NikkoNikko

Oud Beginner
Gotcha, yeah that’s not what I’m picking up. The band aid thing is usually a synthetic leather or Oud note, but cough syrup does come up in fragrances too. The oil does smell very different from traditional notes I’m used to. It’s interesting to hear peoples interpretation.
 

NikkoNikko

Oud Beginner
Gotcha, yeah that’s not what I’m picking up. The band aid thing is usually a synthetic leather or Oud note, but cough syrup does come up in fragrances too. The oil does smell very different from traditional notes I’m used to. It’s interesting to hear peoples interpretation.
Gotcha, yeah that’s not what I’m picking up. The band aid thing is usually a synthetic leather or Oud note, but cough syrup does come up in fragrances too. The oil does smell very different from traditional notes I’m used to. It’s interesting to hear peoples interpretation.
I’m thinking it’s just my brain trying to understand the aged oil/deep jungle greens/strange menthol and overall just completely natural smells and over simplifying it. Trying to find common ground by associating it with something I’ve smelled before
 

James1

True Ouddict
Gotcha, yeah that’s not what I’m picking up. The band aid thing is usually a synthetic leather or Oud note, but cough syrup does come up in fragrances too. The oil does smell very different from traditional notes I’m used to. It’s interesting to hear peoples interpretation.
Yes, oud has the ability to create many scents that are not present anywhere else so trying to describe them can be very difficult.
 

Tosef

Oud Beginner
I don't think you are taking about the medicinal note. When I talk about a medicinal note I am thinking about something like the red cold medicine I would take as a child. I'm not sure what a bandaid smells like. I don't think medicine would smell anything like oil though. I don't think TWR has a medicinal note at all, but KK has it. I guess I could be wrong but that doesn't sound right to me.
That's the thing with describing smells/oils with these terms, everyone has a bit different understanding. Indeed quite often one can read about 'medicinal' when it comes to oud. When I use the term I'm also usually referring to a sort of herbal, band-aid smell. Not medicinal as in cough syrup (even tho, I've smelled oud with that note too). I do find that TWR and TW1990 (which I own and am more familiar with than TWR) both have a slight medicinal vibe to them in the opening stages.

Anyway, TW1990 is one of my favorite oils ever and certainly one of my favorite EO oils. While I enjoy EO's organic oils, I'd say one can find similar quality for even prices with other vendors. The wild oilds, legends and Oriscent oils are definitely EO's strong suit. Some of my favorites are Green Papua (just snatched one of the last bottles from the latest batch), Oud Mostafa, Oud Arafa, Oud Ebrahim, Hailam Kilam, Borneo 50K and the Tigerwood Royale and 1990.
 

James1

True Ouddict
That's the thing with describing smells/oils with these terms, everyone has a bit different understanding. Indeed quite often one can read about 'medicinal' when it comes to oud. When I use the term I'm also usually referring to a sort of herbal, band-aid smell. Not medicinal as in cough syrup (even tho, I've smelled oud with that note too). I do find that TWR and TW1990 (which I own and am more familiar with than TWR) both have a slight medicinal vibe to them in the opening stages.

Anyway, TW1990 is one of my favorite oils ever and certainly one of my favorite EO oils. While I enjoy EO's organic oils, I'd say one can find similar quality for even prices with other vendors. The wild oilds, legends and Oriscent oils are definitely EO's strong suit. Some of my favorites are Green Papua (just snatched one of the last bottles from the latest batch), Oud Mostafa, Oud Arafa, Oud Ebrahim, Hailam Kilam, Borneo 50K and the Tigerwood Royale and 1990.
A lot of people seem to disagree with me but whenever I try oud from other vendors its almost always disappointing compared to oud that I could get for a similar price from Ensar. You're right that his wild oils are his strong suit but even his organic oils seem to beat out the competition at every price point.

I agree about TW1990. I just purchased 3g of it a couple days ago TWR and Oud Ahmad are in the same vein and all of them are insanely good. I like to think that Ensar has a huge stash of unreleased 20 year old Malaysian oils or other old-style ouds that will slowly trickle out over time.
 

Tosef

Oud Beginner
A lot of people seem to disagree with me but whenever I try oud from other vendors its almost always disappointing compared to oud that I could get for a similar price from Ensar. You're right that his wild oils are his strong suit but even his organic oils seem to beat out the competition at every price point.

In general I agree. I started my oud journey about 10 years ago when I smelled it first time while living in Riyadh. In between then and now I've tried many random vendors (from shops in KL, Bangkok, Colombo) as well as stuff from Imperial Oud etc. and of course Agar Aura. EO came quite late in the journey, partly because I couldn't afford until two years ago. I love quite a few of AA's oils too and own Myitkyina 4K but my craving is more often for the EOs. For me it is also not only the very good quality of the oils but also the either very low shipping costs (10$) or most of the time even free shipping and the very smooth and fast process in general. I recently wanted to buy some FeelOud but I'm annoyed that I'd have to pay 45$ to get it shipped here, when spending already 100s of USD on the oils itself...
 

Tilt

Oud Fanatic
For me it is also not only the very good quality of the oils but also the either very low shipping costs (10$) or most of the time even free shipping and the very smooth and fast process in general. I recently wanted to buy some FeelOud but I'm annoyed that I'd have to pay 45$ to get it shipped here, when spending already 100s of USD on the oils itself...
Totally agree with you on the Feel Oud shipping costs. Though I’ve noticed they have a UK distributor now for those of us in Europe.
For quick turnaround and smooth transactions I wouldn’t look any further than one of the vendors here: Al Hashimi. Incredible service and amazing oils.
With all the talk of EO in this thread (which is cool, I own and enjoy some of their stuff), I thought I’d mention 3 oils from our resident vendors. Aljanah 3 from Habzoud, Pusong Qi from Jinkoh Store, and Saba Jinkoh from Al Hashimi. Imagine how much they would cost if they were oils from EO. Cheap shipping wouldn’t make up for that! Just my thoughts, could be wrong….
 

Al Shareef Oudh

Master Perfumer
Set yourself a spending limit, go spend that same amount with all the vendors on here and those not on here, then comeback and tell us which oils are better.

Please don't do any vendor the buckled treatment where you spend $700 on 3ml with one vendor and $300 on 3ml with another vendor then you compare them and say wow the vendor with $700 has better oils. It should be better it should be two times better, you spent double the amount. Please let that sink in...then continue your Oudh shopping.
 

Tosef

Oud Beginner
Set yourself a spending limit, go spend that same amount with all the vendors on here and those not on here, then comeback and tell us which oils are better.

Please don't do any vendor the buckled treatment where you spend $700 on 3ml with one vendor and $300 on 3ml with another vendor then you compare them and say wow the vendor with $700 has better oils. It should be better it should be two times better, you spent double the amount. Please let that sink in...then continue your Oudh shopping.

I don't know if anyone here would approach oils like you depict: pay double and expect twice the quality. I certainly wouldn't...
 

DubOudh

Aster Oudh
I have quite a number of Ensar's oils.
However, until I discovered this forum...I really didn't think there were as many artisanal producers out there. All the vendors on here or most of them, I have tried their oils.
Most are comparable and in many respects better quality to price ratio then the afir mentioned vendor.
Finding this forum should be a gateway to the quite large group of distillers out there.
Ensar will most probably be most people's first buy because he has spent time advertising himself. But many here produce beautiful oils, no question.
 

Josephdavid

Oud Fan
I have quite a number of Ensar's oils.
However, until I discovered this forum...I really didn't think there were as many artisanal producers out there. All the vendors on here or most of them, I have tried their oils.
Most are comparable and in many respects better quality to price ratio then the afir mentioned vendor.
Finding this forum should be a gateway to the quite large group of distillers out there.
Ensar will most probably be most people's first buy because he has spent time advertising himself. But many here produce beautiful oils, no question.
Can you recommend which vendors you would say are better in quality to price ratio?
I could use a good quality to price ratio 🙂
 

DubOudh

Aster Oudh
If you go to the vendors forums and check through the posts from people on here who have bought.....they will give a very good indication as to what can be perceived as fair value. But like me, you have to research for yourself. Recommendations are just a point of view and value ratios mean nothing to someone where money is irrelevant.
If money is tight...you are unfortunate to have gotten attracted to something by its very production is going to be expensive.
eBay does a lot of low value stuff that is not what it says is it.
But it is extremely difficult to avoid expense on this hobby.
 

Josephdavid

Oud Fan
Most are comparable and in many respects better quality to price ratio then the afir mentioned vendor.
Thank you for the insights…yes, it is a little unfortunate to be attracted to something that is in its nature and expensive hobby 🙂, but I still feel fortunate that I am able to experience these wonderful fragrances in the capacity that I am able!

I am somewhat new (less than a year) and I was intrigued by your statement on this post (quoted), as you mentioned, it would be subjective according to the spending freedom of the individual, but I was thinking I’d be able to still glean bits and pieces of your or anyone else’s experience in purchasing Oud oils from the different vendors that can be useful for me. I do a lot of research on my own also.

I am trying to get as much useful information from this forum as I possibly can from it’s members, most of whom probably have a lot more experience than I do, because after all, it is an expensive hobby and with high expenses it’s best to make wise purchases. This info I combine with my own research to make the best decisions on what to purchase.

Yes, eBay has a lot of lower priced items, and I, like you, believe it is not what it says it is.
Still interested in the opinions of others on this subject though..
 

James1

True Ouddict
I mentioned 3 oils in my post as examples
I'm going to try a couple of those soon actually so hopefully you're right. The thing is I'm sure that there are great value oils but Ensar has been consistently good value for money ime. I have bought many of his oils and only a couple have ever been disappointing. One of them is Hailam Kilam and other people seem to love it so I think that's just a preference thing.

Even if Sabah jinkoh is better value than ensars oils, I have tried a few of his other oils and none of them were as good as the oils I could get from Ensar for the same price. I feel I get more value from Ensar compared to other vendors because I don't need to buy ten oils to find one I really like, pretty much every oil is great.
 

Tilt

Oud Fanatic
I'm going to try a couple of those soon actually so hopefully you're right. The thing is I'm sure that there are great value oils but Ensar has been consistently good value for money ime. I have bought many of his oils and only a couple have ever been disappointing. One of them is Hailam Kilam and other people seem to love it so I think that's just a preference thing.

Even if Sabah jinkoh is better value than ensars oils, I have tried a few of his other oils and none of them were as good as the oils I could get from Ensar for the same price. I feel I get more value from Ensar compared to other vendors because I don't need to buy ten oils to find one I really like, pretty much every oil is great.
You’re lucky you’ve found a vendor whose oils so closely match your taste. Makes life easy for you! Just remember to keep your mind and nose open to the whole world of oud out there.
 

Rezwan

Kōdō Aesthetic
I'm going to try a couple of those soon actually so hopefully you're right. The thing is I'm sure that there are great value oils but Ensar has been consistently good value for money ime. I have bought many of his oils and only a couple have ever been disappointing. One of them is Hailam Kilam and other people seem to love it so I think that's just a preference thing.

Even if Sabah jinkoh is better value than ensars oils, I have tried a few of his other oils and none of them were as good as the oils I could get from Ensar for the same price. I feel I get more value from Ensar compared to other vendors because I don't need to buy ten oils to find one I really like, pretty much every oil is great.
Yeah I agree that Ensar has beautiful ouds, he does have legendary stuff. I have tried Habzoud from here and it was a beautiful experience as well. But yeah pretty much most of the ouds I have are from Ensar, because I do trust his nose and quality for distilling or finding the gems he introduces to us. I find that when I order from Ensar I can be rest assured that I'm getting a quality product be it his organic ouds, wild ouds, and of course his Oriscent collection holds a place of their own.
 

Rezwan

Kōdō Aesthetic
Yeah I agree that Ensar has beautiful ouds, he does have legendary stuff. I have tried Habzoud from here and it was a beautiful experience as well. But yeah pretty much most of the ouds I have are from Ensar, because I do trust his nose and quality for distilling or finding the gems he introduces to us. I find that when I order from Ensar I can be rest assured that I'm getting a quality product be it his organic ouds, wild ouds, and of course his Oriscent collection holds a place of their own.
Also tried Agar Aura oud, not that many, but what I found about it was Agar Aura ouds don't feel dense like Ensar Oud but they do punch hard in a crystal clear way. You feel the depth and elegance of them in a very refined manner with its crystal clean characteristics. Very beautiful in their own way!
 
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