First things first, I’ve never been a ‘Tabaconist’ and could care less about tallow so I don’t have a dog in the race. I’ve used all sorts of shaving soaps over ten+ years from the cheapest to the most expensive.
TL;DR: Honestly I like it a bit better than the old based on fragrance and slickness. The performance is about the same. The new version is slicker. Fragrance intensity is a little less than the old which was ‘eye watering’ to me, but the new is still stout. Fragrance is a little less ‘smoky granny’s bingo purse’ but it’s still there. The fragrance seems to me closer to the AS than the old version, and I like the AS. It lathers easily and rinses cleanly. I’m more likely to use the new version than the old.
Price: $14.99 US at Pasteur’s. About mid-range for a quality European soap in the US these days.
Fragrance intensity: Slightly less. I had to air out my 10-year old tallow puck when it was new and could smell it in the second room over. The new non-tallow puck I have to be in the same room with and it’s new of course. The tallow soap scent intensity was the main reason I never used it much though YNMV (your nose may vary), and the scent it stayed in the brush and interfered with other soap scents for 2-3 days.
Fragrance: Granny’s smoky bingo purse is still there but noticeably less, possibly lessened because of the lack of tallow smell? To me, the fragrance of the new soap is closer to the AS (which I like) than the tallow soap. The new fragrance wins for me.
Ease of Lathering: Excellent. I’m using a Simpson’s Tulip 2 to test, and a Tulip 2 will lather a brick, so if there’s a lather problem it isn’t the brush. I initially used the puck fresh and dry, no bloom, and it lathered up very similarly to the tallow version.
Quality of lather: Great. Stable slick lather. Maybe a little less lofty than the tallow version but to me not much difference. Residual slickness is about average. Shaved skin needs a wipe with wet fingers if it starts drying but I didn’t have to re-lather (a straight razor doesn’t need a coating of lather on the face). Slickness isn’t as good as SV beta 4.3 or the new version of ABC, but Tabac is half the price. It’s also not as slick as Pre de Provence which is about the same price. It delivered a great shave, absolutely nothing to complain about. The image below is bowl lathered and still has a few whipped-in air bubbles but it is not an airy lather.
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I recently did a comparison of the old ABC and the new ABC hard soaps. They are different soaps in that the lather feels different on your face, but they both perform not much differently. And the new ABC is slicker. I believe that this is also true of the old and new Tabac.
Who should consider non-tallow Tabac: Everyone, especially SR users who like less intense scents (though it’s still strong). Performance difference is a non-issue.
Who should pass: Hard-core tallow Tabaconists for whom tallow is required, or those who have given both a fair shake made up their minds.
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