Pen's Blenheim Bouquet + Valobra stick

[Greg1911]

I've posted before about my favorite Frankensoap experiment - Pen's (reformulated) English Fern + Valobra Shave Stick.

After using this a couple times again recently, and digging the scent and performance, I decided to repeat the experiment with Blenheim Bouquet.

I'd never even smelled BB before, but if Winston Churchill thought highly of it, I was curious enough to order a refill puck. (It smells really good by the way)

The tools of the trade. I grate the entire puck and the entire stick which gives you 150 grams of soap flakes. (MWF is 120 grams for comparison)

I then mix the 2 soaps together using a folding motion. Believe it or not, two thirds of that soap will fit into the Pyrex bowl shown on the right.

A meat pounder and waxed paper are used to compress the soap into the container. It sets up pretty hard after you use it a couple times.

I have high hopes that this batch will perform as well as the EF+Valobra.

For what it's worth, I've never tried either of the reformulated Penhaligon's soaps by themselves. Reports have not been good, but adding the superb Valobra shave stick (which yields 2:1 Pens:Valobra) makes for an excellent performing combination.

Looking forward to trying it tomorrow

 

[rand77]

Awesome job, did you notice the scent of the Penhaligons fade when mixing it?

I recently mixed the English Fern with a La Toja stick (2:1 ratio, 100g Penhaligons with 50g La Toja), and the scent is a lot less intense than the original puck.

 

[Greg1911]

I'm sure it will fade some, but perhaps less than you'll find in an old tallow based puck (due to age).

IF you can even find the old tallow based pucks...

EF and La Toja could be a good combo (I like both scents)

 

[rand77]

I'm sure it will fade some, but perhaps less than you'll find in an old tallow based puck (due to age).

IF you can even find the old tallow based pucks...

EF and La Toja could be a good combo (I like both scents)

The EF scent dominates, I can't smell the La Toja at all. I chose La Toja because its lightly scented and I really like the performance. The frankensoap performs lathers into an amazing lather similar to La Toja, but with the scent of EF.

I have a tallow puck of EF and the frankensoap compares quite well actually.

 

[quietearth]

So, how does it become a hard puck? Do you stick it in the fridge? How long do you need to compress it like that for? Overnight? 5 minutes? Do you need to add water to it?

 

[Greg1911]

The EF scent dominates, I can't smell the La Toja at all. I chose La Toja because its lightly scented and I really like the performance. The frankensoap performs lathers into an amazing lather similar to La Toja, but with the scent of EF.

I have a tallow puck of EF and the frankensoap compares quite well actually.

Good to know re: the performance

So, how does it become a hard puck? Do you stick it in the fridge? How long do you need to compress it like that for? Overnight? 5 minutes? Do you need to add water to it?

I'm going to leave it in the Pyrex bowl. We're you thinking that it was just a mold?

 

[Greg1911]

Sadly, the performance of this experiment did not match the performance of the English Fern + Valobra.

The lather fades quickly and is quite thin. I have lots of leftover soap flakes so I'll try packing those into another bowl...who knows, maybe all the Valobra is in the rest of the flakes.

This confirms the rumors that some current Penhaligon shave soap is utter garbage.

 

[quietearth]

I just don't know how it goes from flakes of soap to a puck. Is there a tutorial somewhere?

 

[Galactimax]

I just don't know how it goes from flakes of soap to a puck. Is there a tutorial somewhere?

Pressure reforms the soap flakes into a hard puck in the bowl. Like Greg said he leaves it in the bowl so it isn't just a mold, it's also the new container for the soap.

 

[jwilock]

Pressure reforms the soap flakes into a hard puck in the bowl. Like Greg said he leaves it in the bowl so it isn't just a mold, it's also the new container for the soap.

... and to the extent it's not completely formed up at first a few uses and a little water seeping into it will finish the job