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TOBS Sandalwood, Is It Just Me?

I have only tried one sandalwood cream before TOBS which was AOS. I love the AOS scent and performance is great too. I've read so much about TOBS and how so many people like it that I had to order some. I opened it up and had a huge disappointment. It smells like baby powder, old man, old woman, and more on the feminine side to my nose. At first I thought I was crazy but after doing some more searches there are a few other threads with people describing it like this. Of course smell is subjective however in one youtube review one guy ranked AOS #2 and TOBS #1 which I can't understand. To me they are not similar scents at all, if AOS is sandalwood then TOBS is something else, and vice versa. The performance of TOBS is fantastic, superior to AOS imo. If anyone is considering TOBS Sandalwood and you like AOS just know they are very different (unless my sniffer isn't working lol).
 
I think TOBS Sandalwood is more about the performance and to me the scent is just mild (too mild). Their Cedarwood is even milder (yet I just ordered it) :)

For a stronger scent, my favorite TOBS is Lemon Lime.
 
ToBS Sandalwood is what I started out with after a twenty year absence from brush and cream and that stuff is a dream - when it's whipped up optimally. My next adventure will be TABAC, a German product.

And I just adore the Vie Long 4312 loooooong horse hair brush. ...Always styling.........
 

shavefan

I’m not a fan
Your sniffer's working fine. Last year I got a sandalwood sampler from WCS and man, some of them had barely any relation to true sandalwood scent. I agree with your assessment of TOBS.
 
Wet Shaving Products sandalwood is my favorite for scent.

Is WSP more of an AOS scent or TOBS? I did some more research and its interesting that the baby powder smell I am getting from TOBS is what some people associate with a barbershop smell. That might be why some find it is a masculine smell. I must have went to a different type of barbershop growing up. What would be great is if someone compiled a list grouping similar smelling soaps together. If this exists I would love to know! To me AOS and TOBS are polar opposites...
 
Is WSP more of an AOS scent or TOBS? I did some more research and its interesting that the baby powder smell I am getting from TOBS is what some people associate with a barbershop smell. That might be why some find it is a masculine smell. I must have went to a different type of barbershop growing up. What would be great is if someone compiled a list grouping similar smelling soaps together. If this exists I would love to know! To me AOS and TOBS are polar opposites...
I haven't used AoS, but if TOBS is the more flowery and feminine of the two then WSP would be far past AoS in the other direction. It is very masculine and very simple. The scent is just sandalwood with no florals and no citrus, or anything else. If you get the aftershave, it also lasts a long time.
 
TOBS Sandalwood is the first cream that got me into wet shaving and an all time classic and must have along with Proraso Green. I would say it is more of an old school barbershop smell than Sandalwood. It is a very complex scent. Very old school that takes you back in time!
 
I haven't used AoS, but if TOBS is the more flowery and feminine of the two then WSP would be far past AoS in the other direction. It is very masculine and very simple. The scent is just sandalwood with no florals and no citrus, or anything else. If you get the aftershave, it also lasts a long time.

I think I will order some and give it a try!
 
TOBS Sandalwood is the first cream that got me into wet shaving and an all time classic and must have along with Proraso Green. I would say it is more of an old school barbershop smell than Sandalwood. It is a very complex scent. Very old school that takes you back in time!

My step father loves it, I ended up giving the TOBS Sandalwood to him. Its interesting how different people can perceive scents. Tabac is next on my list and its appears to have a love it or hate it crowd as far as scent. I've read it smells like everything from baby powder, old woman purse to masculine 70s porn star Camero!
 
I have only tried one sandalwood cream before TOBS which was AOS. I love the AOS scent and performance is great too. I've read so much about TOBS and how so many people like it that I had to order some. I opened it up and had a huge disappointment. It smells like baby powder, old man, old woman, and more on the feminine side to my nose. At first I thought I was crazy but after doing some more searches there are a few other threads with people describing it like this. Of course smell is subjective however in one youtube review one guy ranked AOS #2 and TOBS #1 which I can't understand. To me they are not similar scents at all, if AOS is sandalwood then TOBS is something else, and vice versa. The performance of TOBS is fantastic, superior to AOS imo. If anyone is considering TOBS Sandalwood and you like AOS just know they are very different (unless my sniffer isn't working lol).

This was my dilemma when I began using TOBS Sandalwood after a long stint with AOS Sandalwood. AOS is still my preferred scent, but the performance of TOBS is a tad bit better IMO, as you say.

I had a thread on this a few months ago on this very thing and half of folks seemed to think TOBS was more true to an actual sandalwood scent. To me, it’s there, but barely...it’s very fresh, floral, and light. AOS on the other hand is more sharp, a bit dark, sweet, and the closest I’ve had to actual sandalwood (out of TOBS, AOS, DR Harris, and Proraso Red).
 
I think I will order some and give it a try!
One thing to know if you are getting WSP soap. They have Rustic, which is vegetarian, and Formula T, which has tallow. Many people say that Formula T is superior to Rustic, being slicker and less drying to the skin. I have only used Rustic and I think it is very good, but I plan on trying Formua T when I finish my puck of Rustic. Rustic is supposed to have a stronger scent, but if you are using aftershave, that shouldn't matter.
 
The scent of TOBS Sandalwood is amazing and considered to one of my loveliest scents among shaving creams/soaps. The scent of this shaving cream is quite strong in comparison with other shaving creams of TOBS and especially with Jermyn Street which is almost unscented to me.
 
Tobs is its own scent compared to AOS which is a dead ringer for proraso red yet cost 2 1/2 times more. Having picked up a tub of AOS cheap and used it exclusively for the last 2 weeks it’s not even in the same park as tobs, performance wise. I’ve avoided AOS products for years because of their prices and supply chains and having gave it a chance my intuition was right.
 
I think TOBS Sandalwood is more about the performance and to me the scent is just mild (too mild). Their Cedarwood is even milder (yet I just ordered it) :)

For a stronger scent, my favorite TOBS is Lemon Lime.
You pair that tobs lemon shave cream up with lemon lime clubman and you’ve got a winner. Last time I went with that combo I had the wife chasing me around the house. Unlike the time I doused myself in the veg and she was chasing me out of the house.
 
Tobs is its own scent compared to AOS which is a dead ringer for proraso red yet cost 2 1/2 times more. Having picked up a tub of AOS cheap and used it exclusively for the last 2 weeks it’s not even in the same park as tobs, performance wise. I’ve avoided AOS products for years because of their prices and supply chains and having gave it a chance my intuition was right.

AOS is quite expensive, but smells nothing like Proraso Red!

Proraso is a simple, earthy, dark scent. AOS is more layered/complex, sweet.
 
Dan, Like you I started with AOS Sandalwood, which I absolutely loved. Then I caught the SCAD. The second Sandalwood scent I bought was TOBS. And yes, it is really nothing like AOS. But that's ok. You will find that most shaving cream, soap and aftershave scents from different purveyors will smell very different. I actually grew to like the TOBS Sandalwood a lot and now have both the TOBS and AOS Sandalwoods as part of my regular collection. If I were to say which one I like better I guess it would be the AOS probably because it was the first cream I ever used afters switching from canned foamin' goo. And there are some other Sandalwood scents I would like to try like Stirling. So many great scents out there, I wish I could try them all.
 
AOS is quite expensive, but smells nothing like Proraso Red!

Proraso is a simple, earthy, dark scent. AOS is more layered/complex, sweet.

I have all 3. AOS, TOBS and Proraso Red. And all three smell completely different from one another to me. Just ranking the scents and ignoring performance I would put them in this order of preference: AOS, TOBS and Proraso.
 
I have all 3. AOS, TOBS and Proraso Red. And all three smell completely different from one another to me. Just ranking the scents and ignoring performance I would put them in this order of preference: AOS, TOBS and Proraso.
A hard choice, there really isn’t must comparison to be had, but I’d put AOS on top scent-wise as well. TOBS and Proraso, well is probably put Proraso first since it’s more woody. But for performance I think TOBS cream hits just above Proraso, probably even over AOS.
 
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