Thread: Straight Razor shaving as a personality trait

I'm not into anything on the list besides straights I'm afraid. I did used to smoke cigarettes, but I don't do that anymore.

But, I do have other passions. Books, and in particular old, rare, or out of print ones, especially technical ones. But all books really. I also like fountain pens and stationary. I like old sparc workstations, old hewitt packard calculators, slide rules and logarithm tables.

James.

Originally Posted by MelvinOfTheApes

Hate to correct you Morty, but Jack Daniels is Tennessee whiskey, not bourbon.

Thank you. I much appreciate the correction. Apparently my memory isn't what it was when I was a younger tyke. In my defense, while I remembered the state wrong, I did get "sour mash" correct, didn't I? ;-)

J.D. was my drink of choice when I was a young man in the Navy. And while I'll still order it on occasion when out with friends, I don't often keep alcohol in the house. If I did, I'd have glanced at the label more often and the name of the great state of Tennessee would have been fresher in my mind.
Namaste,
Morty -_-

one of the things I've noticed is that there are many people here that love beer but if i see their favorite beers i realize that they have a lot to learn on good beers
or is this just me being Belgian?

Here is my take on this.

First, we all like cool equipment - of any kind. That means razors, firearms, SUVs etc.

Second - We like exclusivity. I mean the kind of really difficult thing to do or earn that says I' part of a small group of people that can flawlessly execute some action.

Third - We appreciate fine craftsmanship. An auto maker, a distillar, a little old man that can hollow grind a razor, Lynn Abrams that can hone like nobody's business, and our own, when we buy some old razor, restore it, hone it and shave with it.

Fourth - I think we like the jaw dropping that occurs when we tell somebody the weird-a$$ things we do. 16 hour BBQs, fixing our own cars, shaving with a stright razor, shooting sporting clays to name a few.

Fifth - I think we like to have some orderly ritual, in a place and in a time of our choosing. I think in some ways it is a great way to cope in a world that has all but stolen our time and freedom.

Finally, I have to say this. It might be some evolutionary instinct that drives the top five, but that is where it ends. When we start talking politics and religion, we are about as polar opposites as can be. I have mentioned this before, it never ceases to amaze me the kind of vitriol nastiness that can occur in the Conversation forum over some political thread, then everyone's back to helping each other in the Honing thread. I suspect that this part is learned and not personality driven. I could be wrong in some cases, but I'm willing to bet not in the majority of them.

As always - JMHO

Originally Posted by geruchtemoaker

one of the things I've noticed is that there are many people here that love beer but if i see their favorite beers i realize that they have a lot to learn on good beers
or is this just me being Belgian?

One must remember that here in the United States, many breweries (large and small) and distilleries went out of business when the Prohibition law made it illegal to manufacture and sell alcohol for consumption from 1920 to 1933. After Prohibition was repealed, some of the few surviving breweries were able to take advantage of an exploding market and expanded to national distribution. Budweiser and Miller were among these.

The flavors of these now national brands were kept as generic as possible in order to appeal to the widest possible market across the whole of the United States. Whereas locally brewed craft beers here in the U.S. (that are only recently making a comeback) are made popular by word of mouth by customers who find they prefer a particular craft beer's unique flavors, national brands depend on heavy marketing through commercial advertising.

When I was a child I watched baseball games on TV with my father. We were inundated with commercials for beers like Budweiser that showed people in bars and backyards having fun and drinking "Bud" with its patriotic red white and blue cans and bottle labels. I wanted to identify with other fans who followed the same baseball teams and I wanted to be among the people having fun in those commercial advertisements. So I decided right then and there that when I was old enough, Budweiser was going to be my beer of choice.

Then in my late 20s, I found in the local grocery store, a brand of beer named "Red White and Blue" beer. It was brewed by the national brand brewery Pabst and it had the same three patriotic colors on its label that Budweiser used. It was cheaper than Budweiser but I found I liked its taste much better. It was still a generic beer, but the flavor was different enough from Budweiser, Miller and other national brands that I was able to make a clear choice that was not based on marketing. (I have never seen or read a commercial advertisement for Red White and Blue beer.)

It was then that I began trying imported beers such as Heineken, Becks, and later, Amstel Lite. These imports had much better flavor than the American generic national brands. I just couldn't go back to drinking Budweiser or Miller after that. Imported beers had very unique flavor characteristics that American national brands simply did not have. I feel that European national brand beers are not as generic in flavor as American national brands because they do not have to appeal to as wide a market in their home countries. (One would expect to find significantly more beer drinkers in the U.S. -- total population of 307 million or so -- as compared with Belgium that has a population of just under 11 million.)

In more recent years, I try to sample locally brewed craft beers whenever I have occasion to travel. It's a delightful experience.

In defense of the many American beer drinkers who choose national brands such as Budweiser, Miller and the rest, we humans are not all stamped out from the same cookie cutter. Many will have genuine taste preferences for beer of a generic flavor, intended to appeal to a mass market. But there are many more who will be unwilling to try a different brand because they feel that the suggestion that they might find they prefer a lesser known brand to be an attack on their character.

At a convention I attended recently in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I met with several friends from out of state in the hotel bar. One of those friends is a die hard Budweiser drinker. I tried to get him to try a brand named Yuengling, brewed in Pennsylvania, but not sold in very many other states. I could not even get him to try a sip, he was so resistant to sampling something other than Budweiser. I explained to him that Yuengling is the oldest family owned and continuously operated brewery in the country, but the more I suggested he try something other than Budweiser, the more resistant he became.

And he certainly isn't alone. There are many more shavers in the U.S. who swear by the many "breakthroughs" in shaving produced by Gillette than there are those who choose to take up a straight razor and learn an old art. Thank goodness for choice, eh? ;-)
Namaste,
Morty -_-

Originally Posted by Morty

It was then that I began trying imported beers such as Heineken, Becks, and later, Amstel Lite. These imports had much better flavor than the American generic national brands. I just couldn't go back to drinking Budweiser or Miller after that. Imported beers had very unique flavor characteristics that American national brands simply did not have. I feel that European national brand beers are not as generic in flavor as American national brands because they do not have to appeal to as wide a market in their home countries. (One would expect to find significantly more beer drinkers in the U.S. -- total population of 307 million or so -- as compared with Belgium that has a population of just under 11 million.)

well I have to say I have the luxery of living in belgium where we have a great choice of beers.
and if you as to most belgians about heineken they will say it tast like water
but I have to say even here in belgium sometimes the best beers are the unknown or less known brands

regards
Stijn

Originally Posted by geruchtemoaker

well I have to say I have the luxery of living in belgium where we have a great choice of beers.
and if you as to most belgians about heineken they will say it tast like water
but I have to say even here in belgium sometimes the best beers are the unknown or less known brands

regards
Stijn

I've found maybe the best beers from small local breweries that sell their beers on table only. When traveling abroad i usually try to find local breweries to get the local taste.
Many of those products really beat those international brands but unfortunately they are not available except in their home cities only.
Nowadays when buying beer from the shop i try to find Estonian brands such as A Le Coq or Saaremaa which are really good lagers. Large brands, such as Heineken, Urquell etc are ok, but they are sort of mainstream beers. They all taste almost the same.

Firearms are like vitamins to me.

The more I use them, the healthier I become.