Better than corn cobs! (Charmin Toilet Tissue)

Member Name: offy

Product:	Charmin Toilet Tissue
Date:	05/05/01 (781 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very soft, Tears well

Disadvantages: More expensive, Could block pipes

A BRIEF HISTORY OF TOILET TISSUE
Real toilet paper was first produced in England in 1880. It was individual squares sold in boxes and the paper was very harsh. Soft toilet paper was not introduced until 1907. Earlier than this, people used all manner of things to ‘clean up’, from leaves to sponges. In colonial America they even used corn cobs! (Rather them than me, it brings a tear to my eyes just thinking about it). Royalty could afford to use soft fabrics such as wool or lace (I suppose silk would be OK).

CHARMIN VS. ANDREX
I have used Andrex toilet tissue for years. I’m a sucker for the cute labrador puppies (I even met someone who’s puppy had appeared in the advert once) and I thought the paper was the softest produced. However, the poor tearing quality of the paper started to annoy me (I know....I should get a life). I hate preparing to wipe and then the squares do not tear cleanly. For some reason we talked about this tearing habit at work and no-one else could understand my annoyance – does anyone else share this problem?

Anyway, I bought Charmin the next time I needed loo roll as the adverts made me laugh (you remember, those cute cartoon creatures in the wood shyly wiping their rears and looking so satisfied) and because their strap line of ‘everyone appreciates the comfortable clean feeling’ sounded tempting.

Charmin loo roll really is the softest I have tried and, most importantly to me, it tears perfectly! Apparently it has a ‘super soft micro pocketed texture’, which is what makes the difference (Andrex is flat), and the embossing is quite pretty to look at if you have nothing better to do.

The normal roll (as opposed to the double length roll which I haven’t seen from Andrex) has an average of 192 sheets per roll (Andrex has 279 minimum). The Charmin roll is 24 metres long and the Andrex roll is 34.59 metres. Both are two-ply and both c
ome in many standard colours, such as white, pink, green, cream and peach. The sheet sizes are very similar.

Charmin is slightly more expensive - £1.99 for 4 rolls (Andrex is £1.87) and £4.19 for 9 rolls (Andrex is £4.09). The double length roll is £3.99 for 4 rolls. Charmin have also introduced Charmin Ultra, being extra thick and absorbent (if you need it!) and also an 18 roll pack. However, I have read one bit of bad news about Charmin (thanks Scattyredhead), plumbers are saying that it blocks the pipes if your house has old pipe work. Since staring to use Charmin, we have had to have a drain cleaner out once, so perhaps there is some truth in it.

Both regularly have special offers for animals ‘things’, e.g. you can save tokens for the Charmin cuddly toys or the Andrex puppy slippers, toy and pouch. Charmin is made by Proctor & Gamble and Andrex by Kimberly-Clark (in case you have a preference for one of those corporations).

CONCLUSION
Well, I’m not sure. Charmin is much softer and tears better, but it is also more expensive, you get less in a roll and it blocks pipes. Andrex is better value, harder (but not uncomfortable) and flushes well. I prefer Charmin but not at the expense of a £100 bill for unblocking your pipes. Which would you chose?

Summary: