SOTD
- Thread starter Kruger
- Start date
Went different route last night. Purple kinam! Oh boy. Tiny swipe under chin and even less on upper lip. Buzzzzzzzz. Immediately get a never ending supply of energy and mood goes in the outgoing direction. Purple is truly the colour of this scent. Powerful deeper darker more rounded version of ayu. To my nose more complete and more depth and mystery. Terrific stuff
Scent of This morning: my own perfume: a mostly jasmine ambergris sandal scent.
jasmine sambac ruh from white lotus and silver/white nz ambergris at whopping 10% from rising phoneix. Making up 50+ % by volume. Equally. Yes I am crazy I love ambergris in an overt way when it’s a sweet baby breath note and minimally animalic. Then comes a drop of 5 different sandal oils from Timor and India and lastly adding some sweet vanilla milky vapours and then smoke of nha trang heartwood and Brunei kinam from my subitims heather funneled into vial holding oil via a silicone tube.
If I may say so myself, wow wow wow.
I’ll keep this base 1.5ml or so and will split in to 3 different bases and then experiment what to do with two of them while keeping 0.5 ml as is to age and observe.
On one hand I want the celebration to be all on the trio of ambergris jasmine and sandal with that sweetness milky vannilic cooling vietnam/brunei note, but on other hand the scent here is almost all base without a top and barely a heart. I think I use ensar resin in one and shareef resin in another of the batches. Then take the shareef one and amp up with labdanum and narcissus and ensar one with not sure. MAybe tiny bergamot? Maybe Kewda? Any input friend?
jasmine sambac ruh from white lotus and silver/white nz ambergris at whopping 10% from rising phoneix. Making up 50+ % by volume. Equally. Yes I am crazy I love ambergris in an overt way when it’s a sweet baby breath note and minimally animalic. Then comes a drop of 5 different sandal oils from Timor and India and lastly adding some sweet vanilla milky vapours and then smoke of nha trang heartwood and Brunei kinam from my subitims heather funneled into vial holding oil via a silicone tube.
If I may say so myself, wow wow wow.
I’ll keep this base 1.5ml or so and will split in to 3 different bases and then experiment what to do with two of them while keeping 0.5 ml as is to age and observe.
On one hand I want the celebration to be all on the trio of ambergris jasmine and sandal with that sweetness milky vannilic cooling vietnam/brunei note, but on other hand the scent here is almost all base without a top and barely a heart. I think I use ensar resin in one and shareef resin in another of the batches. Then take the shareef one and amp up with labdanum and narcissus and ensar one with not sure. MAybe tiny bergamot? Maybe Kewda? Any input friend?
Have you tried IO’s Hainan Vintage? So similar to HA that I wondered if it’s actually the same oil. I think it’s a bit smoother than HA and therefore more elegant, but I personally like a bit of a rough edge. If you’re looking for Hainans which aren’t stratospherically priced, Faheem’s Hainan Vintage is a great candidate.
wanmei and filipina no 1 in the da house.
super duper quick off vial holder impressions:
wanmei: quiet, subdued and jet lagged. i have seen this before. not worried. it will come around when it wants to. almost reminds me of the legendary kekasihku in that it almost smells like nothing and it took a month or more post purchase and multi attempts to get the magic unlocked. in this case i applied wanmei on my wrist and in first 5-10 minutes barely any budge. minor strength picking up. coming on to 30 min mark, is definitely vietnamese bitter notes present along a super subtle sweetness behind it. a kyara whiff here a kyara whiff there. at the moment not revealing the constant and loud kyara notes that kenmei or kiosumi do. having seen jekylll/hyde behavior from taha's oil in past, i strongly recommend everyone new to his gen 3 oils to hold off judgment even after multi wears and even after a few weeks time. maybe month or more. all that was locked before will be opened up. how and why only his oils do this i have some hunches of my own but doesnt matter. they just do. so be patient.
last note: wanmei reminds me of royal guallam by ensar. just enough to make the comparison. similar bitter numbing mildly sweet opening but minus the wood underneath. unless that gets developed later. i doubt it, but wont jump to conclusions.
filipina no 1:
off the vial. wow. fireworks. i have a strong feeling this is going to be one of the most complete and legendary oils taha has made to date. and yes it does indeed smell like the superbly stupid good piece of the wood i procured from taha. this will be epic. me and my filipina friend will have many good times together i can tell. i can see it being an engaging before exercise oil as opposed to wanmei for meditation or night time.
super duper quick off vial holder impressions:
wanmei: quiet, subdued and jet lagged. i have seen this before. not worried. it will come around when it wants to. almost reminds me of the legendary kekasihku in that it almost smells like nothing and it took a month or more post purchase and multi attempts to get the magic unlocked. in this case i applied wanmei on my wrist and in first 5-10 minutes barely any budge. minor strength picking up. coming on to 30 min mark, is definitely vietnamese bitter notes present along a super subtle sweetness behind it. a kyara whiff here a kyara whiff there. at the moment not revealing the constant and loud kyara notes that kenmei or kiosumi do. having seen jekylll/hyde behavior from taha's oil in past, i strongly recommend everyone new to his gen 3 oils to hold off judgment even after multi wears and even after a few weeks time. maybe month or more. all that was locked before will be opened up. how and why only his oils do this i have some hunches of my own but doesnt matter. they just do. so be patient.
last note: wanmei reminds me of royal guallam by ensar. just enough to make the comparison. similar bitter numbing mildly sweet opening but minus the wood underneath. unless that gets developed later. i doubt it, but wont jump to conclusions.
filipina no 1:
off the vial. wow. fireworks. i have a strong feeling this is going to be one of the most complete and legendary oils taha has made to date. and yes it does indeed smell like the superbly stupid good piece of the wood i procured from taha. this will be epic. me and my filipina friend will have many good times together i can tell. i can see it being an engaging before exercise oil as opposed to wanmei for meditation or night time.
update on wanmei:
few hours later and this oil has woken up. still groggy and not 100%, but so much more is present. my intial royal guallam comparison still stands. dont get me wrong they are more different than similar but the similarity is pretty awesome. wanmei goes sweeter, more lactone and more vanilla.
few hours later and this oil has woken up. still groggy and not 100%, but so much more is present. my intial royal guallam comparison still stands. dont get me wrong they are more different than similar but the similarity is pretty awesome. wanmei goes sweeter, more lactone and more vanilla.
I took my first swipe of Tigerwood 95 today.
I'll post my review as well.
When I was young I always loved how the sheikh at my masjid smelled. He probably wasn't into oud, but whatever he was wearing I really loved it. It set a basis for what I thought of as the kind of perfume that a sheikh wears. Every Eid there would be a cart at the bazaar selling attars, and I'd save my money to buy one, but when I sampled everything, nothing was what I thought to be something that the sheikh would wear, so every year I went home without it. This is how I got into oud at such a young age, I've always loved attars and have had a dislike for western cologne, so when the shopowner near my uncle's apartment tried to sell me some expensive fake oud it got me curious. Near the fake big glass bottle of "musk" there would always be "oud", and I never knew what that was. So I went online and searched, and my curiosity brought me to Gaharu, and to the wonderful oud vendors. TW95 finally gave me the scent that I've been longing for all these years. It's exactly what I envisioned to be what a sheikh would wear. Spicy, smooth, unpredictable yet nuanced, it sits in its own scent category. It's just so good, and a scent that both beginners and veterans will love. By far my favourite oud.
I'll post my review as well.
When I was young I always loved how the sheikh at my masjid smelled. He probably wasn't into oud, but whatever he was wearing I really loved it. It set a basis for what I thought of as the kind of perfume that a sheikh wears. Every Eid there would be a cart at the bazaar selling attars, and I'd save my money to buy one, but when I sampled everything, nothing was what I thought to be something that the sheikh would wear, so every year I went home without it. This is how I got into oud at such a young age, I've always loved attars and have had a dislike for western cologne, so when the shopowner near my uncle's apartment tried to sell me some expensive fake oud it got me curious. Near the fake big glass bottle of "musk" there would always be "oud", and I never knew what that was. So I went online and searched, and my curiosity brought me to Gaharu, and to the wonderful oud vendors. TW95 finally gave me the scent that I've been longing for all these years. It's exactly what I envisioned to be what a sheikh would wear. Spicy, smooth, unpredictable yet nuanced, it sits in its own scent category. It's just so good, and a scent that both beginners and veterans will love. By far my favourite oud.
@Larry K. I haven’t tried IO’s Hainan Vintage.
Taha’s Mahabali and Ensar’s AO Meghalaya are both Hindi to the core but different presentations. Mahabali has a bittersweet, indolic quality that I describe as being concrete; earthy like hot, white beach sand in the sun. Clean yet challenging, smells like a Tripura wood I have on low-med heat and IMO is a textural masterpiece; a 2/10 on my barn-O-meter. AO Meghalaya is golden-brown hay, tobacco, a wee touch of the sweetness in China Sayang and the most medicinal of the AO’s IMO. Smooth in texture and a curative panacea, 4.5/10 on my barn-O-meter. Both are tola worthy and I clearly see why OAL has a tola of AO. AO as far as I know is already aged ~7yrs, I can’t begin to fathom how beautiful Mahabali will be in that long.
Taha’s Mahabali and Ensar’s AO Meghalaya are both Hindi to the core but different presentations. Mahabali has a bittersweet, indolic quality that I describe as being concrete; earthy like hot, white beach sand in the sun. Clean yet challenging, smells like a Tripura wood I have on low-med heat and IMO is a textural masterpiece; a 2/10 on my barn-O-meter. AO Meghalaya is golden-brown hay, tobacco, a wee touch of the sweetness in China Sayang and the most medicinal of the AO’s IMO. Smooth in texture and a curative panacea, 4.5/10 on my barn-O-meter. Both are tola worthy and I clearly see why OAL has a tola of AO. AO as far as I know is already aged ~7yrs, I can’t begin to fathom how beautiful Mahabali will be in that long.
Agar Aura Kiyosumi,
Blissful marriage of Cambodi Crassna, Borneo Malaccensis, and Chinese Sinensis without being any. Well excuted and mind boggling heated-agarwood-on-low-temperature oil.
Dried fruit soaked in honey flavored-chai latte and coumarin-laced fresh tobacco leaves garnished with the slightest white flowers and a drop of almond oil to enhance its bitterness.
Amaretto oud liqueur...
Blissful marriage of Cambodi Crassna, Borneo Malaccensis, and Chinese Sinensis without being any. Well excuted and mind boggling heated-agarwood-on-low-temperature oil.
Dried fruit soaked in honey flavored-chai latte and coumarin-laced fresh tobacco leaves garnished with the slightest white flowers and a drop of almond oil to enhance its bitterness.
Amaretto oud liqueur...
Last edited:
This morning I applied the newly acquired AA’s Chamkeila. This Indian Oud is one of @Taha’s Gen 3 oils which captures the oleresin of the wood. It truly is on par with the Senkoh series from @Ensar. I couldn’t imagine Assam Oud to smell like this, having no barn but rather something which is soothing and smooth. I can sense tobacco and Cambodian yet there is no Cambodian. A truly magnificent Indian Oud, the likes which are hard to come by. Thanks again @bhanny!!
cedar sauna and cinnamon gum my friend said to me as we are walking and he commenting on what he is smelling while looking up and around him. kinamantan is what i had on my sleeve from a day or two ago and he was smelling that. talk about strength and sillage. he couldn't believe is from my sleeve and couldn't believe it was only barely a drop from a day or two ago. as much as he enjoyed it and having said that he wasn't interested enough to explore further. cultural differenced and scent in the west.