Borneo 3000 or Kalbar 3000
- Thread starter Tarik
- Start date
I haven't tried Kalbar 3000 so can't compare the two. Borneo 3000 (the 2004 batch, not the new one) has an amazing opening note - clean, etherial, resinous, filled with translucent sunlight, but I am not a huge fan of its mid-stage which doesn't agree with my skin and comes off somewhat musty. I actually prefer Sheikh's Borneo and Borneo Kinam to Borneo 3000 (which pretty much sits untouched). I've seen people refer to Borneo 3000's mid-stage and drydown as "incensy" and I wonder if it's the same notes that smells musty and strange to me. I prefer the Borneo's with honey-like woodsiness and darker scent profile, like Sheikh's and Taha's Borneo Noir. I generally lean towards darker oud oils, so the almost clinically clean and austere top notes of Borneo 3000 create an impression of that oils almost being too thin and lacking "oomph" in the lower register. But if you enjoy crystal clear high pitched methol-like aspect of Borneo's and don't mind the "incensy" mustiness, you should find Borneo 3000 very pleasing.
As salamu alaikum, Tarik. Merci beaucoup for referring the question to me.
If you consider the following, you will see that Borneo 3000 is superior not only to Sheikh's Borneo, but to all other Kaltim Borneos released by Ensar Oud to date.
When we produced Sheikh's Borneo, we had a very tight budget we needed to work within the bounds of, so we were careful to select superior oil grade agarwood, but could not afford to use incense grade wood.
The opposite was the case with Borneo 3000. Here, we went overboard and put all of our 'super', 'double super' and 'king super' residual raw materials into the boilers to produce the craziest – not only Borneo – but Oud oil, all other origins considered. And that's no hype.
Now to compare between Kalbar 3000 and Borneo 3000 would be to a certain extent like comparing apples to oranges. As floraopia pointed out, the oils are not mutually exclusive, and are not meant to compete with each-other. Rather, Borneo 3000 represents the silliest East Borneo Oud, whereas Kalbar 3000 represents one very masterfully distilled and carefully aged batch of West Borneo Oud.
One may prefer a cup of masala chai to Darjeeling golden needle, but that's a question of personal taste, and only you can decide what your palette finds most pleasing.
If you consider the following, you will see that Borneo 3000 is superior not only to Sheikh's Borneo, but to all other Kaltim Borneos released by Ensar Oud to date.
When we produced Sheikh's Borneo, we had a very tight budget we needed to work within the bounds of, so we were careful to select superior oil grade agarwood, but could not afford to use incense grade wood.
The opposite was the case with Borneo 3000. Here, we went overboard and put all of our 'super', 'double super' and 'king super' residual raw materials into the boilers to produce the craziest – not only Borneo – but Oud oil, all other origins considered. And that's no hype.
Now to compare between Kalbar 3000 and Borneo 3000 would be to a certain extent like comparing apples to oranges. As floraopia pointed out, the oils are not mutually exclusive, and are not meant to compete with each-other. Rather, Borneo 3000 represents the silliest East Borneo Oud, whereas Kalbar 3000 represents one very masterfully distilled and carefully aged batch of West Borneo Oud.
One may prefer a cup of masala chai to Darjeeling golden needle, but that's a question of personal taste, and only you can decide what your palette finds most pleasing.
Bonjour Tarik, I am humbled by you asking my advice regarding purchasing your first Borneo Oil. Since this is your first borneo Oil I would suggest the Borneo3000 (but wait read till the end 
. The reason being is that it displays all the classical characters of what a good (actually a great) Borneo oil should be like. I Have to say though that I have sampled the original Borneo3000 which some people say is superior to the new batch (that I would not know because I have not tried the new one on sale now). The original had all the beautiful high pitched notes, the cleanliness and the crispness that we seek in Borneo's oil. However (and this is strictly personal) I found it to be lacking of character. Meaning there is nothing tweaked a little bit or accented further to give it that uniqueness. It is a bit like Mercedes cars (again my personal take), well built, solid and reference point to others but not very exciting. On the other hand, I find Kalbar3000 to be like an Italian Ferrari (I am thinking the Kyara Kalbar must be the Bugatti), eccentric, unique and filled with beautiful honey notes and sweet fruits unlike anything else I have encountered from Borneo.
So at the end it all depends on your character because the oil will become you. So you should ask yourself; are you the conservative, well behaved type or are you the Bad boy, free spirit and eccentric?
Ensar: Wow Sheikh's Borneo like Masal Chai that's harsh...
. The reason being is that it displays all the classical characters of what a good (actually a great) Borneo oil should be like. I Have to say though that I have sampled the original Borneo3000 which some people say is superior to the new batch (that I would not know because I have not tried the new one on sale now). The original had all the beautiful high pitched notes, the cleanliness and the crispness that we seek in Borneo's oil. However (and this is strictly personal) I found it to be lacking of character. Meaning there is nothing tweaked a little bit or accented further to give it that uniqueness. It is a bit like Mercedes cars (again my personal take), well built, solid and reference point to others but not very exciting. On the other hand, I find Kalbar3000 to be like an Italian Ferrari (I am thinking the Kyara Kalbar must be the Bugatti), eccentric, unique and filled with beautiful honey notes and sweet fruits unlike anything else I have encountered from Borneo.So at the end it all depends on your character because the oil will become you. So you should ask yourself; are you the conservative, well behaved type or are you the Bad boy, free spirit and eccentric?
Ensar: Wow Sheikh's Borneo like Masal Chai
that's harsh...
F
I revisited the Shaikh's Borneo in March - only have one bottle which was in storage since 2007 - and was so besotted, that I broke my golden rule not to use Oud that I only have one bottle of and brought it back with me to Saudi Arabia. It seems to have developed into a superb and aristocratic Oud and I cannot remember being so impressed when I first bought it - hence only one bottle.
If I may side track a bit Tarik from the original question but what Ensar revealed about the background of both oils and what Igor said lit a question in my mind; how many people can tell in a Blind Test between oils which has a "superior" oil grade agarwood and which has 'super', 'double super' and 'king super' residual raw materials? We're not talking here about comparison with $50 or even $200 but rather very good and Excellent oils. Since we say that oils doesn't come from resin during extraction then wouldn't you reach a point beyond diminishing returns where it does matter how much more higher grade you go with the Agarwood material it wouldn't matter and would not get better oil (Super, double supper?)? another example in mind would be between Kalbar3000 and Kyara Ko Twe, I would have thought that the materials for the former is more superior to the materials of the later (that's obviously not the case )
)
F
Masstika, it's an interesting point you raise and there are two points to address here.
Firstly, the law of diminishing returns applies to most areas of life. If one looks at the domain of information technology hardware, you can see that the fastest Intel CPU available with a clock speed of 3.3GHz and 15MB cache available costs £785. When this is compared against the next fastest CPU at 3.2GHz and 12MB cache which retails at £443, then you can see that to achieve a 3% increase in CPU clock speed and a 20% increase in cache memory, costs increase by 44%! Whether this is worth it depends on what the buyer wants... and an ordinary user may decide to go with the cheaper option due to the fast rate of technological change which would make the extra investment redundant within 6 months to a year! In the case of Oud however, which increases in value with time and is a diminishing resource, a collector, or purist - or OCD sufferer like Ensar - might decide that the extra cost associated with the best oils are worth it. I certainly would.
Secondly, a buyer is subjective and has a particular aesthetic that the Oud he is looking for, needs to conform to. It may be that a buyer actually prefers Hindi oils, to say, Borneo oils and so may give preference to the cheaper Assam Organic vis-a-vis the Borneo 3000. I would say he is crazy, but that is the nature of the discussion over which Oud is preferable from a value-for-money perspective and whether a 'very good' oil is better than 'an excellent' one.
Firstly, the law of diminishing returns applies to most areas of life. If one looks at the domain of information technology hardware, you can see that the fastest Intel CPU available with a clock speed of 3.3GHz and 15MB cache available costs £785. When this is compared against the next fastest CPU at 3.2GHz and 12MB cache which retails at £443, then you can see that to achieve a 3% increase in CPU clock speed and a 20% increase in cache memory, costs increase by 44%! Whether this is worth it depends on what the buyer wants... and an ordinary user may decide to go with the cheaper option due to the fast rate of technological change which would make the extra investment redundant within 6 months to a year! In the case of Oud however, which increases in value with time and is a diminishing resource, a collector, or purist - or OCD sufferer like Ensar
- might decide that the extra cost associated with the best oils are worth it. I certainly would.Secondly, a buyer is subjective and has a particular aesthetic that the Oud he is looking for, needs to conform to. It may be that a buyer actually prefers Hindi oils, to say, Borneo oils and so may give preference to the cheaper Assam Organic vis-a-vis the Borneo 3000. I would say he is crazy, but that is the nature of the discussion over which Oud is preferable from a value-for-money perspective and whether a 'very good' oil is better than 'an excellent' one.
If I may side track a bit Tarik from the original question but what Ensar revealed about the background of both oils and what Igor said lit a question in my mind; how many people can tell in a Blind Test between oils which has a "superior" oil grade agarwood and which has 'super', 'double super' and 'king super' residual raw materials? We're not talking here about comparison with $50 or even $200 but rather very good and Excellent oils. Since we say that oils doesn't come from resin during extraction then wouldn't you reach a point beyond diminishing returns where it does matter how much more higher grade you go with the Agarwood material it wouldn't matter and would not get better oil (Super, double supper?)? another example in mind would be between Kalbar3000 and Kyara Ko Twe, I would have thought that the materials for the former is more superior to the materials of the later (that's obviously not the case )
)
I just received a bottle of Borneo 3000 yesterday, and I can only recommend it. I haven't tried Kalbar 3000 or any of the other Borneos mentioned, except for Borneo Kinam. In some ways, I even prefer 3000 to Borneo Kinam, because it is deeper, seemingly juicier, more complex, and has that classically high top note that just soars. In short, it is the most beautiful oil I've smelled so far. Everyone should have a Borneo in their collection, or at least have the opportunity to try one to see if its to their taste. I'm more into Indian and Cambodian oils myself, but I can't pass up a stunning Borneo. Totally unique scent profile, and so sensual. To me, the Borneo oils offer something the Indian/Cambodian oils do not, and together they all create a full spectrum of the immense range of profile that Oud oil has to offer.
Regarding the incense note in Borneo 3000, it actually smells like my favorite Kyara incense. It's why I was initially reminded of Oud Royale No. 2 when I smelled Borneo 3000--they both have that heavenly Kyara note.
I also think the point Ensar was making about the quality of raw materials is worth taking into account. The beauty of steam distillation is that it preserves the scent of the wood more, and doesn't introduce as many distillation-tweaks as hydro-distillation does. For that reason, when it comes to steam-distilled Borneos, higher quality raw materials will be more potently reflected in the oil, to my nose. That is what makes Borneo 3000 so great, I can really smell the quality of the wood that went into the stills. On top of that, its 7 years old!
One should also take into account what Ensar pointed out, which is that Borneo 3000 is an East Borneo oil (Tarakan) and that Kalbar 3000 is a West Borneo oil (Kalbar). I have never smelled Kalbar 3000, so I won't be able to give a description of where the scent profiles differ, but perhaps someone else can.
Regarding the incense note in Borneo 3000, it actually smells like my favorite Kyara incense. It's why I was initially reminded of Oud Royale No. 2 when I smelled Borneo 3000--they both have that heavenly Kyara note.
I also think the point Ensar was making about the quality of raw materials is worth taking into account. The beauty of steam distillation is that it preserves the scent of the wood more, and doesn't introduce as many distillation-tweaks as hydro-distillation does. For that reason, when it comes to steam-distilled Borneos, higher quality raw materials will be more potently reflected in the oil, to my nose. That is what makes Borneo 3000 so great, I can really smell the quality of the wood that went into the stills. On top of that, its 7 years old!
One should also take into account what Ensar pointed out, which is that Borneo 3000 is an East Borneo oil (Tarakan) and that Kalbar 3000 is a West Borneo oil (Kalbar). I have never smelled Kalbar 3000, so I won't be able to give a description of where the scent profiles differ, but perhaps someone else can.