The Obie Memorial First Tier Soaps and Creams Thread.

[thebigspendur]

Gentlemen,

After some more experiments, I have decided to send St. James of London to Second Tier.

I have used this cream for many years with some trepidation about the quality of glide and cushion. The fragrance is lovely. Yesterday I finally realized that this cream, in those two important categories, is not in the same class as Castle Forbes, XPec and the other First Tier offerings. Once again, I do want to remind you that this is only my opinion. If you believe otherwise, that is fine with me. When it comes to anything in the traditional shaving world, personal taste and requirements play a major role.

I decided the same thing with Aqua Di Palma. It smells great and leaves your face feeling great and makes a really dense lather but it's lube qualities are sadly lacking and that quality pretty much trumps everything. It's place in first tier is being replaced with Acca Kappa.

[Phrank]

I decided the same thing with Aqua Di Palma. It smells great and leaves your face feeling great and makes a really dense lather but it's lube qualities are sadly lacking and that quality pretty much trumps everything. It's place in first tier is being replaced with Acca Kappa.

Really? Wow, ADP has been growing on me slowly and steadily over the last months. Personally, it has always struck me as very similar to Tabac, a high octane version with a more refined scent - but for the price tag, it's really pushing it, can see where you're coming from, though, there's just something about it that I can't figure out that doesn't quite "click" for me.

[evnpar]

I decided the same thing with Aqua Di Palma. It smells great and leaves your face feeling great and makes a really dense lather but it's lube qualities are sadly lacking and that quality pretty much trumps everything. It's place in first tier is being replaced with Acca Kappa.

If AdP smells great, you must have the older version, as the newest one is scentless (why they got rid of the scent in their cream, I'll never know). However, the new version is also worlds ahead of the old one in terms of performance. At least for me, the current version would remain in tier 1, while the previous one would drop to tier 2.

[ocotillo]

If AdP smells great, you must have the older version, as the newest one is scentless (why they got rid of the scent in their cream, I'll never know). However, the new version is also worlds ahead of the old one in terms of performance. At least for me, the current version would remain in tier 1, while the previous one would drop to tier 2.

I agree with your assessment of the newest version of AdP. While I find the fragrance of the newest version, Barbiere, not as appealing as the older version, Colonia, the performance of the Barbiere is vastly superior to the older version and is a First Tier cream on my rating scale. AdP cream is packaged in two versions, one in a tub and the other in a tube. They have slightly different ingredients and differ a bit in performance. Both are excellent.

Similarly, the newest version of Santa Maria Novella v.3, is a vastly different cream than all previous SNM versions. It is a vastly improved product that is no longer manufactured by Ludovico Martelli, the makers of Proraso. The newest SMN v.3 has different ingredients, a delightful Tabacco toscano cologne fragrance, and provides superb performance. While I would rate previous SMN versions as a Tier Two cream at best, the newest SMN v.3 is a definite Tier One cream on my list.

[MW76]

In my never ending pursuit to try all of Obies First Tier soaps before i leave this earth, i have purchased and recently used the D.R. Harris Marlborough shaving cream.

Here's what i thought, and keep in mind i have only been at it about 3 months and have used at this point about 9 or 10 different soaps. I think i'm somewhere near my 50th shave.

The scent of this cream is very subtle, definitely not a scent bomb. The woodsy smell is very light, yet very refreshing. I think this is a more sudsy cream then the few others i've tried. The lather seemed lighter going on, but let me say the glide was very smooth. The lather felt light and very effective.



I did a nice clean 3 pass shave and this cream did the trick.

From Obies first tier, to my first tier.

Thank you again sir!

[Obie]

I decided the same thing with Aqua Di Palma. It smells great and leaves your face feeling great and makes a really dense lather but it's lube qualities are sadly lacking and that quality pretty much trumps everything. It's place in first tier is being replaced with Acca Kappa.

Spendur, how right you are on this one. Acqua Di Parma is another cream with one in the Second Tier. Interesting that you bring it up, because I'm just about ready to ship it to the Second Tier, like St. James of London.
Being in the same class as Martin de Candre, Castle Forbes, Xpec and some of the others is a tall order. I think Aqua Di Parma does not quite reach the level.

[Moueix]

Spendur, how right you are on this one. Acqua Di Parma is another cream with one in the Second Tier. Interesting that you bring it up, because I'm just about ready to ship it to the Second Tier, like St. James of London.
Being in the same class as Martin de Candre, Castle Forbes, Xpec and some of the others is a tall order. I think Aqua Di Parma does not quite reach the level.

OMG, THANK you for this list again. I came back from vacation yesterday to find the Xpec in my mail pile. I also got in two brand new "factory shave ready" razors, a Boker Tree Brand 5/8 Inox, and a Dovo Encina 6/8. Hit both razors with a polish on an opaque Hard Arkie, Crox strop, then regular stropping. Used one on each side of my face with the Xpec cream. BEST, CLOSEST shave I have had yet. Both razors performed equally well. Pretty sure it wasn't my honing skills (first time ever on a straight) doing that magic.