bhanny

Oud Fan
Great question @Rasoul Salehi , these type of questions allow us to educate in the more intricate aspects of the oudh journey.

Malaysia jungles offer 17 different sub species of the Aquilaria genus alone, this does not include the 7/8 sub species that the Gyrinops Genus offers. If we were to take the most commonly occurring subspecies in Malaysia which is the Aquilaria Malaccensis, then there is a huge difference in the scent profile of the Malaccensis that is found in the north vs that of the south, and yet we are only talking about the same species. Likewise the Malaccensis in Malaysia vs Malaccensis in India again very different in profile.

Now lets look at the oudh tree, the top of the tree has different profile than the base of the tree, the branches have different scent profiles than the trunk. The outer woods which get infected first when the infection comes from the outside (not from under the roots as that also sometimes happens) will have older infection compared to further in, and the older infected wood will smell different to the younger infected wood within the same tree.

rainfal, soil, amount of sunshine (just like in the wine business) and type of fungus all are variables that cause huge variance on the scent of the oils from a tree.

You will note, we seldom maybe only on a handful of occasions have named the species of wood that the oil came from, rather we name the location. The reason for this is that whoever is claiming that a wood/oil is a certain genus and sub species without witnessing the necessary indicators are erring on the side of risk where they are more likely to be wrong than right. Recently a type of wood has appeared in the oudh world which we have been requested to assist in it's identification, our good colleague Dr Rozi who is the leading authority in Malaysia and likely the world in this matter, have had a look at some of these woods and she can not tell species from just the wood and oil. For identification to be possible the examiner needs to see leafs, fruits and samples of oil/wood to test in the lab before determining the species. Now you can imagine the dilemma we find ourselves in every time someone claims sub species when they haven't seen any indicators. A lot of such confident assumptions are based on misinformation that they have been reading, and we can't blame them.

Further more what you maybe associating to a Vietnamese or Malaysian, or Thai etc are not exclusive to those regions those profiles can be manifest from woods of other regions and species. In that regard we have said this before and say it again, the Malaysian wood is the most robust agarwood and scent profiles of pretty much any region can be coerced from Malaysian woods. Moving forward from that, distillation methods also draw different profiles from the wood.

Distillations that focus on the top notes will produce oils that are head heavy and the same wood distilled focusing on the base notes will smell totally different simply because fragrant compounds of an oil all do not rise at the same temperature. If you look at a GCMS plot you will note that different compounds will rise at different time intervals. There within the distillation process you then have control on what compounds you bring across by time, temperature and pressure. Using such knowledge oils from the same wood will smell totally different based on what has been distilled from that oil. Or on the other hand oils from woods of two different regions smelling very similar based on what has been distilled from them.

The above are just some of the reasons why oils from two different regions can smell the same, or oils from the same region smell so very different.

hope that answers your question.
Thanks!!!
 

Rai Munir

Musk Man
I saw it for sale & recalled how fondly you spoke of it, so it had to be mine! :D
How did you find its fragrance?

If I ever step forward and organize a blind test project, I will sample this Oud and other plus 1000 $ Ceylon oils. Aroma, longevity, feel, dry-down, texture, colour. Everything is perfect in Sri Pada.

I have organized a separate stash, and asked my brother to decant different oils in sample vials and place them in the new box. No tagging at all. Now I enjoy my day, and especially when I request my friends to sniff and comments. It's eye-opening.
 

Sproaty

Sproudy
Staff member
How did you find its fragrance?

If I ever step forward and organize a blind test project, I will sample this Oud and other plus 1000 $ Ceylon oils. Aroma, longevity, feel, dry-down, texture, colour. Everything is perfect in Sri Pada.

I have organized a separate stash, and asked my brother to decant different oils in sample vials and place them in the new box. No tagging at all. Now I enjoy my day, and especially when I request my friends to sniff and comments. It's eye-opening.

It's sweet, delicate, yet strong. Calming, an uplifting scent for sure, not too 'deep' but just like Goldilocks....juuuuust right :D
 

Rai Munir

Musk Man
It's sweet, delicate, yet strong. Calming, an uplifting scent for sure, not too 'deep' but just like Goldilocks....juuuuust right :D
To me, it is just deep. Nothing else. Not uplifting, but like one stuck in a whirlpool and that drags one down to some abyss, excruciatingly fragrant depth.:praying:
When the River Ravi murmurs through Sri Pada, both present and future exist nowhere for me, but the past, running along the bank, and wallowing in the shallow waters.
 
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Aleata

Oud Mood
Une petite dégustation ce soir...
Left: Aroha Kyaku EO, Thaï Honey LMK
Right: Maroke Noire FO, Bandarban RBO, Eau Du Vietnam LMK.
Eau Du Vietnam has a splendid evolution. Bandarban, the caramelic fresh tobacco.
An Oud symphony.
Peace,
 
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Rasoul Salehi

True Ouddict
ASO Al Malek al malayzi (blind)

Wack of new oils came in this week. Took a bunch of other ones already in my poession that I knew would be similar-ish to what I am receiving and took one out blind and swiped.

Old antique store. Tiger wood royle comes to mind. Instead of those rosewood/mahagony medicine cabinet being filled with musk, they are filled with ginseng, other bitter roots with some soil still attached to them (think Chinese sinesis), but also nutmeg, potpurri and even hint of clove.

At this point I am zooming in and I know is not twr, tw95 and not Ahmad. Is it kannan koh or Al Malek malayzi. Frankly the ASO signature is fully evident and this oil even amongst another 1000 oils would be theirs.

I made the reveal as I was feeling confident. Turn out to be right. Live to eat a slice of humble pie another day.

30 min later and the initial strong Chinese character that was woven with the old Tigerwood malay character is gone and this oil is going full old school malay.

Interestingly the drydown notes started appearing rather quick. 45 min after a tiny wear, dabbed, I am already at dry down stage that now (2 hours ish) I’m still goin strong. A very Woody oudy Oud drydown but trace potpurri and nutmeg spice still discernible.

I don’t know if this oil is steam distilled or hydro, but the quality and behavior of the drydown makes me think steam yet the interplay of notes and opening is hydro.

Anyways a lovely oil the likes of which is rare and I don’t know of a single new or recent past distillation that would come close to oil like this, Ahmad twr...

@Al Shareef Oudh
I welcome your thoughts and guidance to perhaps unlock other mysteries in this oil.
 
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