Barrister and Mann

For anyone who has experience with Nocturne I would be curious to hear your impressions of that scent.

I don't know what you guys see in Reserve. It's okay, but I think Glissant smokes it. Glissant is much better in my opinion.

I've tried all of Will's formulas. The original tallow was the best followed closely by reserve. Glissant is the worst, imho. I've never had a bad shave with the original formula. Can't say that about any that have come after it but reserve is an adequate substitute.

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Anyone know when the seville in reserve base will be available?

Don't give up yet!

Quote from Will on Reddit:

After they're all shipped, we'll give it about two weeks to let everything arrive, then will take stock of how much we have left over, as well as what's still at Top of the Chain. We'll then post a thread with the purchasing info for whatever is left, but, I will warn you now, it's not much on our end. Carmine will likely have more than we do because of the international shipping issues he's been dealing with, so we'll work it out from there.

Seems like most of the has been shipped by now, so I would expect the remaining stock to be offered on sale soon.
Since I know Top of the Chain made refunds to all international customers who ordered the whole set (soap+splash) they probably have it in stock. My advice: Send them an email.

Thanks for the info, I will try that

I am always confused when people like the old formula or even Glissant better than Reserve. For sure Glissant is a quicker and easier lather and it’s no slouch but when you dial in Reserve properly it’s no doubt slicker both during and residual with a better post shave. I think some people don’t lather Reserve properly because it doesn’t load or lather the same as Glissant, then they chalk it off as not as good.

I’d be curious to see if people opinions change after following the directions of the how to video.

...I’d be curious to see if people opinions change after following the directions of the how to video.

I'm a big fan of both Glissant and Reserve, but for me the edge goes to Reserve. I have extremely hard water.  My method for lathering Reserve is quite different from Will's instructions, and although the 2 bases are vastly different from each other, I treat Reserve exactly the same way I treat Declaration's Bison tallow base:

1. Start with a barely damp knot.
   
2. Load until the knot forms a sticky, gooey, stringy substance at the distal 1/4 - 1/3 end of the knot. If you get bubbles with loading, the knot is too wet, so you will have to swirl longer until you achieve this sticky phase. This does not, in any way, resemble a traditional usable lather or even proto-lather. Imagine that your goal is to glue the tips together, effectively forming a cap at the distal end of your knot.
   
3. Dunk the entire knot in your water reservoir. Completely submerge the whole knot, right up to the brush handle. The goal here is to trap this water inside the knot behind the cap you created with the goo.
   
4. As you pull the knot from the reserve water, try to keep the brush somewhat vertical (knot facing downward).
   
5. Face or bowl-lather as usual. The retained water will reconstitute and "dissolve" the gooey cap as it works through it. This will initially result in a Spanish stucco-like foundation, then a sticky marshmallow cream consistency, but as you continue to work it, it will explode into luxury lather. The usual slurry bubbly phase is skipped.
   
6. Employing this method, I rarely have to revisit the reserve water, but at this point, it's personal preference as to how thin you like your lather. I cannot drown this lather even with my extremely hard water.
   

The aforementioned procedure, although meticulously defined by me, is a very fast no-brainer process (load with barely damp knot until stringy phase, dunk and go). It works for me with badger and synthetic. Boar requires revisiting the water a few times because the thicker bristles don't trap the water as effectively.  I understand this method deviates quite a bit from Will's instructions, but it works consistently for me.  Again, I discovered this method with Declaration's bison tallow-base, but soon discovered it works very well for Reserve as well.

That’s pretty similar to how I use to do it but following Will’s instructions I felt like I was able to get the same quality of lather much easier and much quicker. I’ve never thought about hitting a tub of soap with a sopping wet brush before but it works surprisingly well.

This is my first experience with Reserve. It is one thirsty soap! Takes more water than any soap I’ve ever used. I am getting the hang of it after a couple of uses. In general, very satisfied. That said..thus far the cushioning and post shave for me is not as good as my personal “gold standard” WhollyKaw donkey milk. But...I just adore the Seville scent so I’ll keep trying to up my technique with it..Will is right...does seem to work better with a synthetic.

For anyone who has experience with Nocturne I would be curious to hear your impressions of that scent.

I've got a tub of Nocturne in classic base - I think it was only released once in the fall along with Leviathan and Hallow. It was a trilogy of darkness. I think its every bit as good as Levaithan and Hallows but for some reason the market disagreed so Nocturne dropped off and the other two, well, you know.... Maybe Nocturne just needed some cool packaging with skulls or bats on it.

I am always confused when people like the old formula or even Glissant better than Reserve. For sure Glissant is a quicker and easier lather and it’s no slouch but when you dial in Reserve properly it’s no doubt slicker both during and residual with a better post shave. I think some people don’t lather Reserve properly because it doesn’t load or lather the same as Glissant, then they chalk it off as not as good.

I’d be curious to see if people opinions change after following the directions of the how to video.

And I'm always confused when people claim Reserve to be better than glissant or classic. It just goes to show you that there is a ton of variability in wet shaving - it all comes down to personal preference. Imagine being a soap maker and having to try to figure this all out. I know if Will ever dropped Glissant or Reserve there would be an out cry in either case. Like when Coke switched to new coke. What the heck was up with that?

I've looked at the directions video and seen Will lathering it himself and I just don't find that all that helpful - I've been happily wet shaving for years and to be told that the reason I don't appreciate Reserve's obvious superiority is because I'm doing it wrong just doesn't fly with me. I'll probably give it another go sometime although it might just be like brussel sprouts for me - I try them every few years because people tell me I'm just not cooking/preparing them properly and every time all I can say is, still yuk