Barrister & Mann AMA, July 17th, 2016

1) We might? That's not really my area, but I can check with the various buyers, if you'd like.

2) Not more of it as a percentage, but more overall because we sell so much aftershave. It would effectively triple our consumption of bay, which would not be sustainable at the moment.

3) Next year. Barrister's Reserve has proven to be even more complicated to bring to market than I thought and so is requiring a lot of time, money, and energy. However, we are going to be doing a full push for the launch and will be doing what my mother has christened a "whirlwind tour" of five cities in September: Seattle (we'll be at Seattle Shave Con), Chicago, Adrian, Toronto (my first time in Canada), and Boston. It's very exciting.

Where in Chicago, Merchant & Rhodes?

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Yep. Ever been? Beautiful shop.

I haven't, but I will make it for your visit if at all possible!

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5) Probably gone forever. We discontinued it once, brought it back, and were forced to discontinue it again. I can't justify going through that whole undertaking a third time.

Not really specific to the soap mentioned in the question that led to the answer above...
If you are satisfied with how the pre-order system has worked for the last two semi-limited releases, could it become the means to bring some discontinued/expensive/commercially-risky scents back?

Few more questions:
- what are, if any,  the kind of "tweaks" that a fragrance initially developed for an aftershave has to go through to be used for making soap (or viceversa)?
- all the soaps released this year (or planned for the rest of the year)  have been announced together with a matching aftershave product. Is this somethng that we can expect for future releases (2017+) as well?

Ooh, I did not know it was in the same vein as Knize Ten! I've been curious about that fragrance.

Hi Will,

Huge fan of your soap as you know. I only have two questions.

1. How do you decide when to use fragrance oil vs essential oil or absolute? Obviously there is a cost difference but you have used some very expensive EOs and absolutes before.

2. Will you bring Night Music back for another LE run next year?

5) Probably gone forever. We discontinued it once, brought it back, and were forced to discontinue it again. I can't justify going through that whole undertaking a third time.

Not really specific to the soap mentioned in the question that led to the answer above...
If you are satisfied with how the pre-order system has worked for the last two semi-limited releases, could it become the means to bring some discontinued/expensive/commercially-risky scents back?

Few more questions:
- what are, if any,  the kind of "tweaks" that a fragrance initially developed for an aftershave has to go through to be used for making soap (or viceversa)?
- all the soaps released this year (or planned for the rest of the year)  have been announced together with a matching aftershave product. Is this somethng that we can expect for future releases (2017+) as well?

1) For that number of times, it is. We might, but I'm a little leery of vetiver in general these days. Might just stick with Hallows. We'll see what happens.

2) Not too many; it's mostly a matter of strength. On an industrial scale, things are very different, though. Industrial chemists have all sorts of tricks that I don't know in order to increase the scent strength while using less fragrance than one might ordinarily figure. It's really something to behold.

3) Yes, for the most part. The only way that might change would be if I decide to do a couple of one-off aftershaves or something (which I've considered).

I just noticed Wonderbalm is no longer on your site. Is it discontinued? Its a really great product especially in the winter. Nothing soothes like it does.

Do you have some LE/seasonal scents that have been so well received you are considering making them a staple in your inventory. One of the most frustrating things in the shaving world is finding a scent that you can't buy again or not even get in the first place.

Hi Will,

Huge fan of your soap as you know. I only have two questions.

1. How do you decide when to use fragrance oil vs essential oil or absolute? Obviously there is a cost difference but you have used some very expensive EOs and absolutes before.

2. Will you bring Night Music back for another LE run next year?

1) It's primarily a matter of odor quality and what I think the market will bear. If I can get nearly the same effect (or sometimes a superior effect) with a synthetic, or if the soap is designed to be inexpensive, like the Latha soaps are, then it makes sense to use a synthetic. And there are some naturals that are simply not strong enough to be used in soap without making it prohibitively expensive, like rose. It can be done, but it's darn expensive, and that limits our ability to wholesale, which is becoming a larger and larger consideration. The most expensive soaps we ever made (the two natural fougères) were prohibitively expensive to manufacture and could not be wholesaled, which irritated a lot of people. We also sat with a fair bit of it because I think there were many people who didn't quite understand why it was so significant that they were natural-only and thus felt that the price was unjustified.

2) No, we took a lot of hits for Night Music. People who were really into fragrance seemed to enjoy it quite a bit, but there were many, many people for whom that was just not an appealing concept. Oddly, despite the fact that I was very specific that it was a musky, dirty, animalistic soap, there seemed to be quite a few folks who felt that I had somehow tricked or lied to them. So yeah, Night Music is going to stay retired.

I just noticed Wonderbalm is no longer on your site.  Is it discontinued?  Its a really great product especially in the winter.  Nothing soothes like it does.

No, we just suspended production for the warm months. We sit with Wonderbalm when it's hot, so it doesn't really make much sense to produce it. It will be back when the weather cools off again.

Do you have some LE/seasonal scents that have been so well received you are considering making them a staple in your inventory. One of the most frustrating things in the shaving world is finding a scent that you can't buy again or not even get in the first place.

We've actually done that a couple of times now. Lavanille and Latha Taiga were both supposed to be seasonal only and proved to be so popular that we made them permanent parts of the line. The same will be done with Le Grand Chypre next year, but we have to finish the rest of the packaging overhaul and some other projects first.

Good to know about Wonderbalm and makes sense too.

Love Night Music, really love it.

I know you've probably said this a few times before but I just love hearing it - You will be releasing Hallows and Leviathan in glissant base and in sufficient quantity this fall won't you? I have trouble picking my favourite Barrister and Mann soaps but Hallows and Leviathan would certainly be in the top tier for me.
Mark