I first heard about colors from the Chinese since my entry into the world of Kinam was through them – but I've also met enthusiasts who bought 'color' ranked kyara in Japan from trusted sources such as Yamada Matsu, etc. If you remember ListensClosely from BN, he is as traveled and resourceful a Kodo enthusiast as you can find, and he had a piece of actual purple kinam wood which he brought with him (sourced and graded in Japan from one of the top houses) for the sake of conducting a little experiment. We listened to the notes of those glossy little slivers VERY closely on his low heat electric heater – against a swipe of Purple Kinam....
After a 20-30 minute discussion and super finicky note comparison, ListensClosely drew his own conclusion: "I would have to admit, the naming of this oil is correct, given how the scent profile matches up to actual purple kinam."
People say many sorts of things, it is true, but I have yet to find anyone as passionate about monkoh in the West, or as outspoken and incorruptible a character as ListensClosely. So I knew when he nodded in approval that he meant it, and wasn't just saying it to please me.
You can pick up the different scent 'colors' in the various profiles of the wood when heated, thought the 'look' of the wood also seems to vaguely imply a color, at times more clearly than others. I've seen red oil kyara that was literally red in color. Green oil kyara that was green. Black oil that was black.....
'Green oil kyara' is a term I first heard from adherents to the Japanese school, though colors such as yellow, black and white I have only heard in the China Market.
Not to my knowledge....
Sure has.... If the scent of Vietnamese kyara is superior in the wood vs the oil, the scent of Brunei kinam oil I would have to say is hands-down more beautiful than the scent of heated chips. The only difference of course being that there are no oils in existence that were distilled from 100% Vietnamese kinam, whereas the Brunei variety being a more recent discovery it was possible to distill some oil from very high quality batches that were available for a fairly 'reasonable' price several years ago....