Col. Conk Bay Rum Soap...Big Disappointment. IMHO

I haven't reviewed many items so far, but I felt that I needed to throw this out there for anyone considering a purchase of the Col. Conk Bay Rum Shaving Soap.

First off, I've had good luck with Col. Conk Lime scented shaving soap. It lathers well, cushions and protects well also. It also smells really good. I consider it the perfect pairing with the RazoRock Problem Solver Lime Aftershave lotion. The Col. Conk Lime soap is a little sweeter than the RazoRock, but not like candy.

That brings me to the Bay Rum soap. While it had some of the same qualities of the Lime soap, it fell hard in one area. The smell. Before you use the Bay Rum soap, it smells a lot like VDH with a little spice, but not strong; however, when you lather it up and brush it on your face it has a scent that smells like stale beer. I found it hard to find any other way to describe the smell. I've had some less than stellar experiences with other products. Williams always seems to be too foamy, not dense enough to really protect no matter what I do. TOBS Sandalwood broke me out a bit. With both of those, people seem to expect it a little. Many don't like Williams, and some people find Sandalwood products too harsh for sensitive skin. I think what disappointed me about the Col. Conk Bay Rum soap was the difference between how it smelled before lathered and after lathered. Scents are always subjective, but I thought it may be beneficial for anyone looking to try the soap. Didn't work for me, but others may love it.

 

You had me at "stale beer"

 

I got the same stale beer smell from their almond soap. I tossed it.

 

My first puck of shaving soap was Col. Conk almond, and the scent was very nice. It was recommended by the sales girl at the cutlery store (Mmm... this smells so good), and she was right. The bay rum was also smelled great, nearly as good as the almond scent. No beer smell at all, stale or otherwise. Of course, that was about five years ago, and scent preferences are subjective.

Has Col. Conk changed their soap formulations over the past few years? "Col. Conk" is a brand name used by World of Knives, a cutlery store in Albuquerque. Their soaps are almost certainly store brand products made by somebody else. If the supplier or formulation changed, it would be no surprise if the soap scents also changed somewhat.

 

That was one of the first soaps my dad used. I never liked it, but it was one of his favorites.

 

My Dad likes it and so do I occasionally.

 

Hmmm, I have some Conk Bay Rum waiting for me in the wings. I'll have to give it a try and see if I get the stale beer smell.

 

That's surprising to hear. Col. Conk almond was the first soap I ever tried when I started wet shaving. I thought it had a very pleasant scent.

I stopped using it only because I really like my Palmolive.

 

I have some Conk's bay rum in their travel tub and threw it in my travel kit for a trip out of town this weekend. Shaved with it earlier today and was reminded how much I don't like this soap. No protection at all. Smells great, though.

 

Try mixing in a little KMF unscented cream. It may help provide some protection without affecting the scent.

 

I've got this soap(it was part of the package with their shaving mug). Gonna use it this morning. I'll report back.

 

I used up a puck of Col. Conk Bay Rum in the past. I got the pack of four soaps as a gift when I first started using soaps and brushes. Used Mach 3 still at that point but really liked the scent of the bay rum. Let us know how it goes @RetLEO-07!

 

I'll be posting in 30DC, but I figured I'd address some things from the OP. I didn't get any 'stale beer' smell. Also the Bay Rum scent was kinda mild. I had high hopes. The smell off the puck before I bloomed it was loud. Once I lathered, it really calmed down. But, it was nice and slick, with a good cushion. Overall a keeper.

 

I have a 3-some of the Col.Conk Soaps- Amber, Bay Rum, and Lime.
I used both the Amber & Bay Rum pucks for more than a few shaves, and each time was disappointed in both the performance & the scent of both of these. So much so, that I have yet to try the Lime (one of my favorite summer scents).

Finally, I decided to attempt to fix the problem.
Melted the AMBER into a mug and placed a puck of VanDer Hagen Luxury Soap into the melt to create a hybrid.
Melted the Bay Rum into a different mug, poured in a touch of VIBR, stirred, and placed a 1/4 used puck of Williams Mug Shave Soap into the melt.

Made a vast improvement in both cases - both lather and scent.

I never throw out any shave products. Just repurpose them.
YMMV

 

Glad ya got it to work for you. While the scent was disappointing, the shaving end more than made up for it. May try the VIBR fix next time. Thanks for sharing the tip.

 

Col Conk Bay Rum is available here in Montreal but it's priced at around 8,00$. Not too cheap.

 

I love the scent of the Col Conk Bay Rum soap it's one of my favorites. As a soap it's a little lacking not so bad I'd toss it otlr anything but the scent rocks IMO

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It doesn't even really a bay rum scent per se. There's another note in it which I don't like at all.

 

I've never really figured out what Bay Rum is supposed to smell like. the one sample of cologne that I have labeled that (I'll move the review I did of it at another site to here later), doesn't smell like rum at all - to me.

 

From a packaging \ marketing response the name of this brand was s turn off and not appealing so I've avoided it.