I've been wanting to try this cream for a long time. So here is a review...
As most of you know I think T&H's 1805 is the bee's knees. So When the 1903 was suggested to me by forum members, I finally broke down and bought some from the J. Peterman website ($27 - delivered from NY to CA in 3 days).
The box is very heavy cardboard with a wonderful french scene on the cover. It is very well made and has a round cardboard compartment on the inside to cradle the cream tub.
Here it is next to my SMF & SR8T brush and Razor collection.
The container is pretty identical to the 3 T's. It almost feels like real ceramic though. I imagine if I dropped it it would actually shater the plastic.
The cream is rich and creamy. it is VERY thick. Much less airy than Trumpers or Truefitt & Hill.
Ingedients.
The short version of the story. Here is the longer:
"I was browsing in a Paris antique shop one winter afternoon when a fitted leather train case caught my eye.
It contained silver-handled brushes, boot hooks, a straight razor, several silver-stoppered glass bottles…
One bottle was different. Encased in yew-wood, with a handwritten date: 1903.
Inside the bottle, there was still the faint, intriguing aroma of a gentleman’s cologne. A “prescription” cologne, custom-made for a rich traveler a century ago.
Curiosity was eating at me.
I bought the case (the price was shocking) and sent the bottle to a laboratory for analysis. They broke down the residue by gas chromatography. Identified its fingerprint through spectro-photometry.
The report said: an “old woody fougère.” Clean citrus notes, bergamot, “green notes.” The middle notes: clary sage…cardamom. The dry-down: leather notes, smoky labdanum…elemi, tabac, frankincense.
The detective work was impressive.
So is the thing itself.
Women like the way it smells on a man. Like a symphony that begins loudly, then soon slides into subtle, entangling developments that grow on them.
Or so I’ve been told."
So, how does it smell?
Well, it is similar to 1805. It has much more subtle tones to it, yet it is more complicated than 1805. It is like taking a whiff of a mixture of 5 or 6 different woody herbs. I would almost make the analogy that 1805 smells like the "designer imposter" of 1903! And that statement is coming from someone who ADORES T&H's 1805. This smell is really fantastic, and I will definitely be buying the cologne when i can afford it.
So, how does it shave?
Like a champ! Lathers up with the best of them. Provided excellent lubrication and the wonderful scent stuck with me nearly all day.
Conclusion
This might have toppled the 1805 empire in my bathroom. It is everything I love about 1805, but has something more that i cant really put my finger on. It is similar, yet different. I will be buying the cologne and the shaving balm when finances (and fiance!) allow it. The Peterman company was great too. They provide a free return shipping coupon in every box so if you dont like anything, you just send it right back free of charge and they return your money.
I urge you all to give this one a shot when you get the time.
-Todd
