Owwwh...
Well maybe next time.
At any rate though,
please share more about what you're witnessing in Kannauj. I have shared some of this info with others before, and have told them what it really means when one says (and I am one of them) that the Indian traditional distillers are THE unmatched masters of distillation. Instead of us holding onto a meaningless fanboy tantra, why don't you enlighten us so we all know what that really means.
Think about it.. I have had 3 explosions trying to replicate what they do, and of course I threw in the towel after the third time it happened, because it nearly took out my left eye and fried the left side of my face.
Whereas modern day distillation typically entails "distillers" loitering and napping and chatting on WhatsApp while a distillation is running, the way distillation was done in the good old days (and
to this day in Kannauj, shrinking rapidly though sadly), a distiller does not have the luxury of being away from the pot. Its a non-stop live choreography, and to whoever doesn't know this (if you've seen me distill in person then you already know) it was these masters that inspired me to choreograph and be in control of every drop that trickles into the collector.
I will repeat: I threw in the towel. I could not do it. And I've done distillations with the pot just feet away from my bed (i.e. non-stop attention). So just imagine the skill
those guys have.
What color is your traditional copper vetiver oil?
And by the way, its funny you mentioned Indonesian vetiver. I was having a chat with someone recently, and he said that Indonesian vetiver is the worst. I said NO, its only because in Indonesia the majority of vetiver is cooked with cost-efficiency being the priority. But if you smell raw Indonesian vetiver, or raw Brunei lemon grass, or raw Malaysian neelam (patchouli), you realize, there is nothing inferior about any of these (and other) natural aromatic substances. Its just that justice isn't done to them in most cases.
PS: those briquettes/pellets are called 'gobar', and for my grandmother back in her youth in her village (close to Meghalaya) it was the standard fuel. Families would make 'parathas'
out of the dung and slap them on to the wall to dry. Once dried, these briquettes were the every day fuel for everything, including cooking food.
Lalitya and Lavanya were cooked with briquettes, in a restored vintage copper pot.
Observe the color of those two. I'm willing to bet Chugoku Senkoh was distilled using briquettes too (in the same hue family).