Cry ‘Tabac’!

In my last post, I raved over the lathering properties of the Arko shave stick, while bemoaning its horrible smell.

In this post, I want to present the flip side.

Tabac Shave Soap comes out of Germany from Maurer & Wirtz. From what I gather, Tabac is to Germany what Old Spice is to the US. It’s a standard, time-honored everyday shave soap/after shave that your old man or grandfather used.

The cologne aside, the shave soap here in the States is the stuff of wet shaving legend.

Tabac, baby. Your (German) grandpa knew what he was about.

Tabac comes in cake form with the option of including a cool ceramic bowl. The price is in the mid range for imported shave soaps. It works up a tallow-based lather that’s incredible.

What I like best, and provides the flip side to Arko, is the Tabac scent. It’s kind of a powdery, somewhat floral, sweet pipe tobacco (Tabac, right?) aroma.

I’ve heard the scent described as ‘old world’ and that seems to fit. I can easily picture a Saturday shave at a European barbershop of days gone by when I shave with Tabac.

I can also understand how scent snobs (of which I suppose I’m one) look down on it. ‘Powdery’ is a sneer in some circles. It is kind of simple. To me, that’s a big part of its charm.

There are a number of shave soaps and creams that I love… but I have to give Tabac the nod as my favorite. Highly, highly, recommended.