SOTD

Oudamberlove

Well-Known Member
I was busy today....
doing a check-up of several of my macerations:
3 different Musks, Siberian Castoreum, Civet, and 3 different Ambergris. Used clean wooden toothpicks to place swipes all over my hands and arms:confused:

Then after a shower, settled down to a relaxing swipe of Berkilau:rolleyes:
 
I was busy today....
doing a check-up of several of my macerations:
3 different Musks, Siberian Castoreum, Civet, and 3 different Ambergris. Used clean wooden toothpicks to place swipes all over my hands and arms:confused:

Then after a shower, settled down to a relaxing swipe of Berkilau:rolleyes:
Something so wonderful about having all those things in the works-treasures and gifts from the earth to our earthly senses.
 

Rasoul S

Well-Known Member
View attachment 945 View attachment 946

Today I used the same grinder for 5g of exquisite deer musk. The resulting powder was extremely fine and uniform. I actually think the musk was subjected to less heat than it would have been in a mortar and pestle. Slow and easy grinding.

Because of the design of the Hario Skerton coffee grinder, essentially all of the musk was ground and was usable. The grinder is easy to disassemble and all parts are easily reachable to dust out the precious (and psychadelically fragrant) powder. No weight difference before and after detectable by my scale.

I popped it into an ounce of a very nice sandalwood oil. In a year or so I’ll let you guys know how it’s developing.

I filed this under SOTD because just from working with the stuff I’m Mr. Musk Bomb. There is an occasional deer in my neighborhood. I’ll let you know if any does come scratching at my window.
Thumbs up
 

Rasoul S

Well-Known Member
VancOUDver group got together today and went thru a mini oudfest.

Two nayas: surirankah and chugoku

Both have the same heart note as the first edition oil’s (bearing the senkoh in the name) while both have an additional sprinkling of ethereal and beautiful top notes. In particular the sweeter tropical floral notes like mimosa and a cool cucumber cocktail in surirankah naya were so well defined and a joy to wear on this summer day. chugoku naya had a couple other notes above chugoku senkoh too: a very delicate pretty subtle meyer lemon note and a subtle early morning jasmine note. is it that the senkoh oils started like this and changed as they aged to become a case of less is more or naya oils were made with this top note intention while keeping that true oleoresins note as their primary focus?

@Ensar
Is the naya reference literal as in “new” or they mean more to you? To me both nayas have what the senkoh oils had(have) but have more shimmering pretty top notes.

Two terrific oil. Chugoku senkoh was my fav of the day.
 

Rasoul S

Well-Known Member
Few more casual notes:
Midori is a classic Borneo. The green notes are toned down (compared to let’s say kinamantan) but it does have a good 30-50% of the buzz and that vaporous gorgeousness of the bigger brother kinamantan. For those who missed out on kinamantan or out of their budget, midori will easily scratch that itch and satisfy the urge

Kinam rouge
Once again this amazing chameleon was doing its shape shifting act. Goes on as a red tabs. Medicinal note then goes 100% cambodi before going back to that bitter medicinal Vietnam note while remaining red in profile. A smooth round yet top note powerhouse of an oil with serious drydown.

Assam Wilde
Not for me but super easy going entry level mild barn oil.

Muana royale again
Take Nirvata Muana make it more ethereal pretty and lifted and you get this oil. Also a more finessed drydown. Touch more lift.

Archinam
Green Papua fans rejoice. The profile here is gp archipelago with a nod to the mysterious dark green of port moresbey.

And lastly back to a familiar favorite sultan abdus selam. Nothing new to add. Great stuff.
 

Rasoul S

Well-Known Member
Wow that sounds great, Larry. And I enjoyed the history, Ensar! Tonight I'm having a very late night (as in, I'm going to bed shortly) and am testing Qing by Rising Pheonix & Naga by Agarwood Assam. Unfortunately when I wake up these oils will be long gone as always happens when going to bed wearing oils :( I think it gets smeared into my bedsheets.
I hear you but select oils not only are not gone in the am but still full on displaying their drydown and few even show a bit of the heart notes still!!!
Orsl, borneo diesel, both Ltd. oils I have Kyara and Nha Trang, Royal malinau, syed ascent, rubaie, sri pada, viet zephyr...
 

~A Coburn

Well-Known Member
View attachment 945 View attachment 946

Today I used the same grinder for 5g of exquisite deer musk. The resulting powder was extremely fine and uniform. I actually think the musk was subjected to less heat than it would have been in a mortar and pestle. Slow and easy grinding.

Because of the design of the Hario Skerton coffee grinder, essentially all of the musk was ground and was usable. The grinder is easy to disassemble and all parts are easily reachable to dust out the precious (and psychadelically fragrant) powder. No weight difference before and after detectable by my scale.

I popped it into an ounce of a very nice sandalwood oil. In a year or so I’ll let you guys know how it’s developing.

I filed this under SOTD because just from working with the stuff I’m Mr. Musk Bomb. There is an occasional deer in my neighborhood. I’ll let you know if any does come scratching at my window.
Hario Skerton, here I come!

Although nothing quite elicits the oil from a coffee bean like a heavy pestle in loving hands.

Haha, that reminds me of Ambre et Bois, little did Kruger know it was at least a week before the ambergris muskiness faded from his jacket!

I've often wanted to macerate some musk or ambergris granules in Santal Royale and see if it's possible to get any spicier o_O

Loving Ambre et Bois... thanks for the inspiration Larry!
 
Hario Skerton, here I come!

Although nothing quite elicits the oil from a coffee bean like a heavy pestle in loving hands.
I bought it on eBay ($11) for this purpose. There are other new-ish ones still still there for cheap.

I think it’d work well for coffee but I don’t have enough motivation to hand grind coffee until I’ve had my coffee. Is that an epistemological problem or just a practical one? OTOH some nice varietal, hand mashed in a mortar and macerated in Santal Sultan for three years and swiped on the tongue with a glass swiper....yum!

Kidding aside, owing to your intriguing suggestion, I might try mortaring a batch of beans in the mortar I’ve used for ambergris. I’ve read that it used to be a refined practice to attach a small chunk of ambergris inside a teapot top and the circulating steam inside would scent the tea. Dr. Chia (Kyarazen) would definitely not approve!
 
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Ensar Oud

Well-Known Member
VancOUDver group got together today and went thru a mini oudfest.

Two nayas: surirankah and chugoku

Both have the same heart note as the first edition oil’s (bearing the senkoh in the name) while both have an additional sprinkling of ethereal and beautiful top notes. In particular the sweeter tropical floral notes like mimosa and a cool cucumber cocktail in surirankah naya were so well defined and a joy to wear on this summer day. chugoku naya had a couple other notes above chugoku senkoh too: a very delicate pretty subtle meyer lemon note and a subtle early morning jasmine note. is it that the senkoh oils started like this and changed as they aged to become a case of less is more or naya oils were made with this top note intention while keeping that true oleoresins note as their primary focus?

@Ensar
Is the naya reference literal as in “new” or they mean more to you? To me both nayas have what the senkoh oils had(have) but have more shimmering pretty top notes.

Two terrific oil. Chugoku senkoh was my fav of the day.
"Naya" literally means "barn" or "barnyard" in Japanese. Or so I believe. The 'Nayas' are meant to be more "traditional" takes on the same raw materials as their modernistic "Senkoh" counterpart interpretations. Obviously, avoiding too much 'naya' in the literal sense, but it shows how much the raw materials contribute vs. the "method". I.e. if the wood is high enough, be it modern or traditional, the wood will do the talking. For the most part, anyways. :)
 

Rasoul S

Well-Known Member
"Naya" literally means "barn" or "barnyard" in Japanese. Or so I believe. The 'Nayas' are meant to be more "traditional" takes on the same raw materials as their modernistic "Senkoh" counterpart interpretations. Obviously, avoiding too much 'naya' in the literal sense, but it shows how much the raw materials contribute vs. the "method". I.e. if the wood is high enough, be it modern or traditional, the wood will do the talking. For the most part, anyways. :)
gotcha. thnx for expanding on this.
 

Rasoul S

Well-Known Member
Borneo Diesel was the scent of the night the other night. top to bottom this oil has it all. vaporous top notes that excite and thrill, hefty mid notes and that soul-stirring kyara ltd-esque dry down. yowza. what an oil. it yells borneo. the scent profile to my nose is somewhere between malinau and the brighter green like kalimantan. there is that kinamic bitter buzz that is mind bending in similar way that kyara ltd 2.0 excites. words dont fit. gotta try this one yourselves folks.

went back to one of my tried and true and always on oils today: AA kenmei. of the 4 vietnamese oils taha pulled in the last year, kenmei for me is the one that is easily over the rest. i would call it profound. while kiyosumi captures the note but is more high toned and front and center (ditto hansei), kenmei is keeping true to the note of VSK while offering some other notes build around it. lovely dry down on this and round settled projection from the get go. well made oil.
 
Today, my bottle of Jing Shen Lu arrived. I'm pretty sure you can guess what I am wearing! I'm getting a 'wild sage honey' thing as well as.. hm. how to describe this. Here in Arizona, when we have rain, there is a scent when the rain hits the hot sandstone. It's a sweet aroma with tinges of a not-unpleasant sharpness. And, of all things, there is also a note of (don't laugh!) Hoppe's gun oil. There is also a smudge of something animalic, and something that smells the way a really good single-malt Scotch tastes, smoky and complex. And I bet none of this made a lick of sense. If it doesn't, blame the oil, because I have been hyperventilating on the lid and I truly believe it alters the mind.
 

Rasoul S

Well-Known Member
Today, my bottle of Jing Shen Lu arrived. I'm pretty sure you can guess what I am wearing! I'm getting a 'wild sage honey' thing as well as.. hm. how to describe this. Here in Arizona, when we have rain, there is a scent when the rain hits the hot sandstone. It's a sweet aroma with tinges of a not-unpleasant sharpness. And, of all things, there is also a note of (don't laugh!) Hoppe's gun oil. There is also a smudge of something animalic, and something that smells the way a really good single-malt Scotch tastes, smoky and complex. And I bet none of this made a lick of sense. If it doesn't, blame the oil, because I have been hyperventilating on the lid and I truly believe it alters the mind.
Mind altering it is. No doubt.
I haven’t picked up an animalic note in jsl before. Time to give it a proper wear tmr.