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Williams Mug Soap - Officially DISCONTINUED

Spider

Spider

"The Cadre Constable"
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It's a sad, sad day to find out that my beloved Williams Mug Soap will be made no more.

There has been a little bit of talk about it around here, and I went to another forum and read a post where someone confirmed it. I decided to reach out for myself, just to be sure. I emailed Combe's customer service and got the following response:

Dear Mr. Vezino:

Thank you for contacting us regarding Williams Mug Soap.

We are sorry to inform you that it has been discontinued.

Thank you for your interest in Williams Mug Soap.
Sincerely,
Cesar
Consumer Resources Consultant
Case# 776338


They had initially planned on discontinuing it in 2015, but pushed it off (I believe in response to our write-in campaign showing our support from the wet shaving community). Now it appears to late to do anything.

I can only suggest that you all go out and search for whatever stock is still left on your grocery store and drug store shelves, and buy it up while you still can. Even if you don't want it, someone else probably does.

Right now eBay prices are stupid.... $40 for 3 or 4 pucks...... that's even higher than vintage prices!
 
Fightingillini22 said:
definitely will not be buying any modern stuff at those eBay prices though!
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Panic over discontinuation (and greed) inflates prices. They will eventually come down in price. There's tons of stock out there. Once demand goes down, prices will drop.

In the mean time, horde what you can!
 
Wow! Walmart, Walgreens, Wegmans (all the W’s - though I am surprised the last one carried it in the first place) - all soap out. I guess eventually the one puck that I have will become “Vintage”

I did see it for sale on Dorothy Store (New York) and Beauty Suppliers.org (Ohio) for the “normal” pricing for 6 pucks - the list them as 10.5 ounces - but there is no description on how many pucks - but doing the math at 1.75 oz per puck.
 
So that will leave VDH as pretty much the only shaving soap on the shelf in drugstore/grocery/big box, retailers.
 
OpusX said:
So that will leave VDH as pretty much the only shaving soap on the shelf in drugstore/grocery/big box, retailers.
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I've noticed they have been switching over to shave creams in tubes from the likes of Dollar Shave Club and others.
 
I was about to post the exact same response from Cesar....only difference is my case number is exactly 100 numbers higher than yours (seems suspicious). Guess I'm going shopping for stock-pile soaps this weekend. My current hoard of 13 pucks seems woefully inadequate for someone that uses it as his main soap.
 
Another classic bites the dust. This bums me out. I guess I will have to hang on tightly to the pile of Williams pucks that I have.

What's next? Mitchell's Wool Fat? Do I need to start hoarding that now too? *rants*

It especially sucks when the classics are the products that you like best. Tabac, MWF, and Williams all work great for me, and in many cases better than the soft artisan soaps that I have available.
 
Bummer to see this hallmark name disappear.

I googled mug shave soap and most of the initial results point to Williams. Googled tonsorial shave soap and the first result was CBL. Do I smell opportunity? 🤔
 
Spider said:
Agree. @CBLindsay should definitely tout his Tonsorial base as a Williams replacement!
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I absolutely agree. With one exception, my tonsorial base is easily lathered by pretty much everyone.
As an aside, This morning I used one of the Williams pucks I just bought and it lathered very easily for me.

Regarding the fact that Williams mug soap is being discontinued…I am sad. It has been a great low cost commercially available product with a long history. Are there other great commercially available products on the market? Sure, but none are sold for $1 at your local grocery store.
 
CBLindsay said:
I absolutely agree. With one exception, my tonsorial base is easily lathered by pretty much everyone.
As an aside, This morning I used one of the Williams pucks I just bought and it lathered very easily for me.

Regarding the fact that Williams mug soap is being discontinued…I am sad. It has been a great low cost commercially available product with a long history. Are there other great commercially available products on the market? Sure, but none are sold for $1 at your local grocery store.
Click to expand...
It is sad that the low cost standbys are disappearing. I agree that, at the price of $1-2 USD, Williams was a great deal. If you can lather it (and it isn't too hard to do that) you have a great performing soap for a steal of a price. There is nothing on the market that comes close. The two closest would probably be Arko and La Toja. Arko (if you buy the 12 pack) can be had from Amazon for about the same price, but while it is a really good performer I don't find it quite as good as Williams. Also, it is a shave stick rather than a puck, which could be a deal breaker for some? La Toja is around $5 USD for a shave stick. It has the performance, but lacks the same value. There is nothing that touches that price-for-performance point that Williams did.
 
Spider said:
It's a sad, sad day to find out that my beloved Williams Mug Soap will be made no more.

There has been a little bit of talk about it around here, and I went to another forum and read a post where someone confirmed it. I decided to reach out for myself, just to be sure. I emailed Combe's customer service and got the following response:

Dear Mr. Vezino:

Thank you for contacting us regarding Williams Mug Soap.

We are sorry to inform you that it has been discontinued.

Thank you for your interest in Williams Mug Soap.
Sincerely,
Cesar
Consumer Resources Consultant
Case# 776338


They had initially planned on discontinuing it in 2015, but pushed it off (I believe in response to our write-in campaign showing our support from the wet shaving community). Now it appears to late to do anything.

I can only suggest that you all go out and search for whatever stock is still left on your grocery store and drug store shelves, and buy it up while you still can. Even if you don't want it, someone else probably does.

Right now eBay prices are stupid.... $40 for 3 or 4 pucks...... that's even higher than vintage prices!
Click to expand...
iu
 
dkeester said:
It is sad that the low cost standbys are disappearing. I agree that, at the price of $1-2 USD, Williams was a great deal. If you can lather it (and it isn't too hard to do that) you have a great performing soap for a steal of a price. There is nothing on the market that comes close. The two closest would probably be Arko and La Toja. Arko (if you buy the 12 pack) can be had from Amazon for about the same price, but while it is a really good performer I don't find it quite as good as Williams. Also, it is a shave stick rather than a puck, which could be a deal breaker for some? La Toja is around $5 USD for a shave stick. It has the performance, but lacks the same value. There is nothing that touches that price-for-performance point that Williams did.
Click to expand...
I used to thin Arko was a good option but I got some that was fresh and it stunk so bad it couldn't stand it. I liked using the Williams puck in the shower, I could use it for shaving then once I was board with it toss in in the shower and it would last a week or more
 
Well, has anyone scored an Williams? I’ve checked every Schnucks(7) around and Walgreens(4) and not one of them had a single puck! I think the smaller towns will have stock, but the big stores here in St. Louis are picked clean…
 
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