" quality to it as well. This, along with the floral and powder notes, is what I think led some to draw comparisons to an old lady's purse.

The new non-tallow formula has a distinctly brighter profile, although still not what I would call a "modern" scent.

Worth nothing, although I could be wrong about this, I'm not sure that the Tabac scent actually has any true tobacco notes. It is possible there is tobacco flower in that floral mix, but I don't have the nose to detect it. OP mentioned he didn't detect anything reminiscent of Alt Innsbruck in it himself fwiw.

Old lady’s purse. I couldn’t come up with a better comparison myself.
 
The first time i smelled tabac out of the jar i was taken aback. First shave though i loved it immediately and i still do today. I like some variety so i use a couple other soaps, but i would have zero problems if i used Tabac every single day. The scent becomes more mellow as you use it. I don't get the ash tray comments at all. There is nothing smoky or cigarette smell with Tabac at all.

I also don’t get any ash tray notes either. I once bought DR Harris Marlborough and as I had said in a different thread, it smells like the ashtray of that old Buick that’s been sitting in the bush for 30 years. I had to dump that one out.
 
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I finally tried some when the tallow formula was going away for the pucks. I thought I would hate the scent. It's fine. It's pretty pungent, but I can deal with it. The shaves were great. Like a few other good soaps, pretty much impossible to screw up. The one thing I don't like is how the scent clings to my brushes.
 
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