Can oud oil be consumed?

[RobertOne]

@JK

Quite right about the reductio ad absurdum about which much of pharmaceutical western medicine is based on, I am very much aware of synergy in nature, i.e. it's a hugely bad idea to take just one individual B vitamin such as riboflavin in isolation - that way lies neuropathy - much better to take a balanced complete spectrum b complex.

However, identifying specific compounds that do have specific properties is always a good idea as long as the process or product in the case of pharmaceuticals does not end there which is sadly the case with the western 'big pharma' model.

So, for purely medicinal purposes perhaps a CO2 extract of resinated wood would be best? I know that method of extraction is the gold standard in most medicinal plant material. Just thinking aloud here, and this is purest speculation, but perhaps by using heat as an extraction method some active compounds are being lost or altered - I am specifically thinking of the distillers and traders that Ensar described as chewing kyara dust. Is that purely to judge quality or is that for psychoactive / medical reasons?

Much food for thought on this thread!

 

[JK]

@RobertOne - I hear ya And you are right - specific compounds do have specific properties - but in Chinese Medicine, it is not just their individual presence that matters, but their "relational function" to the other molecules present that makes them functional. Would love to have a chat sometime to explain more comprehensibly what I mean.

Maybe think of it this way...Soup. Think of a carrot, an onion, celery, a piece of ginger, the meat and whatever else is added - these are individual molecules. Without a specific molecule (ingredient in the soup) - it will still be soup. The final taste (and function) of the soup, however, will be depending on which molecules are present, as well as their relative concentrations to one another. Add lemongrass - and it tastes like a Thai soup. Add curry and it will taste Indian. But they are all still soup - albeit with slightly different functionality. I'm sure it can all be broken down biochemically - but it is not how the functionality is conceptualized in Chinese Medicine. I'm not sure I'm doing the analogy justice - makes a lot more sense in a conversation.

As for Kyara dust being chewed raw, compared to other woods...

I think this has to do in part to the oily composition of Kyara. It is "soft" compared to more woody Agarwoods - and in part is edible for that reason as-is. From a Chinese Medicine perspective - they are two entirely different herbs, so they can't be compared 1:1, despite being from the same tree/species.

The Soup analogy I use for another reason...and is actually an analogy I use with a lot of patients in explaining some of the medicine, especially in regard to why CM does not recommend eating too many raw foods.

If you cut up a bunch of vegetable and meat and throw it into a pot of water - what do you have? Most people will say, "Soup" - however, it is not soup until you COOK it. It's just a pot of water and bunch of vegetables until it is cooked (and as it relates to the medicine, if you don't cook before eating, it will drain your body of Qi and Yang, as your body now has to "cook" the food).

You mention cooking as it relates to losing some of the active compounds. On the contrary - I would argue that cooking, A. Frees up some of the bound molecules so that they can both be accessed as well as metabolized, and B. The cooking creates molecules that were not present in the raw material. C. Especially as it relates to: Notice how a cooked soup tastes differently than a pot of vegetables in water? Same idea - there is an alchemical transformation of the ingredients being cooked that makes them chemically different than the raw ingredients. This is why CO2 extracts tend to be rather flat - there is no heat in the process of extraction, as well as pulling out other materials not present in a water distillation.

The last part of this equation - is that an Oud Oil and a Decocted Wood will be wholly different, as the Oil will not contain any of the Water-soluble components, whereas a decoction will contain both Oil and Water-soluble components, in addition to the alchemical reactions between the Agarwood ingredient and the other components of the formulation. Think now, how the same 10 ingredients can make 1,000 different culinary dishes, all depending on how they are cooked (culinary technique) and the relative ratios between the ingredients. Anyone who loves to cook will also tell there is a definitive difference in taste depending on if cooked over electric / gas / wood fire, and if cooked in Stainless Steel, Ceramic, Cast Iron, etc. Factor in another layer by adding or subtracting ingredients - and the dishes prepared are innumerable. The same is true in the Pao Zhi understanding of medicinal preparation.

Is this making sense? Again, a tough subject to write about. Much easier to talk it out, or even better - to "show" in person the concept.

I should ask my pharmaceutical contacts which chemical markers they look for, specifically, in gauging the quality of Agarwood as it relates specifically to medical application.

It's definitely a fun subject to contemplate!

 

[Simla House]

I wonder if anyone is interested in reviving this thread for a bit.
After wiping all the oil from a plastic toothpick on the skin, there are trace amounts and flavour still hanging about, so I thought it might be interesting to see if there is anything more I can learn about each distillation or get to know them better.
Sometimes the notes present in each oil are rediscovered and perhaps experienced in a heightened way when tasted.
I'm assuming the class of oud I'm consuming is pure, and free from anything liver destroying; please correct me if I'm wrong.
(I.E.: I'm not consuming anything from Ajmal, et al in this experiment.)