Best Oud Wood you have ever burn

#1
I have been reading a lot about Agarwood, diferent species diferent smells. Cambodi, Hindi, Indian,Indonesian...sweet, spicy, honney, caramel, funky, soft etc, etc.
I had myself the oportunity to smell diferents Oud woods and the results were amazing.
What is the best you have ever burn? and How it was? could you describe the smell, or at least give us and idea?


:cool:keep burning!!!!!
 
#3
Chips from Ensar...I wonder how they could smeel! There's a few days there's not wood in his website, but it is said a new stuff is comming. That wood you get from Ensar, was very expensive?
By the way do you use to buy agarwood fom agarscentbazzar? is it a trustable site?
I got a friend who recently buy some Indian Assam from oudimentary, they served him very well; the chips have an amazing smell, deep and sweet. However it was expensive to my opinion, and i am talking of 8 $ gr., so i do not want to imagine how much should cost the ones from Ensar.:eek:
 
#4
The best wood I've ever burned is Brunei Imperial from Ensar.
I'm not good at notes, but it smells syrupy sweet, slightly floral, green but "damp", spicy and with the intoxicating "agarwood aroma" (you know what I mean?) being the most potent and refined of any other wood I've tried.
The second place goes to...Brunei Exquisite, again by Ensar, similar in many ways to the Imperial, and this was my favorite before I tried Brunei Imperial.
The third is something of a cheat as it's not pure oud, but Souk'ed Agarwood by Ross Urerre, "sweet type" oud chips from Shunkohdo soaked in musk and ambergris tinctures, really relaxing and comforting.

alcadya: 8$/gram is very cheap, isn't it? I've never tried anything from Oudimentary yet, so I don't know about the quality.
If you want good and cheap wood, maybe you could try Emperors Agarwood from Scented Mountain 4.64$ per gram if you buy the 25gram bag.
It's cultivated, but it's very nice, sweet and mellow.
They come in thin strips with a handsome amount of resin.
While not cheap, I would still recommend buying from Ensar, he hasn't let me down with anything yet, be it oud oils, oud wood or parfums.
Everything he sells seems to be top quality stuff.
 
#5
Hi Kakao, i am new at this. In fact i didn't really though the assam organic wood from oudimentary was expensive at all at the begining (8 $/gr); because I compared it with the other wood varieties offers at oudimentary. However whem I started to look for agarwood in other sites I found better prices for indian agarwood; sure I can not know about the quality througth the site but maybe I should try so I can compare. I could try this Emperors Agarwood from Scented Mountain you mentioned.
This Ensar hole world is starting to be really mistery since all people talks about it, when I have the chance I am sure I will try some of this products.

As I said i have a friend who bougth Indian Assam and yesterday he give me some just to try it all alone at home focusing in the smell. He told "you have to live this experience just your self and let the aroma embraces you". So I did.
I went home, prepare a charcoal, place a little piece of wood on it, and sit around...:eek: I don't really know how describe it I am really not good at tones so i will describe just sensations. I smelled it before, in this friend's house so it didn't take me by surprise but....it was totally diferent, the aroma just transport me to somewhere else, I was not longer in my room, just far away, some point between a depp forest cabin with my dad talking about life next to the chimney and a large bed with fur blankets with a sensual woman staring at me. It was strange, intoxicating, sensual and confortable at the same time.

I can not compare yet, but I can said the wood from oudimentary has quality. If there is better stuff, for what all people say sure there is, I can not wait to smell it.
 
#6
Khao Yai from Ensar and a Vietnamese that I got from agarscentsbazaar! They both are soft and sweet and very relaxing.
Is ensar still ofering this wood? Last wek there was still agarwood in his site, but I do not remember what kind, I think there was a sort of brunei.
By the way, is it a good agarwood source Agarscentsbazaar? have you tried any other of theirs wood products?
 
#7
I have got some more Indian Assam from oudimentary, I was saving to. Now I can burn it whenever ;) yeeeeeep!

Do you really see much difererence between Indian and other kinds of woods? I wonder if the diference is really noticiable, I mean keeping the same quality level.
 
#8
I have read that when it cames to high quality bakhoor or aloeswood it is very important the charcoal we use, when we burn the stuff in a traditional way. The charcoal's own smoke smell can ruine the aroma of our precious wood or bakhoor.
Do you use a normal charcoal when you fumigate? Does anyone knows where to get bambu charcoal? I have read it is odorless, someone has tried it?
 
#9
I would not use a charcoal which is saturated with saltpeter (sparkling charcoals ) as these coals have a definite chemical scent which overpowers the subtle notes of agarwood. You could try either an electrical burner (incense or bakhoor burner); or try the "Subitism" burner by kayarazen (kyarazen.com).
Electrical Incense burners are available from mermadearts.com ( for example, here: http://www.mermadearts.com/product_info.php?products_id=7687 )

Bamboo coals have a very very slight "coal" scent, but it is not owerpowering the scent of the wood you burn.
Try a search on google.com or similar search engine.
Type in " Shoyeido incense coal" or simply its Japanese name: "Mikayozumi".

They come as square coals, but usually the rectangualr smaller coals are sufficient for a good burn, as they keep the heat for about 30 minutes.

kind regards,
Thomas S.
 
#10
Thanks for the info Thomas:)
I have read aswell the electrical burner don't generate enough temperature to get all the oils from the wood, is that rigth?
 
#11
Hi Tomas, the "Subitism" burner by kayarazen is prety atractive, however in the website its said i should use a mica sheet or mica plate, Do you know where i can get this?

Thanks!!
 
#13
Hi alcadya,


Electrical burners should not burn the wood. Agarwood should only be heated until the scent evaporates. The same with coal: you should wait until there is a layer of ash on the coal, before you put the chip on it. If the heat is to high, the scent will be influenced negatively.

The Subitism burner comes with some mica sheets, in different sizes/ thicknesses. You can experiment with them to find out how the wood will release the most perfect scent, i.e. you control the temperature of the Subitism by layering two or more mica sheets (one over the other).

Here is a link that shows how the traditional Kohdo burner is prepared (using coal and rice ash):
http://www.japanese-incense.com/kodo-censer.htm

Kind regards,
Thomas S.
 
#14
That is an interesting page on how to prepare the kodo cup, I will give it a try that way next time I burn just for kicks.

Here is the way I prepare my censor for burning agarwood and resins:

Make a hole big enough to accommodate the charcoal in the ashes of your censor. It should be a little more than 1/4 inch deeper than the charcoal is thick.

Use a high quality charcoal Miyako-Sumi for instance.

Light one end of the charcoal and blow on it for a couple minutes to get it going, then place it in the hole in the ash and allow to fully light (takes 10-20 minutes)

After it is fully lit, knock the ash onto the coal, you should have about 1/4 inch or a little more ash covering the coal.

Gently place the sliver of agarwood or whatever resin you are burning on top of the ash which is above the coal.

It should gently heat the wood or resin releasing the scent. If the scent does not start to be released then gently push the wood down just a little at a time until the scent is being released. When the wood is no longer releasing scent push it a bit more. Eventually the wood will turn to charcoal and will release no more scent.
 

Rasoul S

Well-Known Member
#16
Sounds delicious. Recent buy or old stash? Origin? I wasn’t able to find out more about it

for me outside of kinam/kyara: Royal laos offering from ensar ranks really high so does the ceram tasbih and royal maluku. ditto this soil filipino wood via azman oud and an anthole Hindi via zak has also rocked my boat in recent memory.
 
#17
Sounds delicious. Recent buy or old stash? Origin? I wasn’t able to find out more about it

for me outside of kinam/kyara: Royal laos offering from ensar ranks really high so does the ceram tasbih and royal maluku. ditto this soil filipino wood via azman oud and an anthole Hindi via zak has also rocked my boat in recent memory.
For JK's Kyara - check out his instagram. It's insane wood. Kyara pieces - some are half a kilo in size. It's got this marbling of colors thats really beautiful. I believe it's from a single family who had collected it all. He's been posting photos of all the different pieces - all of them are for sale apparently. If you want to drool, take a look :)
 
#20
Talking with JK about getting a small piece for myself - he sent me a couple photos that aren't on his instagram and a couple that are (for those who aren't on social media). Some big chunks!
 

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