It has been a while since I posted in this thread as I have been busy with our projects. I was going through some old literature and came across a couple of interesting things regarding distillation which is forgotten as distiller get so engrossed in the tasks and forget the spiritual side of this art.
One of the reasons some of us get so passionate about oudh is because of the significance it holds in our cultures. For example as Muslims oudh is something that we know from Islamic text, the Prophet PBUH used to burn it either by itself or mixed with Camphor. Our predecessors in this art used to have this close at heart when they dealt with oudh, knowing that what they craft is from the wood that was significant to the Beloved PBUH.
At the core of traditional distillation is simplicity, learning from our surroundings and keeping close to nature. When we distilled QANDAHAAR, we wrote the following explaining some of the assembly;
Back in the day one of the key styles of distillations that took place in the subcontinent was where a hammer-beaten copper pot (Degh) would be assembled in the middle of the fields with mud tanks erected next to them and tents to provide shade. The mud tank would be filled with water (this was the cooling tank) that was running through the fields. What was interesting was how these cooling tanks functioned.
The degh would be assembled on higher ground in the Sun connected to the cooling tank with bamboo and copper plumbing that were joint together with dough, mud and string. The degh would be buried in a mud pile, with wood fire and the heat of the sun aiding the distillation process. The steam pipe would run from the top of the degh through the cooling tank and into a collecting vessel that was made from baked clay -the hydrosol would be collected in this clay vessel and it would be large enough to take the full volume of the cooking deghs’ water. This meant that the deghs were loaded and sealed once - and when the water finished that was the end of the run. The hydrosol would then be left overnight allowing all of the precious oils to rise to the top ready for collection in the coolness of the early morning.
Key components, mud/clay, sun, water, wood (for the fire, the bio matter, and plumbing) these natural simple assemblies produced the crowns in oudh legacy unparalleled until today. In that there is lesson for those who reflect.