Soft Like Cella
Test shave later this afternoon=
Best,
Jake
Reddick Fla.
Panna Cremma Vetiver In Da House
- Thread starter shakin_jake
- Start date
Soft Like Cella
Test shave later this afternoon=
Best,
Jake
Reddick Fla.
Lucky man.
Please report back on its performance.
Please report back on its performance.
Ohhh! I can almost smell it.
My order arrived today, too.
I'll be trying the Labdano first.
Don
I'll be trying the Labdano first.
Don
Looking forward to your thoughts proformance & scent.
where is the site and how much is this thanks
D
Deleted member 48987
My order came in today. The vetiver scent smells somewhat similar to Creed Original Vetiver. More of a fresh take on vetiver rather than some earthy products I've tried. I also received the Lavandotto. It was truly a lavender/bergamot blend. You get the lavender and a sweetness from the bergamot as well. I should note that these are lightly scented. It was tough to really get a good sense of the scent before lathering. Tom was not exaggerating about the performance at all. It's quite soft, easily molded into a tub. I found that it lathered very easily as well. I wouldn't say it lathers as easily as MdC, but far better than anything else I've ever tried. I found the lather to be extremely creamy and rich, absolutely fantastic. The shave was very slick, cushioned, and moisturizing. With most products, I find there is always some sort of tradeoff with these qualities. Panna Crema seems to do everything well. I'm tough to impress and it was really refreshing to have a product live up to its hype. One thing that I respect about Tom's review is that he took months to try it and get a good assessment. I'm confident I'll arrive at the same conclusions in the coming months. The faintness of the smell makes me think I might not be ordering every scent that comes out as it's not so prominent that it would really be a big deal, but I'm certainly interested in finding some favorites before settling down 
- Thread starter
- #11
okay, I got a chance earlier Monday afternoon to play with the new Panna Cremma shave soap-
in this photo (above), I previously took the cake of soap and pressed it into an empty Proraso Sensitive shave soap cup. Yeah, I save all of my empty shave soap cups, especially the Prorasos, and I still have at least 4 new unopened Proraso soaps from their original (the last, prior to current) formula This Panna Cremma soap is really soft. No need to grate, just press using your fingers. i soaked my best badger brush in water 3 minutes prior to loading. Loading took all of 25 seconds, but then the big chubby 3 shave brush can grab a lot of soap in that amount of time
here's a lousy crummy grainy pic just to prove I can shoot some bad photos
Seriously though, this and the previous photo...these were test lather pics. IOW, I built/loaded a lather into the brush 1st time around just to see what i had. i did not shave with this lather...didn't have time, but suffice it to say, if you want (I never do), this stuff will build into a large pile of poof if that's what floats your boat. After I took this pic, I kept face lathering and adding water, building it up into, that's right, a big pile of poof 
besides buying a cake of the vetiver...I also bought a cake of Panna Cremma's Lavandotto, a bergamot and lavender mix. I haven't taken it out of the box yet, so it's going into my stock pile of soaps, to be used another day
FWIW, I paid approx. $30 for these two bars to be shippoed to my rural mail box, so about $15 each including shipping. Not a bad price at all for shave soap of this calibre, and it is a 100 gram cake. I've heard others compare this brand to Tabac and if you want to compare the two price wise, even with only buying two cakes including shipping, Tabac will cost you $15 for 125 grams then you have to add shipping, so really, buying soap from Panna Cremma looks to be a decent deal if that matters to you, looking at it from a price angle. And so it goes, if you buy more than three bars with your order, the price is lower still
so for my first shave with Panna Cremma, I chose to go with one of my Bismarck razors. I have two of Dovo's Bismarcks and one vintage Gilbert Bismarck. Just for referrence, the towel the razor is lying on, I wet dampen with hot water, squeeze damp then place in my towel steamer for 10 minutes approx. I use the barber towel prep. After I wipe the soap off my face when the towel comes off, I fold it and lie it on my sink like you see here, then when I need to wipe the spent lather/whiskars from my blade, I wipe it between the towel folds to keep it out of my hot sink water that I use to rinse the wash cloth I wipe my face with between passes
the author shaving. As an aside, I picked up my 1st straight razor two years ago. I've been hooked shaving this way ever since
shaving with the grain (WTG) on my neck. I usually cant my head to stretch the skin while shaving the neck areas. Notice too, I keep the amount of shave cream to a very thin layer. to my way of thinking, I've done my prep before the blade ever hits the face, all that's needed is a thin layer of soap which acts as a lubricant. the blade basically skims over the skin. If you have a 1/2" of poof on your face, how in the Hades can you see where your blade touches down? That's a rhetorical question laddie
To close, I like this soap, the vetiver fragrance is nice, and unlike any vetiver frag you can buy/use (EdC, EdT), the vetiver experience for me in this soap was nice and one dimensional. No other frags mucking up the scent of this, it's strictly vetiver, at least that's all I smell/detect, just plain vetiver. Pleasant is another descriptor I would use describing what this version of vetiver shave soap smells like, and it has a raw tonal quality, quite plain. I wouldn't say it lingers yet after the shave (I did not use A/S afterwards) I could smell it for quite a bit. I guess what I'm trying to say is, it doesn't wear heavy. Sillage is there if you don't use an after shave but it's not heady at all, and it has a rather clean smell, and not one of soap. I'm sure you vetiver hounds will like it
in regards to performance. it has it in spades. Loads easily w/the badger shave brush I used, the lather can be built thick if that's your thing. I had plenty of glide and protection what little bit of lather you saw me use, but again, I credit a lot of that to the prep i use before hand, including the use of Proraso pre shave cream under the first lather and both go under a steam towel
if you have to have/use every shave soap out there at least once, you wont want to miss this one. it's a nice product. After ordering online, the vendor of Panna Cremma sent me an online coupon good for 50% off my next order. There is a time limit for that coupon but it is a lengthy one IMO, 6 months I think. Seems to be a proper hook. We'll see if I bite when 6 months rolls around. That chubby 3 is a product hog so it looks like a sure bet
Best,
Jake
Reddick Fla.
in this photo (above), I previously took the cake of soap and pressed it into an empty Proraso Sensitive shave soap cup. Yeah, I save all of my empty shave soap cups, especially the Prorasos, and I still have at least 4 new unopened Proraso soaps from their original (the last, prior to current) formula This Panna Cremma soap is really soft. No need to grate, just press using your fingers. i soaked my best badger brush in water 3 minutes prior to loading. Loading took all of 25 seconds, but then the big chubby 3 shave brush can grab a lot of soap in that amount of time
here's a lousy crummy grainy pic just to prove I can shoot some bad photos
Seriously though, this and the previous photo...these were test lather pics. IOW, I built/loaded a lather into the brush 1st time around just to see what i had. i did not shave with this lather...didn't have time, but suffice it to say, if you want (I never do), this stuff will build into a large pile of poof if that's what floats your boat. After I took this pic, I kept face lathering and adding water, building it up into, that's right, a big pile of poof
besides buying a cake of the vetiver...I also bought a cake of Panna Cremma's Lavandotto, a bergamot and lavender mix. I haven't taken it out of the box yet, so it's going into my stock pile of soaps, to be used another day
FWIW, I paid approx. $30 for these two bars to be shippoed to my rural mail box, so about $15 each including shipping. Not a bad price at all for shave soap of this calibre, and it is a 100 gram cake. I've heard others compare this brand to Tabac and if you want to compare the two price wise, even with only buying two cakes including shipping, Tabac will cost you $15 for 125 grams then you have to add shipping, so really, buying soap from Panna Cremma looks to be a decent deal if that matters to you, looking at it from a price angle. And so it goes, if you buy more than three bars with your order, the price is lower still
so for my first shave with Panna Cremma, I chose to go with one of my Bismarck razors. I have two of Dovo's Bismarcks and one vintage Gilbert Bismarck. Just for referrence, the towel the razor is lying on, I wet dampen with hot water, squeeze damp then place in my towel steamer for 10 minutes approx. I use the barber towel prep. After I wipe the soap off my face when the towel comes off, I fold it and lie it on my sink like you see here, then when I need to wipe the spent lather/whiskars from my blade, I wipe it between the towel folds to keep it out of my hot sink water that I use to rinse the wash cloth I wipe my face with between passes
the author shaving. As an aside, I picked up my 1st straight razor two years ago. I've been hooked shaving this way ever since
shaving with the grain (WTG) on my neck. I usually cant my head to stretch the skin while shaving the neck areas. Notice too, I keep the amount of shave cream to a very thin layer. to my way of thinking, I've done my prep before the blade ever hits the face, all that's needed is a thin layer of soap which acts as a lubricant. the blade basically skims over the skin. If you have a 1/2" of poof on your face, how in the Hades can you see where your blade touches down? That's a rhetorical question laddie
To close, I like this soap, the vetiver fragrance is nice, and unlike any vetiver frag you can buy/use (EdC, EdT), the vetiver experience for me in this soap was nice and one dimensional. No other frags mucking up the scent of this, it's strictly vetiver, at least that's all I smell/detect, just plain vetiver. Pleasant is another descriptor I would use describing what this version of vetiver shave soap smells like, and it has a raw tonal quality, quite plain. I wouldn't say it lingers yet after the shave (I did not use A/S afterwards) I could smell it for quite a bit. I guess what I'm trying to say is, it doesn't wear heavy. Sillage is there if you don't use an after shave but it's not heady at all, and it has a rather clean smell, and not one of soap. I'm sure you vetiver hounds will like it
in regards to performance. it has it in spades. Loads easily w/the badger shave brush I used, the lather can be built thick if that's your thing. I had plenty of glide and protection what little bit of lather you saw me use, but again, I credit a lot of that to the prep i use before hand, including the use of Proraso pre shave cream under the first lather and both go under a steam towel
if you have to have/use every shave soap out there at least once, you wont want to miss this one. it's a nice product. After ordering online, the vendor of Panna Cremma sent me an online coupon good for 50% off my next order. There is a time limit for that coupon but it is a lengthy one IMO, 6 months I think. Seems to be a proper hook. We'll see if I bite when 6 months rolls around. That chubby 3 is a product hog so it looks like a sure bet
Best,
Jake
Reddick Fla.
Interesting write up and thanks for the pictures!
I'd like to try a sample of it since I absolutely love Creed Original Vetiver
I'd like to try a sample of it since I absolutely love Creed Original Vetiver
Jake,
Thanks for the write up. This is a soap I have been eyeing.
Thanks for the write up. This is a soap I have been eyeing.
Great write up. Thanks.
As always Jake thanks for your post.I am so looking forwards to getting the same 2 from the next batch. Enjoy!
Good review, Jake.
I'll just add a few of my thoughts, sans pictures. I ordered one Labdano and two Vetiviers. Purely an impulse buy, saw that it was available a figured I'd grab some while I could. You get a well-wrapped 100gr block of typical soft Italian soap. A little firmer than most other brands, and it's easily molded or pressed into your favorite container. I used a ramekin bowl I had lying around, and pressed it down into the bowl, smoothing the top surface as I worked it in.
The scent? hard to describe. The tallow note is definitely there, and the scent they added could best be described as slightly sweet and fresh. I can't really compare it to anything to give you a baseline. It's not unpleasant, though.
For the shave this morning I used my Feather Artist Club, a Feather Pro Super blade, and my SWK scuttle. I pick up soap from the cup or puck with a damp to wet brush, and make the base lather in the scuttle. Panna Crema lathers very well, and if you continue to work this lather on your face you'll soon have what you need.
I do a 2 pass shave, and this shave went off without a hitch. What I really noticed about this soap was that it seemed to provide a good deal of "slip" and a hard to describe, protective barrier. I sometimes have some slight skin irritation on the second soap application, but there was none here.
How does it compare to other soaps? It's very good, don't get me wrong, but I think you'd be able to get the same results with any of the classic Italian soaps out there, whether it's Cella, Valobora, P160, or possibly even Vitos. I have a love affair with all these classic offerings, and I really like Panna Crema, too. I guess what I'm trying to say to all of you who may have felt cheated or believed that you missed out on the greatest shave soap in the last 500 years, well....
.
There was a certain, unfathomable hysteria surrounding this offering, and it was amazing to watch as it grew into a giant snowball rolling uncontrollably down the hill. This was good for the manufacturers, and fun for those who were able to score a bit. It's a very good shave soap, but not much more. As always, just my opinion, YMMV, and all that jazz!
Don
I'll just add a few of my thoughts, sans pictures. I ordered one Labdano and two Vetiviers. Purely an impulse buy, saw that it was available a figured I'd grab some while I could. You get a well-wrapped 100gr block of typical soft Italian soap. A little firmer than most other brands, and it's easily molded or pressed into your favorite container. I used a ramekin bowl I had lying around, and pressed it down into the bowl, smoothing the top surface as I worked it in.
The scent? hard to describe. The tallow note is definitely there, and the scent they added could best be described as slightly sweet and fresh. I can't really compare it to anything to give you a baseline. It's not unpleasant, though.
For the shave this morning I used my Feather Artist Club, a Feather Pro Super blade, and my SWK scuttle. I pick up soap from the cup or puck with a damp to wet brush, and make the base lather in the scuttle. Panna Crema lathers very well, and if you continue to work this lather on your face you'll soon have what you need.
I do a 2 pass shave, and this shave went off without a hitch. What I really noticed about this soap was that it seemed to provide a good deal of "slip" and a hard to describe, protective barrier. I sometimes have some slight skin irritation on the second soap application, but there was none here.
How does it compare to other soaps? It's very good, don't get me wrong, but I think you'd be able to get the same results with any of the classic Italian soaps out there, whether it's Cella, Valobora, P160, or possibly even Vitos. I have a love affair with all these classic offerings, and I really like Panna Crema, too. I guess what I'm trying to say to all of you who may have felt cheated or believed that you missed out on the greatest shave soap in the last 500 years, well....
.There was a certain, unfathomable hysteria surrounding this offering, and it was amazing to watch as it grew into a giant snowball rolling uncontrollably down the hill. This was good for the manufacturers, and fun for those who were able to score a bit. It's a very good shave soap, but not much more. As always, just my opinion, YMMV, and all that jazz!
Don
- Thread starter
- #17
~~~Brother Cave!, head this way- http://www.pannacrema.com/en/
As you'll see, he's sold out...I heard in less than 24 hours when the last batch went live. If you want some, email the owner and ask when he's offering a new batch, and be ready to buy...it probably wont last long
Perhaps as time moves on, Panna Cremma will expand and actually have stock available 24/7. I don't know, maybe the owner doesn't want it to grow too fast. Keeping the batches small and lengthy between them, certainly piques the interest in more than a few
Best,
Jake
Reddick Fla.
- Thread starter
- #18
~~~Hi Don!, Out of the 4 soaps you mentioned here, I only have experience with Cella. I'm a huge fan of Proraso shave soap and cringe when I hear anyone berate it. I still recall reading a post from a few years ago from a member new to the forum saying he shaved with Prorase Soap for like 20 years and didn't know anything else was available, til he made his way to this site. Then he said he'd never shave with Proraso ever again. Pure plasphemy
I doubt I have used Proraso within the last two weeks, but it's one of my favorites. It just totally works for me, and to think it doesn't have a drop of tallow in it either.... ~~~~I was surprised to see it sell out in less than 24 hours, but then I don't know how much he offered. I agree with a lot of what you said about this soap, especially for no one to beat themselves up for missing out on getting in with the last buy. Yes, it's a good soap, but really, out of all of the shave soaps I have tried, far and away the majority of them gave better than satisfactory results
I think too, one needs to adjust their technique to the soap they're using. A lot of guys don't care for using drying shave soaps but there's one in particular I love to use for that reason alone. I have several balms to choose from to follow up the shave with after using that soap
I wish Panna Cremma the very best in their continuing business venture, and I see more of their soaps making their way to my door down the road. I think his customer loyalty program is a huge incentive. The more shave soap manufacturers out there (putting out the quality Panna Cremma has displayed to me), the better for the wet shaving community
Best,
Jake
Reddick Fla.
Thanks for the additional comment/observations, Jake.
I just had my second shave with the Labdano, and I'd like to add that this stuff lathers like crazy, right off the top when you start swirling your brush.
The real benefit/reward to using this soap comes after the shave. I think it's the kaolin additive that they put in the soap. There's a slip quality to this lather and a protective shielding after effect that I can't put my finger on, but it's there. I really believe you could skip any aftershave or balm you use and you'd be fine. I'm having trouble refraining from constantly stroking my cheek, chin and neck!
I'd like to see the folks at Panna Crema make an effort toward a full time output of this. They do have a winner!
Don
I just had my second shave with the Labdano, and I'd like to add that this stuff lathers like crazy, right off the top when you start swirling your brush.
The real benefit/reward to using this soap comes after the shave. I think it's the kaolin additive that they put in the soap. There's a slip quality to this lather and a protective shielding after effect that I can't put my finger on, but it's there. I really believe you could skip any aftershave or balm you use and you'd be fine. I'm having trouble refraining from constantly stroking my cheek, chin and neck!
I'd like to see the folks at Panna Crema make an effort toward a full time output of this. They do have a winner!
Don
