What's going on with Trumper's shave soaps?

What is your opinion on fine shaving creams and hard soaps? Do you like Trumpers, Coates, Taylors, Truefitt & Hill? Post your reviews and opinions here!
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Craig_From_Cincy
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What's going on with Trumper's shave soaps?

Post by Craig_From_Cincy »

I'm reading reports of wretchedly bad performance, either an overall lack of lather or a light lather that disintegrates very quickly. The issue seems to be prevalent with more recently produced Trumper soaps. I owned several of their soaps that were post-tallow reformulation but were still solid performers, so the issues seem to be with soaps produced from roughly 2011 onward. Obviously there has been another reformulation, and I'd like to know how current Trumper soaps are performing as I'm now out of both Trumper Rose and Limes. I would be grateful for any observations from other members.
Cheers,

Craig
bernards66
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Post by bernards66 »

Craig, Yeah, I'd like to hear too because I also seem to remember some posts along those lines. Like yourself I have used several of the post-tallow Trumper soaps and have found them to be almost as good as the tallow ones. But there seems to be some company in Britain making this truly dreadful and useless hard shave soap. Remember when Floris re-introduced their No 89 hard shave soap? It was awful, unuseable. And that prototype of T&H soap that Brittany sent me was the same. So, if Trumper has also gone to whatever this company is we can kiss their soaps good-bye. Hopefully that's not the case and someone with a very recent cake of their soap can reassure us.
Regards,
Gordon
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Craig_From_Cincy
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Post by Craig_From_Cincy »

Gordon, Take a look at the cologne I posted about in the Shopping section. Not my listing but I'd be interested if you know anything about this old T&H scent.
Cheers,

Craig
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Post by ShadowsDad »

I ordered a sampler and some of the creams weren't very good. It's been awhile and specifics are hazy so don't press me for them. The scents were great, but performance with one or two not so great.

I put together later on, that they were in reformulation mode. But why market something that isn't up to snuff?

To defend Trumpers I was a noob back then, so it could have been me, but I don't think so. I recognized early on that lather was critical and mastered it very quickly.
Brian

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fallingwickets
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Post by fallingwickets »

are there any telltale signs re: packaging? I have quite a stock of rose bought over the years but have no idea anymore of their purchase history. The last puck i used was excellent

clive
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DGB452
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Post by DGB452 »

The more recent Trumper shaving soaps have switched to the same formulation as the Eucris soap.
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Craig_From_Cincy
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Post by Craig_From_Cincy »

DGB452 wrote:The more recent Trumper shaving soaps have switched to the same formulation as the Eucris soap.
Damn.
Cheers,

Craig
DGB452
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Post by DGB452 »

Craig_From_Cincy wrote:
DGB452 wrote:The more recent Trumper shaving soaps have switched to the same formulation as the Eucris soap.
Damn.
I should have added, I've only seen the Coconut, Limes and Sandalwood with this formulation so far.
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Post by Thalay Sagar »

I bought a puck of Limes in 2011 from a store that has very good turnover so it was most likely a recent product. The scent was wonderful, as should be expected, but the performance was mediocre and a pale shadow of the tallow puck I have. Not as grim as the Floris 89, but no justifying the premium one pays for a soap like Trumper's. Unfortunately, I did not note the ingredients (other than "reassuring" myself it was pal based) so I can't add to that part of the discussion.
Best,
Chris

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bernards66
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Post by bernards66 »

Brian, The Trumper creams ( both in pots and tubes ) that I've bought over the last couple of years have all been very good. Maybe a tad less concentrated than they were ten years ago but still very good.

Regarding the hard soap; crap! Not at all the reassuring noises I was hoping for. It's especially disheartening to me because their hard soap was the first really 'top shelf' shave product that I bought way back when. And given that the last cake of D R Harris's soap that I got had no scent, what now? I'm hoping that that thing with Harris's was just a fluke because it's plain that this Trumper situation is deliberate. Most of the members who were familiar with the Trumper soaps and tried the Eucris said that it definately was not the same nor as good.
Regards,
Gordon
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Craig_From_Cincy
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Post by Craig_From_Cincy »

Gordon, A bit of good news; I bought my first Harris Lavender soap a few weeks ago and the scent is good. Pure lavender, upfront without being overpowering ( which is how I found AOS Lavender to be).
Cheers,

Craig
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Craig_From_Cincy
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Post by Craig_From_Cincy »

I got a reply to my complaints about Trumper's soaps via email. I'll post it in the Trumper Has Gone Too Far thread.
Cheers,

Craig
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Post by drmoss_ca »

This is too bad. I shall jealously guard my unopened pucks of old GFT soaps.

Chris
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Post by RazorRamone »

I haven't experienced a Trumper's soap that has performed even close to a minimal baseline - even as a hand soap. I have previously garbaged several GFT soaps.

There are too many other good soaps on the market to be messing around with substandard soap in fancy packaging.
bernards66
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Post by bernards66 »

Craig, Well, I'm glad to hear that about Harris's anyway. I was not the only one who received DRH soaps that had no discernable scent. Mine was 'Almond' but some of the others were the 'Lavender'. The last cake of their Lavender that I had ( maybe bought 2-3 years ago ) did have a lavender scent but it was definately not as pronounced as of yore. But this recent Almond cake was literally a scentless shave soap. It still performed fine, mind you, but really?...no scent?...for that price? Fortunately I was able to trade it off for a good cake of Trumpers Almond. I always preferred to buy shave goods in person and now it seems to be becoming an imperative if one doesn't want to get burned. And, of course, now I can no longer do in-person as I no longer travel to NYC. What used to be a pleasure is now becoming a major hassle and it highly annoys me!
Regards,
Gordon
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Post by joe mcclaine »

Looks like the famous English brands are dropping the ball left, right and centre.
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fallingwickets
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Post by fallingwickets »

the rose im using now is almost finished (just a small ring around the bowl is all thats left) and so when i start a new puck I'll report back here.

clive
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Post by jww »

While I don't have a lot to compare to, I have never had any issues with the scent of my MWF, nor any of the DR Harris soaps I have owned. They are just enough smell for my sensitive nose.
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Post by Nitrox »

I've also found that my Harris Almond has no Almond scent and it has to be a few years old at least. The other scents are quite nice and enjoyable including their latest Windsor scent.
I'm really peeved about the Trumper soaps though. I do have older pucks of all their scents but I do regret not picking up another rose and sandalwood. Who knew that they would get worse, especially from a big name like Trumper's? :(
Bruno

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Post by mikey »

DGB452 wrote:
Craig_From_Cincy wrote:
DGB452 wrote:The more recent Trumper shaving soaps have switched to the same formulation as the Eucris soap.
Damn.
I should have added, I've only seen the Coconut, Limes and Sandalwood with this formulation so far.
Quadruple damn!!!!

Thanks,
Mike
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