About eight months ago I bought a limited edition brush from the Portuguese brush maker Semogue, who made a mere hundred of the beauties for my favorite shaving forum – The Shave Nook.

It have become one of my most treasured brushes – along with my Vie Long 14033 mixed badger/horse – and yet somehow I have not yet written a review for it… well, consider that fixed at least.

The TSN ’12 LE is a wonderful brush; it has just the right mix of backbone and softness to make it great for both face and bowl lathering, good flow, great handle and it holds enough lather to do three passes with ease. It’s also rock solid – to my knowledge it hasn’t lost a single hair yet, despite being used one to two times a week since I bought it. With a bit of proper care it should last longer than me, which means whoever gets to clean up after me can put it up for sale in fifty years time…

The knot is about 22mm wide with a 55mm or so loft, and is a 50/50 mix of boar and badger. For me – who isn’t all that much into badger – it served as a beautiful introduction to badger hairs… to the point where I can both see what all the fuss is about and realize that for me it’s not worth bothering putting down a large wad of money on a pure badger brush. Your Milage May Vary off course, but I prefer a bit of springiness and scritch.

The TSN ’12 LE is also very quick at picking up soap, making it the only brush I own that is liable to be overloaded – something to keep in mind since my favorite lathering bowl isn’t that large. It works just as well when face lathering, but since I only face lather when using a shave stick the risk of overloading is non-existent.

While the majority of the brushes ended up with regulars on The Shave Nook, it was also picked up by members on other forums. If you spot one for sale it’s definitely worth picking it up… if not, you’ll just have to do what I am doing now; wait for the 2013 LE brush.