It's the king. Can't top the king.
Tabac- top tier?
- Thread starter Westonned
- Start date
Yes, I would. I haven't found a soap (yet) that I consider to be so far above the others that it is on its own level, but I consider all soaps that have great performance and great consistency to be top tier. That includes Tabac, as well as Haslinger, AOS tallow, Speick, and probably a few others I've forgotten.
Tabac and Mike's are my favorite soaps. Compared to Mike's, Tabac is a tiny bit drying, nothing that AS balm wouldn't handle.
Tabac Original was my first aftershave and remains my favorite. I've only been DE shaving for just over a year, but I was delighted to find Tabac shaving soap. It's my daily soap unless I feel like a change of pace. In my opinion it's a top tier performer with a wonderful soothing scent.
Tabac is without question, a top tier soap. It's easy to lather, provides outstanding cushion and can be had at a significant discount to its other "top tier" competitors. As far as performance, I just can't think of enough soaps to knock Tabac out of my top five. Even if I could, none of them would priced as affordable as Tabac. Don't be put off by a lot of the detractors with "sensitive skin" or scent aversions. A lot of their time would be better spent seeing a dermatologist and/or allergist. For 99.9% of men, Tabac rocks!
It's not a top tier soap for me. I've come a long way though with this one. I did initially rate it average the first couple times I tried a sample of it a long time ago, but I did purchase a jar recently when Purfumania had the sale. I was able to sign up and get a store credit so it basically cost me nothing so I figured why not. Upon revisiting it I do rank it higher than I initially did. I now find it to be an above average soap that's better performing than most. The scent still isn't a favorite but it's getting somewhat tolerable the more I use it. I do wonder what others think I smell like when I use it if it's taking time to grow on me.
When comparing soaps I don't take cost into consideration at all. In deciding what to purchase or repurchase that does come into play but in comparing soap to soap performance wise it has no bearing on how they perform. I'd likely rank Tabac higher if it was a consideration or if I was grading it on value instead of performance. I might also rank it higher if the scent was more pleasing to my nose.
I attribute the change in performance ranking for me to now using a much thicker less wet lather. I essentially load it like I hate and add water slowly, a few drops at a time, to create a very thick luxurious type of lather, as opposed to a more wet airy lather similar to what I used to use. For me this took the soap from an average bad smelling soap to an above average less bad smelling soap that I'm willing to spend more time with.
I do get why people rate it so high but it's not as good as PannaCrema Nuavia, Mdc, Sudsy Soapery, WSP Formula T, or even the standard PannaCrema line which would be ranked higher for me at more of a top tier level. The other consideration I have is the scent. For a soap to be top tier it has to do everything right which includes the scent. For me it's not far off but it's not in my top tier.
When comparing soaps I don't take cost into consideration at all. In deciding what to purchase or repurchase that does come into play but in comparing soap to soap performance wise it has no bearing on how they perform. I'd likely rank Tabac higher if it was a consideration or if I was grading it on value instead of performance. I might also rank it higher if the scent was more pleasing to my nose.
I attribute the change in performance ranking for me to now using a much thicker less wet lather. I essentially load it like I hate and add water slowly, a few drops at a time, to create a very thick luxurious type of lather, as opposed to a more wet airy lather similar to what I used to use. For me this took the soap from an average bad smelling soap to an above average less bad smelling soap that I'm willing to spend more time with.
I do get why people rate it so high but it's not as good as PannaCrema Nuavia, Mdc, Sudsy Soapery, WSP Formula T, or even the standard PannaCrema line which would be ranked higher for me at more of a top tier level. The other consideration I have is the scent. For a soap to be top tier it has to do everything right which includes the scent. For me it's not far off but it's not in my top tier.
That makes me wonder what people prioritize when assessing a soap; cushion, glide, moisturizing, lather, scent. Maybe time for a poll.
It's one of THE top performers. I don't dislike the scent, but I don't love it either. But you can't argue with the performance. It's about as good as good gets.
As always its YMMV! It's interesting because I rarely get great shaves with thick lather. Nor do I get great shaves with airy lather. I normally need a very shiny but almost runny lather without air bubbles to get my best shaves.
The one bad thing about the smell of Tabac soap, is not having the Tabac AS to splash on after it.
The only thing better than Tabac, is more Tabac.
What he said.
Certainly above average but not a top tier soap for me. It doesn't soften my beard as good as D.R.H, the Dutch Barbershop soaps, Klar or even Arko and Williams for that matter (but a lot better than C&E). The strongest point of Tabac is that it lathers with any water (with a lot of minerals, salty, frozen...) so I usually take a stick with me when I am camping out but though the lather looks perfect, the performance is not good enough for me to call it a top shelf product.
Picked up a refill puck an Amazon. Did a test lather. Unsure if scent is for me. Will see how it performs another day
Don't judge Tabac, or any other soap, by the scent of a raw puck.
Give it a couple days to break in. Soak it under water for overnight, and do a test lather once a day. The initial aroma will mellow out after a couple of days.
Even if you don't like it now, try it again in the dead of winter. That's when Tabac Original hits it peak.
Summer weather is not a good time to enjoy this wonderful soap.
+1.
I am glad to see at least one other dissenter before I jump in. Tabac is not bad, but "top tier" is well above. As you mention, Nuàvia Blu far outperforms Tabac in both scent and lather. So does MdC Fougere. As these both have a price point 2-3x that of Tabac, albeit a much bigger puck, I would imagine many just haven't tried this true top tier.
Tabac is good, I don't challenge that, but not quite the true top tier, IMO
The price of a puck at Amazon is definitely affordable, under $9. The wait for shipping to the USA for Prime members is about 4 weeks. I believe it ships from the UK. Still, one heck of a deal.
That's what I thought, but shipping was much quicker, within a week it arrived. Pleasantly surprised.
You know what they say. Opinions are like anuses, and everyone's got one.
Of course your opinion matters. No one here is shaving for you. If you find that Tabac doesn't meets your standards, then you should move on. Honestly, when it comes to performance, I could just shave with Arko, or Stirling if I wanted to venture into artisan soaps with outstanding performance and scents but bargain prices.
Once you learn to DE shave and build a quality lather, you don't really need to spend much more than $2/ounce on soap to get a good shave. That's just the truth. If you want to experiment with more expensive products to see what you're missing if anything, go right ahead. It's your shave, it's your money. Do what makes you happy and meets your needs.
And some seem to be bigger than others! I appreciate your useless, err useful, advice, Thanks for the help. Oh, I moved on when I unsubscribed to this thread after my last reply and I will keep moving on after I unsubscribe yet again after this reply. Please no more quotes as I will not be reading them.
Gentlemen, let's keep the discussion civil. You don't score any points by calling one names.
