what regional/varietal or style of oil you are hoping for in 2018?

[Rasoul S]

hi all

i was thinking where people sit and hoping to see gets released or distilled in 2018.

after a rather short period of time of procuring a rather large selection of oils from far and wide, i am personally really only interested in below in 2018:

vietnam. top to bottom, low to high, senkoh or sultani, gen 3 or 7, top dog to entry level. i cant seem to get enough vietnam and i guess by association crassna. they are my fav scent but also one i like contemplating with.

next would be malinau and other ethereal borneo. they are perfect for me before an invigorating work out or yoga practice.

malaysia is next. they are happy oils. uplifting, day time, night time, all the time.

lastly old oils with no more terpene/camphor/bite left.

overall i am more interested in quieter, sit closer to skin oils and ones that have for most part lost their high pitch piercing top note.

where do you sit?

 

[Oudamberlove]

More Laos (with heavy barn and tobacco)
More Bangladesh (with heavy barn)
More Brunei (sweet as in Sultan Afnan)
More Malinau (with zero fresh cut wood note)
More Sabah (smooth and deep like ORSL, no white wood)
More Sumbawa (ethereal like Ketenangan, plus a deep dark distill too)
More Malaysian (anything along the lines of Ayu, Pencerahan, and Berkilau)
In that order

 

[Rasoul S]

More Laos (with heavy barn and tobacco)
More Bangladesh (with heavy barn)
More Brunei (sweet as in Sultan Afnan)
More Malinau (with zero fresh cut wood note)
More Sabah (smooth and deep like ORSL, no white wood)
More Sumbawa (ethereal like Ketenangan, plus a deep dark distill too)
More Malaysian (anything along the lines of Ayu, Pencerahan, and Berkilau)
In that order

Aside from top two I am with you and the rest.

 

[Oudamberlove]

Aside from top two I am with you and the rest.

As Russian Adam would say,
“Are you ready to ride the White Horse?”

 

[kesiro]

Filipino
Filipino
Filipino
Maluku
Vietnam
Did I mention Filipino???

Seriously though, I am into high quality oils from any region. I find myself more and more drawn to the hydro distil oleoresin ouds. It is easier for e to say what I am not so interested in: tutti frutti oils from any region.

 

[Taha]

More Malinau (with zero fresh cut wood note)
More Sabah (smooth and deep like ORSL, no white wood)

Keep dreaming.
Malinau especially. I daydreamed for 2 whole years. Not a single splinter.

It is easier for e to say what I am not so interested in: tutti frutti oils from any region.

Last week, Arif came over with a friend and I forced them to come along with me, to have Musang King at the local fruit 'street market'. Arif, although not a crazy about Durian in general, found the Musang King to be quite delightful. My father, who found Durian to be literally gross before, tried Musang King this year when he visited, and fell in love with it.

As for me, I can't tolerate any Durian beside Musang King. I used to wonder before why Chinese folks love it so much, but I understand now. Musang King is essentially fruitiness on roids, and is devoid of the 'weirdnesses' that most other varieties of Durian are afflicted with. Most importantly, its the 'saturated-ness', the balance of pungency with sweetness, and the perfect texture.
If it weren't for that, I bet the Chinese would not be mad for the Musang King (there's literally an annual Musang King festival in Malaysia for the Chinese). Musang King is Durian perfection in every facet.

What does this have to do with your post?
Well, its no secret that just as I'm not a fan of barn, I'm not a fan of fruitiness either. However, I made a fruity oud, the 'explosion oud' which is quite easily and very possibly THE fruitiest oud on the face of this earth. I think you tried it as well (a while back, I had sent you a vial labeled something like 'fruit bomb').
The fruitiness is soo intense, but more importantly it is balanced and kept in check by an equally intense bitterness.... that it reminds me of Musang King.

The moral of the story is.. don't completely rule out an entire genre of oud outright.
If I did that with barny oud, I would have missed out on my bottle of OM1. And if I did that with fruity oud, there would be no Plai Cheu (aka explosion oud aka fruit bomb).
And if you did that with Durian, you'd miss out on Musang King.

Any how.. speaking of Musang King... just came back from the fruit market, with 50lb of fruit for the week (and in the center, the king of them all, the king of the king of fruits.. Musang King).


...and that's my Durian Sifu.

 

[Adam]

wah…
who is so handsome? =)))
subhanaAllah

 

[Nikhil S]

Great post @Rasoul S Bhai. I don't wish to acquire any more Organic Hindis/Laos/Bangla/Sri Lanka. I crave Filipino/Borneo/Malaysian/Brunei/Vietnam.

@Oudamberlove My thoughts are changing about ORSL a bit esp the drydown. I did find a soul-stirring fine sweet tone that I need to isolate and study on further applications. An effect that Kinam Rouge has in the driest stages. Something difficult to put into words which I find even more fulfilling than Green Kyara wood on very low heat.

 

[Adam]

where do you sit?

I got married , alhamdulillah
and moved to Indonesia , alhamdulillah .
So looking forward to many Indonesian oils, we haven’t done many of those so I am very exited.

More Bangladesh (with heavy barn)

worry not… we got our people in Bengal =)))

 

[PEARL]

You guys are into 2018 and I'm trying to catch up on the bottles I didn't get in 2017. This past year or so, I got to try some terrific agarwood oils and therein lies the problem and the challenge.
~For aged Hindi oils with intricately laced barny elements:
You Ensar, yeah you, no other vendor can top this genre and I don't think you can top Oud Nuh, Oud Isa, Oud Yunus, AO Meghalaya, and don't even begin to think you can top Assam Kinam. If you bad, box it out and press a button.

~For the Chinese, with the bass, midrange and treble in perfect harmony:
China Sayang wrestled with Fragrant Harbor, pinned the Supreme by the tail
Handcuffed Sinensis and threw Sweet China in jail
It's so good that just last week, it murdered Hainan 2005 and beat Ceen with a stick
China Sayang so nice it'll make medicine sick

And guess what kiddo, I don't think anybody can top it; but a huge, colossal Honorable mention to Hainan Arabi for being able to feint, parry and land clean, effective blows when they sparred. From Russia With Love

~For the true, before the soak craze Hindi oils, the ones I'm convinced are the real Oud Al Hind:
Chamkeila, Chugoku Senko, Assamugo Senkoh, Mahabali, and Shano Shokat. Adam, Ensar, Taha, can you top these oils? I don't think so, we'll see.

~For the budget friendly Hindi oils that absolutely nail their profile and hit a division above, middleweights hitting like super middleweights:
Hastakshar Kalakassi, Kanglei, MeiTei Old Manipur; Zakir, can you top those oils? It's not going to be easy, if at all possible.

In short, I'm not worried about 2018 because the best of the best of 2017, including plenty that I don't have full bottles of, Can't be beaten.

P.S. they can't beat Sultan Sufyan, nobody.

 

[Nikhil S]

You guys are into 2018 and I'm trying to catch up on the bottles I didn't get in 2017. This past year or so, I got to try some terrific agarwood oils and therein lies the problem and the challenge.
~For aged Hindi oils with intricately laced barny elements:
You Ensar, yeah you, no other vendor can top this genre and I don't think you can top Oud Nuh, Oud Isa, Oud Yunus, AO Meghalaya, and don't even begin to think you can top Assam Kinam. If you bad, box it out and press a button.

~For the Chinese, with the bass, midrange and treble in perfect harmony:
China Sayang wrestled with Fragrant Harbor, pinned the Supreme by the tail
Handcuffed Sinensis and threw Sweet China in jail
It's so good that just last week, it murdered Hainan 2005 and beat Ceen with a stick
China Sayang so nice it'll make medicine sick

And guess what kiddo, I don't think anybody can top it; but a huge, colossal Honorable mention to Hainan Arabi for being able to feint, parry and land clean, effective blows when they sparred. From Russia With Love

~For the true, before the soak craze Hindi oils, the ones I'm convinced are the real Oud Al Hind:
Chamkeila, Chugoku Senko, Assamugo Senkoh, Mahabali, and Shano Shokat. Adam, Ensar, Taha, can you top these oils? I don't think so, we'll see.

~For the budget friendly Hindi oils that absolutely nail their profile and hit a division above, middleweights hitting like super middleweights:
Hastakshar Kalakassi, Kanglei, MeiTei Old Manipur; Zakir, can you top those oils? It's not going to be easy, if at all possible.

In short, I'm not worried about 2018 because the best of the best of 2017, including plenty that I don't have full bottles of, Can't be beaten.

P.S. they can't beat Sultan Sufyan, nobody.

Awesome post. I love China Sayang. Medicine indeed I had a little sample of Sultan Afnan. I think it was ? Ensar's. Mind blowing stuff. Can imagine how beautiful the Sufyan must have been. In Hindis, I think Manek is my no.1. It'ss aged into Agallocha Choco creme...

 

[Oudamberlove]

Something difficult to put into words which I find even more fulfilling than Green Kyara wood on very low heat.

I find a lot of ouds which have facets more fulfilling than heated Kyara, but I bet that an oud oil distilled from 100% Kyara will be amazing

@PEARL
Those oils you mentioned are tough to beat.....but I bet if Ensar distilled a Hindi oil in the style of Qi Nam Khmer, you’ll have a real contender

 

[Taha]

~For the true, before the soak craze Hindi oils, the ones I'm convinced are the real Oud Al Hind:
Chamkeila, Chugoku Senko, Assamugo Senkoh, Mahabali, and Shano Shokat. Adam, Ensar, Taha, can you top these oils? I don't think so, we'll see.

If Malaysia decides to parcel me back to Canada, one thing's for sure: I will NOT leave until I have hand-made at least one Gen3 Indian oud. Preferably Mokokchung or Tuensang (Nagaland) or Narpuh or Saipung (Meghalaya).
Hey... we can dream right? Rasoul and Kesiro did with Malinau.

I'd like to add to the list Pangkor, Perak (Malaysia), Malinau (Indonesia), Mondulkiri (Cambodia), Palawan (Philippines), Phetchaburi (Thailand), Ambon, Maluku (Indonesia), Jilolo, Maluku (Indonesia), Wilpattu (Sri Lanka), Mandalay (Burma), Kapit, Sarawak, Borneo (Malaysia), Jayapura, Irian Jaya (Indonesia), Port Moresby (New Guinea), Flores (Indonesia), and Sumba (Indonesia), Phou Hi Poun (Laos), Ulu Temburong (Brunei), and Ba Na / Hoi An (Vietnam).
And if I may be permitted to dream some more... Palau and the Riau islands.
Gen3 of course.. coz life's too short.

But seriously though... a hand-made Gen3 Indian, I *gotta*.

PS: Palau has agarwood. Pity the government there is too corrupt, and won't allow ethical harvesting despite the slickest powerpoint presentation to demonstrate how there will be NO negative impact to the flora (heck, even Mindanao DENR approved me!!!). Bigger pity: the entire Palau archipelago is supposed to be under water soon.

 

[now]

My, slightly fanboy-ish, hopes for 2018 is any oud from any region or style from Taha.

 

[Ensar Oud]

hi all

i was thinking where people sit and hoping to see gets released or distilled in 2018.

after a rather short period of time of procuring a rather large selection of oils from far and wide, i am personally really only interested in below in 2018:

vietnam. top to bottom, low to high, senkoh or sultani, gen 3 or 7, top dog to entry level. i cant seem to get enough vietnam and i guess by association crassna. they are my fav scent but also one i like contemplating with.

next would be malinau and other ethereal borneo. they are perfect for me before an invigorating work out or yoga practice.

malaysia is next. they are happy oils. uplifting, day time, night time, all the time.

lastly old oils with no more terpene/camphor/bite left.

overall i am more interested in quieter, sit closer to skin oils and ones that have for most part lost their high pitch piercing top note.

where do you sit?

The only difference between Guerlain and Ensar Oud is the quality of the tuberose, jasmine and tobacco they have access to, on the one side—and the quality of the agarwood and sandalwood oils we have access to, on our side.

The reason we focus on artisanal agarwood oil is because oud is a mindblowing aromatic—sometimes. If I could produce jasmine oil that smelled equally incredible as Oud Royale (yes, SL) or had access to an incredible harvest of orange blossoms, I wouldn't think twice about giving agarwood a miss for a few weeks and doing that instead—whether it was Tunisian, Moroccan, Egyptian or French neroli. It would make little difference to me. What I'm after is exceptional aromatics. I've found the success rate with agarwood is higher than if you chase after something you're not familiar with, like angelica archangelica. But I've smelled angelicas and melissas and frankincenses and other otherwordlies that I wouldn't hesitate trading some of my most precious oils for. In fact, way back in 2005 or 6 I traded some Sheikh's Borneo for vetiver. Yep, you read that right: VETIVER. It was SUCH a vetiver though, you'd have night wakings over it. I've never seen another vetiver like that. I discontinued the attar I made with it so I could keep it as a relic.

So........ Borneo, India, Cambodia, Argentina....... I'm looking for scents that arrest the soul and make it soar.

If you're looking for Vietnamese and only Vietnamese, or barn and only barn, or whatever, you're just prejudiced.

 

[kesiro]

I addition to my comments above, I forgot to mention I crave any oil in the style of Ensar's latest Sultans i.e. Abdus Selam, Salman. These are so special I can't get enough of them.

 

[Shabby]

The only difference between Guerlain and Ensar Oud is the quality of the tuberose, jasmine and tobacco they have access to, on the one side—and the quality of the agarwood and sandalwood oils we have access to, on our side.

The reason we focus on artisanal agarwood oil is because oud is a mindblowing aromatic—sometimes. If I could produce jasmine oil that smelled equally incredible as Oud Royale (yes, SL) or had access to an incredible harvest of orange blossoms, I wouldn't think twice about giving agarwood a miss for a few weeks and doing that instead—whether it was Tunisian, Moroccan, Egyptian or French neroli. It would make little difference to me. What I'm after is exceptional aromatics. I've found the success rate with agarwood is higher than if you chase after something you're not familiar with, like angelica archangelica. But I've smelled angelicas and melissas and frankincenses and other otherwordlies that I wouldn't hesitate trading some of my most precious oils for. In fact, way back in 2005 or 6 I traded some Sheikh's Borneo for vetiver. Yep, you read that right: VETIVER. It was SUCH a vetiver though, you'd have night wakings over it. I've never seen another vetiver like that. I discontinued the attar I made with it so I could keep it as a relic.

So........ Borneo, India, Cambodia, Argentina....... I'm looking for scents that arrest the soul and make it soar.

If you're looking for Vietnamese and only Vietnamese, or barn and only barn, or whatever, you're just prejudiced.

How I wish I could find truly high quality aged vetiver distilled with the care of artisanal oud. I know from some vetivers I have that there is so much potential and complexity in khus, but I cannot find a source. If anybody has recommendations please let me know, or else I am going to have to do something in Sri Lanka!

 

[Ensar Oud]

~For aged Hindi oils with intricately laced barny elements:
You Ensar, yeah you, no other vendor can top this genre and I don't think you can top Oud Nuh, Oud Isa, Oud Yunus, AO Meghalaya, and don't even begin to think you can top Assam Kinam. If you bad, box it out and press a button.

Thank you for that huge honor, Pearlito. It really means a lot to me.

I just WISH you could smell Oud Mostafa No 1, the 2nd and 3rd of the Oud Shuyukhs, Oud Idrees, Sulaiman III, and an oil I rejected after accusing the distiller he'd admixed Borneo wood into the stills behind my back—one SICK Manipur that was, but then I was one sick puppy, and it wasn't—excuse me—sh***y enough for me——Not to speak of Oud Sulaiman No 1—most went to Neeshee's guru, who died years ago on one of the Fiji islands and I think the oil ended up getting burnt with him or something; whoe'er says they have it is referring to the No 2.

How to get a Hindi oil that's better or compares? Well, think of it this way: if you had a good number of Hindis on hand in 2006-9, would you release the best and keep the 'lesser' ones for yourself, or vice versa? While I agree with you wholeheartedly that Assam Kinam, Yunus, Nuh, Idrees, Isa, Sulaiman, Mostafa are formidable feats—Ouds Musa, Hud, Shuayb &c hold their own.

~For the Chinese, with the bass, midrange and treble in perfect harmony:
China Sayang wrestled with Fragrant Harbor, pinned the Supreme by the tail
Handcuffed Sinensis and threw Sweet China in jail
It's so good that just last week, it murdered Hainan 2005 and beat Ceen with a stick
China Sayang so nice it'll make medicine sick

LOL

~For the true, before the soak craze Hindi oils, the ones I'm convinced are the real Oud Al Hind:
Chamkeila, Chugoku Senko, Assamugo Senkoh, Mahabali, and Shano Shokat. Adam, Ensar, Taha, can you top these oils? I don't think so, we'll see.

After some introspection, I decided to part with more of the 'lifetime supply' Chugoku bottle I was hoarding, and Assamugo's still ass-a-kicking, so these two definitely count as contenders for 2018's 'best of' lists, if y'all would deem them worthy of such honors.

P.S. they can't beat Sultan Sufyan, nobody.

Not even Luqman?!?

 

[kooolaid79]

Not even Luqman?!?

What??? What, how, huh?? What is Luqman??

 

[JohnH]

After some introspection, I decided to part with more of the 'lifetime supply' Chugoku bottle I was hoarding, and Assamugo's still ass-a-kicking, so these two definitely count as contenders for 2018's 'best of' lists, if y'all would deem them worthy of such honors.

Having these two oils has completely changed my view of things. I used to be scared of the term non-barn, which had been mentioned in reviews of these, but I now embrace these two special, psychoactive oils. Don't get me wrong, I still like a bit of barn but there has been a big shift in my tastes now, my wife's too. If it wasn't for the OudFest I might not have ever tried these, cheers @Ensar @Kruger