Kyara

Nikhil S

Well-Known Member
#42
Indeed. I've heated and have some kyara/Kinam by way of the wood itself and incense. For me it is a unique experience yet an experience that I personally wouldn't continually pay a premium to experience, but that's more about budget and not fragrance. With that said, the Kinam I currently have I will only heat on special occasion; budget notwithstanding I wouldn't heat anything less than the quality of Ranjatai or Kou-jin and I'd wear ~.2gms of Chugoku Senkoh daily.
Thank you dear sir. CS is such an elixir. I wish I had a bottle.
 

Nikhil S

Well-Known Member
#43
Truly I was also quite surprised when the Kyara was so floral and sweet. I thought it was going to be very bitter. I can also relate to how you said that it is similar to top grade agarwood. The best agarwood has floral scent at room temperture. Like TAKE chips from Shoyeido, TAKE means bamboo in japanese though I am not sure why they call it that, is floral right from envelope and as you progress up the ranks of quality they become more fragrant. Matsu grade, the way I perceive the aroma, is like a gentle sweet clove aroma at room temperature. But when I had a whiff of Kyara, I couldnt believe the intensity of the smell. I probably will never heat my Kyara. Kyara really is getting more expensive. Aside from all that I can understand and relate a lot more now to the Chinese tradition of making beads and carvings. The amount of money spent on Kyara, how can anyone heat it? Unless it is a very very small amount and from judging by the aroma at room temperature, you really do not need much at all, maybe half of a grain of rice worth. And if money is not the issue, then the rarity of the material surely must be. I always used to wonder if I won the lottery what would I do with some of it after investing and giving to charity, I surely know now. eeeesh
Hello sir. You have been a 100pc successful in recreating my emotions/experience in words. I would choose to preserve its smell without burning as well.
 

Nikhil S

Well-Known Member
#45
Just wanted to add Ensar Bhai's new Ceramic Burner is a godsend to enjoy Kyara and Sandalwood. It does its job like it should. I still prefer to burn my agar on the coil burner because I have less patience. But I burnt some Kyara today and it was a wonderful experience. Highly recommended. I could only smell Kyara and no additional unwanted notes. Some of his oils do carry Kyara profile. No kidding. That sweet clean purifying smell.
 

Ensar Oud

Well-Known Member
#46
Just wanted to add Ensar Bhai's new Ceramic Burner is a godsend to enjoy Kyara and Sandalwood. It does its job like it should. I still prefer to burn my agar on the coil burner because I have less patience. But I burnt some Kyara today and it was a wonderful experience. Highly recommended. I could only smell Kyara and no additional unwanted notes. Some of his oils do carry Kyara profile. No kidding. That sweet clean purifying smell.
Thank you for the feedback, brother. And that is a lovely piece of Laosi wood you've got there. Congrats. :)
 

Oudamberlove

Well-Known Member
#50
Ssssssuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

I’m livin’ high on the hog!!!

Burning some pure Green Oil Kyara incense stick by Kyarazen, followed by Bai Na (a blend of Brunei, Kalimantan, Tarakan, and Vietnamese).

My Brain is buzzin’
 

Ensar Oud

Well-Known Member
#51
Look at the pictures from 2013 in the opening post, and compare with the following:



This is what’s being offered as Kinam in China today, at a whooping $415 per gram, for what is obviously Sri Lankan walla patta and has as much to do with Kinam as my great uncle Larry.

This in the shop of one of the ‘big’ bosses in town, whose friends insisted that I pay him a visit just to be able to take in all the wonders he has on display. Everything I was shown was some sort of ‘Kinam’ and had as much to do with kinam as, well, you-know-who...

I was silent on all of the carvings and miniatures just out of respect for all the effort that had gone into chiselling them, but I had to set the record straight on the bags of ‘Cambodi Kinam’ shown above. I insisted that the wood was from Sri Lanka, and that he shouldn’t advertise it as either Cambodi or Kinam. They mocked and jeered in turn, as they spat blood-red beetle nut juice from their lips.

“Do you know how many times I’ve been to Sri Lanka?” I said. “How many times has he been to Sri Lanka? Ask him!”

“Hahahahaaaa! Sri Lanka!....” the red-toothed beetle-nut-filled mouth kept hollering.

“My company literally MOVED to Sri Lanka last year,” I insisted. “My colleague lived in Sri Lanka for three months! I’ve distilled hundreds of kilograms of walla patta. I can recognize WP with my eyes closed!”

“Chiem Po Chai Kinam!” the guy shouted.

All his Guallams were Bruneis, too—and a dodgy old Malaysian oil I wouldn’t swipe on a dog was being showcased as the pinnacle of ancient Vietnamese oud.

The disgust and repulsion I feel having seen what I just saw cannot be put into words. They took pictures of me while I wasn’t looking, supposedly to show proof that I visited or whatever. I’m on the train South as I write this, headed to my distillery where new batches of unmentionables await collection. Sadly, I won’t be sharing any Cambodian walla patta this time. Let’s see what my teacher has distilled for your grandchildren.
 
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kooolaid79

Well-Known Member
#53
This truly sucks!! The amount of cheating going on in the market is unheard of. I think @Taha alluded to this sometime back in one of his blogs or posts. We are just the people reading, and you get to experience it first hand. Am truly sorry to hear what it was and what has become of now!
 

Rasoul S

Well-Known Member
#54
to keep the fake thread going, local source on Instagram by name agarwood Vancouver while has some decent and few terrific pieces also has a bunch of painted and glued wood. she was genuinely surprised when i told her this one is fake and showed her the eye-watering, sinus tickling, throat itching, cough-inducing scent of the wood on the heater. she accepted. she has her contacts in vietnam sending her stuff.

another one is a perfume buddy who came back from the mid east with a whack of top notch oils (to him and he thought...) a cambodi, two vietnamese, 2 indian nagaland and assam, and the rare malinau. i told him fake fake fake fake fake but dont take my word for it, smell these 10 cambodi i have, and vietnamese and.... long story short he was fuurious cause he spent all that money. one oil smelt so clearly of sandalwood and bad green mean light one while another was lanbdanum (mostly at least) and another croc wood, super sweet resin kind...
 

Simla House

Well-Known Member
#55
to keep the fake thread going, local source on Instagram by name agarwood Vancouver while has some decent and few terrific pieces also has a bunch of painted and glued wood. she was genuinely surprised when i told her this one is fake and showed her the eye-watering, sinus tickling, throat itching, cough-inducing scent of the wood on the heater. she accepted. she has her contacts in vietnam sending her stuff.

another one is a perfume buddy who came back from the mid east with a whack of top notch oils (to him and he thought...) a cambodi, two vietnamese, 2 indian nagaland and assam, and the rare malinau. i told him fake fake fake fake fake but dont take my word for it, smell these 10 cambodi i have, and vietnamese and.... long story short he was fuurious cause he spent all that money. one oil smelt so clearly of sandalwood and bad green mean light one while another was lanbdanum (mostly at least) and another croc wood, super sweet resin kind...
I checked out the agarwood vancouver facebook thingy, some of those photos don't look right.
Maybe she needs new contacts in Vietnam.
Respect to those educated vendors that do the leg work to find us the good stuff.
 

5MeO

Well-Known Member
#57
How about Kyara from Thailand? It borders Vietnam - we must remember that countrys' borders are just arbitrary lines drawn - the actual ecological terrain is continuous..

This batch of Prachinburi Thai wood I have - at low heat it reminds me a great deal of kyara - I heated a sliver of true Vietnamese green kyara this morning right after it, and the kyara smelled different, but not that different, and dare I say perhaps not more impressive. Certain parts of the Prachinburi Thai wood look like kyara, and are characterized by heavy multi-colored oil content.. My suspicion is that this wood is involved in a similar biochemical process as Vietnamese kyara, and that if given longer to ripen might indeed had become kyara.. The Prachinburi Thai has a similar bittersweet floral nectar quality with undertones of warm spices - if I were to grade the Vietnamese kyara higher I would do so because the kyara has perhaps more complexity, and it has a certain powdery and warm milk type aspect to it that is less pronounced in the Prachinburi Thai..

I should note that I have several pieces of this Prachinburi Thai, and not all have this kyara quality - and only parts of a couple pieces do - and a couple pieces don't have it at all.. It makes me wonder how kyara looks in a tree with other agarwood - the whole tree probably isn't kyara, but rather, there are sections of regular agarwood that either connect to, or are nearby the kyara sections..

Regardless, the good news for agarwood lovers is that one can enjoy agarwood fragrances that are just as impressive as kyara without paying for the kyara..
 
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