#1
grim is going to be happy about this one because its time to lay the smack down on some candy @$$ed soaps that do not bring the scent strength.  For my use case, I like a scent strength of close 5 out of 10, anything too much lower than a 4 is depressing because during the shave its tough to smell and it just makes the experience bland to me.  I'm sure this isn't the case for everyone, but for me, I want strength of scent.

My lightly scented disappointments:

Wholly Kaw Melange de Santal - wow! 17.99 for this?  It should be one of their 13.99 soap offerings. Its literally a mild sandalwood/cedarwood, scent strength about 3 out of 10.  After reading the description which sounded fantastic (spicy, woody, earthy all used), I honestly only picked up just a tiny bit of soapiness and woodiness.  

Caties Bubbles Purple Grapefruit - Scent strength of this was 1 out of 10 for one tub, and the replacement tub was 1.5 out of 10.  HUGE disappointment because I like lavender and citrus but this didn't bring anything to the table for me.

Caties Bubbles Celtic Knot - after using Sharp Dressed Man from Stirling and Gaelic Tweed by WSP, I found myself sticking my nose ON TOP of the Caties Bubbles version to get any scent.  I got rid of it.

Beaver Woodwright Thomas Tew - the scent has lots of citrus but unfortunately its about a 3.5 out of 10 scent strength.  If this one was kicked up it'd be great.

Mystic Waters Bay Rum Shave Soap/Bath Soap - one of the more unique Bay Rums I've experienced, but sadly, it is low on scent strength.

DR Harris Marlborough - very very lightly scented, maybe a 2 out of 10.  Basically, it smells like Tabac, but no where near the strength and the performance comes up shy as well.  


Borderline Too lightly scented:

There are a few I have, which are nice to use because I love the scent, but I just wish they were a touch stronger.

Reef Point Peerless - pretty much exact copy of CRSW Bergamot and Bay.  Love the scent, but the scent strenth is between 4 and 4.5.
Wholly Kaw Jamestown Gentleman - again, love this great, fresh scent.  Sadly, the strength is about 4 to 4.5.
B&M Latha Limon - nice fresh lemon scent, but borderline too lightly scented for me.  About a 4 out of 10.

Anyone want to warn others that enjoy scent strength about some soaps you didn't care for?
#2
I agree that MW Bay Rum could be stronger. I had that in my notes. My list of too lightly scented ... quickly done from looking at my notes, these were too light or upon lathering the scent just disappeared:

GFT Sandalwood and Coconut
TOBS Coconut and St. James
SJOL Mandarin & Pathouli
EJ Sandalwood and Limes & Pomegranate
Caties Bubbles The Royal Garden
I Coloniali Mango

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#3
Interesting that you guys both find MW Bay Rum a little light on scent. My recent tub is very strongly scented.

I can remmember two that I sold due to weak scents:

RazoRock KOTC Lavender
Ogallala Bay Rum, Limes & Peppercorns

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-Rob
#4
(04-27-2016, 03:28 PM)grim Wrote: I agree that MW Bay Rum could be stronger. I had that in my notes. My list of too lightly scented ... quickly done from looking at my notes, these were too light or upon lathering the scent just disappeared:

GFT Sandalwood and Coconut
TOBS Coconut and St. James
SJOL Mandarin & Pathouli
EJ Sandalwood and Limes & Pomegranate
Caties Bubbles The Royal Garden
I Coloniali Mango

Wow that is interesting, I actually find SJOL Mandarin & Patchouli to be right at or a bit above my threshold for scent strength. Its solid to me.

shevek with the Razorock reference, you reminded me of Razorock XXX which would definitely be in my top lightly scented soaps that I find bland. I totally forgot about that one. It was about 2.5 out of 10 strength.
#5

Member
Austin, TX
I found the Mason Boutique Lillian to be very light on scent.

Interesting that B&M Limon is listed as light as mine is fairly strong. iColoniali in the terra cotta container is about right for my taste as well [on my second puck and both were solid].

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Kevin
#6

Posting Freak
Canada
(04-27-2016, 03:43 PM)shevek Wrote: Interesting that you guys both find MW Bay Rum a little light on scent. My recent tub is very strongly scented.

+1 I find it to be quite pleasant. Shy

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Celestino
Love, Laughter & Shaving  Heart
#7
(04-27-2016, 03:54 PM)kwsher Wrote: I found the Mason Boutique Lillian to be very light on scent.

Interesting that B&M Limon is listed as light as mine is fairly strong. iColoniali in the terra cotta container is about right for my taste as well [on my second puck and both were solid].

I agree about the I Coloniali. I fond it to be pretty strong and one of the few soap scents that hangs around for a little while.

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Tim
#8
Tcheon Fung Sing Maestro Miche has a great scent description but I barely get anything out of it.

Bufflehead Idle Hour, Tishomingo, and MFP smell great but just too light for me.

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Tim
#9
(04-27-2016, 05:15 PM)HuckKing723 Wrote: Tcheon Fung Sing Maestro Miche has a great scent description but I barely get anything out of it.

Bufflehead Idle Hour, Tishomingo, and MFP smell great but just too light for me.

These are the reasons I haven't followed Bufflehead closer. Its obviously tough to find, but I'm not going to go looking for a soap that has light scents. I'll just take it as something that isn't for me.
#10
(This post was last modified: 04-27-2016, 06:27 PM by grim.)
OK, here are my notes on the scents I mentioned

GFT Sandalwood - The scent seems to be understated, barely noticeable. If I didn’t know it was Sandalwood, I might have thought the cream was unscented.

EJ Sandalwood - There was barely any scent but the scent that was present was the light, airy scent similar to TOBS and GFT. ... [when using the scuttle] , I detected no scent whatsoever

I should note here that whenever I used a scuttle, the scuttle about kills the light scents

Catie's Bubbles The Royal Garden - The initial scent of this soap was a weak floral.  upon lathering, the scent about dissipated."

GFT CoconutI opened the container to smell it and got … nothing. No scent of any kind. the lack of any scent was disappointing

TOBS Coconut -  I got a hint of a faint perfume/cologne scent of coconut. It was disappointing

EJ Limes & Pomegranate - Once lathered, there was no scent that I could detect.

SJOL Mandarin & Patchouli - The scent of the shaving cream was a very light orange, barely noticeable

I Coloniali Mango -  The scent of this soap was a mild mango. It was a pleasant fruity scent but with barely any strength. It almost felt scentless.

As for Mystic Waters Bay Rum, I said "I agree that MW Bay Rum could be stronger. I had that in my notes. " I should have been more clear in that I did not think it was scentless or near scentless, only that I wished it was stronger. There is a problem with Bay Rum scents. Original Bay Rum scents are just as described, Bay Leaves Pimenta racemosa and Rum with a bit of spices.  Sweetness comes from the rum. Over the years, this scent has shifted, IMO, more towards the spices. Some to my nose, like Ogallala, are far, far too sweet for me. Similar, anytime I read a criticism of a Bay Rum scent, the reviewer criticizing it wants a heavy dose of just Bay Leaves. I believe that at least from the 50s and 60s, Bay Rum was more of a middle ground, not the heavy Bay and certainly not the sweet Bay Rum. Kind of like Classic Coke vs New Coke, with the New Coke for the kids - too sweet. In other words, there used to be a balance between the Bay and sweetness, not a heavy shift to one or the other end of the spectrum.

So my notes for MW Bay Rum was:

It was not the heavily bay scent that seems popular at the moment or the heavily spiced version. I found the scent to be just about right for a Bay Rum. However, I felt it was to light. Although lasting the entire shave, it could have been stronger

Note: I should add here that scent is very important to me as its part of the overall voyage. I consider the entire experience holistically, a journey, and not just the end result. So, for example, i Coloniali Mango and GFT Coconut/Sandalwood are "technically" good stuff. SJOL makes beautiful, really beautiful shaving creams. But those scents were - meh, could have been stronger for me.

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