TOBS Sampler Review
- Thread starter DrkStr
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- #2
Scent 1: Sandalwood- When I was gifted all my wetshaving stuff for Christmas, I was given a tub of the Sandalwood scent. I generally enjoy the scent and have been able to get a pretty good lather from it. This is what I used in all my shaves up until now (over a month and a half). This was a good starting cream, but I don't have anything to compare it to. The last shave I did with Sandalwood was on Monday February 3rd with a new Gillette 7 O'clock green blade.
Scent 2: Grapefruit- I just busted out the sampler pack and decided to go with Grapefruit. I've read a lot of good things about this scent and wanted to give it a try first. The sample sizes are a bit small and my badger brush got a lot of it. There's not much left, so I'll probably only get three shaves total. It lathered pretty well. Used my Merkur with the Gillette 7 O'Clock green. The scent was very citrus-y and I can see why people like to use it in the morning. I also tried something new-going ATG for a third pass. I usually only do two pass WTG and XTG, but decided it was time to try a proper ATG. I had a lot of lather so it wasn't too bad. Overall, it's a nice scent that gave a good shave and if I were really into citrus/fruity smelling creams, I'd buy a tub of this.
Scent 2: Grapefruit- I just busted out the sampler pack and decided to go with Grapefruit. I've read a lot of good things about this scent and wanted to give it a try first. The sample sizes are a bit small and my badger brush got a lot of it. There's not much left, so I'll probably only get three shaves total. It lathered pretty well. Used my Merkur with the Gillette 7 O'Clock green. The scent was very citrus-y and I can see why people like to use it in the morning. I also tried something new-going ATG for a third pass. I usually only do two pass WTG and XTG, but decided it was time to try a proper ATG. I had a lot of lather so it wasn't too bad. Overall, it's a nice scent that gave a good shave and if I were really into citrus/fruity smelling creams, I'd buy a tub of this.
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Sounds good man, to be honest you can never really go wrong with TOBS. Eton College was first shaving cream I picked up when I started wet shaving and its still my favorite sent and one of the best performers for me. I'm sure you'll love your samples 
Awesome! Good to see another Maggard Razors shopper! I did the same thing and bought the sample pack. I am curious to see what your top 3 are.
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- #5
Scent 3: Shave Shop: Just finished up with my shave using the Shave Shop scent. It was a nice clean scent, not too strong but a pleasant scent. I can see why some fellows in another thread were talking about disappointment that TOBS stopped selling it on their site. Used my Merkur long pole and the same Gillette 7 O'Clock green for a third shave. Also went ATG full face for the first time. Finished up with Aqua Velva blue and Nivea Sensitive Skin ASB. Next up in a few days: Mr. Taylor and a new blade.
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- #7
Scent 4: Mr. Taylor- Now this is a nice scent! It's what I imagine an Old English barbershop to smell like. It's not too strong but has a good strong manly/barberly scent. I tried out a new way of loading my brush (I'm still learning after all) by taking a finger of cream and putting it into the center of my brush instead of just dipping my brush into the tub (or sample in this case). It produced a good lather that was almost too dry, but that's due to my inexperience. Once I got it right it was a good shave. Didn't change the blade, so the 7 O'clock green was used for the fourth time. It was a good two pass WTG and XTG shave. Also used more pre shave oil this time around. Next up is Coconut with a Feather blade (my first shave with a Feather).
I just tried the Jermyn Street for the first time today. I suspect you'll enjoy it when you get there.
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- #9
I think that's about 2 or 3 down the line for scents next. I'm excited for them all though! Haha
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- #10
Scent 5: Coconut- This was an interesting shave. First one with a Feather (which was awesome) and tried a new mug to make a lather in. The mug was too deep and I was about to get a good amount of lather but the second pass was a bit sparse. The coconut scent was nice and reminded me of the coconut scented tanning oils I smelled while on vacations in Hawaii with my family when I was younger. I had the best 2 pass WTG and XTG shave I've had yet with the Feather but wish I had either used more sample or had not switched lathering mugs for the lather. Either way, I'm feelin' good. Coconut would be a good scent for the summer. Finished up with my usual cold water rinse, Aqua Velva, and Nivea Sensitive Skin ASB. Next scent will be Avacado in a few days.
Cool thread Dark star
thanks for sharing....will be following along!
thanks for sharing....will be following along!
I also got the sampler kit from them. There was a small problem with my order but they responded to my email almost instantly (maybe 2 minutes) and took care of my issue immediately with no questions asked. Amazing service and I was definitely satisfied so I got another kit for my friend.
I just finished using each TOBS cream once so I will give my brief summarized feedback as well. In order to not spoil or influence your opinion I am going to change the text color to white so everyone who wants to read this will have to select it to highlight and read it...
START
Almond - Awesome scent
Coconut - Awesome scent
Lemon Lime - My sample had a different consistency than the other samples. It was much more "liquidy" but it was more like glycerin than water. I'm not sure why it was like this or what the normal consistency is like for a full tub. The performance of my sample was, however, amazing. Easily the best of them all. I used it twice to be sure it wasn't a fluke and it was the same both times. It smelled a little artificial in the jar and I thought it was one of the worst scents but once I lathered and put it on the face it smelled great.
Grapefruit - Smelled a little strange in the jar but I liked it a lot better once I lathered it
Avocado - Noticeably better performance but the scent, although good, is not my personal preference
Shaving Shop - Nice scent that really is how you'd imagine it
Sensitive Skin - Great neutral scent, almost a subtle version of shaving shop. Great lather too.
Sandalwood - Scent was good but not my personal preference
Mr Taylor - At first I didn't like it because it reminded me of an old man smell. It was also noticeably more dry than the other creams. Thankfully this can be compensated for because the scent that remains after shaving, when combined with Speick aftershave, makes the most amazing scent ever.
Eton College - One of my favorite scents but it seems to give me a headache
Jermyn St - Nice, reminds me a little of Eton College but lighter and more subtle with more citrus
St James - Also nice
Rose - Strong scent that is good quality but not at all my preference
Lavender - Strong scent that is not at all my preference
GFT Coconut - Great scent. Both this and TOBS smell like coconut but in different ways. I preferred TOBS but I can easily understand why a lot of people like this one.
Proraso Green - Great feeling, good but understandably medicinal scent
Proraso Blue - I remember being impressed with the performance of this one but don't remember the details. I need to use it again.
Proraso White - Haven't used this yet, but the smell from the jar reminds me of the insides of pumpkins when you clean them out during Halloween. Not particularly fond of it for shaving but we'll see if that changes once I lather it.
Proraso Red - Haven't used this yet either. Good scent but slightly different from TOBS. I prefer the TOBS but neither is really my style.
In the end they had similar performance and were evenly matched. The 3 that stood out were the Avocado, Mr Taylor and Lemon Lime. I've seen other people mention the same things about the Avocado (better) and Mr Taylor (dry) so I feel confident that these are normal results. I haven't seen much about the Lemon Lime so I'm still confused about this one. Because of that I have started with Almond, Coconut and Mr Taylor as my first 3 full tubs. I will get Lemon Lime as my next one. After that I will slowly get all of them except for the Rose, Lavender and Sandalwood.
END
How long will it take me to go through 11 tubs of TOBS and 2 Proraso tubes? hahahaa
I just finished using each TOBS cream once so I will give my brief summarized feedback as well. In order to not spoil or influence your opinion I am going to change the text color to white so everyone who wants to read this will have to select it to highlight and read it...
START
Almond - Awesome scent
Coconut - Awesome scent
Lemon Lime - My sample had a different consistency than the other samples. It was much more "liquidy" but it was more like glycerin than water. I'm not sure why it was like this or what the normal consistency is like for a full tub. The performance of my sample was, however, amazing. Easily the best of them all. I used it twice to be sure it wasn't a fluke and it was the same both times. It smelled a little artificial in the jar and I thought it was one of the worst scents but once I lathered and put it on the face it smelled great.
Grapefruit - Smelled a little strange in the jar but I liked it a lot better once I lathered it
Avocado - Noticeably better performance but the scent, although good, is not my personal preference
Shaving Shop - Nice scent that really is how you'd imagine it
Sensitive Skin - Great neutral scent, almost a subtle version of shaving shop. Great lather too.
Sandalwood - Scent was good but not my personal preference
Mr Taylor - At first I didn't like it because it reminded me of an old man smell. It was also noticeably more dry than the other creams. Thankfully this can be compensated for because the scent that remains after shaving, when combined with Speick aftershave, makes the most amazing scent ever.
Eton College - One of my favorite scents but it seems to give me a headache
Jermyn St - Nice, reminds me a little of Eton College but lighter and more subtle with more citrus
St James - Also nice
Rose - Strong scent that is good quality but not at all my preference
Lavender - Strong scent that is not at all my preference
GFT Coconut - Great scent. Both this and TOBS smell like coconut but in different ways. I preferred TOBS but I can easily understand why a lot of people like this one.
Proraso Green - Great feeling, good but understandably medicinal scent
Proraso Blue - I remember being impressed with the performance of this one but don't remember the details. I need to use it again.
Proraso White - Haven't used this yet, but the smell from the jar reminds me of the insides of pumpkins when you clean them out during Halloween. Not particularly fond of it for shaving but we'll see if that changes once I lather it.
Proraso Red - Haven't used this yet either. Good scent but slightly different from TOBS. I prefer the TOBS but neither is really my style.
In the end they had similar performance and were evenly matched. The 3 that stood out were the Avocado, Mr Taylor and Lemon Lime. I've seen other people mention the same things about the Avocado (better) and Mr Taylor (dry) so I feel confident that these are normal results. I haven't seen much about the Lemon Lime so I'm still confused about this one. Because of that I have started with Almond, Coconut and Mr Taylor as my first 3 full tubs. I will get Lemon Lime as my next one. After that I will slowly get all of them except for the Rose, Lavender and Sandalwood.
END
How long will it take me to go through 11 tubs of TOBS and 2 Proraso tubes? hahahaa
+1 on Jermyn St... awesome scent.
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- #15
That's why you just gotta give in and buy a sampler! Haha.
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- #16
Scent 6: Avocado- I was looking forward to this one since I've heard good things about it but ended up being a little let down. Got a pretty good lather going and it's got an okay scent with familiar notes of something I recognize but not sure where from. Took my time and tried to get the blade angle right this time and ended up with lots of irritation. Maybe it's because I didn't use pre shave oil. Anyway, ended up using a little alum to soothe the burn and finished up with the usual Aqua Velva and Nivea Sensitive ASB. Right as I was washing out my brush and bowl I realized where the scent was familiar from- the dog shampoo we use! Not sure what is is, but it definitely was reminiscent of what we use on our dog back home, so that kinda ruined the scent for me.
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- #17
Update: I've only shaved twice in the last 9 days (getting lazy...whoops) so I had to revert back to my tub of Sandalwood to get enough lather to cut some long stubble. Tried the Marco method and got a LOT of lather and a good shave. Will resume the sampler in a few days.
Cool thread - interested to hear your thoughts on St. James. It's one of my favorites from TOBS.
I love this thread! I've been interested in finding out what some of the creams with the less descriptive names actually smell like. Thanks!
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- #20
Thanks guys. I don't know if I'm very good at describing the scents but I'll do my best. Also, I just ordered a Parker Best Badger Brush and a 25 pack of Gillette Silver Blues. My current brush handle is started to get pretty weird. It has a crack in it and now it's starting to chip off near the knot. Wish I got more life out of it but it's only a WSP pure badger brush so I don't feel too bad. So expect to see those included down the line of scent reviews!
