Texas Trail: Soap Palooza's Leather-and-Coffee Soap for the Texas Meetup

Howdy and welcome back to A Texan Shaves. Got another special one for you today.

David Young over at Soap Palooza took it upon himself to make a soap for the Great Texas Wet Shavers Meetup. This is it. You’ve probably seen some teasers floating around the interwebs. I’ve got it here in hand now, and it is called Texas Trail.

The Label

There’s a lot going on with this label.

Tallow shave soap. Texas Wet Shavers Meetup 2026 on the little coffee cup. The scent: coffee, leather, smoke, and desert creosote. Print is small - I had to squint even with my bifocals. The side label has the Great Texas Wet Shavers Meetup logo on it. Thank you for that, David. That is awesome.

Here’s Soap Palooza’s full description:

Texas Trail captures the spirit of the long cattle drives from Texas north into Wyoming, where cowboys spent months in the saddle beneath endless skies driving herds across dusty plains, rough weather, and open country. The scent opens with worn leather and dark campfire coffee echoing saddle tack, bedrolls, and early mornings beside glowing embers before another hard day on the trail. Smoke drifts through the blend like distant campfires at dusk while dry desert creosote brings the scent of sunbaked earth and rain hitting dusty brush along the frontier. Rugged yet smooth, Texas Trail is a tribute to the grit, freedom, and quiet resilience of the American cowboy.

That is a lot of words, but I’m here to tell you - the soap backs them up. Right off the tub you get coffee and leather. Strong, immediate. The coffee doesn’t overpower things, which matters. I know coffee scents can swallow a fragrance whole. David did not let that happen here. There’s more underneath, too. I could already tell once I started loading the brush that the scent was opening up beyond that first hit.

And yes - there is a matching splash. I’ll get there.

The Hardware

Had to break out the Lone Star for this one.

That’s my collaboration razor with Steve of Alpha Shaving. One of my favorites in the den. I’m biased, obviously. But it felt right.

For the brush, I recently picked up something from Sawdust Creations - Texas flag colors, red, white, and blue, set with a 26mm Maggard’s SHD knot. I can use this thing for a lot of different occasions. Seemed like the right call today.

Blade is a Tatra Platinum. Yes, I do use different blades sometimes.

The Shave

About 24 hours of growth going in. Face shave today.

The brush is new - only used it once before, so it took a little working to get into the heart of the puck. Once I did, the lather came up beautifully. Coffee and leather on the brush the whole way through. Three passes.

The earthiness from the description didn’t come through much during the shave. That’s not unusual - as I’ve always said, and a lot of people say the same thing, you cannot judge a fragrance by the dry soap, and you especially can’t judge one you haven’t lathered yet. Things come alive when you hydrate them. You get what the artisan was really going for in the splash. That’s where everything opens up.

Fantastic shave. One of those where I kind of got lost in it for a second.

The Splash

Crack the seal.

Right away - same coffee and leather as the soap. Then something else comes in. A burning-ember smokiness, a campfire note I wasn’t getting during the shave. And alongside the coffee there’s something almost sweet. Caramel-like. I think it’s the leather playing off the coffee, those two notes pushing each other in a direction. I’m sure I’ll get more of the earthy tones as it dries down.

David, my friend - this is a winner. Fantastic job on this fragrance.

One thing about doing a product spotlight on something that hasn’t been released yet: you have to sit on your impressions. You can’t talk to anybody about it. I cannot wait to get other noses on this at the meetup and actually have that conversation.

A Note on Blizzard Battles

I know it’s been a bit since my last video. Work has been busy, and the meetup prep is taking up a lot of my attention right now. Something had to give. I’m hoping to get two or three more videos up before June 6th.

Blizzard Battles is getting pushed back a little for the same reason, and because I’m still waiting on several artisans. Denton Majik shipped theirs the day I filmed this - which for you is yesterday. Adopted Acres came in recently, I made a post about that. Still waiting on Sterling (the soap is done, they’re just waiting on the label), Van Yulay, Hendry’s Classics and Company, and Ariana & Evans. I know I’m forgetting somebody. I should have made a list. But be looking for those posts once they come in.

Where to Find Texas Trail

Texas Trail unveils at the Great Texas Wet Shavers Meetup on June 6th at the Kalahari Resort in Round Rock, Texas. Soap Palooza will be there too, and I cannot wait to finally meet David in person. Free admission. No cap on attendees. If you can make it last minute, please do - we’d love to have you.

Can’t make it to Round Rock? I’ve got a link to soappalooza.store in the video description below for when it goes live there.

Thanks for watching, guys. Find your peace in what and where you can, and I’ll see you next time on A Texan Shaves.