Ask Tony Bolton about that for first hand info. He bought the oil in person and paid for the test.
Thanks. Will do. I wonder when he bought it.
Just for the record, I have smelled three types Thaqeel Oud from ASAQ that have been progressively ‘worse’. I had a sample of the original batch received in 2008 and probably purchased by the original owner around 2002/3 and used this sample to identify the last of the original batch in the ASAQ store in Madina, Saudi Arabia back in 2012 when I bought 2 tolas and practically cleaned them out.
At the time they told me that they had none in any other store in the Gulf and that this was the last batch of original Thaqeel. Time subsequently proved this to be the case, as I heard that they had some further batches of ‘original’ Thaqeel in Kuwait and Bahrain, but upon smelling a sample, I was sorely disappointed. This new ‘original’ batch smelled like 15% original Thaqeel mixed with 85% plantation Crassna Thai. I’ve heard that newer batches are basically just thick syrupy Thai Ouds, but haven’t smelled them. To me, this indicates that the business has simply stretched out the well known line of their Oud, but the product has no relation to the original.
This is probably to be expected as ASAQ cater to a mass market and have never claimed to be ‘Artisanal’ producers - to be honest, the very concept doesn’t exist over there. That’s not a criticism and it does not preclude these businesses having in the past, sold Oud of a superior quality to the ‘Artisanal Legends’ we know of in the West. However, for a consumer who prizes purity above all else, it’s definitely off putting.
If that Kalakhassi was purchased from outside a main Saudi Arabian store and purchased in the last 5 years, then it is most probably a later and diluted batch and the GCMS results are no surprise. Tony Bolton is relatively new to the Oud scene, otherwise he would have known better than to GCMS test an Oud purchased from a Gulf store.
All this does not make ASAQ untrustworthy as a business for the reasons stated above. It is however, very possible that ignorant and over zealous sales staff are to blame also. Caveat Emptor when dealing with them...