I'v been meaning to write some stuff down about a few of the oils i have in my collection, in the hope that it might benefit some members who are of a similar mindset to me when they make their own purchases.
All my reviews will be simple and in plain English, ill cover a few things off which i find relevant and hopefully will try not to waffle on too long. My reviews are primarily aimed at newbies and people not familiar with Oud so please bear that in mind.
Assam Organic is now in my hand, first impressions when I pull the dipstick out, yes its a Hindi. Nothing disguised there.
Now as I start analysing the notes, I am getting a very sharp almost tangy top note. Not one that I enjoy to be honest. Its hard to describe, its sharp / barn / coupled with perhaps smelling fresh treated wood. NOTE: This is not treated in the sense that the tree from which the Oud wood was taken was treated, treated as in curing timber smell.
Luckily these Top notes don't hang around too long. Beyond that its a very nice Heart note, its balanced, sweet, jam like (bit similar to Yunus but not as rich), by the way Manek I from Agarwood Assam also shares this Heart note, i'm pretty sure that Manek I is an Assam Oud too, so its no coincidence that 3 Assam Ouds of good quality share some similar attributes. For the sake of brevity AA Manek has different Top notes.
Not a lot more to say about this Oud, its good, feels nice on the skin, not overpowering, easy to wear (beyond the Top note). This is not a Top Tier Hindi Oud and to be honest it was never sold as such either, with a price tag of approximately $280 on launch, looking at the pricing structure of other EO products, I would say this sits in the lower categories.
In today's Market there are better Hindi's to be had. I'm not sure what the resale price for this would be, but its not one I would recommend going all out for. You can buy heavily discounted Agar Aura and Imperial Oud products for sub $300, and if this was going for $200-250, its worth paying the extra in my opinion and going for something which is marketed as a Top Tier Hindi.
Fragrance rating 3/5 (for me the Top notes are too sharp, but after that it's nice)
Longevity depends on the individual 2.9/5 maybe 20mins top notes, overall projection a few hours at most. This I find to be slightly less than with other higher grade EO products. Lets put it a different way, I swiped this and Yunus at the same time, its now been an hour, Yunus is still alive and noticeable, this one is on its way out. Perhaps its just me, but either way Yunus sticks for longer.
Price 2.5/5 At the time of launch this would absolutely be worth it. However with the emergence of new vendors who's comparable priced resale products are better, I couldn't advise you to buy this over them.
Marketing, couldn't find anything online about this other than what people wrote on Gaharu.
Conclusion, its not the best Hindi, but more importantly it was never meant to be either. So please factor that in when making your own judgement. On current resale prices, go for one with the other vendors or even with EO and buy one better. It might cost a bit more but its worth paying that bit extra.
All my reviews will be simple and in plain English, ill cover a few things off which i find relevant and hopefully will try not to waffle on too long. My reviews are primarily aimed at newbies and people not familiar with Oud so please bear that in mind.
Assam Organic is now in my hand, first impressions when I pull the dipstick out, yes its a Hindi. Nothing disguised there.
Now as I start analysing the notes, I am getting a very sharp almost tangy top note. Not one that I enjoy to be honest. Its hard to describe, its sharp / barn / coupled with perhaps smelling fresh treated wood. NOTE: This is not treated in the sense that the tree from which the Oud wood was taken was treated, treated as in curing timber smell.
Luckily these Top notes don't hang around too long. Beyond that its a very nice Heart note, its balanced, sweet, jam like (bit similar to Yunus but not as rich), by the way Manek I from Agarwood Assam also shares this Heart note, i'm pretty sure that Manek I is an Assam Oud too, so its no coincidence that 3 Assam Ouds of good quality share some similar attributes. For the sake of brevity AA Manek has different Top notes.
Not a lot more to say about this Oud, its good, feels nice on the skin, not overpowering, easy to wear (beyond the Top note). This is not a Top Tier Hindi Oud and to be honest it was never sold as such either, with a price tag of approximately $280 on launch, looking at the pricing structure of other EO products, I would say this sits in the lower categories.
In today's Market there are better Hindi's to be had. I'm not sure what the resale price for this would be, but its not one I would recommend going all out for. You can buy heavily discounted Agar Aura and Imperial Oud products for sub $300, and if this was going for $200-250, its worth paying the extra in my opinion and going for something which is marketed as a Top Tier Hindi.
Fragrance rating 3/5 (for me the Top notes are too sharp, but after that it's nice)
Longevity depends on the individual 2.9/5 maybe 20mins top notes, overall projection a few hours at most. This I find to be slightly less than with other higher grade EO products. Lets put it a different way, I swiped this and Yunus at the same time, its now been an hour, Yunus is still alive and noticeable, this one is on its way out. Perhaps its just me, but either way Yunus sticks for longer.
Price 2.5/5 At the time of launch this would absolutely be worth it. However with the emergence of new vendors who's comparable priced resale products are better, I couldn't advise you to buy this over them.
Marketing, couldn't find anything online about this other than what people wrote on Gaharu.
Conclusion, its not the best Hindi, but more importantly it was never meant to be either. So please factor that in when making your own judgement. On current resale prices, go for one with the other vendors or even with EO and buy one better. It might cost a bit more but its worth paying that bit extra.
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