Sofmusc

Oud Beginner
I’ve never been really crazy about musk in sandalwood oil, especially santalum album. Sandalwood is like a big heavy blanket - in my experiments it kind of damped down all the intriguing and scintillating notes in the musk. I can’t understand why people extract musk in sandalwood - it seems to bring out the worst of both. Maybe my ratios are off? Strangely, I find santalum spicatum layered with musk to be more appealing.

where can we have this santalum album ?
thank you
 

Mr.P

oud<3er
It’s funny because I find musk shines when layered with the right oud. The bright notes that are muffled by sandalwood are boosted by this one Kalimantan oud I have. Kind of unpredictable!
 

Philip

Oud Fan
I’ve never been really crazy about musk in sandalwood oil
Me neither.
The one and only exception is @RisingPhoenix Mongolian Fried (private, not listed), which is of exceptional quality.

Or maybe an odorless oil would be better
The myriad sources I have consulted have unanimously cautioned against this, as these oils invariably start breaking down from the moment they are pressed and eventually go rancid. They are not suited for long term macerating and storing. It's not what I want to hear at all because I still want to macerate my musk in a neutral oil. If anyone has any first hand experience specifically with this, please do chime in.
 

IM_AU

Oud Fan
Musk role is like fixative, it beautifies to what it touch and extend the oil performance and brings together the whole fragrance onto another level. This is at least how I understood it... if this understanding is correct then it makes complete sense to macerate musk in high quality oud oils to bring forward the quality experience.
 

Fahad

True Ouddict
Musk role is like fixative, it beautifies to what it touch and extend the oil performance and brings together the whole fragrance onto another level. This is at least how I understood it... if this understanding is correct then it makes complete sense to macerate musk in high quality oud oils to bring forward the quality experience.

Absolutely!! Musk and sandalwood by itself might appeal to certain tastes but the real magic manifests when combined with other oils e.g. rose, oud.

image1 (3).jpeg

Raw musk grains from Brother Ulugbeg Abdumominov

IO Mysuru.jpeg

Pristine clear IO mysuru about to get muddied

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Paste 2.jpeg

Resulting paste

Week.jpeg

A week later
 

Fahad

True Ouddict
Wonder if sandalwood has a saturation point whereby after maceration the musk notes cease to intensify. If not then maybe it's a good idea to replace the grains with a fresh batch every few months : )
 
Wonder if sandalwood has a saturation point whereby after maceration the musk notes cease to intensify. If not then maybe it's a good idea to replace the grains with a fresh batch every few months : )
Wow! Replacing the grains with fresh grains may result in a powerful maceration, I never thought of that:thumbsup:
 
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Mr.P

oud<3er
You could then re-extract the first batch of grains you remove in fresh sandalwood oil, repeat for each additional “charge” of grains in the original oil... keep moving the extracted grains from the repeatedly infused oil into less infused oils back down the line...
 

Joe King

AttitOud
I am wondering if anyone can explain the green colour of my musk maceration?
It is Siberian musk from ninjarob in feel ouds santal 100k (I have some in moringa oil and its the same colour).
Second picture is for reference, its Kashmir musk in mysore.
 

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Fahad

True Ouddict
You could then re-extract the first batch of grains you remove in fresh sandalwood oil, repeat for each additional “charge” of grains in the original oil... keep moving the extracted grains from the repeatedly infused oil into less infused oils back down the line...

Brilliant Mr. P..Now the musk market awaits a new generation of macerations suffixed by the letter X followed by a digit.. Each soak being 6 months long it would be easy for discerning customers and musk maniacs alike to know how long their precious procurements have been soaked with the increasing intensity from longer soak periods justifying the price hikes.

Also included in the labelling would be a code... A series of letters, numbers indicating the origin of the grains used. So Musk X 6 K3S2T1 would tell me the oil's been macerating for 3 years, first 3 soaks in kashmiri, then two siberians and one tibetan.

As in the organic market some clever musk marketing messages might also crop up e.g '.... Mysore Mother / Wet Grains...Mother indicating first oil in the soak line... or 'Baby Vanuatu semi dry' signifying an inferior grade soaked in a used charge of grains catering to a larger market base.

So what would be a resonable price for M X 20 KSTMC20 (Mysore Mother Wet Grains)???

I am wondering if anyone can explain the green colour of my musk maceration?
It is Siberian musk from ninjarob in feel ouds santal 100k (I have some in moringa oil and its the same colour).
Second picture is for reference, its Kashmir musk in mysore.

Green being the color of envy I would posit the Siberian is seething with envy towards it's kashmiri compeer!
; )

Seriously though the only variable I see is the musk...Now what looks green in color... I shudder to think further knowing where the musk pod lies ; )
 
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Rai Munir

Musk Man
Absolutely!! Musk and sandalwood by itself might appeal to certain tastes but the real magic manifests when combined with other oils e.g. rose, oud.

No doubt, dear and respected Fahad. Last year I posted about having Musk grains from five different regions mixed. As usual I didn't grind them, but mixed them well and let the time play its vital part. No oil at all. Just semi wet Kashmiri, and Centeral Asian Musk grains, and fully dried Tibetan, Mongolian and Siberian Musk grains. I opened the jar before posting it, and the divine scented fumes were a concrete reality.
Tibetan Kashmiri Mongolian Siberian C.S Musk.jpg


Well, I think Musk grains never stop infusing their strength into Santal oil. Even as the time elapses, the maceration turns viscous a bit. Then, a dot is enough. I really mean it, A DOT. This Kashmiri Musk Mysore Santal Jasmine Sambac maceration is that much strong its tiny dot is more than enough. Now it's summer here, after this season, it will be the strongest one I have.
Kashmiri Musk Santal Jasmine.jpg


Now the Central Asian Musk grains I acquired from Ulugbek last year. I had in my mind the grains would smell Siberian scent. But, No. The scent is a mixture of august Kashmiri Musk and romantic Siberian Musk. Grains don't smell that strong to me, but in maceration, the scent is outstanding.
Ulugbek Musk Santal.jpg


One can see the quantity of Musk and Santal. Even then, different Musk grain Jar is breath-taking.

Next time, I will share findings about Rose and Musk Santal maceration. I fully acted upon your words regarding Ward Taif and Musk. Thanks a lot, Sir.
 
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Fahad

True Ouddict
Grains don't smell that strong to me, but in maceration, the scent is outstanding.

Next time, I will share findings about Rose and Musk Santal maceration. I fully acted upon your words regarding Ward Taif and Musk. Thanks a lot, Sir.

Dear brother Rai Munir, agree the grains from Ulugbek don't smell as strong but the maceration scent is lovely!

Eagerly awaiting your findings from Rose and Musk Santal macerations : )
 

Joyoud

Oud Fan
Hello everybody,
I am wondering what the cause of this and if there is anybody experienced the same please let’s talk about it:
3 years ago I macerated exactly the same amount of (the same grains-Siberian Musk) in two bottles,
The bottle with the blue cap is 1.2 grams in 5 grams Mysore Sandalwood oil (from a friend) and look at the level of the grains now !!!
The colour and the aroma ohhh my God it’s stunning,so beautiful and powerful and lovely.
WHILE the silver cap bottle is 1.2 grams of exactly the same grains in 5 grams (supposed to be Mysore Sandalwood oil from a well known vendor)
And please look at the grains level !!! It’s look less than half of the first bottle BUT this is not the problem ,
The smell is horrible , it’s like burning rubber or something like that, now I am not an expert with maceration but I think the smell part is due to the bad quality of the Sandalwood oil (I think) but why the grains look like half when it’s exactly the same amount !?
4F59ABB3-C03A-46CE-B7EF-6D0627304E31.jpeg


Now last week I macerated new 2 bottles;
This time 0.5 gram in each 3.5 grams of Sandalwood oil, again the Sandalwood oils are from deferent vendors and again it’s happening again!!!
Please have a look at the following photo ;
B4AF32FB-3733-407A-8C67-8C5E94C44BFF.jpeg


The grains in the right bottle looks like double the amount of the bottle in the left ! But both have exactly 0.5 gram and that’s not everything,
(I know it’s too early now) but I can smell the musk already from the right bottle but nothing from the left !
Am I going to have the same ugly smell from the left bottle !? I don’t know yet
Any explanation please about the appearance of the musk grains and if that an indication of bad oil!?
Let’s share thoughts.
Thank you very much.
J.
 

Mr.P

oud<3er
Weird... I notice the bottle with a lower level of grains has a bunch stuck to the top and presumably in the neck of the bottle as well - wonder how much? Probably not enough to explain the difference though.

without checking out your sandalwood oil it’s hard to say what happened here but maybe one of the sandalwoods is adulterated with something that easily dissolved musk grains? Weird...
 

Rai Munir

Musk Man
Well, dear Joyoud, decant a bit from the rubbery maceration into a sample vial. After three days, assess the scent both on applicator and on wrist.

There is possibility the quantity that has occupied less space, the grains might be ground and crushed. While the other one had raw, immaculate, uncrushed grains.

No doubt, this is Sandal that determines the final scent, in my opinion. But the quality of grains is equally important. Scent drained grains or adulterated or low grade (but pure) sandal MAY cause unwanted results.

Sometimes heating does so. Heating maceration needs vigilance. If neglected, rubber will be there.

Sometimes, wet grains with a pungent amonia smell damages the maceration. Semi wet grains are to be preferred.

Last, there were skin pieces in the grains. Most probably this is the case with that rubber like smell.

Am I going to have the same ugly smell from the left bottle !? I don’t know yet
Any explanation please about the appearance of the musk grains and if that an indication of bad oil!?
If you inspected both oil and grains well, it won't get corrupt.

Well, it is not an indication of bad oil at all. Especially, when you yourself smelt and tried the oil.

Bone dry grains, not chunks like, are fine and tinniest particles. So their volume appears less in the bottle. Tibetan Musk from JK is extremely fine. Its half gram in the bottle seems only 0.2 grams of the Tibetan Musk I acquired from some other source. Both were macerated in the same Santal oil.

So, don't worry. Everything will go well.

Cheers
 
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Arsalan

True Ouddict
@Joyoud variation in bottles could play some part as well...in the first pic the bottles are different, thickness of glass can play tricks. in the second pic, although both from ASQ (visit their store on Yonge St? ;)), the shape of the bottom is different.
Contamination of bottles & applicator could potentially play a part...
Lastly, in my experience, when measuring small quantities on my Amazon bought scale that measures down to 0.01gr, i normally re-check at least 3 times to make sure the reading is consistent, when precision is required.
 

Joyoud

Oud Fan
Thank you very much for your input all,
I am not worried about the level or the appearance of the musk grains it’s just bothering that I don’t know why.
But yes I agree it could be anything from the above .
Thanks again brothers and let’s wait and see.
J.
 

Joyoud

Oud Fan
I would like to share this one with everyone and I don’t know if there’s any bad side in it or let me say :
If it will effect the process in a bad way or not ? But I tried it 3 years ago (my first experience with maceration Musk grains in Sandalwood oil) and for the one great bottle (Above) the result is very satisfying.
Again I am not an expert at all and I am just learning, now since we have to grind the musk grains then mix it with the oil and we have to shake it frequently; I thought to throw the musk grains as is in the bottle then add the oil on top then use blender to blend it together at very high speed (35000 RPM) !!!
Crazy isn’t it ?!
Yes I did that first time then every two weeks I do it once.
By the way there’s no high heat produced by doing that because I let it blend only for maybe 45 seconds the most and there’s no oil or grains lost because after I finish blending I lift the bit higher than the oil level and run it for 3 seconds only and the Centrifugal force will do the job and the bit coming out completely dry.
Last week I macerated 3 Ambergris bottles ,at first the Ambergris didn’t mixed but one run in the blender and that’s it....totally gone.
Have a look at the photos and what do you think (specially experts)
Thank you for reading .
J.
 
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