About this deal
I have read enough on this forum to be able to paint, what I consider, a pretty accurate picture of the new Tabac. Tabac is a product name that most traditional wet shavers will recognize from its long presence in the market. According to Mäurer & Wirtz (M&W), the product’s Stohlberg, Germany-based manufacturer ( www.tabac.de/tabac-original), the Tabac line has been around since 1959. My shaving brush is a synthetic brush. Therefore if you are using something like a full silver-tip badger or super badger brush, you will probably have no trouble building a nice and rich lather to go with this.
Tabac Shaving Soap in Bowl 125g - The English Shaving Company
Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Tallowate, Potassium Cocoate, Aqua, Sodium Tallowate , Parfum, Sodium Cocoate, Glycerin, Potassium Hydroxide, Tetrasodium EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Sodium Hydroxide, CI 77891, Limonene, Hydroxycitronellal, Linalool, Citronellol, Coumarin, AlphaIsomethyl Ionone, Benzyl Salicylate, Geraniol, Cinnamyl Alcohol, Isoeugenol, Benzyl Alcohol, Citral, Eugenol. It is very protective when you shave, acting like a pre-shave oil while also being a good shaving soap on its own. For this article I spent a week shaving with each soap, using a Merkur 34C razor with Feather blades. To test the duration of the soaps’ fragrance, I applied Nivea’s Sensitive Soothing Post Shave Balm after most shaves. The Nivea balm isn’t completely scent-free but its fragrance is very mild. Responses to fragrance are personal so I discuss it qualitatively without a score. Original Formula Tabac TABAC ORIGINAL is a sophisticated composition fragranced with peppery-spicy notes and elegantly rounded off by exotic woods, musk, ambergris and a floral complex. An unmistakable fragrance with a discreet presence.My usual is a 3 pass shave. I currently have a Merkur 38C with Astra Green blades. I use a finest badger. I face lather by loading the soap on my face directly and then, I build the lather.
Tabac Shaving Soap Stick Refill 100g | Fragrance | Superdrug
Ease of lathering: I scored this a 5 with a badger brush and 3 with a synthetic for an average of 4. The results with the badger brush were impressive: easy to load with a fast buildup of copious amounts of lather. I had lather spilling over the Tabac bowl and my shaving bowl in less than a minute and the load held up for all three passes. About the Brand: Tabac is a name that has been in the shaving community for many decades. Largely considered something of a “Dad soap,” Tabac original has been produced since the 1960s. Owned by a German Perfume and Beauty company known as Maurer & Wirtz, Tabac is a classic line of fragrances designed specifically for men.
Necessary
It is much thinner, of course. However, it will still be more than enough for you to shave with a safety razor and be protected. How is the Texture? As mentioned above, it's either a YMMV type of situation or star-aligned(or else...). The lather is not as good as the Synthetic but, it's closer to the Synthetic than the boar brush. The brand name of Tabac Original is due to its distinctive, tart-spicy fragrance composition. However, it has nothing to do with the common processed tobacco, which smells completely different and was never one of the ingredients of Tabac Original. Mäurer & Wirtz used to offer an even better alternative: SIR Irisch Moos shaving soap had a slightly “greener” (as the name suggests) but much subtler fragrance and the same formidable performance features. However, the shaving soap was discontinued some years ago and the fragrance only survived as an after shave. I’d judge it as a male equivalent of what you might call an “elderly (not quite old) old lady perfume”. I was so intrigued by the extreme comments about Tabac that I had to buy one for myself. One whiff and I recognized it immediately. That was my late grandfather’s scent! He must have liked it so much that he wore the cologne/after shave. Given that this makes my opinion even more subjective, I like it as an occasional soap. On the objective side, I have to say that Tabac is the single best lathering shave soap I have ever used – so much so that it is only one of two soaps out of plenty I’ve tried that I use in addition to many creams in my rotation (Mitchell’s Wool Fat being the other).
Tabac Refill Shaving Soap review (New 2021 formula) Tabac Refill Shaving Soap review (New 2021 formula)
Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Potassium Laurate, Sodium Laurate, Glycerin, Aqua, Parfum, Lauric Acid, Limonene, Linalool, Hydroxycitronellal, CI 77891, Isoeugenol, Pentasodium Pentetate, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Citronellol, Coumarin, Benzyl Alcohol, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Geraniol, Benzyl Salicylate, Cinnamyl Alcohol, Citral, Eugenol. Overall Impressions The good side is that the scent can be covered up very easily, so if you have a good aftershave that you like, this is probably going to be something you can overcome. Ingredients Eye-watering, headache-inducing strong perfumes wafting off the soap. Aroma may be strong enough to peel wallpaper off the walls. Note: if you or nearby loved ones are sensitive or allergic to perfumes or perfume chemical compounds, perhaps do not use this product as it may cause a negative reaction.)
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Post shave is about average, with a toss-up as to whether you ought to add some balm or go without. The skin is unusually smooth feeling after you finally put your razor down and wash-up, with a tactile sensation not unlike handling a slightly damp billiard ball, doubtless part of the wonderful world of better living through modern chemistry. So, the tallow version seems more stable but to be honest, since the lather isn't staying on my skin without a shave for that long, it doesn't really affect the end-result. Made in Germany, Tabac Original shaving soap has been popular with wet shavers since the 1950s and is formulated to soften beard hair and facilitate an easy and close shave. Gently fragranced with the Tabac signature scent, a classic, masculine blend of floral notes, peppery-spicy accents and exotic woods. Presented in smart, branded bowl with lid. So we’re down two great soaps from Italy ( Cella Almond& Cella Aloe) and another great shaving soap from England ( Stirling). What’s next? However, much like my own notes above, several users have noted the smell as being anything from “nothing to write home about” to “nearly repellent.”
Shaving Soap Refills | The English Shaving Company Shaving Soap Refills | The English Shaving Company
According to online posts, the formula changed because M&W’s tallow provider went out of business in late 2020. M&W’s media department did not respond to my questions about the formula change so I can’t confirm this but the information appears solid. There's a new version of the Tabac shaving soap. The reviewed version will be refered to as the "new" formulation.
Statistics
IMO, the demise of traditional mass produced tallow based hard shave soaps is a loss. I bemoan the marketeers being put in charge of the firms that used to make these soaps. This is yet another manifestation of finance capitalism swallowing up whole our heritage of industrial capitalism. Ease of lathering: As with the original formula, I scored this a 5 with a badger brush and 3 with a synthetic for an average of 4. But there was a major difference between the original’s lather and the new formula. The original produced a dense, silky lather while the new version was much lighter and less dense. I don’t know how chemists score density so I’ll use a dairy analogy. The original formula was like a low-fat yogurt—OK, not exactly and without the fruit—while the new formula was like whipped cream from an aerosol can. The difference on my face was noticeable and that concerned me because less dense lathers have produced inferior shaves for me in the past. So, at the end of the day, I believe that I have moderate to hard water since the city is publishing something every year.