You should give Adam a call then @Taha! I heard he was selling some sinking Sri Lankan wood for 'waaay less than $10 a gram' or something to that effect. I thought the same thing when I heard about it: Why doesn't he just call me and say he has sinking wood for that kind of price? I'd buy the entire lot in a heartbeat. I assumed it was distillation wood that for some reason happened to sink if put in water.....
My guess is that must have been settled dust/debris, that I can get for less than $10,000 as well. But sinking double super.. now that's a different story.
Taha always making a surprise when it comes to Oud eh.
May the sri lankan distillations proceed smoothly. So the Filipino hunt will be extended a few more weeks? How'd it go so far if you dont mind sharing some vague hints?
*My bad he said $6.50-$7..but that doesn't make significant different to the point made.
When quoting lumpsum of double super n baby king..he (and I assume some other resellers) group them all together n ask.."How many grams total? How much ?". .and then calculated a per gram average.Was quite surprised..there's baby king super in there ya know? :O
Perhaps it's the sinking but doesnt smell good kind of wood? I've heard Ensar mention somewhere that he was disappointed with the aroma of some sinking wood. Also some others mentioned about some sinking wood smell mediocre. Any words on this @Taha?
Heh. If he offers to sell his wood I'll mention that to him. But you'll probably be disappointed in the actual wood.
@Ensar yeah Adam mentioned that on facebook I think.maybe there's still some left? From pics of sri lankan wood I've seen (not many) they're not visually similar to other woods I've seen (black, dark streaks of resin). Is this the case specifically with sri lankan wood?
Yep, I'm in Sri Lanka right now. So far so good. Just have to finish cleaning/seasoning/neutralizing the pots with sandalwood first (sandalwood has excellent cleansing properties). Funny, this very same topic was being discussed here @ Gaharu just recently. My position is that, yes, it needs to be done. Running a virgin pot distillation is a bad idea, the oil will smell quite off.
However, I do believe in thoroughly cleaning out pots after every distillation (without abrasives or detergents though). I think Ensar and Adam may have a different view on this, because I know they're more adventurous than I (after the recent Impasug-ong excursion, I'm even less adventurous!).
But back to sinking wood (the topic of this thread)-
No way you can get sinking double super for $6.50-$7. Here in Sri Lanka, if you go to the regions where those shirtless axe-carrying jungle people live, Walla oud trees grow in abundance (this country is the only exception to the otherwise-unanimous affliction of extinction across SE Asia), and you negotiate with those folks and buy from them
directly (i.e. not a wholesaler), even then you won't get this price. So do please tell him I'll buy it all, heck, throw in the usual 40% reseller profit for yourself as well, even then it would be a great deal for me.
Yes, its true, not all sinking wood will automatically smell great.
There can be grades of wood from another tree which are a couple notches below sinking, and yet smell superior to sinking grade wood from an inferior tree. There are a whole lot of factors that shape the aroma. Superior soil composition, altitude, and malling by clawed + tusked animals have a huge impact on the aroma of the oleoresin.
Having said that, a higher grade of wood from a tree will always be superior to lesser grades of wood
from the same tree.
The best combo...? Sinking grade
and stellar tree.
(like the wood that you got)
By the way, if you want to experience that same wood in oil form, swing by my place after I finally return back home (after Sri Lanka, I have to head back to join Ahmad and Amab first, they're still hunting.. so not sure exactly when I'll finally be back home after that). We can do a side-by-side heating v.s. oil comparison. Then you can let me know if Kehebatan is worthy of the name.