Oud Oil Reviews - MAIN THREAD
- Thread starter bhanny
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I know that the review is highly expected here and there so let me tell you...
Point one : the queen has a really good taste when it comes to Oud
Point two : DNA completely respected!this oud comes from Malaysia no doubt!
Point three : Resinous Depth Depth and Depth you will find in it all the characteristics of a fine and great oil well aged and distilled from highly resinated wood.
Point four : the oil is affirmed and graceful in the same time.Sweet, perfectly balanced, resinous, floral and a delicious woody drydown with something more...the thing that makes it Royale
My day was really hard and nice to put an oud of this stature on my wrist to relax my mind !
Point one : the queen has a really good taste when it comes to Oud
Point two : DNA completely respected!this oud comes from Malaysia no doubt!
Point three : Resinous Depth Depth and Depth you will find in it all the characteristics of a fine and great oil well aged and distilled from highly resinated wood.
Point four : the oil is affirmed and graceful in the same time.Sweet, perfectly balanced, resinous, floral and a delicious woody drydown with something more...the thing that makes it Royale
My day was really hard and nice to put an oud of this stature on my wrist to relax my mind !
I know that the review is highly expected here and there so let me tell you...
Point one : the queen has a really good taste when it comes to Oud
Point two : DNA completely respected!this oud comes from Malaysia no doubt!
Point three : Resinous Depth Depth and Depth you will find in it all the characteristics of a fine and great oil well aged and distilled from highly resinated wood.
Point four : the oil is affirmed and graceful in the same time.Sweet, perfectly balanced, resinous, floral and a delicious woody drydown with something more...the thing that makes it Royale
My day was really hard and nice to put an oud of this stature on my wrist to relax my mind !
Point one : the queen has a really good taste when it comes to Oud
Point two : DNA completely respected!this oud comes from Malaysia no doubt!
Point three : Resinous Depth Depth and Depth you will find in it all the characteristics of a fine and great oil well aged and distilled from highly resinated wood.
Point four : the oil is affirmed and graceful in the same time.Sweet, perfectly balanced, resinous, floral and a delicious woody drydown with something more...the thing that makes it Royale
My day was really hard and nice to put an oud of this stature on my wrist to relax my mind !
If I didn't spent all my money last week ( thanks to our dear friend Ensar who refused to exchange my Parrot with some oils
) I would buy second bottle right now, great job Ensar and really thanks.So I thought a review of Tahas 2 Laos creations was in order...
As an introductory note, I am a proud owner of Lao1....these Lao distillations are quite different but share that same recognizable Lao DNA.
Lao Chen Xiang - on the fruit spectrum...this strikes me as zesty lemon (without bitterness). I almost feel like I am smelling Lao1 stripped of the barn and allowing the pure pristine Lao profile to emerge untainted. I am also somehow inclined to compare it to RCX (burmese) in terms of its distillation ‘style’....no doubt a completely different scent profile but its that smooth, clean yet intense oud experience I have with smelling the RCX.
Mai Wan Lao – Amazing how such a different scent can be derived from the same wood....this is an excellent complement to the xiang. It is more candied peach on the fruit spectrum...it has a redness to it without being red per say. Beautifully intense...almost has a ‘fermented’ feel it unlike the Xiang. The overall profile is more psychoactive for me...
Taha, can you please clarify whether either of these had any fermentation to them?
As an introductory note, I am a proud owner of Lao1....these Lao distillations are quite different but share that same recognizable Lao DNA.
Lao Chen Xiang - on the fruit spectrum...this strikes me as zesty lemon (without bitterness). I almost feel like I am smelling Lao1 stripped of the barn and allowing the pure pristine Lao profile to emerge untainted. I am also somehow inclined to compare it to RCX (burmese) in terms of its distillation ‘style’....no doubt a completely different scent profile but its that smooth, clean yet intense oud experience I have with smelling the RCX.
Mai Wan Lao – Amazing how such a different scent can be derived from the same wood....this is an excellent complement to the xiang. It is more candied peach on the fruit spectrum...it has a redness to it without being red per say. Beautifully intense...almost has a ‘fermented’ feel it unlike the Xiang. The overall profile is more psychoactive for me...
Taha, can you please clarify whether either of these had any fermentation to them?
Nope, no fermentation for either one. Both of these are copper brews, hence the fruity notes (wait till you smell the steel ones.. yikes! Nosebleed alert).
By the way, you should try Yuzu fruit some time. You'll suddenly smell that in all Sinesis oils. LCX is more lemony, I agree (due to how it was distilled), whereas in most Sinesis oils the citrus is usually more orangey. But once you try Yuzu, that's the only citrus you'll smell in all Sinesis oils.
Speaking of fermentation, I find that all Sinesis (Chinese, Laotian, Burmese... as different as they all may be from each other) and Indian woods are the best candidates for fermentation. For some reason, fermentation doesn't work quite as well (in my opinion) with other wood varieties. Any how, for better or worse, I've stopped doing fermented oud for reasons I've mentioned in earlier posts, and so any Agar Aura ouds with an animalic element, or a 'fermented feel', are that way due to intrinsic properties of the wood itself which were activated due to distillation methodology. Quite intriguing, really. You've already tried Mahabali, so you prolly know what I mean (and I'm sure you'll agree, Mahabali and Mai Wan have a similar 'feel' and effect on the mind). Perhaps now that you've smelled these two 'barn without barn' oils, you might be able to distinguish intrinsic animalics from soak/fermentation triggered animalics.
By the way, you should try Yuzu fruit some time. You'll suddenly smell that in all Sinesis oils. LCX is more lemony, I agree (due to how it was distilled), whereas in most Sinesis oils the citrus is usually more orangey. But once you try Yuzu, that's the only citrus you'll smell in all Sinesis oils.
Speaking of fermentation, I find that all Sinesis (Chinese, Laotian, Burmese... as different as they all may be from each other) and Indian woods are the best candidates for fermentation. For some reason, fermentation doesn't work quite as well (in my opinion) with other wood varieties. Any how, for better or worse, I've stopped doing fermented oud for reasons I've mentioned in earlier posts, and so any Agar Aura ouds with an animalic element, or a 'fermented feel', are that way due to intrinsic properties of the wood itself which were activated due to distillation methodology. Quite intriguing, really. You've already tried Mahabali, so you prolly know what I mean (and I'm sure you'll agree, Mahabali and Mai Wan have a similar 'feel' and effect on the mind). Perhaps now that you've smelled these two 'barn without barn' oils, you might be able to distinguish intrinsic animalics from soak/fermentation triggered animalics.
This is a long overdue review on Taha first Syed Series oil: Al-Syed New Guinea No.1. The raw material is Aquilaria Filaria (above-ground wood) from Papua New Guinea.
It opens with the unmistakable Merauke note but imagine without the typical swampiness, gasoline or earthy dampness that are usually associated with oil from this region. Now I have never like Merauke oils as most of them contain at least one of the notes mentioned above. But you are definitely not getting any of those with NG1, and In Taha's words, the oil smells like 'squeezed wood aroma' which I have to agree here. But I can imagine not everyone will like it though if they are used to the raw earthy and wet jungly smell of Merauke oil.
There is an underlying tinge of vanilla in the beginning, slowly intensifying into a bright honey sweetness that will give EO Borneo 3000 a run for its money. It is not the thick syrupy honey sweetness (e.g. AA Royal Pursat) that can saturate your olfactory senses with time, but rather a medium light sweetness with a tinge of very gentle mint or vegetal green that soothe your nostril with each deep inhalation.
The oil's scent profile is like an intertwine helix of dry, heated woody aroma of Filaria wood and the gentle, light sweetness that I had just described above. Now the most amazing part about this oil for me is the harmonious interplay of this helix pair; as one takes to the fore in an alluring display, the other would retreat gracefully to the backstage yet its presence still keenly felt. From start to end, you will hardly miss the Merauke note but yet it seems contented to stay in the backstage, drifting in and out from time to time. The prominent note is definitely the light incensey sweetness but yet it is very beautifully balanced by the dry woodiness, toning down its narcotic sweetness. A beautiful oil with notes that dovetail perfectly with each other.
Personally I have not tried too many Merauke oils, but NG1 smells the closest to EO Oud Royale 1 to me at the moment. They share the same 'dry' smell profile though OR1 is a bit on the heavier side of the sweetness. If EO Oud Royale 3 (2004 version) is described as 'Maroke on Steroid' (imagine standing in a dense forest caught in a heavy downpour), NG1 would be on the opposite spectrum of being 'Dainty and Gentle'. While EO Oud Royale 5 shares some similarity with NG1 in terms of the sweet oudiness, it opens up with a dark cocoa chocolatey sweetness and definitely has a more jungly dampness. However, perhaps due to its young age (distill beginning this year), it lacks a certain depth when compared to the Royale brothers. Hopefully with time, it will blossom and mature well yet retaining its unique scent profile that i enjoy very much.
It opens with the unmistakable Merauke note but imagine without the typical swampiness, gasoline or earthy dampness that are usually associated with oil from this region. Now I have never like Merauke oils as most of them contain at least one of the notes mentioned above. But you are definitely not getting any of those with NG1, and In Taha's words, the oil smells like 'squeezed wood aroma' which I have to agree here. But I can imagine not everyone will like it though if they are used to the raw earthy and wet jungly smell of Merauke oil.
There is an underlying tinge of vanilla in the beginning, slowly intensifying into a bright honey sweetness that will give EO Borneo 3000 a run for its money. It is not the thick syrupy honey sweetness (e.g. AA Royal Pursat) that can saturate your olfactory senses with time, but rather a medium light sweetness with a tinge of very gentle mint or vegetal green that soothe your nostril with each deep inhalation.
The oil's scent profile is like an intertwine helix of dry, heated woody aroma of Filaria wood and the gentle, light sweetness that I had just described above. Now the most amazing part about this oil for me is the harmonious interplay of this helix pair; as one takes to the fore in an alluring display, the other would retreat gracefully to the backstage yet its presence still keenly felt. From start to end, you will hardly miss the Merauke note but yet it seems contented to stay in the backstage, drifting in and out from time to time. The prominent note is definitely the light incensey sweetness but yet it is very beautifully balanced by the dry woodiness, toning down its narcotic sweetness. A beautiful oil with notes that dovetail perfectly with each other.
Personally I have not tried too many Merauke oils, but NG1 smells the closest to EO Oud Royale 1 to me at the moment. They share the same 'dry' smell profile though OR1 is a bit on the heavier side of the sweetness. If EO Oud Royale 3 (2004 version) is described as 'Maroke on Steroid' (imagine standing in a dense forest caught in a heavy downpour), NG1 would be on the opposite spectrum of being 'Dainty and Gentle'. While EO Oud Royale 5 shares some similarity with NG1 in terms of the sweet oudiness, it opens up with a dark cocoa chocolatey sweetness and definitely has a more jungly dampness. However, perhaps due to its young age (distill beginning this year), it lacks a certain depth when compared to the Royale brothers. Hopefully with time, it will blossom and mature well yet retaining its unique scent profile that i enjoy very much.
Bhanny's Sultan Adventure.
Guys. If you haven't had the chance to grab some of Ensar's Sultans, put it on your to do list. These are unreal.
Sultan Beyazit. Love love love the semisweet, slightly sour, perfectly oceanic, deep blue-green opening. I wish I knew how he gets these amazingly intense and colorful notes out of his sultan series, Beyazit is no different.
Sultan Suleyman. Similar to the others with its glorious and succulent opening, but the Malay component definitely lends a different vibe to the overall scent spectrum. Just as vivid and bright as the rest of the series I've sampled, but do I get some commonality with the distinguished Purple Kinam? I definitely pick up top notch Malaysian notes in the super smooth base.
Sultan Thai (to be named later). This one is young and just starting to blossom, but its clearly special. It has all the same vibrant characteristics of its New Guinea and New Guinea blend brethren, but this is super duper Thai wood and the spectrum follows accordingly. The base of this one is amazing. I'm sitting 10-12 hours later and it still has this lovely resinated woodiness.
Sultan Abdul Hamit. I know I've written about this one before. Typical gorgeous Sultan opening, but this one remind me of simmering agarwood, a steady wisp of smoke, bubbling resin and the ocean. Awesome.
Sultan Mustafa. Oh the sweet, berrilicious, blue-green of this NG/Brunei blend. One of the most truly beautiful scents I've ever smelled.
Guys. If you haven't had the chance to grab some of Ensar's Sultans, put it on your to do list. These are unreal.
Sultan Beyazit. Love love love the semisweet, slightly sour, perfectly oceanic, deep blue-green opening. I wish I knew how he gets these amazingly intense and colorful notes out of his sultan series, Beyazit is no different.
Sultan Suleyman. Similar to the others with its glorious and succulent opening, but the Malay component definitely lends a different vibe to the overall scent spectrum. Just as vivid and bright as the rest of the series I've sampled, but do I get some commonality with the distinguished Purple Kinam? I definitely pick up top notch Malaysian notes in the super smooth base.
Sultan Thai (to be named later). This one is young and just starting to blossom, but its clearly special. It has all the same vibrant characteristics of its New Guinea and New Guinea blend brethren, but this is super duper Thai wood and the spectrum follows accordingly. The base of this one is amazing. I'm sitting 10-12 hours later and it still has this lovely resinated woodiness.
Sultan Abdul Hamit. I know I've written about this one before. Typical gorgeous Sultan opening, but this one remind me of simmering agarwood, a steady wisp of smoke, bubbling resin and the ocean. Awesome.
Sultan Mustafa. Oh the sweet, berrilicious, blue-green of this NG/Brunei blend. One of the most truly beautiful scents I've ever smelled.
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Yes Bhanny is the devil on one shoulder for sure - I am tempted by these sultans also..
May as well review a high end sultan oil I have - have seen no other reviews of this online:
Sultan Fatih (EO) - Extravagant blue-green aquatic smelling oil, rich woodiness and sweetness with otherworldly floral/fruit aspects - almost like the New Guinea profile borrowed a bit of Malaysian DNA.. This oil is aging very nicely as well, smoothing out a bit, become more integrated and rich.. To my knowledge this is the luxury version of Oud Sultan Murad (higher grade of same trees, similar distillation technique) - the scent profiles are similar, though with Sultan Fatih being richer and more lavish smelling, and OSM being leaner and cleaner smelling - I love both!
May as well review a high end sultan oil I have - have seen no other reviews of this online:
Sultan Fatih (EO) - Extravagant blue-green aquatic smelling oil, rich woodiness and sweetness with otherworldly floral/fruit aspects - almost like the New Guinea profile borrowed a bit of Malaysian DNA.. This oil is aging very nicely as well, smoothing out a bit, become more integrated and rich.. To my knowledge this is the luxury version of Oud Sultan Murad (higher grade of same trees, similar distillation technique) - the scent profiles are similar, though with Sultan Fatih being richer and more lavish smelling, and OSM being leaner and cleaner smelling - I love both!
Kinam Battle Royale!!!
Well, heading to Star Wars Rogue One with the family today and what better way than to take a couple swipes of my oud equivalent of "the force", kinam. This battle will pit the soul-stirring Vietnamese perfection known as Kynam No1 against the pure bliss-inducing Chinese delight named Kyara LTD Private. Which will come out on top? Only time will tell, but I know one dude who will be truly entranced by the collective power of these two Jedi Masters.
Well, heading to Star Wars Rogue One with the family today and what better way than to take a couple swipes of my oud equivalent of "the force", kinam. This battle will pit the soul-stirring Vietnamese perfection known as Kynam No1 against the pure bliss-inducing Chinese delight named Kyara LTD Private. Which will come out on top? Only time will tell, but I know one dude who will be truly entranced by the collective power of these two Jedi Masters.