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I would be most interested to hear what you think of your brew once it's ready for use, I may have a go myself.
Bay Rum,...suggestions please.
- Thread starter Far Cry Toff
- Start Date
Overall thoughts are :
That I happen to like the smell of Bay Rum and have now tried a couple of homemade brews by different members, as well as my own brew, and all have a definite similarity to each other ... and, generally speaking, a certain similarity to the stuff commercially available in shops and online. None are worlds apart from each other in my book. All are most agreeable too.
I've bought a further couple of bottles, of varying size, from commercial outlets: Bello BR and Bello Lime BR (posted from Germany via Ebay) plus Pinaud Clubman Virgin Island BR (in the bigger 355ml plastic bottle) plus a 250ml plastic bottle of Pashana American BR hair and scalp tonic. Additionally I've got a drop of Extro Bay Rum Aftershave (which is £11.49 for 125ml at Shaving Station).... and that one IS a bit different insofar as you can smell a lot of Tea Tree Oil in it as well as BR... it's nice stuff.
I also got a 250ml plastic bottle of Pashana Portugal - also called a hair tonic with oil - which is OK but nothing like the others in terms of Bay Rum smell. It too lasts only minutes on me.
For me, the fact of the matter is... whilst they're all lovely to splash round (and you do really need to apply liberally in my experience) the biggest problem is FOR ME they're all definitely an after shave, not a perfume/EDT/EDP. Negligible staying power on my skin. Lovely feel to the stuff and a bit of a warming freshen up sort of thing, and smells great for a short time, but, for me, not for long - others might be different. It really does finish a shave off nicely though... I love the stuff.
The recipe I copied above produces about 250ml, which isn't a lot if you were to think about passing it on to others as a gift or free sample - you would almost certainly have none left yourself and would need to make another batch... which wouldn't last a huge long time and would cost you another load of dosh because the ingredients aren't all that cheap to buy... and after all that the recipients might not like the stuff.
If you had some/most of the stuff in the kitchen cupboard then that helps but the Rum and Vodka is £5.50 each (half bottles) and the spices etc all add up. The Essential Oils aren't that cheap when you add postage to them. The actual making of it is easy and you just have to wait two to four weeks before bottling it (filtering is a time consuming and slightly messy procedure).
Bottom line. If you don't mind forking out for the ingredients (they could add up to £30 if you include all the spices and the essential oils and the spirits) and if you regard it a a bit of fun, then you'll have a nice drop of stuff and the satisfaction of knowing you (sort of) made it yourself.
Don't bother looking for Pimenta Racemosa Bay Leaves in the UK... you won't find 'em. Just buy the Bay Essential Oil from Ebay or Amazon.
And if you don't fancy going to the trouble of making it, then get either the Clubman Virgin Island BR or the Pashana American BR on the grounds that both are available in the UK and neither are expensive if you shop around and add them to another order to help with postage etc. Ditto the Extro but it's a bit dearer considering you only get 125ml.
In the USA there are others, more readily available... and cheaper too... but most of us are not in the UK. Ogallala is supposed to be good but difficult to get in the UK... and the only supplier that I know of didn't find favour with members here at one time... they might be OK now.
Not a lot more to add.
That I happen to like the smell of Bay Rum and have now tried a couple of homemade brews by different members, as well as my own brew, and all have a definite similarity to each other ... and, generally speaking, a certain similarity to the stuff commercially available in shops and online. None are worlds apart from each other in my book. All are most agreeable too.
I've bought a further couple of bottles, of varying size, from commercial outlets: Bello BR and Bello Lime BR (posted from Germany via Ebay) plus Pinaud Clubman Virgin Island BR (in the bigger 355ml plastic bottle) plus a 250ml plastic bottle of Pashana American BR hair and scalp tonic. Additionally I've got a drop of Extro Bay Rum Aftershave (which is £11.49 for 125ml at Shaving Station).... and that one IS a bit different insofar as you can smell a lot of Tea Tree Oil in it as well as BR... it's nice stuff.
I also got a 250ml plastic bottle of Pashana Portugal - also called a hair tonic with oil - which is OK but nothing like the others in terms of Bay Rum smell. It too lasts only minutes on me.
For me, the fact of the matter is... whilst they're all lovely to splash round (and you do really need to apply liberally in my experience) the biggest problem is FOR ME they're all definitely an after shave, not a perfume/EDT/EDP. Negligible staying power on my skin. Lovely feel to the stuff and a bit of a warming freshen up sort of thing, and smells great for a short time, but, for me, not for long - others might be different. It really does finish a shave off nicely though... I love the stuff.
The recipe I copied above produces about 250ml, which isn't a lot if you were to think about passing it on to others as a gift or free sample - you would almost certainly have none left yourself and would need to make another batch... which wouldn't last a huge long time and would cost you another load of dosh because the ingredients aren't all that cheap to buy... and after all that the recipients might not like the stuff.
If you had some/most of the stuff in the kitchen cupboard then that helps but the Rum and Vodka is £5.50 each (half bottles) and the spices etc all add up. The Essential Oils aren't that cheap when you add postage to them. The actual making of it is easy and you just have to wait two to four weeks before bottling it (filtering is a time consuming and slightly messy procedure).
Bottom line. If you don't mind forking out for the ingredients (they could add up to £30 if you include all the spices and the essential oils and the spirits) and if you regard it a a bit of fun, then you'll have a nice drop of stuff and the satisfaction of knowing you (sort of) made it yourself.
Don't bother looking for Pimenta Racemosa Bay Leaves in the UK... you won't find 'em. Just buy the Bay Essential Oil from Ebay or Amazon.
And if you don't fancy going to the trouble of making it, then get either the Clubman Virgin Island BR or the Pashana American BR on the grounds that both are available in the UK and neither are expensive if you shop around and add them to another order to help with postage etc. Ditto the Extro but it's a bit dearer considering you only get 125ml.
In the USA there are others, more readily available... and cheaper too... but most of us are not in the UK. Ogallala is supposed to be good but difficult to get in the UK... and the only supplier that I know of didn't find favour with members here at one time... they might be OK now.
Not a lot more to add.
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OSP Bay Rum is back, albeit limited.
Alas. I fear your observations are spot on.
Re. the return of OSP BR... is that the shaving soap? or is there a Bay Rum after-shave or balm too?
Have got the soap, and very nice it is too. So a worthy recommendation there.
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It was the soap. Best check the OSP site for availability of the soap, the last time I looked the tonic wasn't even listed.
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James at OSP has a new venture called d'Ardenne, Short and Bell. They have a Bay Rum called Captain. I have one on pre-order. Link below
http://dsbell.co.uk/
http://dsbell.co.uk/
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- Out of off of Chorley
I had my own mini-quest to find my favourite Bay Rum soap a few years ago. I found that Krampert's Acadia was the best scented but gave me a little redness (which disappeared after 15mins). Next best was Barrister and Mann which actually outperformed Krampert's. I also really liked Stirling soaps version for the scent and performance. I found Ogallala and the LA Shaving co. Santa Monica to be a damp squibs. I also tried Wickham's soaps who at the time had a bay rum but to me was scentless.
Most of the above are from the US but since then OSP released their bay rum which is just as good as any I have tried and since he is currently selling a limited edition BR I wouldn't hesitate in recommending OSP.
Next you'll be thinking of Sandalwood... opening another can of worms...
Most of the above are from the US but since then OSP released their bay rum which is just as good as any I have tried and since he is currently selling a limited edition BR I wouldn't hesitate in recommending OSP.
Next you'll be thinking of Sandalwood... opening another can of worms...
Ok, I will try to make this fast,
Couple things about the bay rum scent, with the first one being the use of an essential oil called Pimenta racemosa as a main influence.......go head and look it up. I can't be sure but 'bay leaves' is probably a different ingredient. Anything without that scent is an 'interpretation' so it's a crapshoot.
Next thing is that to my nose, other frags are needed for adding, in order to make the bay rum EO scent more interesting. Some notes commonly used are lime, clove, and orange oil, not to mention vanilla, cinnamon, and other spices.
Personally I found Brian Krampert to make the best smelling bay rum aftershave and also a very good soap/cream. Not sure if any Limey's distribute his line.
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I don't think you can have seen my earlier posts, Martin, one with my list of ingredients which do include lime, clove, orange, vanilla, cinnamon and other spices - and the other, later, post which mentions Pimenta Racemosa. But clearly great minds think alike 
.
And, as also mentioned, many of the Bay Rums that are available in the US are less so here and I do believe Kramperts is one that I've not been able to see advertised in the UK. If anyone has knowledge of a UK supplier I'd like to know so that I might try it.
.And, as also mentioned, many of the Bay Rums that are available in the US are less so here and I do believe Kramperts is one that I've not been able to see advertised in the UK. If anyone has knowledge of a UK supplier I'd like to know so that I might try it.
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Hi Stan,
A quick internet search brings up Shaving Station has Kramperts shaving soap for a reasonable price if you mean soap and not AS.
