For this week’s travels, I grabbed a small bar of soap that was the end of a ciaglia loaf made quite a while ago (for a SMF challenge, actually, I think). It’s at my hotel room sink and as I’ve been using it, I’ve noticed how nice it feels and how beautifully it lathers. Now, I’m in San Antonio and up the water here is super hard, so the hotel water is pretty softened. But still, this bar was better than most soaps that I travel with. I looked back at my notes and discovered that this batch was made in January 2023. I think this is probably the first time I’ve tried an old bar of soap that’s from the era where I feel I’m making good soap. I knew that older bars were nicer than newer ones, but wow! And this was when I was still using 20% lard. I’ve now gone to 30% so I’m excited to see what those bars are like in the future!