Review: Long Rifle Soap Co. Saranac Shave Soap
(2020) It is believed the power of scent can activate memory greater than any other sense. The smell of new tires almost instantly recalls childhood visits to the bike shop. Cleaning products like bleach provide memories of summers at the pool or the strange cold chlorine waftings of a hockey rink. Burgers cooked on a grill in the winter harken back to spring skiing where lift ticket holders struggle between short and long sleeves.
Welcoming scents is where Long Rifle Soap Company has excelled. Based on James Fenimore Cooper books, Long Rifle produces scents that require a bit of imagination. Hunting Lodge is what we would figure a secluded log cabin to smell like. The mixture of wooden furniture mixed with leather transports us to quieter places. Brown Bess, a recent release had us remembering an old Adirondack book shop that also sold pipe tobacco.
The new shave soap takes us farther into the Adirondacks, a place previously visited with Long Rifle Soap. Until recently Long Rifle offered Saranac only as a bar soap. It was snatched up as readily as possible and it transported us back to the small town that always seems to have the coldest winter nights within the Blue Line. Long Rifle now offers Saranac shave soap under their Black Label, along with our recently reviewed Hivernant shave soap.
Long Rifle Soap always produces a thick, lather with a beautifully relaxing scent.
The descriptions match the memories. Saranac is described as pine, juniper, and snow, three overwhelming scents for a tiny town surrounded by wilderness. Opening the shave tub saw memories of Adirondack hikes flood the mind. Specific hikes where pine featured prominent were cloudy, cool, damp days that seemed to release the coniferous smells. The padded pine needle paths always feel quieter and smell sweeter. These were all things we thought of while shaving with Saranac shave soap.
We write this during the Coronavirus quarantine, where shaving is more enjoyable as a distraction. With necessary small victories, the pine scent filled the whole floor with its relaxing smell and memories. It felt like we were back on those remote paths, headed toward a small footbridge over a small brook, towering pines sentinel at blocking the stresses of the world. All this came from the twisting of a shave tub, the heating of the soap, the whipping into a lather, and the swipes of a blade also harkening back to Adirondack experiences. The window has never felt thicker than today and the soap never created a thicker memory.
As with all Long Rifle tallow soaps, the shave lasts. The scent hovered around the face yet the skin felt rejuvenated by the shave of the day. Here is another victory: the shave reclaimed some tranquility during these unique times. Our stack of shave tubs has never been higher but one this is for sure, our Saranac shave soap will not last long. We will search for any reason to shave, be it necessity, memory, or relaxation. For those who have not experienced an Adirondack hike but purchase the soap, expect the reverse process. Long Rifle Soap captured the experience so well, it wouldn’t be a stretch to hear someone say that a Saranac hike reminded them of a shave soap.
