Attar/Mukhallat of the Day

[Sproaty]

Patchouli MD (molecular distillate) from Liberty Natural. Very nice aspects of patchouli concentrated in this oil. I have smelled some wonderful “alternative” patchouli extracts recently: patchouli fraction B (Robertet), patchouli heart SFE, Liberty MD patchouli and pure patchoulol natural isolate.

Each has a different character, and I still prefer aged distilled plain old patchouli oil as a fragrance itself, but some of the notes and dry downs are just so appealing and engaging to the olfactory system.

Sounds great. So what's different in this distillate versus a "standard" steam one, for example?

I wore some patchouli quite heavily last night before bed. It was from Zak @ Agarwood Assam, bought over 5yrs ago - smells great! I swiped a bit under my chin as well as on my hand and as I was wheeling my bike out of the house I kept catching whiffs of it - interesting, as oils very very rarely last me into the morning, and then never after my shower. I guess being under my chin it didn't get as much water exposure as elsewhere?
Maybe the oil's rubbed a little into my bike helmet chin strap now

 

[Mr.P]

Molecular distillate means they took a batch of steam distilled essential oil and then redistilled in a more technical apparatus that allows separation of specific fractions of the oil. For example, it could concentrate patchouli alcohol while eliminating any pigment and making it into a colorless oil with a more refined or focused scent.

It’s some thing like when petro chemical companies take a crude oil and run it through those huge columns to separate the hexane and the octane and other hydrocarbon fractions.

If you have sensitive temperature, probes and pay close attention, there are some very interesting things that happen when you start to boil a liquid that is a mixture of different substances. An oversimplification: By observing changes in temperature over time and capturing the stuff that condenses as the oil is heated to certain temperatures you can identify and isolate specific molecules.

Here is a molecular distillation setup:

 

[An Najwa]

SQ Oud Rose I got from brother @Tauhid Shaikh
A calming and relaxing concoction.

 

[Sproaty]

Funnily enough with patchouli, I wore North Kalimantan oud from @mesOUD last night and this had patchouli hints to it (or vice versa)
Over the past few days, I've been wearing some of the attars that @mesOUD kindly sent me -
labelled,
A: This seems like a great recreation of 'Oud Ispahan' by Christian Dior. Oud/rose/labdanum
B: ugh I can't remember this one too well
C: ugh I can't remember this one too well, shall need to revisit these 2. They were enjoyable and I was picking up notes, but can't recall what!
D: I detect a lot of myrrh here

I've worn all of them late at night so haven't fully experienced the,

 

[Mr.P]

I posted by accident and can’t delete it but I will say that i am curious to hear more about the attars.

 

[mesOUD]

Funnily enough with patchouli, I wore North Kalimantan oud from @mesOUD last night and this had patchouli hints to it (or vice versa)
Over the past few days, I've been wearing some of the attars that @mesOUD kindly sent me -
labelled,
A: This seems like a great recreation of 'Oud Ispahan' by Christian Dior. Oud/rose/labdanum
B: ugh I can't remember this one too well
C: ugh I can't remember this one too well, shall need to revisit these 2. They were enjoyable and I was picking up notes, but can't recall what!
D: I detect a lot of myrrh here

I've worn all of them late at night so haven't fully experienced the,

Hello
Man i am like a virgin about attars and perfumes since 10 years,i think cristian dior recreated mines 😂
Just kidding but for not effecting me,i didnt smell any attar or perfume in 10 years,last night @Med showed me some of his collection.
Pls give 1 single day for per attar,bcz they are some complex

 

[An Najwa]

3 years old Indian Red Rose EO
Aging has beautifully tamed down this beast projection rose oil.

 

[Kolalid]

EO Egyptian Musk

Another sample shared by Jame. Creamy Musk scent with some herbs/spices and florals. Can detect some oud notes but Musk is more dominant. My wife doesn’t like this one at all but I think it’s nice lol

 

[gregmech26]

Jinkoh Store - Apurikotto
I will be honest, at first I wasn’t too sure about the apurikotto. Because it was very overwhelming because I applied too much. Now that I spent the afternoon wearing it with moderation, I changed my mind: It is amazing! Some perfect spices, sweetness and sensual kedah with the sweet/fresh apricots. So sensual, almost like a forbidden fruit!
On hubby apurikotto morphs into a more ‘masculin’ scent, dropping a lot of the sweetness. It’s funny how the same oil has two different ‘faces’.

I purchased two bottles. I wish I would have bought more.

 

[oudstronaut]

Bushido - Rising Pheonix Perfumery

If you have ever wondered where “the line” is between incense and perfumery. It appears the answer might be right under our nose (yes, pun intended).

Bushido by Rising Phoenix Perfumery seeks to capture the smell of Japanese incense in a bottle. The trouble for me is that I’ve never actually smelled Japanese incense. From my understanding, common ingredients in Japanese incense are agarwood, sandalwood, and clove. This stuff has plenty of agarwood and sandalwood but, rather than cloves. JK has used a batch of vintage allspice oil. As anyone who has ever cooked with both of these spices will know, allspice is a little sweeter and more “smooth” of a scent than cloves.

I messaged JK when I first tried this to tell him I was enjoying it and to try to describe what I was smelling... he started going on about Japanese incense sticks! Incense sticks!? I thought. As someone who has not used Japanese incense, Bushido just smells like a really great perfume at its core surrounded by these three giants of allspice, sandalwood and agarwood. The attar has good lasting power and projection and, like most (if not all) of JK’s compositions at this point, is 100% natural. Personally, I think this attar could totally work as a really great perfume and, at that, one that can put you into a bit of a meditative spirit. Perfectly riding that line between incense and perfume. Between an enthusiast treasure and a functional perfume. And, what more can we expect from someone who spent many years studying traditional medicine, who has experience making incense AND one of the few making world-class artisanal perfumes using 100% natural ingredients.

Regarding the quality of the blending here, It’s almost impossible to pick out the individual notes that are in this until you know what they are. As far as what’s in the perfume-ey “centre” of this fragrance. JK’s pink ambergris attar is used. No idea what is in that one.. and quite frankly I don’t even care to know. I’m just enjoying this the way it is and knowing would kill the magic to me.

I look forward to trying his Blushido (his version of this attar with Blue Lotus oil) at some point as well. For now though, Bushido remains an easy recommendation from RPP.

 

[Mr.P]

I unearthed the old Ajmal AA musk gazelle bottles after a long hiatus.

I don’t know what is in this stuff, but it is pretty much natural smelling - no obvious chemical musks - with something like castoreum maybe a little bitch tar and some sweet pungent note almost reminiscent of wintergreen without quite being wintergreen - reminds me of “Cassie” absolute (a very sweet violet mimosa scent). And then surrounding all that is this intense rich wave of what smells like musk to my nose - referring to tinctures: it doesn’t have the light urine-like sharp top notes - it has more of the peculiar sweet heart. The potency is over the top. I was strongly discouraged from even opening that tin by the (ex) Mrs.P. She was very tolerant and interested in fragrance no bitterness there but that musk was a big thumbs down with sustained grievance, because the smell lingers for a long time once you get that stuff out and it is all you can smell. She isn’t a musk fan

Tl/DR: Ajmal AA musk gazelle beast is filling the top floor of my house with stank and I didn’t even open the bottle.

 

[Rename]

I unearthed the old Ajmal AA musk gazelle bottles after a long hiatus.

I don’t know what is in this stuff, but it is pretty much natural smelling - no obvious chemical musks - with something like castoreum maybe a little bitch tar and some sweet pungent note almost reminiscent of wintergreen without quite being wintergreen - reminds me of “Cassie” absolute (a very sweet violet mimosa scent). And then surrounding all that is this intense rich wave of what smells like musk to my nose - referring to tinctures: it doesn’t have the light urine-like sharp top notes - it has more of the peculiar sweet heart. The potency is over the top. I was strongly discouraged from even opening that tin by the (ex) Mrs.P. She was very tolerant and interested in fragrance no bitterness there but that musk was a big thumbs down with sustained grievance, because the smell lingers for a long time once you get that stuff out and it is all you can smell. She isn’t a musk fan

Tl/DR: Ajmal AA musk gazelle beast is filling the top floor of my house with stank and I didn’t even open the bottle.

That stuff always smelled like burning rubber tires to me. So many of those Gulf “Musk” and “Gazelle” oils did.

Does yours have a rubbery new tire note to it?

 

[Mr.P]

Not at all. There were many batches I am sure and I know it went through at least two changes before (apparently) being discontinued.

I have two I acquired at different times and they are not identical. One has a little more castoreum / birch tar and less of the sweet cassie note. As a result it smells a little more musk focused without so much obvious modifying scent notes

 

[Ofaruk]

I am fed up with all musk and kasturi offerings from commercial houses but your description sounds pretty interesting. Maybe they used hints of real casteroum or civet back in the day in those composiotions. Can I ask you what year is your bottle from?

Not at all. There were many batches I am sure and I know it went through at least two changes before (apparently) being discontinued.

I have two I acquired at different times and they are not identical. One has a little more castoreum / birch tar and less of the sweet cassie note. As a result it smells a little more musk focused without so much obvious modifying scent notes

 

[An Najwa]

Ruh Al Ward
Indian Damask Rose otto

 

[Obada]

Areej Le Dore - Russian Oud 2
The perfect chocolate oud for me! A delicious everyday scent



Ps. I also tried Lao Oud from Bortnikoff. A very good scent too but way more animalic and pungent oud. It has floral accords and a sour facet that makes it unsuitable for everyday for me.

 

[Mr.P]

I am fed up with all musk and kasturi offerings from commercial houses but your description sounds pretty interesting. Maybe they used hints of real casteroum or civet back in the day in those composiotions. Can I ask you what year is your bottle from?

Both were second hand - at least 10 years I’d guess but I wasn’t paying close attention at the time.

If you can still search all the threads at basenotes, there was a long discussion about these oils, and about differences when they went through one of the reformulations so that might give you some ballpark for the timeline

I have a majid iterji musk oil that seems to share the same dense projecting sweet musk note (that I am for the time being going to assume could be some actual musk).

this oil is much more floral, with obvious synthetic musk and a violet flower top note kind of smothering the musk, which maybe is too funky for some customers I don’t know.

The Ajmal stuff is flipped - mostly concentrated stank with restrained use of modifying oils

 

[Ofaruk]

I read some of the threads at Basenotes. It looks like Ajmal’s gazelle musk has two versions. I inferred from the reviews that they are different iterations of typical black musk abundantly found in the market. Still I would love to smell Ajmal’s stuff if I had the chance, as I have a love/hate relationship with the brand. Anyways, I am fortunate enough to experience real macerations from siberian/mongolian grains. Thanks for the insightful post!

Both were second hand - at least 10 years I’d guess but I wasn’t paying close attention at the time.

If you can still search all the threads at basenotes, there was a long discussion about these oils, and about differences when they went through one of the reformulations so that might give you some ballpark for the timeline

I have a majid iterji musk oil that seems to share the same dense projecting sweet musk note (that I am for the time being going to assume could be some actual musk).

this oil is much more floral, with obvious synthetic musk and a violet flower top note kind of smothering the musk, which maybe is too funky for some customers I don’t know.

The Ajmal stuff is flipped - mostly concentrated stank with restrained use of modifying oils

 

[Ofaruk]

I continued to read the whole thread out of curiosity. It was surprsing to see people like Manny Cross of Rogue and Sultan Pasha were among the commentators as young fragrance lovers back in 2009.

Ajmal AA Indian Pure Musk Ghazelle. Opinions?

I received my Ajmal AA Indian Pure Musk Ghazelle in yesterday's mail. This stuff is far more potent and animalic than the original Musk Ghazelle. For the first few hours, I thought I was cleaning horse stalls. I am trying it again today using only a dot from the tip of the applicator. Still...

basenotes.com

I read some of the threads at Basenotes. It looks like Ajmal’s gazelle musk has two versions. I inferred from the reviews that they are different iterations of typical black musk abundantly found in the market. Still I would love to smell Ajmal’s stuff if I had the chance, as I have a love/hate relationship with the brand. Anyways, I am fortunate enough to experience real macerations from siberian/mongolian grains. Thanks for the insightful post!

 

[Clyff6ix]

@Al Shareef Oudh 's Samarqand and @RisingPhoenix 's Mughal Amber Oud 2022.

Both incredible! Somewhat similar in that they both feature smooth animalics with big presence.

AS's description of Samarqand is dead on. The only thing I'd add is a note of oranges at the very beginning. Specifically, it reminded me Seville's sun-baked streets lined with hundreds of bitter orange trees. Also the attar transitioned multiple times and the vetiver is stunning. This is elite craftsmanship.

Some of the Etsy reviews on Mughal Amber Oud 2022 described the animal profile as "challenging." Maybe it's matured since then. But I didn't get a single off note in the luxurious cloud of amber. I don't have a good reference point for tonka bean, benzoin, etc. But I'm imagining there is some musk, vanilla, and some of those other warm delicious flavors. Everything is round in this attar, no sharp edges. It surprised me by drying down to a dignified oak moss, richly saturated and not too powdery.

I've heard a story about a villager in India who wandered home at night only to wake up the next morning to see footprints from an elephant that had silently followed him home, just inches behind him. My characterization of Mughal Amber: The sultan's favorite elephant, richly adorned, a HUGE presence, but never obtrusive.