distilation vs location

S

str8shooter

New Member
#1
#1
Well I am now far enough along to ask some slightly intelligent questions...
My thought is what exactly makes an Indian skanky, a cambodian/thai, sweet/fruit like, a borneo green? Is it the local water? The techniques in distillation? The minerals imparted into the Agarwood while it grows and resinates? All of these??
If I take Borneo agarwood to india, say assam, and soak it for long time in steel pots, will it have a heavy indol note? If I take an indian to borneo and do a brief soak in copper will it be more green?
I tend to look at agarwood as a sculpter looks at a block of marble prior to carving away extra to uncover the beauty. The distillar is removing the extra to uncover the beauty of the Oud oil.
Can Ensar and some of the others shed light on my thoughts?

Thanks to all

Paul
 
Ensar Oud

Ensar Oud

Well-Known Member
#2
#2
Hi, Paul.

There are a myriad factors that affect the scent of oud oil, not the least of which is the nature and quality of the raw materials. You can't get Oud Sultani out of $20 wood, just as you can't get a gold coin out of brass no matter what you subject the brass to.

Gold secured, there are a number of things that come into play in shaping the 'profile' of each oil. As you brilliantly speculated, the mineral content of the water used during distillation has a spectacular effect on the oil. Distil an Indian oil in Evian drinking water, and you might just end up with Oud Yusuf! And we did do just that. We have oils from Assam and Burma and Bhutan which we are aging that are as floral, sumptuous and elegant as Oud Yusuf, with absolutely zero barn to them.

Water is only one out of a dozen factors. The material the pot is made out of plays a major role, as does the soaking period. You might distil 100-year-old Bhutan raw materials with zero soak and get a rosy Oud oil (!!!) yet if you soak them for two weeks the oil will smell more like champaca and tuberose. – Again, none of this would happen with 20-year-old, $20 per kg raw materials.

You might soak in Evian for a week and cook in groundwater; or soak in groundwater for a month and cook in Evian. You might soak in plastic or in clay or in ceramic. You might cook in copper or in stainless steel or in glass. The factors are many, and the ways you can combine them virtually endless.

Hence Oud Sultani, which smells 95% identical to Oud Royale No 1, originated in West Malaysia and the latter in Papua. The gold was 24-carat in both cases, and the smith kinda knew what he was doing.... ; )
 
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