I've been wanting to try Chiseled Face's Bay Rum shaving soap for a while now and as luck would have it I found a tub on my shelf in the basement. I think I bought it last fall and must have forgotten about it. Thats a definite sign of too much soap. In any case I lathered it up yesterday and its got a really good base, nice and slick, great lather. No complaints about the base (its all about the bass right?) Now the scent was another story. It says its a blend of Jamaican rum, Bay leaf and bergamot - what I get off the puck and in the lather is a very mild, muddy scent that I can't be sure that I'm picking up any of the ingredients. Now its possibly just me and my nose, which I've learned doesn't necessarily perceive scents the way other noses might or it might be that CF intentionally made it very mild because a lot of people don't like bay rum. News flash - people that don't like bay rum won't buy it if it says bay rum on the label.
I've looked at some reviews like this one
https://dailylather.com/content/sotd-january-26-2018 but when I read about overwhelming hits of ginger and other strong scents it makes me wonder if I got a dud. Yes, if I strain I can pick up a hint of rummy vanilla but no ginger and almost no bay. Its really too bad because this one seemed to have potential. Is it me? I don't know but I know that I can smell the other Bay Rums that Daily Lather refers to in the review and the fact that we both love Chatillon Lux Blackbery Blossom Bay tells me we're not too far apart as far as taste in bay rum goes.
Does anybody else have this soap? What are your thoughts on it? I think it would be a great soap if CF kicked up the bay rum a notch or five.
I wonder if long shipping transits in possibly too hot or too cold conditions might affect the scent? I buy a lot from Top of The Chain so product would have to get from point of origin in the US to Toronto area in Canada then all the way out west to where I live in Calgary Alberta - that would be a few hundred miles north of the western part of Montana for reference. Its got to be a possibility I'm thinking because this seems to happen if not frequently at least regularly.