Thoughts on House of Mammoth?

I'm listening to episode # SO2E13 (I'm sure that numbering system makes sense to Jonathan and Gerard) featuring Ben Esposito and his House of Mammoth brand.  Very interesting podcast as I've come to expect from the Lather Talk gang.  I found Ben to be very grounded and engaging and his story is a good one.  I've been hearing about Mammoth for a little while now but was usually unable to actually get any product.  Its my habit to not really pay attention to products/brands that I can't get so I wasn't really paying attention to Mammoth, however, Carmine at Top of The Chain recently stocked three Mammoth soaps and splashes so my interest was peaked and after listening to this podcast I went and pulled the trigger on Mood Indigo and Hygge sets.

I haven't seen too much discussion of House of Mammoth on DFS - does anybody have any experience with the brand and thoughts?

I had got post this - you like mammoth?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb0ef6NhY74

His soap base Tusk is top notch. The scents have been hit or miss much like how I am with WK. I will say his Almond Leather is a very clean scent.

Right now he is just making the balms which are produced by Oleo with splashes on break due to the alcohol shortage.

The EDP's are pretty pricey. Not something you buy and hope you like the scent.

Stocking was an issue like most boutique brands but he really ratcheted up the stock past two releases.

I believe a buck for each tub goes towards combatting human trafficking. Made his intro on Reddit but does a good job in balancing his feedback from the full time asshats over there.

Recently took some heat about the Mood Indigo being very lightly scented and owned the feedback unlike other artisans that fall apart on any bit of critism.

Wishing nothing but good things for the brand. Like to see some samples be made available especially for the splashes when they make their return and the EDP's.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

I too am one to not chase the HARD to attain. Got a set off a BST this past year and it was a Rose scent which I'm not a big fan of. At least I could FINALLY try it. My feelings were I respect the cause he donates too but the soap for me while a good soap, was Hyped way beyond what it delivered for me. For me most all respectable soap makers are producing great soaps now that give me great shaves and I'm over the hype of this one is incrementally better and I HAVE to get it now. Was a good soap if you could find a scent you like at the strength you like but certainly not worth chasing it over much more easily attainable brands. JMO and NO disrespect directed at Mammoth

I was impressed with how candid Ben E was on Lather Talk. He made no secret of the fact that he has farmed out production to Chicago Soap Co /Oleo. He’s straight about the fact that while he enjoys the creative process, he does not enjoy the making, packaging, and fulfillment side of things. That’s cool and I respect that he’s up front about it.  There’s plenty more artisans out there doing the same thing but keeping it in the down low. A skilled soap maker can produce any recipe you want so why not take advantage of their expertise, production capacity and established supply chain?  For example, I don’t seriously believe that Will from B&M is furiously making every soap puck they produce in his kitchen or garage. I don’t know if he owns a dedicated facility fully staffed with soap elves or if it’s contracted out to a third party but given his volumes it’s one or the other. I’m sure he’s hands on in the development of new products but there wouldn’t be enough time in the day if he were up to his elbows in saponification.  I’m just using B&M as an example of how I believe many (most) artisans operate their business and I have no actual knowledge on the matter. However it’s done, I’m fine with it as long as the end product is excellent.  That business model is also the reason you can actually buy a Mammoth set right now. It also can help prevent artisan burnout and keep those creative types creating. Remember Justin of Bufflehead? I think he made all his own products and you remember how hard to get those were?  He’s long gone too. Burned out? Moved on? Who knows. Bottom line is so long as the artisan maintains creative and quality/recipe control it doesn’t matter whose hands actually make the soap. An exception would be farming out the production to a jurisdiction with significantly different labour practices but that’s a topic for another day.

For example, I don’t seriously believe that Will from B&M is furiously making every soap puck they produce in his kitchen or garage. I don’t know if he owns a dedicated facility fully staffed with soap elves or if it’s contracted out to a third party but given his volumes it’s one or the other.

B&M soap is made in-house at Will's production facility as I understand it. He's one of the few artisans who have invested in equipment for proper large-scale production.


Ben at Mammoth is a great guy with a great product. More importantly to me, he's doing what he needs to scale production and make his soap available.

Not to take away from the thread on Mammoth but Will and Heather from Zingari touches on some of these things in this podcast from March of last year.


          www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQRHVJeN9o0

B&M soap is made in-house at Will's production facility as I understand it. He's one of the few artisans who have invested in equipment for proper large-scale production


I’ll back Shane Will does everything in house and has the equipment to scale up production.

As some know I also have a hair product line and I do not do my own production in house. I use a manufacturer’s to do large batches in large vessels. I develop the formulas and they go through a pilot batch of 250 gallons before going into 3000 gallon vessels. When filled they get shipped to my warehouse. It’s would take at least a million dollars to do a small scale version of the facility I use for manufacturing.

On the other hand with ETHOS everything is made either in the CBD labs by me and manufacturing facility they have or in my warehouse where I have a area dedicated to ETHOS. So if my product line demand increases I can see investing in equipment to scale up. I’m very lucky to have such facilities to use so if a soap maker like Mammoth needs to out source his manufacturing to keep up with demand as long as their his formulas then why would it manner who’s hands are actually making the finished product. Heck I’d love to find an out source to put my labels on my jars as it’s the thing I dislike the most about soap making. Lol

Yeah..... I see allot of comments. I think Mammoth 6 months ago isn't Mammoth today. Much like Talbot we seem to be able to get Mammoth much much easier.

Also, regarding the soap base and older formulas. I'd stress to anyone to try the Tusk base before making a long term perspective on the soap itself. It's a much improved base and truly is top notch and I don't throw that around much.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

For example, I don’t seriously believe that Will from B&M is furiously making every soap puck they produce in his kitchen or garage. I don’t know if he owns a dedicated facility fully staffed with soap elves or if it’s contracted out to a third party but given his volumes it’s one or the other.

B&M soap is made in-house at Will's production facility as I understand it. He's one of the few artisans who have invested in equipment for proper large-scale production.


Ben at Mammoth is a great guy with a great product. More importantly to me, he's doing what he needs to scale production and make his soap available.

Thanks Shane, that's good to know.  I figured it had to be one or the other because once you hit a certain level of production and sales I imagine the kitchen table doesn't cut it anymore.

I got the sense from the Lather Talk podcast that Ben is a decent guy and a lot of his personal experiences in wet shaving resonated with me - he's just a regular guy who got bit by the wet shaving bug like the rest of us.  He just took it a step or two further.  I suspect thats the case with most if not all of the artisans in the wet shaving space but for those of us out in the wide world we don't get the opportunity to interact much with many artisans so its really great to Have a Podcast like Lather Talk where we can interact virtually and get to know you guys.