@adbuett - my initial experience was pretty much the same.

The brush arrived on Saturday, and I was successful in hiding it from SWMBO I've only had two brushes - an E&J Best and an eBay'd Bryce from AU. Both are nice and the E&J has become my go to over the last few months. This brush is a totally different beast altogether. It makes my E&J feel like a toy. It has heft! After seeing Max et al's response to my question about the hot water I decided to use a thermometer to insure I wasn't going over 100F - I usually soak my brushes in the hottest water my water heater can produce - ~130F. As it stands 100F is much cooler than I'd expected. Talk about holding water!! Holy cow! The brush was EASILY 100% heavier after soaking for 5 mins. I did notice a slightly milky color to the water, but there was hardly any smell. I let the brush soak and dry twice before trying my first lather. I decided to go with Gentlemen's Refinery's Black Ice as it's usually easy to lather and I thought the anise scent would help. I too read the directions and decided I would NOT pump or push on the soap. I shook the brush several times - it was not dripping and was a much less heavy. So I swirled for the usual 30 seconds, until the tips looked to be nice and covered. I then went to my scuttle and twirled - the soap just got swirled onto the scuttle, no real lather. I added a few drops of water..meh..a few more...now we were getting somewhere. I ended up swirling for about 3 minutes and didn't have much lather at all. I attempted to later my face and was VERY unhappy with the thin (not runny) and not very slick later. Wash, rinse, repeat. This time I angled the brush at about 30 degrees and swirled with a little pressure and for almost a minute - the brush tips were pretty heavily frosted. Back to the scuttle, same issue, I'd obviously shook TOO much water out. So I added some drops of water, swirled, meh..added a few more and BOOM it exploded. This brush retains a LOT more lather than either of my older brushes - this will take some getting used to. I rinsed and tried one more time. This time I didn't shake the brush as much. I used the 30 degree angle again, but I didn't apply quite as much pressure, and I swirled for about 45 seconds this time (I think I had too much soap last time - I also think the soap had softened up a bit by then). This brush whips up lather amazingly fast - firm, shiny, and filled with a billion tiny bubbles, it was perfect.

Any input on lathering technique is GREATLY appreciated. I have a feeling that I use more soap than I should, but I rinse and shake the brushes really well.

Now for another question. I know the logos are laser etched - would they benefit from the usual layer of clear nail polish?