Moe Ab

Oud Beginner
With all the Oils that I have tried (although agreed, they are not many) i always get this Metallic Skin note in the end.

Have you ever experienced this?

Does this mean anything? Is it a mark/sign of genuine or quality of Oud Oils?

Personally I dont enjoy this smell at all.

Could it be that my olfactory perception is corrupted with too much smoking o_O

Your thoughts ?
 

zeedubbya

True Ouddict
Maybe some of the artisans will jump in and comment on this, but I think you’re smelling the “still notes” from the distillation of the oil. From what I understand (and this is new info to me as well), sometimes these notes will age out of the oil, but sometimes it’s just a poor distillation. Sometimes it’s just going to be there in an oil. @EJayB @AbasFrag @Habz786 ? Any input on this?
 

TDK

Oud Fanatic
This has been very prominent in some of the newly distilled oils I have sampled. It seems to fade in 6 mos and be gone in about a year. The couple of distillers I know confirmed that it is because it is 'fresh'. Just put in the back of your storage area and come back to it in a year or so.
 

Moe Ab

Oud Beginner
Every distiller has there own signature. I know one distiller who makes beautiful oils except they all have this metel after smell....

Which brings back to my original question. Should we associate having a metal smell with a geniuine or/and High quality product . Your take?
 
Which brings back to my original question. Should we associate having a metal smell with a geniuine or/and High quality product . Your take?
I wonder if the Metallic note is inherent to very low temperature hydro distillation, and or the techniques employed to release more of the good stuff that is locked inside the cellular structures of the wood. Taha of Agar Aura always mentioned such a technique, but never divulged the details.
 

F4R1d0uX

Resident Artisan
I wonder if the Metallic note is inherent to very low temperature hydro distillation, and or the techniques employed to release more of the good stuff that is locked inside the cellular structures of the wood. Taha of Agar Aura always mentioned such a technique, but never divulged the details.

you're getting hot buddy ! It4s also true with steam, smell is just different than hydro :Thumbsup:
 

Andrew Salkin

it's aboud time!
Staff member
you're getting hot buddy ! It4s also true with steam, smell is just different than hydro :Thumbsup:

I've heard and think I've smelled the differences between copper and steel hydro distillations - copper seems to be more rounded and deep vs steel which seems more clean and ringy. I'd say if you want to explore it to grab one of those sample sets from ASO. On the listing they detail each of the different setups for distillation so it could be interesting to blind smell them in some way to see if you are able to guess them right. That would actually be kinda fun.

Side note - we should totally do a sommelier contest for oud. Send some of the pros here some random samples with numbers and keep a key for them hidden - see who can guess region and distillation setup!?

I couldn't but curious who here thinks they'd be able to knock something like that out of the park. Hand raise if you think you'd get 80% or more correct on a set of 10 oils?
 

Rai Munir

Musk Man
A couple of years before, the expression 'copper distilled' appeared in description of certain Oud oils and Sandal oils. Since then, metallic note is there in oils. With the passage of time, some secrets got unveiled by respected distillers here and there about tweaks and techniques. A very prominent metallic copper-y note I smelt in a copper distilled Ceylon oil, which is innately somewhat pungent and bitter, in my opinion. But as the time elapsed, that fresh copper toned down and Walla Pattian pungency is there to hail. I can't agree more what respected TDK has said. Metallic note is an auxiliary note in oil, superimposed and injected. Not bad at all. But it doesn't seem inherent to Oudwood. Sandal distilled in a copper pot smells copper even after two years. This is an inference, the reality is with the masters, esp the Taiwanese.
 
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