Oud of the Day

R

Rasoul Salehi

True Ouddict
Al Shareef Oudh said:
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.
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amazing. it truly confirms what i have sensed and felt all along. malaysia is a very special place for agarwood and nearly impossible to "know". i have read dr rozi mohamad's book ont he subject matter. a couple of times actually. and as taha would also confirm, to truly name an oil after a subspecies one needs to be there in person and see the leaves, fruit, shape, size of tree, etc. and of course the source of infection is of equal importance.

side question: have you witnessed or come across agarwood formed asa result of lightning strike? supposedly there is a highly unique and discernable note to agarwood formed as a result.

while i have you here, in 24 hours i should hoepfully get to have my first swipe of: Al Malek Al Maliyzi. stoked to meet the legend.
 
Sproaty

Sproaty

Sproudy
Staff member
Agarwood Assam - Lushai Hills. sublime
Royal Bengal Oud - Smokey Sri Lankan, very very smokey. Not so bad in small dosage, but a big swipe knocks you for 6.
Agar Aura - Koo. kinda sweet, kinda subtle but oh so heavenly
Al Hashimi - Kanz. A strange one, I almost struggle to pick up the scent. I mean, there's something there but I can't put my finger on it
 
R

Rasoul Salehi

True Ouddict
PEARL said:
@Rasoul Salehi there's no doubt that comparative analysis of oils and wood as you've done is a way forward.

I haven't bought wood in while due to having a hefty stockpile, but I'm unfamiliar with sellers stating species, IME it's usually just region. About wine grapes, a specific varietal grown in California will display different flavor characteristics as that same varietal grown in France. Something in wine, and also tea, known as terroir, which can be just as influential as varietal on the grapes characteristics.

A few things, are vendors selling wood stating species now, and if so how do they definitively know, did they hunt and fell the trees? Or are some assuming species based on region or scent profile?
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"A few things, are vendors selling wood stating species now, and if so how do they definitively know, did they hunt and fell the trees? Or are some assuming species based on region or scent profile?"

most important question. i bet is both but mostly the latter. in case of taha and adam we know more and we know better. in case of ensar i like to think with him and his team being on the ground and traveling like crazy and seeing it all, based on location and even look feel shape of wood they can tell a hell of a lot more than most. but we wont know 100% for sure. i am fine with high probability and not being 100% definitive. for my purposes its good enough. for no at least :)
 
R

Rasoul Salehi

True Ouddict
PEARL said:
Ensar Oud~Chugoku Senkoh, Hindi/Chinese go together like shrimps and barbies.
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along hindustan 1 my most favorite subtle barn, intrinsic barn oil to date. just terrific. chugoku naya is very pretty, but senkoh version is profound.
 
R

Rasoul Salehi

True Ouddict
sultan sulayman last night
wow wow wow. a knock out oil. head to toe dressed in pure beauty and excitement. so much oomph. mind altering. consciousness altering oud of tremendous magical powers. this is not oud. is not of this world. those who have tried purple kinam or sultan mustafa or ahmet would know what i mean. i feel those qualities are dialed up here and while it doesn't have the depth of ahmet, it makes up for it with a stunning openingvisual performance.

best part, woke up in the morning and more than traces of it was still discernable. long lasting oud.
 
R

Rasoul Salehi

True Ouddict
OudGood said:
I personally dont love this dusty note. The funny thing is it generally appears during the drydown. Its nowhere to be found when you apply.
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usually, not always, steam distilled oils have this quality. even the mighty b50k or surirankah senkoh or IO adh2. it used to really bother me. now it doesnt. but i dont exactly love it either. what i do is when the top and heart notes are all gone and the note is coming on, i swipe a similar oil over it to mask it and prolong the joyride.

i will, however, take this dusty note over the peanut oil note present in many chiense oils even some of the best of them that truly have grand openings and complex evolution: china sayang for example. or the soapy note in many cambodi.
 
OudGood

OudGood

True Ouddict
Rasoul Salehi said:
usually, not always, steam distilled oils have this quality. even the mighty b50k or surirankah senkoh or IO adh2. it used to really bother me. now it doesnt. but i dont exactly love it either. what i do is when the top and heart notes are all gone and the note is coming on, i swipe a similar oil over it to mask it and prolong the joyride.

i will, however, take this dusty note over the peanut oil note present in many chiense oils even some of the best of them that truly have grand openings and complex evolution: china sayang for example. or the soapy note in many cambodi.
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Very good idea. I'll try it :)
 
OudGood

OudGood

True Ouddict
Oudamberlove said:
A gOud friend sent me some samples today.

So I went Crazy:confused: and swiped many oils.

Sylhet Supreme, Nagaland Imperial, Midori Qi, Taigo Senkoh, Laos Classic, and Zazen.

Also sniffed some off the stick:
Old School Kinam, Habz aged Borneo, and Sinensis 3

I’m in Oud Heaven:rolleyes::Geek:o_O:X3::Whistling:
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Do you still remember how the Old School Kinam smelled like? Was it good? :)
 
Oudamberlove

Oudamberlove

Member
OudGood said:
Do you still remember how the Old School Kinam smelled like? Was it good? :)
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I don’t have a detailed recollection of Old School Kinam other that Resin, Incense, and a little smoke. Nothing over the top like florals or fruits. It was very good though, wish I had a bottle.
I was binging that day with many oils, so I wasn’t able to observe the entire scent progression of OSK, I guess I missed the “kinam” part.
 
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