Attar/Mukhallat of the Day

[Mr.P]

Tonight I was checking out two jasmine sambac distillates, one I made about 12 years ago from concrete and a sample of An Najwa ruh mogra. I put these on blotter paper at full strength.

The oil from An Najwa is 😍 I have smelled a handful rank perfumey sambac ruhs and this isn’t one of them.

At full strength it overpowers the senses but apply a modest amount and allow the scent to unfold from a small distance and all kinds of appealing fresh sambac notes.

I have a several bottles of distillates I made about 12 years ago from sambac concrete. Whenever I would get a new batch of concrete, it would fall into one of two categories. Based on the smell of this oil, I think it is safe to say I was getting mogra concrete half the time and motia the other half. The ones that smell like the Mogra took a long time to settle down after distillation. 10 years to begin to really shine in my opinion. The others which i assume are motia settled more quickly by far, and their scents are strong but a bit less “thick” and more sharp / tart.

If anyone has knowledge about Mogra or motia, please share… i’d like to understand the difference a little better and Google search as well, of course

 

[An Najwa]

Tonight I was checking out two jasmine sambac distillates, one I made about 12 years ago from concrete and a sample of An Najwa ruh mogra. I put these on blotter paper at full strength.

The oil from An Najwa is 😍 I have smelled a handful rank perfumey sambac ruhs and this isn’t one of them.

At full strength it overpowers the senses but apply a modest amount and allow the scent to unfold from a small distance and all kinds of appealing fresh sambac notes.

I have a several bottles of distillates I made about 12 years ago from sambac concrete. Whenever I would get a new batch of concrete, it would fall into one of two categories. Based on the smell of this oil, I think it is safe to say I was getting mogra concrete half the time and motia the other half. The ones that smell like the Mogra took a long time to settle down after distillation. 10 years to begin to really shine in my opinion. The others which i assume are motia settled more quickly by far, and their scents are strong but a bit less “thick” and more sharp / tart.

If anyone has knowledge about Mogra or motia, please share… i’d like to understand the difference a little better and Google search as well, of course

Respected Mr. P
I'm glad you're enjoying the Ruh Mogra
As for diffrence between Motia and Mogra
They are same species and different cultivars
Mogra Grows usually in South India
Motia grows in North India
And both have their own disctinct scent.
Google has caused much confusion in this regard
As in some websites they have written something and in other something totally opposite contradicting itself.


From what I have learnt from they are both same species but different cultivars
Motia has more petals than mogra.
Motia is also known as Bella in india.

 

[Mr.P]

Another attar of the day from an najwa for me. This is attar mitti, i used to have a bottle of this that I got from White Lotus, but misplaced it somehow. This is very similar to that specimen - has a nice dry terra-cotta petrichor scent, the sandalwood is very well saturated. I am really happy to be able to sample this - such an interesting perfume

 

[Mr.P]

I was sniffing a sample of wardlab’s ruh bela today. I continue to try to improve my understanding of this rarity and have smelled 7 or 8 specimens.

Oils sold as ruh bela/motia and ruh mogra are all over the place and there are very few that perform like a natural raw material on skin or blotters. So up until this last year, every one of these oils went into the “suspicious” category.

Well, I have finally smelled two ruh specimens that are completely not suspicious and completely align with my understanding of the flower. I’m very familiar with sambac concrete, absolute, and distillates* of concretes/absolutes that i have made.

This ruh bela amazingly smells spot-on. Based on what I know, I would not personally want to miss having an opportunity to have the specimen in my collection.

Miraculously, the ruh mogra from An Najwa I smelled this week was also sublime. Not to be missed as a natural smelling benchmark ruh, based on my experience.

*One note: there is already a name for distillates of absolutes. They apparently were (confusingly) called “absolute oils” (as in, an oil distilled from an absolute). John Steele uses the term “emanations” but I really don’t like that term because it doesn’t add information and kind of obscures the actual nature of the product. Emanation implies some kind of exotic process or direct exudate from flowers but it really is more or less akin to molecular distillation. AM atomatics in india calls them “floral secretion oils” which also seems misleading

 

[Sproaty]

I love Al Layl. The scent has such a warmth to it (sort of like you said, like a bakhoor) - perfect for a cool evening. What else did you get?

oooh, a whole lot! 🙂
wild oils - Java Arch, Shamaal, Arakan, Sumuw
organic - Viet Trang, CKR, Hur, Liu Zhi
attars - Al Layl, Jumaana, Yasameen

 

[Mr.P]

I swiped some mogra attar from an najwa today. A classic sambac traditional attar - great example of this material. Nice clean sambac heart rounded out by the sandalwood. The scent is well infused and the jasmine is present enough that i cant comment on the sandalwood in the blend at this point.

This is a nice oil, reminds me of the motia attar WLA used to carry.

 

[The Scent Guru]

Amritha Bindhu from Kashti - Rose, Ambergris, Musk, tabac, oud

I just discovered this natural perfumer in India but I guess he's known around town. Appealing combination of notes!

 

[Mr.P]

oooh, a whole lot! 🙂
wild oils - Java Arch, Shamaal, Arakan, Sumuw
organic - Viet Trang, CKR, Hur, Liu Zhi
attars - Al Layl, Jumaana, Yasameen

That’s quite a collection…

 

[Arabiad07]

oooh, a whole lot! 🙂
wild oils - Java Arch, Shamaal, Arakan, Sumuw
organic - Viet Trang, CKR, Hur, Liu Zhi
attars - Al Layl, Jumaana, Yasameen

How’s Jumaana

 

[Ibn Abdillah]

CA (unreleased mukkhalat) - @mesOUD

A greenish opening, with florals and a light scent of tropical fruits.
I think there is some combination of cedarwood and frangipani, but I'm not sure.
At a certain point it seems to lean towards a feminine side, compared to the other mukkhalats from the collection of MesOUD. But this is certainly a scent that can also be worn by men and in my experience, precisely for this reason, it can be combined well with a pronounced oudh. I combined this one time with Trat classic from MesOUD, which combined well.
At one point something animalic seems to appear in the background, perhaps civet?
The drydown has hints of amber, have some powdery background and is slightly soapy.

I definitely recommend the mukkhalat collection of MesOUD if you want something different and a rich olfactory experience.
I am a bit busy, but inshaa-Allah i will give later reviews of other mukkhalats of this unique and beautiful collection.

 

[Mr.P]

I am getting an education in rose oils here, better late than never.

First time smelling a t’aif rose was this week. Didn’t really know what to expect, and have been waiting for this moment for a while.

The oil is Ward al Ta’ifi “Wadi Mahram” 2023 from ward lab.

First of all and no surprise this is clearly a good quality rose otto and has all the right characteristics. It is lower in stearoptene than bulgarian oil and does not gel up as easily. I don’t know if this is the result of a more expensive extraction process or just the nature of ta’if Rose.

The smell is a classic rose, velvety, no still notes, very appealing. In some ways i am reminded more of ruh gulab than bulgarian otto but i am still sorting things out.

I’m very curious about extraction techniques for these. Are these field Hydrodistillations or is the Rose brought back to a facility to steam distill I wonder? If i gad to guess i would guess hydrodistilled in the fields but this is a mere guess based on only a few experiences

Very nice otto! I will need to sit with this a few more times before I can really wrap my head around it.

 

[Sproaty]

How’s Jumaana

Haven't worn that one yet! I've probably tried half so far, maybe a bit more but I'm trying to polish off some oud oil samples I've had for years (including many ASO oils)

 

[The Scent Guru]

Another all-natural perfume from the Indian house of Kashti, *Sampooran*
(Cardamon, Frangipani, Rose de Mai, Jasmine Sambac, Civet
Rose EO, Lavender, Vetiver, , Australian Sandalwood, Ginger, Herbs, Musk, Ambergris
Tobacco, Castor, Civet, Assam Oudh, Jatamansi, Mace, Sandalwood, Amyris, Tuberose)

really stunning! I can pick up the rose, oudh and cardamon (I think, never having smelled it alone) but he's blended so well it feels as if I'm enveloped in a symphony.

 

[Mr.P]

wardlab bulgarian rosa alba oil has been on my wrist the last few days. I am a big fan of the Bulgarian profile and this is just perfect. I’ve never smelled alba side by side with red bulgarian rose oil but the profiles seem similar. This batch has the fresh / tangy top notes that i love and i see as a halmark of fresh or meticulously stored oil. The heart is classic fuzzy bulgarian rose bliss.


I also sampled Wardlab’s nangahar rose from Afghanistan. this oil has low stearoptene content and needs lower temps to gel. Since stearoptene is odorless this means the scent is a little more concentrated. This has a nice fresh opening and balanced progression that brings good quality batches of bulgarian or select turkish otto to mind and has none of the off notes i have encountered in some of the “average” rose oils i have encountered.

 

[Mr.P]

Another all-natural perfume from the Indian house of Kashti, *Sampooran*
(Cardamon, Frangipani, Rose de Mai, Jasmine Sambac, Civet
Rose EO, Lavender, Vetiver, , Australian Sandalwood, Ginger, Herbs, Musk, Ambergris
Tobacco, Castor, Civet, Assam Oudh, Jatamansi, Mace, Sandalwood, Amyris, Tuberose)

really stunning! I can pick up the rose, oudh and cardamon (I think, never having smelled it alone) but he's blended so well it feels as if I'm enveloped in a symphony.

That sounds like a wonderful blend!

 

[Castingshadows]

I am getting an education in rose oils here, better late than never.

First time smelling a t’aif rose was this week. Didn’t really know what to expect, and have been waiting for this moment for a while.

The oil is Ward al Ta’ifi “Wadi Mahram” 2023 from ward lab.

First of all and no surprise this is clearly a good quality rose otto and has all the right characteristics. It is lower in stearoptene than bulgarian oil and does not gel up as easily. I don’t know if this is the result of a more expensive extraction process or just the nature of ta’if Rose.

The smell is a classic rose, velvety, no still notes, very appealing. In some ways i am reminded more of ruh gulab than bulgarian otto but i am still sorting things out.

I’m very curious about extraction techniques for these. Are these field Hydrodistillations or is the Rose brought back to a facility to steam distill I wonder? If i gad to guess i would guess hydrodistilled in the fields but this is a mere guess based on only a few experiences

Very nice otto! I will need to sit with this a few more times before I can really wrap my head around it.
View attachment 31704

I always felt that true Taifi had such a stark contrast from other more classical style rose distillations like Bulgarian for example that it almost doesn’t smell like rose at all. Are you picking up on the citrusy/lemony qualities at all?

 

[Mr.P]

I have smelled enough rose otto at this point that I think any real Rose otto is going to smell like rose oil. The one “out there” otto i have smelled is zambian musk rose otto. That stuff is wild - a bright electric tangy rose that pushes the envelope of the idea of rose.

It’s funny you should ask this question because I was expecting the ta’if to be way the heck out there like the moschata but it doesn’t seem like it to me. The ta’if rose samples i recently checked out are both low stearoptene and have very refined clean rose scents, and some of the light fermented / sweaty type top notes present in even my favorite bulgarian ottos are absent and they have clean appealing openings.

The Al hada has some distinct terroir notes down in its heart - cant place it - something wild and dry and reminiscent of desert (?) for some reason. Also something aquatic and live-plant like in the top. The wadi mahram is like this delicate refined rose flower petal oil - really clean and appealing. Both oils have less of that fuzzy thick geranium aspect that i smell so much in ruh gulab. I am glad to have both types of oils, but my preferences lean towards the ta’if

 

[Ersel]

Amber attar fom Kangiiten, called Nyoirin. It smells much better on the skin than from the bottle. Sweet and floral, I like it. It smells like I think all these traditional Indian itrs' with sandalwood oil would smell, and from memory it's a bit like Hind? from Sheik al Faransi, but more refined and less sweet, even though they are both sweet.

 

[Mr.P]

Saffron extract from An Najwa on my wrists at the moment. This is only the third natural saffron oil I have smelled. one of the others was a traditional attar, one was a co2 extract.

These each smell like good saffron and similar on one level, but are very distinct from each other so I really don’t know what is typical for a saffron oil. The co2 oil had a sweet floral aspect that surprised me - it’s been a long time since I smelled it but i would 100% have thought it was a blend of saffron and some mixed floral oils.

The attar was very dry and clean - like smelling the strands from a slight distance, more of the sense it gives in food. This new oil from an najwa has a classic dry pungent saffron aroma and also a complex sweetness - something “tropical” smelling in the heart of it. Like faint wafts of jasmine and coconut and a sunblock.

This oil and the carbon dioxide extract have thick sweet floral aspects in addition to the dry savory sense, and would be good for fresh/floral blends.

 

[Mr.P]

And another an najwa attar today - “jasmine malaccensis” - a wild blend of jasmine, musk, oud and other materials (i will leave it up to an najwa to share the details). I was not able to dissect the scent accurately on this one. The musk / jasmine sambac / oud combo had me certain i was smelling a liberal dose of civet. The sambac note is a good one - very focused, tart, piercing - feels like the sambac is enhanced by the oud, musk and other ingredients. The supporting notes keep it from being simply a fresh floral and provide contrast, depth, a sense of mystery. The fragrance is quite concentrated and intense. If you look you will notice some musk grains at the bottom of the vial. 🙂