Pure Musk Deer Grains

#41
This is a very interesting and multi-faceted topic. My only experience with deer musk comes from a sample of Ensar's Borneo Zen perfume. A very beautiful perfume! It took some time for it to grow on me, but now it is one of my favorites. The notes of musk come in waves and also surround the fragrance with such nuance and sophistication. It is by no means the kind of in-your-face animalic note I would expect. I can appreciate Ensar's point that deer musk's primary use is as a fixative in perfume, because the musk in Borneo Zen does create a unique synergy with the Borneo oil, and creates an citrusy note that is irresistible.

I should also say that I put some Borneo Zen on before meditating, and it was a very powerful and complementary fragrance. The fragrance of musk becomes quite ethereal, dreamy, and deep, and can have a strong effect on someone, especially if used for sacred activities.

That said, I find it to be a real tragedy that an animal has to be killed in order for this fragrance to exist, and that the species is now endangered. I wonder if there are any efforts happening with the Musk Deer to help increase its population, much how Ensar is putting his energy into organic cultivation for the future of Oud?
 
#42
I knew it. I knew that musk should smell sweet.

Read in the section "Keeping in contact with each other".
http://oldwww.wii.gov.in/envis/ungulates/pagechapter15.htm
Regarding his otherdescriptions for example that they return to the same locations for defecation or that they rub themselves on trees, confirms indirectly the descriptions of the arabs.
Maybe 3 years is to short to find where those special places are, where they rub the mature musk off.
 
F

floraopia

Guest
#43
Very very interesting.... I have several musks that are genuine, but they do not smell sweet. Maybe, it just isn't available anymore. :(

I knew it. I knew that musk should smell sweet.

Read in the section "Keeping in contact with each other".


http://oldwww.wii.gov.in/envis/ungulates/pagechapter15.htm
Regarding his otherdescriptions for example that they return to the same locations for defecation or that they rub themselves on trees, confirms indirectly the descriptions of the arabs.
Maybe 3 years is to short to find where those special places are, where they rub the mature musk off.
 
#44
Maybe i think to complicated. Maybe the musk just has to keep long enough in the deer gland (living deer) for maturation.
If we could find out who this M.J.B. Green is and contact him/her to find out more. That would help a lot.
 
#45
Floraopia: you have to smell the musk in an alcohol tincture for you to smell the sweetness almost floral like scent and this has been the experience of many people in an experiment we conducted with Musk in Profumo's BN page. when most people were asked to describe the scent without knowing what it was most said sweet and floral after the obvious "animalic' scent. I also read that the musk scent depend on the type of pasture the deer has been eating.
 
F

floraopia

Guest
#46
Floraopia: you have to smell the musk in an alcohol tincture for you to smell the sweetness almost floral like scent and this has been the experience of many people in an experiment we conducted with Musk in Profumo's BN page. when most people were asked to describe the scent without knowing what it was most said sweet and floral after the obvious "animalic' scent. I also read that the musk scent depend on the type of pasture the deer has been eating.
I have a sample of Profumo's musk in alcohol tincture and maybe I am anosmic, but I could only smell the animalistic scent... I am assuming that the sweetness was the alcohol as the sweet, floral note is immediate, followed by the animalistic scent after... :confused:
 
#48
Hello Gaharu.com. I have a sample of Kashmiri musk tincture that is extremely floral. My first batch of Russian musk grains was sweet and the grains were still moist. This second batch arrived dried and is a mix of florally musk that almost stings. I don't get any animalic smell from either of them. It has an "1800's smell". It reminds me of walking into an antique shop with furniture and fabrics from the late 1800's. Was musk really common during that time period?
 
F

floraopia

Guest
#50
#53
I love this thread. Odorographia was an excellent find....I could not believe that people had so much time and passion to document all this information.....just amazing. I never purchased Musk but i'm looking to get some real musk....just want to smell the real thing. I need to know how long will it last and how to store it? Will this go bad in it's raw form or I would have to add this to some oil (Sandalwood or Oud) to preserve it?
 
#55
This might be the breakthrough.

Yesterday it ocurred to me, what if musk needs time air and sun to become what it should be?
Maybe what we are doing right now, is like trying to find out why black ambergris does not smell sweet and why it is not free from certain notes.
The answer to this FRESH ambergris could be the same to the FRESH musk which was not sunned or aired for long time.
Ambergris needs long time to become white and the odor changes. It is logical that musk also needs time with sun air and perhaps rain to have the right smell we are looking for, what it should be, the best perfume today on earth.

This idea is also confirmed with the old texts, it is mentioned, that the deer goes to a bush or tree and rubs himself so that he excretes an large amount of musk.
This musk stays there for a period, maybe long period with sun air and rain, until someone finds it!

I would like to conduct an experiment to find out, if this is the key to our goal. Most likely yes i would say.
Since i promised masstika not to acquire any musk anymore, i can not make this experiment, because if have non.
Those of us who still have a little bit, could try it, 0.6g should be enough.
Here is the plan, 0.2g should be put in a closed glass vial into the sun, so that it is sunned but has no contact with air, another 0.2g should be put in an open glass vial in the sun, so that it has contact with air and it is sunned, and 0.2g should be put in a closed vial that is protected from air and sun.
The time for maturing should be at least 1 year. Of course you can or should controll it, maybe every week or month, to find out, if it changed and if yes how it changed.
And to control it regularly is important to find out how much it needs at least to be fully mature.

Who is ready to volunteer and bring us forward?
By the way, if more than one person wants to conduct this experiment, it would be very useful to let us know which type you have, for example siberian or tonquin, so that we can make the experiment with several persons with differnt musk types. I believe that this might be the breakthrough, the key to our answers.
 
#56
You have to be careful, most of what is sold today is NOT real musk.
As far as i know, Bruce has real musk BUT he does not ship outside usa.
 
#57
I've done some exploration on this topic since last posting and thought I'd give this thread a bump. For one, I have to say that musk is one of the most intoxicating, meditative, and powerful fragrances I have ever smelled, tied with Oud oil. I've had a few different forms of exposure to it. One is in the form of musk grains that have been steeping in Aged Sandalwood for 4-5 years. This is very nice, and the alchemy between Sandalwood and Musk is incredible. I also acquired some Siberian Musk grains, and they possess a very rich, earthy, sweet aroma that is only a bit animalic. Mostly an earthy sweetness that is amazing. I have also tried Bruce at SMK fragrances musk tincture which I highly recommend. The tincture captures a purity of the musk aroma unlike anything else. It is like smelling the grains itself. Their tincture is very potent. I know many have reported being unable to smell Profumo's main tincture (which is why he also sells a concentrate 11x stronger), but there was no mistaking the tincture I had. Very potent.

I used Bruce's musk tincture (along with ambergris and white rose) to make a perfume, which I put for sale on my Oud Impressions website. I hope it can serve as a reference to those interested as to how musk functions in a perfume. I was very pleased with how it turned out. While musk is a very wonderful fragrance on its own, it really needs something to drive its energy into, to play with and into. That is why it works so well in perfumes, once it has something else to mingle with, it really starts to show its character.

But honestly, for all who are curious about musk, Borneo Zen is the way to go. I don't know how Ensar did it, but the perfume perfectly exemplifies a muskiness that is all too addictive for me. It plays with rose and jasmine, has an incredible vivaciousness and sweetness, and also a most mysterious citrus note which Ensar dubbed "jasmarine". Very accurate! Its my favorite perfume, by far. He used a sandalwood musk rather than a musk tincture like I did, which has its own magical properties. The way it all blends together is really amazing.

Bruce also mentioned to me, when I asked him, that he felt Kashmiri grains were inferior to the Siberian grains, in his experience. He said the Siberian grains possess a unique earthy sweetness and the Kashmiri grains are more animalic, but that he prefers the Siberian. Not to mention, Kashmiri grains are a thing of the past...