Does anyone own this yet? If so, can you please comment on the scent? I'm a little gun shy on ordering Wholly Kaw soaps since their scent profiles rarely seem to match the description (at least for me).
Wholly Kaw 'King of Bourbon'
- Thread starter Bad Badger
- Start date
I'm interested as well. I LOVE Pasha's Pride, but I already have so much soap and couldn't justify another purchase.
Got a shipment notice but I don’t have it yet. Was ordering Pasha’s Pride and decided to add the King of Bourbon. Kinda taking a chance but I like most of WhollyKaw’s scents and the performance is second to none.
I'm not a big fan of vanilla, but I do like this. There is a small bit of fruit but it just softens the vanilla out making it not too sweet. What I get in the end is vanilla and ginger which mix to form a semi- sweet bourbon note. I love the AS, which is usually the case with all the WK scents as they are more complex than the soap notes. All in all I'm really pretty happy with it and if you love vanilla you should definitely pick it up.
The new Bufalo base is absolutely exquisite - one of the best I've used and one of the best shaves I've ever had - lather, slickness, performance, face feel are all superb. As to the scent...you do get the Bourbon vanilla sweetness on opening the tub and during lathering...lingers a while afterward but once it starts to settle down you get the tobacco, woodsy and earth tones which are very appropriate for this time of year. The aftershave really surprised me and complimented the soap really well - not heavy on the bourbon vanilla scent as you get more of the tobacco, ginger, vetiver, cypriol, ylang-ylang and cassie absolute once it dry's down. It's been several hours since the shave and I'm still getting hints of scent.
Went to the local coffee shop this morning and actually had several customers compliment me and asked me what I was wearing. Says a lot!!
Went to the local coffee shop this morning and actually had several customers compliment me and asked me what I was wearing. Says a lot!!
I’d like to hear a comparison between this and Merchant of Tobacco.
Can not say it any better than this. Not surprised since it's a "stablemate" of Pasha's Pride. A point that riroadie2004 addresses and I support is that the aftershave (imo) may seem to come out of the bottle smelling a little "boozy". According to my wife, after a short period of time she said the scent was "wonderful". Tomorrow, off to the coffee shop
Last edited:
WONDERFUL REVIEW! Love the comment about comments from the customers!
Thank you both. Oh yeah, be careful at the coffee shop...no telling what kind of drink you'll end up with from the barista, but I do hope you'll get the compliments!!
according to West Coast Shaving will have the new "King of Bourbon" available in 1-2 weeks I would wait and hope free shipment promo will still be offered instead of buying directly.
To me, KOB smells like MOT with added vanilla. A nice enough fragrance if you like that sort of thing, but even with the power of suggestion and plenty of experience with bourbon, I didn't smell the connection — too bad. Of my recent WK samples I liked Fern Concerto enough to immediately order a full tub. Padre Leone smells better than the description and is on my list to purchase once I make room by using up something else.
My favorite WK scents are Jamestown Gentleman, King of Oud, Fougere Bouquet/Parfaite. I ordered King of Bourbon on launch day and it has actually moved into my number one spot. It is my favorite WK scent thus far. Milder than King of Oud. It is sweet, spicy and slightly dark...love it!
I only have one WK soap, Pashas Pride. It has a great scent. Not quite as good as Tabac, but still an excellent scent nonetheless. As far as performance, this soap is pretty much on par with Tabac. In my opinion Tabac does lather a tad easier, but the WK is a breeze to lather. Pashas Pride is the closest thing that I have found to Tabac in terms of performance and lather-ability.
Samples of both King of Bourbon and Pashas pride will be here Friday. Looking forward to lathering up! WK makes a very nice soap.
I just got my PP and KOB samples. PP is not my thing. KOB is though. It smells sweet to me...sort of like vanilla w/caramel. I'm not good at identifying the individual notes. It's great though.
I know this thread is a little old but I could not help but reinvigorate it. Shaved for the first time today with king of bourbon. Great soap. To be honest, I am new to wet shaving so not a ton of experience in general but Wholly Kaw is the best soap I have tried yet. King of bourbon has a great subtle scent that I find lingers really well.
Depending on what you try next, WK might be at the top of your list for some time. A very good soap and congratulations on the great shave!
King of Bourbon is the top WK scent in my den and I have tried nearly all of them.
The AS is quite addictive as well.
The AS is quite addictive as well.
King of Bourbon is the top WK scent in my den and I have tried nearly all of them.
The AS is quite addictive as well.
How does the KOB vegan formula compare with the tallow base?
I actually prefer the vegan formula and those are the most recent purchases that you see in the picture. I find the slickness and performance to be excellent and I find the Donkey Milk formulations to provide too "heavy" of a post shave feel for my liking. The Vegan base finishes clean and my skin feels moisturized but not heavy. Sometimes, when I use the Donkey Milk formulations, I feel like I have rubbed a pork chop all over my face after the final rinse. The side benefit to preferring the vegan base is that it is much cheaper (around $20 per tub) so it is a win-win for me.
In fact, I think the WK vegan base is one of the most underrated "hidden gems" in the hobby. It is overshadowed by, what I have deemed the "Base Race" where every artisan is trying to one-up the other artisans ever 3-4 months by adding more exotic milks and ingredients to their bases. Glissant to Excelsior, Buffalo Tallow to Icarus and now Donkey Milk to Water Buffalo milk. At some point, it all just gets a little crazy. The soaps are slick enough...I would prefer more focus on scent profiles. The WK vegan formula is just a nice clean soap that provides excellent results...I highly recommend it!
Similar threads
- Locked
- Article
