Experimentations in Cheap Oud

[roflwaffle]

I blended some quite aromatic/loud oud in with some (cheap) CK oud, mostly just to see what would happen. At first, it seemed very promising, big bold opening that was slightly softened by the honey camphor of the CK CO2, exactly as hoped. However, after given time to meld, the CK has dampened it... quite a bit. Too much. Instead of the oud raising up the CK, the CK beat it down to it's level of faint skin scent.

I am curious if the chromones or waxes are acting as a heavy fixative of sorts (with CO2 oils, as I understand it being lousy with them). So instead of writing off a failed cheap experiment, my mind went to work on how I'd prove that out. Fixatives are great, in known quantities, of the right types, but I don't know that these are really doing this oud any good, so... let's remove them!

Briefly, I think I can target mostly the chromones and the waxes by diluting them in ethanol, and freezing them. Winterization. Cold temps will crash out a portion of the waxes, chromones, and likely some collateral damage, and then cold filter them out quickly with a Buchner funnel, and I should be left with a less viscous, higher proportion of sesquiterpenes, stronger, less fixative base after evaping off the alcohol. I hope?

I'm wondering if anyone sees any glaring issues here, apart from wasting my time on silliness. Other option that seemed potentially viable would be to just run the CO2 in water through distillation, which should leave the heavy molecules behind, but, even with a small, not locked in wood matrix solution, I imagine will still take... a long run.

@Mr.P - have you ever tried to run a followup distillation on your CK resin extracts for luls? I imagine you've at least considered it. The remaining ethanol would come out as a foreshot, clean, or rotovap out the alcohol, then distill out the lighter compounds via conventional hydro distillation. Would it be oud oil? of course not. But potentilaly an interesting subset of compounds. Really only makes financial sense for CK as it's essentially free. (for commodity grade, not all chinese a. sinensis, obviously).

I suppose I'll know in a day or so. I've diluted 10ml of CK, and I can see a healthy crashed out portion after being in the chest freezer for 24h. I'll give it another day or so to ensure it has the time needed, and then see if i can filter as fast as possible (got the Buchner in the freezer too). Will be interesting to see if the crashed out part has a scent of is own or what the division ends up being. Keeps me off the streets I suppose 😀.

Any feedback on incorrect assumptions on my part would be appreciated! I'm certainly no expert here.

 

[roflwaffle]

Found another tip if you cant break up de blob in any practical way and dont want salting rn, you could pour in fractionated coconut oil or similar MCT oil, that should dillute the co2 so the boiling can break it up easily, while it doesn't distill over. Do not go beyond 1:1 else mr Raoult will slow the evap down with that law of his 🙂 never get nothing for free, but 1:1 is good compromise..
Need to properly stir or shake it, else the oil will just float on top, once they mix by shaking they stay bonded and the co2 will most probably float as a bonus.

Now i go sleep🙂

Interesting. Appreciate the tip. Ill give taht a go on the next batch, or if i need to pause this one if it stalls (it takes a while to cool it where things can be handled sanely. night!

 

[roflwaffle]

Slow n steady wins the race. The increased insulation had a small (positive) impact on rate. It's slow going, but it's going.