Hannah's Dad
I Can See Better Than Bigfoot.
Are we all getting punk’d here?
Where is the Tallow?!
- Thread starter theklaw
- Start date
Maybe.
Makes no difference to me really, as I would have bought the soap anyway, just over a longer period.
Unlikely, product development takes time and money so reformulation just to drive a few extra sales, or rather a few sales more quickly than they might otherwise have occurred, would be a bad business move. New Coke was a huge disaster and Coca-Cola lost about $90M, in current terms, off of product development and unused product. Obviously, Tabac isn't going to lose nearly that much if it's a disaster, but it makes no financial sense to try to head-fake your consumers.
I’m of the opinion the company did their due diligence in testing, and are treating both products as equivalent, as in you can use either one without being able to tell them apart. Just my opinion of course.
My Amazon/Peter Pann refill showed up today. It’s the new formulation. Back it goes.
Yes, just like Trumper’s, Penhaligon’s, AoS, C&S, L’Occitane and many others did
when it comes to parfum brands (and Tabac is one of them), we can only assume that the traditional shaving line is not a huge profit maker, but instead they are products to complete the full range. When it comes to English brands, many gents here doubt their managing directors actually shave with their own soap, and I concur
I just discovered Tabac about a year ago so at least I got to experience a puck of the “real” tabac. Sad to see it go. Call me weird but I find the scent absolutely intoxicating. The EDT is on my wish list.
Let's hope you are right and that the reformulation is close to the original in performance, but it doesn't seem to be from our first report.
I had never tried Tabac and have been meaning to, so this thread got me to roll the dice on a Peter Pann order in the jar. It came up tallow, what can I say. Shaved with it this evening, very pleasant. I don't need back-ups, as I don't have a history with it, but I'm happy to know what Tabac's all about. Thanks to the original poster and everyone who contributed intelligence in the thread!
In my opinion, if other great companies (e.g. C&E, GFT and C&S) can downgrade or even ruin their shaving soap, then so can Mäurer and Wirtz.
I look forward to hearing from more who have used the new formula. However, judging from the detailed review that we already have, it would seem as if Tabac has indeed been ruined. I sincerely hope that’s not the case.
garyg
B&B membership has its percs
If the change wasn't driven by some EU regulation, then I'd warrant that there's a bean counter behind it, who discovered that a couple pennies could be pinched from the soap by use of the vegetable fats rather than tallow. He will be promoted based on the spurt in sales driven by rumors of Tabac's ruination (that's us) and be long gone from the scene when the real drop in sales is seen. Then a successor bean counter will finish the kill because sales are off.
I confer that the last word must be spoken after the testing of the soap, but still there´s the case that even if the new formula performs well, the base of us who used the tallow formula might find it "inferior" because the lather might not has the same cushion, the same slickness, in sum, it isn´t the same.
This happened to me with the new CADE soap, I believe that if I haven´t tried the old formula, I would find the new soap mediocre but kind of usable. And even better if I only used a cart razor. What I found is that the scent is artificial cedar instead of the more natural scent that it had, the lather is slim, there´s some glide... But it was sufficient to make me forget about buying it again...
I think there´s a base of new customers, users of cart razors that might find it superior to the canned foam...
Anyway, the heart of the matter is the reason for the change, regulations? can´t be avoided... vegan fad and appeal to new customers? ... long stretch since they prefer the already vegan cream & foam... and recently presented a 3in1 shaving oil... lack of tallow suppliers?... There´s still Cella, Arko, MWF, Speick stick... so, if there´s a will...
Cheers
This happened to me with the new CADE soap, I believe that if I haven´t tried the old formula, I would find the new soap mediocre but kind of usable. And even better if I only used a cart razor. What I found is that the scent is artificial cedar instead of the more natural scent that it had, the lather is slim, there´s some glide... But it was sufficient to make me forget about buying it again...
I think there´s a base of new customers, users of cart razors that might find it superior to the canned foam...
Anyway, the heart of the matter is the reason for the change, regulations? can´t be avoided... vegan fad and appeal to new customers? ... long stretch since they prefer the already vegan cream & foam... and recently presented a 3in1 shaving oil... lack of tallow suppliers?... There´s still Cella, Arko, MWF, Speick stick... so, if there´s a will...
Cheers
Yes, just like Trumper’s, Penhaligon’s, AoS, C&S, L’Occitane and many others did
when it comes to parfum brands (and Tabac is one of them), we can only assume that the traditional shaving line is not a huge profit maker, but instead they are products to complete the full range. When it comes to English brands, many gents here doubt their managing directors actually shave with their own soap, and I concur
I live about 20 miles away from a Chrysler assembly plant. They have made several models in the past, but in recent years produce the Jeep Cherokee. However, there are plenty of other non-Jeep products in the employee parking lot.
I also now wonder if this has anything to do with the Fine soaps reformulation? He had to discontinue the hard pucks because the manufacturer was closing (or something)
The kinship of Fine to Tabac is still murky to me, but were they made in the same plant, and now maybe the Tabac supply chain had to change too?
The kinship of Fine to Tabac is still murky to me, but were they made in the same plant, and now maybe the Tabac supply chain had to change too?
While I get the analogy and appreciate it, the guys working an assembly line at the Jeep factory don't get a say so in whether the dashboard is covered with leather or vinyl or if the door panels are made of steel or plastic.
The guys making those decisions ought to at least have first hand knowledge of the impact that those changes will bring, but most don't, just as it is likely that the management at Maurer & Wirtz doesn't.
Not to mention that they run a much more intensive R&D program involving a lot of focus groups, consumer research, risk analysis, etc., which is not something we have seen with these perfumers when it comes to their shaving lines, which seems to be completely cost control driven. They don't seem to care if they sell a single unit of shaving soap as long as they save a few pennies.
Right. Test it first. Different might be enough to turn people off. Different doesn’t equal better. However I don’t think you can blame the vegan “fad” as I don’t think the new formula is vegan.
Probably the "non animal products" genre is more accurate than the "vegan" genre, but here's a reprint of the label.
shavefan
I’m not a fan
It could be for environmental reasons. Beef is considered by many to be detrimental to the environment. Although Palm oil has its issues too. Who knows, I have no dog in this race as I tried Tabac many years ago and didn't like the scent and the performance didn't wow me either. I have both veggie and tallow based soaps in my den and I can attest that either can offer top tier shaves.
Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
So how is the new formulation performance compared to the old? I wandered off at the ‘Isle of Mann’ discussion ….
