Thread: When to use Bay Rum?

What actually is Bay Rum???

Originally Posted by whisp

Hi everyone, I'm hoping you can help me.

I am in contact with the guys at Ogallala about purchasing there 5 sample pack of bay rum and shipping it here to Germany but after reading the forums I'm a bit stumped about where to put it in my shave setup.

So after the shave I:
Cold water rinse
AlumBlock (let it soak for a few minutes)
warm rinse
Lime Skin Food

Any ideas? I like the setup at the moment for work as the scent of the skin food dissipates, but the experiences that some members here have made me want to try it and it sounds good for weekends with the GF or evenings.

Thanks PPL!

As a recovered alcoholic, I was wondering, will I get weird looks if I use Bay Rum aftershave before going to an AA meeting?

Originally Posted by HugoVonStype

What actually is Bay Rum???

A scent like no other and no two bay rums smell the same...its a great adventure to try them

smells of rum and bay leaves ... haha ... kind of a no brainer...

but most have a clovey spicey scent...others a little hint of vanilla...

my favorites are Capt Smiths Bay rum spicey and rummy

Ogallala Bay rum more sweet and vanillaey

Dominica Bay rum more neautral but still spicey...not sweet at all. mild

Originally Posted by HugoVonStype

What actually is Bay Rum???

This is a tricky one. The first impulse would be to say that Bay Rum is made by soaking Bay leaves in Rum, right? This is somewhat correct but pretty misleading. The bay refers to the "Bay Rum tree" (a.k.a Pimenta racemosa), a tree indigenous of the Caribbean and closely related to Allspice, not Laurus nobilis, which is the spice that we know as Bay. The essential oil from P. racemosa is obtained by distillation, not maceration (soaking). Finally, the Rum part comes from the fact that in the Caribbean, most of the alcohol is produced from sugar cane, and sold as Rum. In principle, you could use ethanol obtained from any source to make Bay Rum, but probably for historical reasons and availability, Rum seems like a good source. This question shows up from time to time in this forum, please see: http://straightrazorpalace.com/after...y-bay-rum.html

Al raz.

Mike, you asked "What actually is Bay Rum". I'll jump into this question trying to keep it short. From what I've read...

The original bay rum was made by breaking the leaves of a particular bay tree, which is specific to the Carribean, into pieces and soaking them in dark rum for a month or more. Most of the alcohol content would evaporated away leaving a spicy, and earthy mixture most would not drink but found it good for attracting the darlin's in port.

Now whether that was the exact way they did it, I don't know. You could read marketing materials from a number of producers claiming that they have a "traditional" recipie or that their product is made the same way it has been for 400 years. All of that may be true. I'd look at the ingredients list and make my own judgments.

Nowadays, traditional Bay Rum is made with the same basic items but more spices and other things are added. The better Bay Rums, or Rhum, products made today use the oils from the same Bay tree leaves and cane sugar alcohol with a varying concoction of spices. There are, however products called Bay Rum which use bay oils from a similar tree and lots other oils and spices.

Bottom lines is that you have to decide what you like to smell on you. I've heard of people who love St Pinuad but did not like the way is faded so quickly. That was solve by adding a small (1/4 teaspoon) of glycerin.
I have also heard tell of those that mix brands to get a completly different scent.

I promise... I'll stop soon.

There are five or so brands that folks seem to like. I have my favorites but still try others when I have the chance.

Hope all this helps
David

This seems like an appropriate question for this thread. I was about to order the big $20 bottle of Ogalalla when I saw a bottle the same size (but not as pretty) in a barber shop for $7. They were out of stock so I didn't get to sample it and I haven't been back there since. (It's out of town.) Anyone had experience with cheap rum?

Originally Posted by leadduck

This seems like an appropriate question for this thread. I was about to order the big $20 bottle of Ogalalla when I saw a bottle the same size (but not as pretty) in a barber shop for $7. They were out of stock so I didn't get to sample it and I haven't been back there since. (It's out of town.) Anyone had experience with cheap rum?

all of them are different ...try this for some help

http://straightrazorpalace.com/after...arade-atc.html