Mulan Jinko - Details
I am on it! Will give him call today! Great idea Ensar.
Hey Phil! Thanks for reaching out!
Hello Everyone - this is JK from Rising Phoenix
Ensar and Phil were kind enough to shoot me a message and invite me to the shenanigans - thanks Ensar and Phil!
I've actually got a sweeeeet dedicated workshop at a new house I moved into back in July. Huge space in an old hardwood forest, windows from wall to wall. If anyone is ever in the Atlanta area - please do look me up. Tea, Food and Oud await your arrival! We have a spare loft in a 200 year old log cabin for overnight visitors if you're in from out of town and need a unique place to crash. Open offer - you know where to find me
I appreciate the kudos on my blending skillz - obviously, I am in good company here with several of my fellow compadres.
So yes as @kesiro mentioned, I do make Custom Attars for clients, as well as Custom Incense (usually in a Japanese or Arabic vein), as well as Custom Nerikoh - and a specialty of mine, which is a crossover of Bakhoor'ish Chips, but in the Japanese tradition (no oils - 100% raw ingredients). Several have tried chips like I am referring to - as well as Custom Attars/Incense if anyone happens to see this and wants to chime in. =)
Also - for those that didn't know, The World In Scents (TWIS) also carries some exclusive Attars that I've developed specifically for sale there. Check them out:
http://www.theworldinscents.com/collections/rising-phoenix-perfumery-1
PS - I'm new to this forum - any problems with my mentioning the Custom work that I do, or the exclusive oils available at TWIS? Not wanting to sound like I am selling - simply trying to inform about some of my lesser known services that I offer. Mark/TWIS also offers some of his own blends, as well as some exclusive oils of Taha's on his site. All worth checking out!
Regarding the Custom Attar that I put together for kesiro...I've gotten several messages asking for more info about it, including from Ensar, himself. So I figured I'd share a little...
Kesiro had reached out to me - unusually, by phone! Haha - love it! Tracked down my number and just gave me a call. We had a fun and lengthy talk, which eventually led to talking about an idea he had for an Attar, and luckily, I happen to make Custom Attars. I will go off of anything...an image, a poem, an idea - or something more specific, like specific notes. I also compose many things based on historical times and places (like Bushido, at TWIS), or like Aziz Attar (also at TWIS) - which was originally composed as a medicinal fragrance to sooth an ailing friend and Oud customer.
Kesiro had something very specific in mind...without knowing how to describe what he wanted. So he just talked his idea out as best as he could, and gave me an idea that I ran with...
I came up with a Magnolia Incense Oud. Giggidy
In Hanakotoba, The Japanese Language of Flowers - a Magnolia represents the Sublime, the Natural - and a love of Nature. Mulan is Japanese for Magnolia, btw.
I have many many materials at my disposal, including many hard to find extractions and vintage oils (some are over a century old) that I use in many of my compositions.
For Mulan Jinko - I paired a special Magnolia extraction, Magnolia × alba, also known as the White Champaca, White Sandalwood, or White Jade Orchid Tree. It is a flowering plant of hybrid origin not found in the wild. It is a hybrid of Magnolia champaca and Magnolia montana. It is a Chinese distillation, and smells a bit like I imagine Heaven would smell.
Magnolia × alba is widely cultivated as an ornamental in Asia, particularly tropical and subtropical regions of China and Southeast Asia for the strongly fragrant flowers. This essential oil is extracted from the flowers. In China, where it is known as Bai Lan (白蘭), the flowers are used to prepare Yulan tea (very tasty!). In traditional Chinese medicine, the flowers are used to Move Qi in the Chest, and to Relieve Cough. Medical properties aside...you really have to smell this one to believe it.
I paired the Bai Lan / Magnolia with a vintage Indian Champaca (Alba) Attar, which is unusual for it's animalic Base Notes and penetrating floral Top Notes.
The florals were paired with Nutmeg CO2. Nutmeg EO is a Top Note, and smells more spicy. The CO2 is more of a Heart and Base Note, and in low doses, smells a bit like powdery Deer Musk on the skin. It's sexy as hell, and does wonders to a composition without smelling spicy. A trick I learned from the French Pastry Tradition...a dash of nutmeg in a custard brings out the buttery notes of the milk, or the butter in a pastry.
This was partnered with a super jammy Frank and Myrrh co-distillation I have. Most Frank and Myrrh distillations will smell a bit piney, citrusy, and a little camphoraceous. And Myrrh will usually smell bitter, to boot. This particular extraction smells more like the old-vine Zinfandel of Resin (crap, that's a great name!) - jammy, fruity with hints of spice...almost like a traditional Spanish fruit paste. It is stupendous, and pairs beautifully with florals and woods.
These materials are nestled in a base of Custom Bangladeshi, Laos, and Cambodi Ouds + a hint of a vintage 1999 Hindi, bolstered by a vintage traditional Mitti Attar, a vint 2006 (and 5-year oak barrel aged) Indian Patchouli, and a dash of my Hyraceum Attar.
These are all compounded together and allowed to meld for a few days, and then as the final step, blended into one of my Custom Sandalwoods (Deep and Buttery, in this case). I was afraid it would be a bit too floral, but the few days of playing together and the Sandal really helped bring out the incensey aspects. Oud sings throughout, as Kesiro can attest.
Custom Attars continue to settle and develop for the next 6 months or so - continuing to "unify", and "amplify" the message, so to speak. After awhile, you learn how to "read" how your materials will meld down the road. Similar to a wine or scotch composer. Young wine isn't that exciting - but the trained tongue will "know" how the wine will develop - and will even be able to tell which kinds of grapes to blend, or wood to cask a wine in to develop it's full flavor potential. Compounding fragrances is similar. When first compounded, the individual material's personalities are still perceptible. But given time, they meld into one - and can even shift quite a bit and form new aromatic nuances not present in any of the original materials used in a composition. It's all in the compounding and the ratios used. Not quite chemistry - more of like an artful alchemy. A lot like high end culinary cooking (a fave hobby of mine).
Here at Rising Phoenix, we Custom Extract a wide variety of materials - from Fossilized Amber, to Franks and Myrrhs, and the Ouds and Sandalwoods and Animal Attars that many here already know about. I also work directly with a wide variety of Artisan Distillers to acquire many of the ingredients I work with, in addition to acquiring a wide selection of vintage materials that I put to work in my Custom work, as well as the Attars I compose to sell. Factor in the incense composing to the raw woods that we sell - and I aim to make this a very diverse operation (something Ensar loves to poke fun at me for in some of our conversations). Hehe
So...a long winded first post. Hope the details about some of the work that we offer was ok - and hope everyone enjoyed the details about the special oil that was put together for Kesiro!