Artisanal Oud
Rather than synthetic one note wonders; when composed by the hands of an artisan a single oud oil can possess complexities and depth that surpass most designer fragrances.
Psychoactive is one way to describe Artisanal Agarwood Oil. Mind-blowing is another.
A perfumer's guilty pleasure, artisanal oud oil is without a doubt the most valued and refined olfactory merchandise available anywhere.
And the distillation of such oil is an art form in its own right.
Producing high-end agarwood oil today is all but a thing of the past because we no longer have ready access to the quality of raw agarwood that established its legendary status.
However the unheard-of distillation techniques and rigid standards of purity ensures that the agarwood oil you get from known artisanal oud producers such as Ensar Oud are very different products compared to generic, natural ouds, and commercial ouds so widely available from the many street vendors, the overnight artisans and armchair distillers who take advantage of the niche arduously pioneered by “
The Man who brought Oud to the West,” and the unsuspecting fragrance lovers who just came to the scene and don't realize a "Vendor of the Year" award could have been "secret award" rewarded from not many more than 50 insider votes, hardly representing the actual Oud and fragrance community.
Artisanal oud producer Ensar Oud is known for his intimate involvement and hands on, on the ground quality control with
obsessive standards that drive distillers crazy although ensuring genuine
incense grade agarwood is used in the production of the artisanal oils, and not the alternatives such as crocodile wood which many honest distillers will admit to adding to the pots for their general oils because nowadays diluting is an industry-wide “standard.”
This degree of quality is too expensive for most perfumers and distributors to implement on a large scale, which is why the small batches of tremendous quality Ensar Oud oils sell out in short order.
So for commercial purposes white wood and all, is ground up and thrown into the pots, boosting yields, but diluting the aromatic quality in the process. Making the oil even more shallow.
You see, only the resin of the tree in various stages of development is aromatic, yet white wood will still produce oil ‘boosting’ the yield although diluting the aroma.
Another yield boosting technique commonly used by commercial distilleries greatly impacting the aromatic quality of the oud oil is lengthy pre-distillation soaks. This is also where the misconception that oud smells like the least pleasant Indole origin comes from. . .
The distillers soak the ground-up agarwood in water; sometimes for months (without changing it)
Anaerobic fermentation begins and the wood becomes completely saturated and begins to break down.
The saturated wood yields more oil when distilled, however the aroma of that oil is as funky as you would expect from what is literally rotting wood, and this process is largely the reason oud has gained the reputation of smelling offensive or foul; because
that oud actually is, but that is
not artisanal oud.
Oud of Indian, Cambodian and Laotian origins are most widely known for the unpleasant fermented profiles. Yet the same oud in the hands of an artisan can elicit aromas with a depth and complexity that surpasses many fragrances on the market, with perfect balance and seamless transitions.
The possible tweaks which would elicit unusual notes is endless.
Artists can hypothetically distill Assamese oud (renowned for its animalic smell) as well as Cambodian, Thai, Bornean) oils to exhibit the most flamboyant bright scent profiles.
"But here is where the unique aesthetic of the Artisan must come into the picture, take a firm grip on the reins, and direct his journey of olfactory discovery through inventiveness and creativity in the direction that he feels is right. Imparting his signature into the oud oils."
There is a Golden Mean which raw materials, distillation techniques, and all the know-how and expertise of the Artisan can aim to attain in this craft: The scent which the oud wood gives off when gently heated; the resin of the wood.
Of course there are many grades of agarwood quality, with Kyara or Kinam and sinking-grade wood being the most sought after types. But in short, its status as the pinnacle of oud makes Kyara the most coveted incense in the world. Which is why Oriscent Ouds that capture its unearthly scent command the highest prices of $1,700 + per gram.
But after the raw material is procured then the real nitty-gritty of artisanal oud distillation begins.
For example, the mineral content of the water you use during distillation has a spectacular effect on the oil.
Distil an Indian oil in Evian drinking water and rather than the fermented profile standard for Assam, you might just end up with a sweet gourmand profile as delicious as honey.
And Ensar Oud has long since done exactly that eliciting easy to wear profiles from regions responsible for the stinky-oud stigma so widely spread.
Oud oils from Assam, Meghalaya, Haflong, Burma, Manipur and Bhutan which we are aging that are floral, sumptuous and elegant, with absolutely zero 'stank' to them.
Not to mention his most recent works like Betonamu Senkoh which rather than portray what is now known as the 'Arab style' of oud, accurately capture the Japanese aesthetic of scent; subtle, dignified and refined the nuanced profiles unlike any other... Below is a little excerpt from The Oud Journey illustrating the many variables that go into designing and producing a profile, to quote Ensar:
"But water is only one out of a dozen factors.
The material the pot for cooking is made of plays a major role, as does the method of soaking.
What the containers you soak the oud in are made of matters too, as do the ducts inside the boilers.
And don't forget the condenser.
You might distil 100-year-old Bhutan raw materials in copper with zero soak and get a rosy Oud oil.
Yet if you soak them for two weeks and cook in steel the oil will smell more like champaca and tuberose.
You might soak in Evian for a week and cook in groundwater; or soak in groundwater for a month and cook in Evian.
You might soak in Evian for two weeks then re-soak in groundwater for another two weeks; or soak in groundwater for a week followed by a three-week Evian soak.
You might soak in plastic or in clay or in ceramic.
You might cook in copper or stainless steel or in glass...
The variables are many, and the ways you can combine them virtually endless...."
As with any art medium there are also certain fundamental constants such as the region of origin and genus of the material.
Cambodia, India (also known as Hindi comprised of several East Indian countries) and Thailand are perhaps the most internationally renowned origins, although agarwood also grows in Bhutan, Myanmar, China, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Commercially, broad categories of scent are assigned to the regional variations, India is animalic, Cambodia fruity, and Thai ouds sweet. These general profiles of natural oud are what the flavor and fragrance conglomerates have replicated and basic profile categories are where the differences in commercial ouds end.
As Ensar has pointed out: "... just like their fruit-bearing counterparts, agarwood trees produce radically different types of resin and therefore smells.
To the same degree that snake fruit can be said to resemble durian, Indian oud oil ‘resembles’ Cambodian, and Bornean resembles Papuan.
They are all ‘oud' to the same extent that papayas, dragon fruit, lychee, kiwi and oranges are all fruits; but that is where the similarity ends.
All further comparisons, whether in chemical make-up, olfactory profile, method of inoculation, peak maturation, fermentability, and optimal extraction techniques hold as much water as similar comparisons would between different fruit-bearing trees.
The best way to harvest mangosteen bears no relevance to harvesting watermelons and the optimal extraction method for orange juice is of little relevance to mulberries."
When distilled artisanally, purposefully and in much smaller, higher quality batches, each oil becomes a unique fragrance, fabulously complex with up to 150 aromatic compounds in a single artisanal oud oil. While commercial ouds
have to be blended to be of interest, artisanal ouds can be worn neat as a standalone fragrance.
The composer must orchestrate the genus, variances in terroir, and the length of development of the resin, using the right combination of equipment, temperature and water to elicit replete nuanced profiles, harmonizing all of the variables capturing vast vertical and horizontal complexities giving you a luxury -
scent from heaven.
Artisanal Oud is so much more than a single note, it’s an entire symphony orchestra with as many nuances as there are pitches of frequency.
And just as a composer harmonizes the sounds of the instruments, the producer harmonizes the distillation variables to elicit the profile he envisioned.