Los Jabones De Joserra

I shaved with the Rodrigo de Jerez again today - I really like that one. Rich and thick lather and a great scent. Another member posted on the SOTD today that he found it had thin lather and didn’t like the scent. Well, YMMV on the scent but if the lather was thin then he didn’t load enough. I scoop and smear into a Captain’s Choice heavy copper lather bowl and I’ve always got copious amounts of rich, thick lather. 

I shaved with the Rodrigo de Jerez again today - I really like that one. Rich and thick lather and a great scent. Another member posted on the SOTD today that he found it had thin lather and didn’t like the scent. Well, YMMV on the scent but if the lather was thin then he didn’t load enough. I scoop and smear into a Captain’s Choice heavy copper lather bowl and I’ve always got copious amounts of rich, thick lather. 

Perhaps the finest tobacco scented shaving soap that I have used and the lather it produces is stellar.  My method is exactly what you do--scoop and smear into the HD Captain's Choice copper bowl.  I follow that up by sprinkling some water on to the soap and floating the bowl in a sink of warm water while I shower. By the time I start making lather, the bowl and soap are warm and moist.  Invariably, my lather is superior.  Perhaps this other user was having a bad day. OTOH, I did see that he was using one of the finest DE razors made--the Paradigm 2020 Diamondback.

Whatever else your talents, you guys are certainly experts at making assumptions and jumping to conclusions. I am not a novice at making lather, and I was not having a bad day when I used the Rodrigo. Since it was my first use of the soap, as I always do with a new soap, I scooped and used a generous almond-size dollop, flattened into the bowl of my warm scuttle. It was all used up making the lather with an excellent brush and should have been a sufficient amount for just about any soap to make lather. Yet the lather was still thin.

Today I used a much older and harder Penhaligon's English Fern soap, with a similar brush that actually has slightly less backbone, and I did not build for any longer, yet it made wonderful thick lather. So I stand by my original statement: with my brush, in my scuttle, with my water and ambient temperature and humidity, the Los Jabones de Joserra soap simply made thin lather. Period.

I would never accuse anyone, especially you churchilllafemme of being a novice. Scent is always subjective but the lather performance usually isn’t. Who knows, maybe it’s the water, maybe it’s a bad tub. I now have eleven Los Jabones de Joserra soaps and they’ve all been excellent performers.

I know you wouldn't, Marko, but others probably would. I just think it's always somewhat risky to make sweeping generalization statements - as I am doing right now.

Great soap but pretty expensive

Great soap but pretty expensive

I agree, but then I can easily spend that same amount of money on a lunch with a few beers. Once you've finished eating lunch and downed that last beer, that's it. No leftover food or beer to show for the money spent. Maybe a full belly and a little beer buzz. At least with the soap you can come back day after day to enjoy its goodness.

Great soap but pretty expensive

I agree, but then I can easily spend that same amount of money on a lunch with a few beers.  Once you've finished eating lunch and downed that last beer, that's it.  No leftover food or beer to show for the money spent.  Maybe a full belly and a little beer buzz.  At least with the soap you can come back day after day to enjoy its goodness.

I also agree that its on the pricey end but are we really trying to get the cheapest shave possible? We're really only talking about pennies per shave - if I wanted to get the cheapest shave while still using a brush and a DE razor I would probably use the Nivea shaving cream or Proraso that I can find in the local drug store - its cheap and does the job pretty well.  

The psychology of spending is interesting -  as AlphaFrank75  points out, the thought of dropping $20-$30 on a tub of shaving soap that will give you 60+ really nice shaves gives many of us some heartburn but we can easily drop more than that on a lunch without a second thought.  Or if you buy coffee every day that adds up.  And the meal/coffee often isn't really that good.  Convenience is a factor but again, if youre doing the wet shaving thing youre probably not looking for the most convenient shave possible.  For me the worst thing is having to buy shaving products sight unseen/smelled on line and paying for something I might not like once Ive had a chance to smell it and use it.  When I spotted the Los Jabones de Joserra on Top of The Chain I was interested at once and the Rodrigo de Jerez was said to be their most popular soap so I figured I had a good chance of liking it because, despite the belief that we're all unique snowflakes I've found that I'm not that much different from most other humans.  People tend not to line up at crappy restaurants so, taking into account that "most popular" in the wet shaving world may not be that indicative of quality etc because of small sample size and short time frame/rate of consumption - how many people have bought more than one of any of the soaps?  but still, it is something to go on and I wasn't disappointed.

Shaved with Blas De Lezo today 

Whatever else your talents, you guys are certainly experts at making assumptions and jumping to conclusions. I am not a novice at making lather, and I was not having a bad day when I used the Rodrigo. Since it was my first use of the soap, as I always do with a new soap, I scooped and used a generous almond-size dollop, flattened into the bowl of my warm scuttle. It was all used up making the lather with an excellent brush and should have been a sufficient amount for just about any soap to make lather. Yet the lather was still thin.

Today I used a much older and harder Penhaligon's English Fern soap, with a similar brush that actually has slightly less backbone, and I did not build for any longer, yet it made wonderful thick lather. So I stand by my original statement: with my brush, in my scuttle, with my water and ambient temperature and humidity, the Los Jabones de Joserra soap simply made thin lather. Period.

Know nothing other than what being posited:

Based on similar experience with otherwise highly regarded soap artisans, my GUESS is it a local water/soap artisan incompatibility issue.

Not to insult your intelligence but have you tried distilled water with this soap just to give it every opportunity (although many would consider it a bridge too far for retaining)?