Came across this thread late, but had to comment. I love shave sticks.
One of my early "Wow!) moments came with the arrival of the light, green wonder that is Palmolive soap. I wet the tip of the stick in sink water and began rubbing that tip against my wet, freshly- showered beard. I instantly saw the soap building up on my whiskers and could easily see how much soap I had loaded on my face. A quick lather building with a TGN Finest brush easily made a thick, slick lather.
When I applied the razor to my face - the sun shone through the early, morning clouds. Celestial music filled the morning sky and songbirds and butterfly's danced outside my bathroom window as whiskers just about flew off of my face. Later on that morning, I excitedly shared my experience on a shave forum, where after much virtural handshaking and backslapping, someone I respect, said, "wait until you try Arko". He, of course, was right.
Since then I've added Speick, Tabac, Wilkinson Sword, Lea (tallow) and La Toja to the collection and enjoy them all.
Tip: When you get to the end of the stick, there are two choices:
1. Remove the end of the paper wrapper, wet the flat base and stick it on to the flat top of the next stick.
2. Save your shave stick stubs and then grate/press those remnants into a small, shave soap container.
Bob:
Good Lather = More product + More Water + More Time lathering