QED Sandalwood - The Holy Grail

[christhach]

I give up.

I have tried so many sandalwood soaps and creams and none hold a candle to the discontinued QED sandalwood in the scent department. It was the real deal - pure unadulterated sandalwood essential oil. Sort of a creamy woody scent. Simply divine (and I have smelled real sandalwood essential oil).

AOS - too "green" and cologne-y smelling
TOBS - love it, but that's sandalwood fragrance oil mixed with all kinds of other stuff
Cyril R. Salter - too much cinnamon and spices
Pedal Pushers Fancies - that's fragrance oil mixed with amyris (a very earthy sandalwood like scent)
Phoenix Artisan Accouterments - same a Pedal Pushers (no surprise there)
OSP - similar to Salter, although points for a more natural scent
Razorock / TFS - a balsamic artificial sandalwood somewhat similar to TOBS
Catie's Bubbles - by FAR the closest interpretation....but they no longer make it!!!

Can someone help???? If I obtain the sandalwood soap from DR Harris, will I finally have found the holy grail again? Could Trumper's possibly fit the bill? (doubtful) Maybe Mystic Waters would scratch my itch?


Ah, the trials and tribulations of wetshaving!

 

[Lightcs1776]

The DR Harris is quite good. I also absolutely love TOBS. The Arlington is a great mix between Sandalwood and Cedarwood. Excellent creams, although none have the sickness of Haslinger.

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[bigred80]

Chiseled Face sandalwood
Haslinger sandalwood (mild but great soap)
Cold River Soap Works sandalwood

All great soaps

good luck finding your happy place

 

[PhilC]

The DR Harris is quite good. I also absolutely love TOBS. The Arlington is a great mix between Sandalwood and Cedarwood. Excellent creams, although none have the sickness of Haslinger.

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*Marlborough. Arlington is citrusy and bright.

Agree CRSW and Haslinger. Both natural with Haslinger being much milder, but an awesome soap.

 

[TAM340R]

Perso i tried many Sandalwood soaps and creams ....for the time being my favorite is the Proraso red!

tam

 

[Lightcs1776]

*Marlborough. Arlington is citrusy and bright.

Agree CRSW and Haslinger. Both natural with Haslinger being much milder, but an awesome soap.

Yes, Marlborough. Thanks for the correction.

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[wiemelen]

I have the Razormaster Sandelwood and Prorazo red on the way.
Have tried others with Sandelwood, but so far I only likes the TOBS.
Unfortunately I don't have a clue what the QED smells like, so I can't help you out there.

 

[BSAGuy]

Good luck on your quest.

 

[christhach]

Thanks guys! Really appreciate the suggestions. I think I am going to give Cold River Soap Works a shot as I've heard nothing but good things about their soaps. Just want to emphasize one point: my description of the product scents I mentioned in no way reflects my opinion on their quality and efficacy as shaving soaps. In fact, I like them all. Just in the scent department, they are not what I am looking for. Special shout out to OSP (a newer vendor from England). The soap itself is one of the best I've ever use. It's in my top 5 out of 60+ soaps.

 

[Scritchnscrub]

I'm with you. I used to keep an open stick of QED sandalwood on my desk and found myself reaching for it regularly for a deeper whiff. The only thing that I ever smelled that even came close was the original AOS tallow sandalwood - the new scent isn't as good. If you find something please message me!

 

[christhach]

Definitely will do!

I'm with you. I used to keep an open stick of QED sandalwood on my desk and found myself reaching for it regularly for a deeper whiff. The only thing that I ever smelled that even came close was the original AOS tallow sandalwood - the new scent isn't as good. If you find something please message me!

 

[BigJ]

Another vote for Haslinger's sandalwood! Mild scent in a top performer for me!

 

[bkatbamna]

Perso i tried many Sandalwood soaps and creams ....for the time being my favorite is the Proraso red!

tam

Proraso has sandlewood oil. When I first used it my wife didn't realize that I had used it and said something to the effect that "wow, where is that sandlewood smell coming from."

 

[gobeavs]

I threw in a sample of Stirling's sandalwood with my order this morning. I'm hoping it kicks A.

 

[xillion]

Try Queen Charlotte Mysore Sandalwood.

http://www.queencharlottesoaps.com/Mysore-Sandalwood_p_27.html

 

[NickMach007]

I've also tried a lot of sandalwood scents:
Soaps- first Canadian, Stirling, AOS (old formula), mystic water, CRSW
Creams- TOBS, Geo F Trumper, Cyril Salter, DR Harris, Truefitt &Hill, Edwin Jagger, Piccadilly, Proraso

IMO, you have come to the right decision. Just based on scent CRSW is league's ahead for my nose. It is very natural smelling. Mellow creamy sandalwood with a hint a woodiness (cedar?). Unfortunately, you will have to wait until CRSW restocks in 2017. Nice matching aftershave too by the way.

 

[clyde72]

Is this what you all are talking about

http://www.qedusa.com/qedman-qedman-artisan-shaving-soap-sandalwood-p-904.html

 

[ouch]

I think I still have some QED sandalwood soap somewhere at the bottom of an endless pile of tubs. Not only does it smell great, it's one of the best performing glycerin soaps.

 

[Duke of Buckingham]

A couple of suggestions:

I've not shaved with it yet (one of a number of Christmas presents) but PannaCrema San Francesco smells - from the tub - of sandalwood with a hint of incense and spice.

And there's Fine's Santal Absolut. I've not even sniffed a puck, but it's supposed to be based on the AOS sandalwood.

I've used the Proraso sandalwood soap and cream - very earthy scent - and the AS, which is much more cologne-y.

 

[christhach]

Is this what you all are talking about

http://www.qedusa.com/qedman-qedman-artisan-shaving-soap-sandalwood-p-904.html

Great find, but sadly no. QED reformulated their soaps a few years back and I haven’t tried this new version. Looking at the ingredients, I would guess that the reformulation probably performs a lot better because the old version was a straight melt and pour glycerin based soap (not such a fan of those).

Anyway, I didn’t bother trying it because it lists Amyris as a key ingredient, which has been blended with other sandalwoods. Now Amyris, also known as West Indian Sandalwood, has a very earthy, woody scent. Almost all Sandalwood soaps and creams use Amyris essential oil, or artificial fragrance oils, as their primary scent ingredient simply because they are MUCH less expensive than the gold standard: Santalum album (also known as white or East Indian Sandalwood). The original QED melt and pour soap had 100% Santalum Album. The scent was simply sublime, and quite different than Amyris, artificial fragrance oil, or even Australian Sandalwood, which is another much cheaper (and in my opinion inferior) sandalwood essential oil. I have been chasing the divine scent of Santalum Album ever since.

Unfortunately, Santalum Album has become ridiculously expensive over the past five years (believe it was being overharvested, became endangered, and now there is a strict quota on how much can be harvested, which really is a good thing, but hence the price increase). So, I understand why soap makers have decided to not use it.

Anyway, sorry, I probably gave you waaaaayyyyyy more info. than you wanted to know. What can I say, I am a fragrance geek! Any way, if CRSW doesn’t work out, I think I am just gonna shell out some cash in a couple of years, by some Santalum Album, and mix it with a fragrance free cream. Thanks again to everyone for the great feedback!!!! B&B Rules!!!!