My Soap Test - as good as Cella or Tabac?

[Feldgrun]

The more soaps I sample and try (which is a lot), the more I think to myself "this is only as good as Cella (red)" or "this doesn't quite measure up to Tabac," etc. The only reason I'd buy something similar is because of the container, art, or scent (which I'm taking a gamble on anyway, and have been frequently disappointed). I have yet to find many better soaps, and very few at Cella or Tabac's respective prices/value.

 

[sylbub]

I have really come to appreciate strong unpretentious soaps like Proraso. Simple scents and packaging - nothing fancy, just fantastic performance.

 

[Steve56]

There are lots of better soaps/creams. Cella, Tabac, and MWF were always pretty much drug store soaps, which doesn't mean that they are bad, far from it. But when responding to threads extolling the virtues of these soaps with those much better, the reply is almost universally ‘Yes but the price!’ - which is not always that much different in cost/year or cost/use. If you’re happy with the price of CTM, you’re golden.

 

[brucered]

Tabac and Haslinger (tallow, the only one I have tried) are the best soap bases I have every used, by a fairly wide margin.

 

[drydown]

Years back I thought that the Saponificio Varesino soaps were even a bit better than MWF, D.R. Harris, Haslinger and Tabac , but effectively neither my shaves were closer nor felt my skin better afterwards to any degree that made a difference to me.

And though I always strive for great shaves, I don't want to make it a luxury thing. It's a ritual I love, but not something I celebrate and the short longevity as well the mostly seldom available refills made me forget about SV then.

But it could be that I produced better lather with my usual soaps after I had used SV, don't know really. However, for me there is nothing like a good, old, triple milled, long lasting, tallow based soap and since MWF is no longer, it is mainly D.R. Harris for me.
Just out of curiosity I ordered a 'Naturals' pucks, and it seems fine from the one shave I did so far and although the V2 Schafmilch Haslinger is truly stellar, I just love the old school thing and will continue with my classic D.R. Harris soaps.

And I never got the desire for strong scented soaps. If I want a scent, I use an EdT or EdP from true artists (perfumers) and not a scented soap from so-called artisans.
The soaps I use have a light smell I enjoy when my nose catches a glimpse of it, but it's not more than a whiff after the shave and it's gone anyway when I splash on my 'Eau Sauvage' (the old one from 1966 composed by Edmond Roudnitska, not the 'Sauvage' of modern days) After Shave.

 

[The Blackadder]

The more soaps I sample and try (which is a lot), the more I think to myself "this is only as good as Cella (red)" or "this doesn't quite measure up to Tabac," etc. The only reason I'd buy something similar is because of the container, art, or scent (which I'm taking a gamble on anyway, and have been frequently disappointed). I have yet to find many better soaps, and very few at Cella or Tabac's respective prices/value.

I have tried many of the usual suspects (A&E, B&M, Zingari, PAA, Cattie’s Bubbles, SV, MdC, Stirling, SV, Tabac, Speick, Haslinger, etc) and my best shaves have come from Cella and veggie Tabac. SV is a close favorite, but when you consider costs, Cella is unbeatable

 

[Steve56]

If you’re buying a soap because of the container or art, you’re buying artisan and I would agree that most artisan soaps aren’t any better than most mainstream commercial soaps. Many that are tend to be watery ($$$), have strong and/or strongly unusual scents, and if you like one it might not be available next time that you want it. They also tend to have few or no preservatives and more fats and water, so artisan soaps not aging well has been mentioned by those building a ‘stash’ of their faves. To be fair, Cella red suffers from longevity problems too, but it isn’t an expensive soap to replace. Martin de Candre is an exception because of the scents and way that they cure their soap. I don’t get tired of the scents and they don’t go bad even without preservatives because they’re well cured. I have 10-year old glass jars of original and fougere and they look the same and smell as fresh as the day that I cracked the lid.

So yes, grab some Tabac (I can’t take the scent strength) or Cella and be happy, or any of the multitude of high quality, long lasting commercial soaps like D.R. Harris, Cyril Salter, Pre de Provence, Haslinger, TFS/RR and even the current Floris soaps perform well, but they are pricey because of the scents. They won’t scratch your ‘artisan itch’ though.