How reliable are Trumper's soaps these days?

[95%]

I recall that a few years ago GFT was turning out soaps that lathered very poorly. Eucris was a notorious offender, but it wasn't the only one. There were complaints about Coconut, Limes, and perhaps others.

I want to reorder some of my favorites from the past, including Violet, Coconut, and Limes, but I'm reluctant to take the risk without some confidence that Trumper has cleaned up its act. Do any of my fellow members have recent - i. e. 2014 - experience with GFT hard soaps? If your experience was satisfactory, would you disclose the vendor's name? (There's always the danger of being sent old stock when the newer is better).

[brothers]

I monitor comments about soaps on the various shaving forums. I think it's safe to say GFT soaps are still crap. Wouldn't it be nice if they adopted the same new formulae as Penhaligon/Harris/TOBS Lime and Sandalwood? Do not buy GFT soaps until others start writing positive reviews.

[95%]

Not what I wanted to hear, Gary. I crave the powdery lime fragrance of the Limes soap. I may just take one for the team.

[brothers]

Good luck! I did that very thing at the beginning of the year, a few months ago, and the soap was dismal. However, hope springs eternal. YMMV and all that jazz.

Seriously, search the shaving forums to find out what others are reporting before you spend the bucks.

[Squire]

I crave the powdery lime fragrance of the Limes soap. I may just take one for the team.

Now that you mention it Porter it does sound intriguing.

[95%]

Which vendors are likely to have the most up-to-date stock? If I knew that, I would request that they select from the very latest stock they have. Otherwise I might get a cake of soap from the same manufacturing lot as Gary's dismal soap.

[TheMonk]

I monitor comments about soaps on the various shaving forums. I think it's safe to say GFT soaps are still crap. Wouldn't it be nice if they adopted the same new formulae as Penhaligon/Harris/TOBS Lime and Sandalwood? Do not buy GFT soaps until others start writing positive reviews.

Gary's right, they're still crap, I'd steer clear of them. If you like the Limes scent, why not go for the cream? They have a pretty good performance. Or, if you're thinking Lime scents, can't really do much better then Castle Forbes Lime

[Squire]

As for vendors I would call Phil at Bullgoose who seems to have a good turnover.

[95%]

Squire, I'd be happy to stick with Phil if his turnover is pretty fast. I've ordered quite a bit from him before. As for David's suggestion of the GFT Limes cream, I have a tube of it and find it perfectly satisfactory. The scent, however, differs from the soap. This is something that I have noticed with other Trumper shave preps: I always feel that the soap has a subtler, more complex fragrance than the cream. That's why I'm thinking of ordering the Limes soap, damn the torpedoes.

Before I do that, however, I just hope at least one person will chime in with the news that he has bought a well-performing Trumper soap within the last year. If nobody can do that, I'd be on a fool's errand.

[Squire]

That is certainly true about soap scents irrespective of make. Regarding lackluster performance I see Williams shaving soap widely panned yet I have no difficulty making a very serviceable lather from it. I notice a good bit of chatter on these Boards are posters repeating what they've read rather than experienced.

[mikey]

Hello Squire,

Out of curiosity, do you have hard or soft water?

Thanks,
Mike

That is certainly true about soap scents irrespective of make. Regarding lackluster performance I see Williams shaving soap widely panned yet I have no difficulty making a very serviceable lather from it. I notice a good bit of chatter on these Boards are posters repeating what they've read rather than experienced.

[mikey]

Though I haven't used Trumper shave soap recently, the reformulation saga associated with it ever since they removed the tallow has been interesting, to say the least.

I have attached a photo of all current (and a few previous) formulations of Trumper shave soaps.

Highlight color/formatting guide (please correct me if I am wrong):
Green is generally accepted to be an excellent formula.
Grey is generally accepted to be a useless formula.
White is current formula per Trumper's website (and remains to be seen if it is good or bad).
Strikethough is a dincontinued formula.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,
Mike

PS: Gary, which variety and formula (if you still have the box) do you have?

PPS: Does anyone have the newer formula (shown in white) and wish to chime in?

[brothers]

My Limes was the 3rd gray colored column which lists Sodium Palmate as the second ingredient. Suds and some lather but it didn't last long enough for one pass. Took a lot of work to get a poor lather.

[95%]

That is certainly true about soap scents irrespective of make. Regarding lackluster performance I see Williams shaving soap widely panned yet I have no difficulty making a very serviceable lather from it. I notice a good bit of chatter on these Boards are posters repeating what they've read rather than experienced.

Squire, I'm sure you're right. No doubt there is an element of urban legend-making going on. Yet with respect to the current line of GFT soaps, I'm inclined to believe the buzz because of my own disappointment with Eucris. I was an early adopter. Never saw a worse-performing soap. I still wonder what to do with that ugly black painted bowl.

[brothers]

. . . I want to reorder some of my favorites from the past, including Violet, Coconut, and Limes, . . .

Porter, if it makes you feel good do it! We only live once! Your experiences with these will make good topics for discussion. Win - Win!

[EL Alamein]

Those lists of ingredients Mikey posted for the current formulations are intriguing. They would *seem* to herald a very good shaving soap.

It will indeed be interesting to see reviews of those formulations. I haven't seen any with those yet.

Chris

[Squire]

Mikey regarding hard or soft water I've learned to adjust to whichever is available to me at the time.

[Shave4Fun]

Approximately when would the last tallow based Trumper's have been made?

[EL Alamein]

Approximately when would the last tallow based Trumper's have been made?

Roger, I would hazard a guess at 8 to 10 years ago. I remember 11 years ago when I got married ordering the coconut shaving soap from the Gentlemen's Shop in Hungerford, England and receiving the old "Soap Base" (read tallow or potassium stearate made from tallow) version. This was my very first Trumper's shaving soap and it lathered a treat.

About 8 years ago (I think) I bought the Rose soap base soap from the local mall here but the newer formulations were also offered at the same time for the more fast moving products like Limes.

Since some manufacturers seem to have lately moved to a better formulation that actually performs I believe it's only a matter of time before Trumper's gets there too so the best option may to be just wait until they do.

If the current' Trumper's formulations that Mikey posted pan out as I suspect then we may have a winner on our hands and it will be OK to jump into the water. But we shall see.

Chris

[95%]

I decided to heed the advice of the skeptics and take a pass on the current version of GFT Limes. In its stead I've ordered the TOBS Luxury Lime soap which Gary has so eloquently recommended.