Sultan Series Adios!

Martin

Active Member
#1
Was surprised to hear the entire Sultan Series is being discontinued. Is this suggesting to not expect oud oil distillations beyond market or introductory grade level across the board in the future? I love the Sultan Series oils I have. The Sultan and Oriscent oils are the ones I like the most from EO.
 

Rasoul S

Well-Known Member
#2
tragedy for all oud lovers but also for ensar team no doubt. i dont want to speculate as to why. i like to think partially it has to do with base cost have gone up so much coupled with rarity and difficulty of sourcing that new distillation woudl push the price further up what it already is. as is, these are oils for very few select individuals. a shame. sultan oils are the cats meow, the nees knees, the shiznit as kids call it these days. some of the most profound oils i have ever smelled.

wish our dollar was better, our biz environment was like few years ago and i had savings to spring up and buy a bottle each for safekeeping :(
 
#3
Is this suggesting to not expect oud oil distillations beyond market or introductory grade level across the board in the future? I love the Sultan Series oils I have. The Sultan and Oriscent oils are the ones I like the most from EO.
That is how I understand it and I hope it is not a marketing trick (I have bought oils when a 'final bottle sold', only to see them appear again). I don't see Mostafa VII listed anymore (neither for sale nor as a legend). I bought Sultan Salahuddin when I got the email, as I loved it a lot when I tested it, even though I shouldn't have at this moment. It is my way of saying thank you to Ensar and his team. The other sultan oils are unfortunately beyond reach for me but I would love to hear how you find them. These are all high quality oils but perhaps the market is indeed too small.
 

Martin

Active Member
#4
That is how I understand it and I hope it is not a marketing trick (I have bought oils when a 'final bottle sold', only to see them appear again). I don't see Mostafa VII listed anymore (neither for sale nor as a legend). I bought Sultan Salahuddin when I got the email, as I loved it a lot when I tested it, even though I shouldn't have at this moment. It is my way of saying thank you to Ensar and his team. The other sultan oils are unfortunately beyond reach for me but I would love to hear how you find them. These are all high quality oils but perhaps the market is indeed too small.
I have to say I do not view this as a marketing maneuver whatsoever. I see it more or less as a sad reality check on the state of acquiring woods worthy of the Sultan moniker. I think Ensar has held some reserves of previous oils for personal stash and to entice and appease higher spending customers. Though it might be unpopular Ensar does it because it helps with survival in an otherwise difficult business.

I’m pleased to own Sultan Salahuddin and I hope you’re happy to have it. An excellent intro level Sultan oil. Sultan Suleyman is simply outstanding IMO and Sultan Mustafa is not far behind it in terms of grade and quality level. I’d encourage anyone to get at least a little bit of Suleyman before it’s gone. I’m sorry I missed out on some other earlier Sultan oils but I can be on the lookout for second hand bottles down the road.
I love all of the Oriscent oils I have, the most recent being Pinoy Ltd. I’m hoping we will continue to see new offerings in this line from EO and possibly some other compelling wild oils. I’m just not a big fan of farmed wood oils or the low dollar market level “People’s” type oils (I’ve become somewhat of an Oud snob already! Lol.)
I hope Ensar, Thomas Kruger and Adam Coburn can comment here. I’d like to know what sort of mid to higher quality offerings are in the pipeline for 2019?
 

Ensar Oud

Well-Known Member
#5
Regarding marketing tricks... I've said it over and over again that there's a difference between "merchandise" and collectible works of art (you can follow me on Instagram @ensar.bey for a visual illustration of what I mean). Stuff that's made to sell is "merchandise" that's got to move. Things that are created in order to achieve a dream or inner vision that doesn't allow one to sleep at night... it means very little if they "sell" or don't. Ensar Oud the company and Ensar Oud the man are different entities. What EO the man owns in terms of oils is separate to that which is the property of Oriscent LLC (i.e. Ensar Oud the company, a.k.a. ensaroud.com). Something may sell out on Ensar Oud while my personal stash remains untouched and vice versa (although admittedly this hasn't happened as of yet).

What I consider to be marketing "tricks" is the kind of things that inundate the so-called "artisanal" oud market. It is that which happens when works of mass production or routine manufacture don the clothes of someone's artistic vision and ride the waves of its fame (i.e. by cashing in on it). Things like Nha Trang Royale, Nha Trang Exclusive, Nha Trang Imperiale, Nha Trang Supreme, Nha Trang BS that stalk the trail of unsellables like Nha Trang LTD.

When someone buys a bottle of Nha Trang LTD, I make a profit. When they don't buy a bottle of Nha Trang LTD, I make an even greater profit. That's the difference between a work of art and a "fast oud" marketing pastiche that aims to plagiarize and milk.

Now on to the Sultan Series. The reason behind its discontinuation is not the lack of raw materials as much as the end of an era. I'd mentioned on a different thread that the aesthetic behind it is inextricably connected to the aquatic profile of New Guinea gyrinops, whether single origin or co-distill. All of the oils were done in a span of a few years, following the same artistic inspiration. After completing the series I moved on to a different aesthetic (which remains for the most part undisclosed, with very few teasers introduced to the online oud community). After the last couple of vials of Sultans Salahuddin, Süleyman and Mustafa are gone, the Sultan Series will share the fate of every genuine artistic endeavor that ever burned in the heart of man. I.e. they will not be reproduced again or replicated (save by perhaps reproducers and replicators). The genuine material will only go up in value while the knockoffs perish into oblivion.

If you're shocked by my words, thank Bünyamin Usta whose company I've been keeping the past few days in Erzurum. We're busy crafting the most expensive tasbihs in the history of tasbih, and he and I share the same grievances from copycats, bootleggers and blatant ripoffs. He recently posted something that turned the Turkish misbaha world upside down on Instagram, and as a tip-off of my hat to him, I guess you had to read all of the above.

To get a glimpse of our vintage Cambodian tasbih, you can check out my Facebook or Instagram pages (@ensar.oud & @ensar.bey).

Full disclosure: Sultan Beyazit, which has never been officially released, remains in my personal collection. All of the other New Guinea Sultans are sold out and neither EO the company nor I own as much as a single drop of any of them, apart from what's currently listed on the site.
 

~A Coburn

Well-Known Member
#8
The Sultan and Oriscent oils are the ones I like the most from EO.
I was recently discussing the Adieu to the Sultan Series with a friend because believe it or not, it took me by surprise. I'm the kind of person that takes time to absorb what just happened, and as the last drops of Sultan Mustafa were poured, then Süleyman, and ultimately even Bëyazit... I just kind of stared in blank wonder, like getting on an airplane for the trip of your life, and not really believing that it's actually happening...

Upon reflecting I realize, many years from now (God willing) I'll look back on these days as the height of artisanal oud, the Sultan Series was artisanal oud from every respect at it's finest, and to me laid the foundation and set the standard for artisanal distillations, and to think only some are fortunate to have even experienced any Sultan...

I look back at the Series now as iconic of artisanal oud.

After completing the series I moved on to a different aesthetic (which remains for the most part undisclosed, with very few teasers introduced to the online oud community).
As the cannons fire to commemorate the Sultans of the years past, hope arises with these words, and I look forward to experiencing this 'different aesthetic.'