Mesoud madness!!! :) :)

[Mr.P]

Holy moly - Sarmast is amazing stuff!! beautiful balanced combination, the two woods combined to create a really beautiful essence that doesn't smell like a mixture of two different things and doesn't bring one region to mind over another but is instead a unified sophisticated oil that I would have thought would have to have way more age behind it before it would smell like this.

This is a mere first impression and it will take multiple wears to really understand what I've got here but this one seems to be right there at the pinnacle of Mehmet's extractions. I get deep sophisticated resinous notes, that heavy healthy forest ecosystem aroma, deep bittersweet classic oudiness top to bottom, no off notes, no weird shrill pungency that needs to be given five years to dissipate, just beautiful clean sophisticated oud. I feel like I detect a certain signature here to these oils. if this was given to me blind I think I would pretty quickly suspect it might be one of Mehmet's oils but maybe I'm deluding myself. Whatever it is… I suspect the method of extraction and it may not be so much an imposed signature as the absence of some other accessory notes that emerge from certain qualities of wood or approaches to extraction etc..

Mehmet has done something pretty amazing here with this series of meticulously coordinated and documented distillations - supported by personal availability and eagerness to discuss what he's doing. I am no "fanboy" of him or of anybody ESPECIALLY in the area of authentic natural aromatics where I have zero patience for the fog of marketing, obfuscation, or bullshit. What he does speaks for itself and when you understand what he's doing it's utterly compelling and it's a truly unique approach - legendary quality material with no attempts to hide or cloud or modify the aroma - just allowing us to see what the wood has to say. No dirty condensers, no distillation shortcuts, no need to be mysterious or hide behind innuendo or implication (and no this is not aimed at any of the other beloved honest enthusiastic vendors out there) I'm just talking about the broader scene over the years etc.

In terms of my own experience with collection, and understanding of oud, Mehmet has made this into a golden age.

 

[oudcast]

I think about the broader Discourse of oud often. I definitely agree this is the Golden Age, largely due to the internet. I can't imagine how hard it would be to get educated and then find, authenticate, source, and sell ouds of these calibers even in the early stages of the internet, when oud itself was more abundant. Technology might get better but from here on out until we can synthesize oud, the diminishing supply carries more weight imo.
For a hobby so ethereal, these artisans don't get their flowers often enough but I think the annals of the internet will remember them and future oudheads will envy us as we do our predecessors. I firmly believe Mehmet's work is in a category of its own because of its completeness and we are witnessing history in the making in general.

 

[Olfactory Nomad]

Holy moly - Sarmast is amazing stuff!! beautiful balanced combination, the two woods combined to create a really beautiful essence that doesn't smell like a mixture of two different things and doesn't bring one region to mind over another but is instead a unified sophisticated oil that I would have thought would have to have way more age behind it before it would smell like this.

This is a mere first impression and it will take multiple wears to really understand what I've got here but this one seems to be right there at the pinnacle of Mehmet's extractions. I get deep sophisticated resinous notes, that heavy healthy forest ecosystem aroma, deep bittersweet classic oudiness top to bottom, no off notes, no weird shrill pungency that needs to be given five years to dissipate, just beautiful clean sophisticated oud. I feel like I detect a certain signature here to these oils. if this was given to me blind I think I would pretty quickly suspect it might be one of Mehmet's oils but maybe I'm deluding myself. Whatever it is… I suspect the method of extraction and it may not be so much an imposed signature as the absence of some other accessory notes that emerge from certain qualities of wood or approaches to extraction etc..

Mehmet has done something pretty amazing here with this series of meticulously coordinated and documented distillations - supported by personal availability and eagerness to discuss what he's doing. I am no "fanboy" of him or of anybody ESPECIALLY in the area of authentic natural aromatics where I have zero patience for the fog of marketing, obfuscation, or bullshit. What he does speaks for itself and when you understand what he's doing it's utterly compelling and it's a truly unique approach - legendary quality material with no attempts to hide or cloud or modify the aroma - just allowing us to see what the wood has to say. No dirty condensers, no distillation shortcuts, no need to be mysterious or hide behind innuendo or implication (and no this is not aimed at any of the other beloved honest enthusiastic vendors out there) I'm just talking about the broader scene over the years etc.

In terms of my own experience with collection, and understanding of oud, Mehmet has made this into a golden age.

This is the kind of review that should be framed and hung on a wall. In my very limited experience of Mehemets oils, this line resonates with me. " I suspect the method of extraction and it may not be so much an imposed signature as the absence of some other accessory notes that emerge from certain qualities of wood or approaches to extraction."

 

[mesOUD]

Thank you guys
Words like these mean more to me than you might imagine.
Having people truly understand what I’m doing, or perhaps more importantly, what I’m trying to achieve, is absolutely priceless to me.

Let me put it this way.
I actually need to get up and finish the final preparations for my next distillation. But I’ve been feeling quite exhausted lately, and honestly, I couldn’t quite find the energy to get myself moving.

Then I read comments like these, and suddenly I find the motivation to get out of my chair and get back to work. That’s how much they mean to me.

And regarding the observation about the extraction method, you’ve touched on something very important.

Every distillation carries the signature of the system in which it was distilled, whether the distiller realizes it or not. Eliminating those signatures, allowing the wood to express itself without even the equipment imposing its own character, is an extraordinarily difficult task.

In fact, some of the designs and engineering solutions I’ve developed specifically for this purpose are probably innovations worthy of being patented, should I ever decide to pursue that route.

But patents and recognition have never been what drives me.

What matters far more is that someone can smell the result and actually recognize what I’ve been working so hard to achieve.

That, to me, is priceless.