SOTD 9-15 October 2016

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Somerset Simpson Chubby 2 Super
C&S No. 88
Muhle Jet R89
Lord Platinum
Barrister Reserve Classic Splash

Saturday AM 2016-10-15

Moss Anniversary Slate scuttle
Rooney 3/2 Ebony Finest (24mm/54mm)
Floris Verbena shaving soap (tallow)
Delta Echo Feather AS-D2/Triad Brass Aristocrat
Personna Super Platinum Chrome (4)
Christian Dior Eau Sauvage aftershave

SOTD 20161015
Edwin Jagger DE89BA11bl + Derby Extra
Meissner Tremonia Indian Flavor shaving paste
HJM Black Fibre
Meissner Tremonia Indian Flavor aftershave splash

Single-Edge Saturday

M&F
The Hawk
TTFFC Soap & AS

Van Yulay - Soap of the Gods "Black Cavendish"
BSB-Ti | HMW Extra Dense
RazoRock Black Mamba | Feather Hi-Stainless (1)

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Again, I won't bore you by restating my thoughts about Van Yulay's soaps. I have lots of experience with a variety of their soaps, and I can confidently say they all perform in line with my other favorite artisans and can stand up to any of them.

I picked up "Black Cavendish" with trepidation. I absolutely love a cherry tobacco fragrance. In fact, one of my all-time favorite scents, "Captain's Pipe" by the artisan formerly known as "Beaver WoodWright", has to be placed on the back shelf due to the nausea it evokes upon my wife. I have to reserve my use of said Captain's Pipe to hunting season during which she's gone for a few days at a time. Captain's Pipe quite accurately reproduces the aromatic tobacco, Captain Black Cherry. When I saw the scent notes for "Black Cavendish" on Van Yulay's site, I feared it would elicit the same response from my wife. Fortunately, Black Cavendish varies enough such that she's fine with it. I very much enjoy it. There's a definite cherry tobacco fragrance up front, but there's enough woodiness to alter it quite a bit, and set itself apart as a different fragrance. As the shave progresses, a slightly powdery, smoky, chocolate accord quite faintly moves in to really round out this delicious fragrance.

I used the paired alcohol-free splash, just to prolong the scent. I've said this before, but all of Van Yulay's splashes have a creamy scent initially that I assume is from the skin-care ingredients. That creaminess is pleasant, but it does fade rather quickly and allows the matching scent to come through accurately. As a nice surprise, I did notice some sweet vanilla notes in the splash that I hadn't picked up with the lather.

Black Cavendish is a very nice release from Van Yulay that certainly fits in the family of cherry tobacco fragrances, but its depth and complexity keeps it from being a blatant reproduction.

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Timeless Razor Scalloped Top Open Comb .95mm
Feather Platinum
Barrister and Mann Seville
Morris & Forndran 2XL Blonde Badger