CBL tub and puck consistency

[Batman]

You still have those samples??? Lol.

Yup.


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[Batman]

@Batman if i’m not mistaken, you have at least a couple of the premium and one of the tonsorial soaps. The premium soaps I believe you have are Pretty powerfully scented so it would be surprising if you were getting a whiff from the tallow in the base UNLESS something is wrong with the soap itself. I just handed off my last tub of Alpine that had been sitting on the shelf since about November 2018 and it was as powerful and fresh smelling as ever and I still have a few of my very first tubs every made.same story, so i can confirm sitting on the shelf at an average temp of about 80 doesn’t lead to funk or rancidity....age AND use might be a different story. My tonsorial soap has not been around that long and it uses a different type and amount of tallow, as well as a different blend of oils and is designed to have very little I saponified fats/oils or remaining moisture. So rancidity is unlikely with the tonsorial even with usage, no matter how you decide to store it between uses. Jeeves is an all together different formula but is probably an older tub. I can’t comment with any certainty about his oils etc but I have a tub that I know is at least 3 years old and has been stored in the same general conditions as the CBL brand soaps (because I own the Jeeves tub) when it hasn’t been in use and I haven’t had the tub go ‘bad’.

I really don’t know what you are smelling but I doubt it funky tallow. I know a lot of people are quick to associate a soaps scent with tallow in the formula but I can assure you that my method of making BOTH bases involves completely saponifying the tallow and cooking a long time after that part has been done. The likelihood that any animal fat remains in the soap is essentially zero, there may be other fats like coconut oil or Shea butter etc but the tallow has most definitely been saponified. I am fairly certain Jeeves and Stirling and most other artisans will/would say the same. There are many good reasons to ensure this is the case, other than rancidity concerns. NOW, saponified tallow or coconut oil have very distinct smells, smells you might not like. That whiff you are getting could be one of those. I have made 100% tallow and 100% coconut soaps (so I know how they behave) and I can say they each smell different but I don’t think either smells bad.

If you are getting the same ‘whiff’ from the tonsorial soap as you get from the CBL premium, Jeeves and odd Stirling then I am truly stumped. The Tonsorial base is honestly quite simple and about as pure an example of tallow soap as you can get. If not for the tonsorial base I would think you might be smelling other fats or butters like shea butter.

I wouldn’t call the whiff “rancid”. It’s just there and takes away from the scent it’s supposed to be.

Used the Tonsorial bergamot & lemon today. Great shave. But I’d call it an attic/musty/antique store scent. The samples I have - Alpine and another also have this.

Believe me...the soap is a decent performer. I’m not a novice here and I know there’s a fan club and many defending this, but it’s there.

We can let it go.


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[CBLindsay]

I wouldn’t call the whiff “rancid”. It’s just there and takes away from the scent it’s supposed to be.

Used the Tonsorial bergamot & lemon today. Great shave. But I’d call it an attic/musty/antique store scent. The samples I have - Alpine and another also have this.

Believe me...the soap is a decent performer. I’m not a novice here and I know there’s a fan club and many defending this, but it’s there.

We can let it go.


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I don’t question that you are smelling something, The part that surprises me is whatever you can smell is able to come through the heavy hitting fragrance of the Alpine fragrance. I completely understand that some people are more sensitive to different scents and types of smells and once you get that whiff it’s impossible to shake it, but between the pine and peppermint I dont think I’d be able to smell much else. Since I use the same basic ingredients and very similar methods across my different soap bases (I do use different types of tallow in the tonsorial and premium) there’s no reason you wouldn’t pick up a common ‘whiff’ between them.

I have an aversion to cocoa butter myself. Fortunately the scent is fairly quick to get cooked away, same with ‘raw’ Shea butter. When I first started making the CBL premium soap my wagyu guy sent me fat that I rendered myself...talk about stench. The Whole process took more than 48 hours and smelled awful, my wife tolerated that all of one batch then killed that project. Fortunately I was able to work with my supplier we figured out a way he could do the rendering at the farm and send me fully rendered, cleaned and vacuum packed blocks of tallow by the big box full. That ended up saving me a lot up work and I think it made it easier for him to sell more tallow to local artisans too.