You're not buying water, it mostly gets removed. You get to add back only what you need.
Tabac is the best kept secret in shaving
- Thread starter Cino
- Start date
It makes it better according to soap makers. I remember this from few videos on how soap is made, not specific to shaving.
Adding back the water is no small thing. I've worn out a brush or two on hard soaps. I'm not sure you are really saving any money by being a penny pincher in this way.
It might be better for surviving in a shower... but that has nothing to do with shaving performance.
I use nothing but hard soaps and have never worn out a brush, and anyone who knows me would never call me a penny pincher. I buy and use whatever I like.
I used Tabac the other day for the first time in at least six months. I usually use the artisan soaps that you see mentioned all the time - WK, DG, GD, T&S. After all these years, Tabac is still one of my favorites. I happen to like the smell, and the slickness is outstanding. Some modern artisan soaps may best it in terms of post-shave feel, but I don't value that metric as highly as others do. I hope they never stop making it.
In my experience, hard milling on it's own isn't going to make soap better by default, but will extend the life of it significantly, therefore saving you money in the long run. Now, this might or might not matter to you, up for debate how important it is.
Myself, being a one brush kind of guy, using them until they fall apart that is, I don't find hard milled soaps are any harder on my brushes than softer soaps and creams.
GOAT
Greatest of all Time!
It's the answer to the desert island question.
If you could only have one soap what would it be........
Greatest of all Time!
It's the answer to the desert island question.
If you could only have one soap what would it be........
Is buying water really a problem? If a person lives in a hard water area, using pure, soft water could have its advantages.
No problem, buy all you want. I pay a water bill every month.
Tabac is a classic and will always be in my rotationof soaps , plus my wife loves the scent.
I buy RO water at 25 cents a gallon for drinking and shaving. With the fact that the RO water lathers so much better than my hard water, I have calculated that I'm actually often spending more money on the water for shaving than on the soap. About a tenth of a gallon per shave. Well worth it.
That's good if you own your home and can do that sort of thing, I suppose.
That Tabac is a dense soap (tripled milled or not) and thus long lasting while also being easy to lather and with a long shelf life is a very good combination IMO. I have a puck that must be 10 years old and still have a lot of shaves left. I enjoy the scent but would not want to use it every day.
About the only negative thing I can say about a triple milled soap is that it does take slightly longer to load but not enough that it is a concern. And it is more difficult to load if converted into a tiny shave stick for travel, but Tabac in its custom bowl works well enough even if I would prefer that the puck was slightly larger in diameter.
About the only negative thing I can say about a triple milled soap is that it does take slightly longer to load but not enough that it is a concern. And it is more difficult to load if converted into a tiny shave stick for travel, but Tabac in its custom bowl works well enough even if I would prefer that the puck was slightly larger in diameter.
In my area supermarkets like Safeway sell it. Bring your own containers to refill.
Good point.
There are plenty of soaps that outperform it by a small amount. But it has this going for it:
I still think it plays second fiddle to Speick stick from a commercial soap perspective... (although it trounces speick stick in value and scent permanence), and of course vintage soaps are my bread and butter these days; but it's a very respectable soap. It's a soap that would be worth stockpiling if it were ever to be discontinued. Of course it lasts so long, two pucks is a stockpile. (I'm JUST NOW finishing a 10+ year old puck that saw at least a few shaves a month).
- Extremely long lasting (MDC has nothing on this soap)
- Extremely easy to lather (Among the easiest)
- Easy to Find
- Affordable (I've seen refills in the $5-7 on occasion and I don't think it's ever over $15-20).
- The smell lasts FOREVER (I've had tabac opened for YEARS and the smell evolves and softens, but never goes away... most artisans (and many commercial soaps) I've tried don't last more than a couple months open/uncovered)
I still think it plays second fiddle to Speick stick from a commercial soap perspective... (although it trounces speick stick in value and scent permanence), and of course vintage soaps are my bread and butter these days; but it's a very respectable soap. It's a soap that would be worth stockpiling if it were ever to be discontinued. Of course it lasts so long, two pucks is a stockpile. (I'm JUST NOW finishing a 10+ year old puck that saw at least a few shaves a month).
I would suggest that if you drink RO water you make sure you get minerals/elecrolytes from something. Since RO has none of those, you strip them from your body when you drink RO - they don't come in with the RO, and they go out with urine and perspiration.
How can it be a secret? If you open the container everyone in the entire house will know you are using Tabac! 
And if there's an old woman in the house, she will say it reminds her of a perfume she wears...
