Ensar's only cultivated Borneo if I'm not mistaken?
I was told by Ensar that it is an oud from wild wood..
Hola amigos... The Bois de Borneo was indeed 100% wild. Being the first oil we did from wood that was 'on par' with some of the higher end cultivated oils, and of similar price point, we didn't see fit at the time to list it among the other 'Aged Wild' releases, which were from superior wood, and aged for quite a bit longer. But the trees were definitely wild harvested and grown without human interference.
Things have changed since then, of course, and you've seen similarly priced wild oils listed under Aged Wild – not to mention vintage Tigerwood selling for less than some Organics!
If we were to release it today, it would certainly be categorized as an Aged Wild release.
Ensar, can you give some clarification on the distill dates of the different batches of Assam Organic? I see one called Assam 2005 in the legends sampler that says it's the first batch of AO. Also, I don't see it listed on the organic page anymore, is it no longer available as a standalone oil? From a timeline perspective the little of the one I have is pre-2010. Either way, as an organic distill it can clearly stand among almost any wild distilled Hindi and even best some of them.
If memory serves me right, apart from the 2005 batch the first 'full on' Assam Organic project was undertaken end of '06, beginning of '07, and this would have been the batch that sold through '09, when a '07-'08 batch was released. This sold all the way through '11, which is when the '10 batch was released. The '07 batch that was just discontinued was only released in 2015.
It's the most unique of all the Assam Organics, as it originated from a remote plantation in the district of Arunachal Pradesh, as opposed to geographical Assam itself, which is where all the other batches hailed from. This particular batch was distilled right alongside Oud Yunus, and I have very fond memories of those days and the smells that are associated with them, so I decided to discontinue the oil and keep what remains in the company archives....
I regret to inform our Assam Organic fans that there is currently no upcoming Assam Organic release in the pipeline. I can't guarantee if that's going to be a permanent thing, but I'm really not feeling the Assam scene at all lately. The dodginess has gone through the roof. It's not like it used to be back in the early days.... I even suspect they're currently mixing cultivated raw materials into purportedly 'wild harvested' batches. There's simply no way to control such activities unless you go there yourself, and Assam is not a safe place to visit anymore. This has led to my putting a major brake on even any wild oud productions from the region, until I can visit them in person and find out firsthand what's going on.
With that said, I do have a vast library of wild Hindi batches that I've been aging for years, and will focus on the release of these oils instead of chasing after new harvests in Assam.
The 2005 batch is available privately in small quantities.
