Oud of the Day

[Dr B1414]

EO Dokusan for the day. Excellent oil all around. A cousin to Purple Malay and Grand Emperor Hue. Unlike the former, it screams Sinensis and reminds me of purple fruits rather than florals, and unlike the latter, it has that typical Chinese bitterness and is devoid of that "turpentine" smell Hue bares.

This oil is unique for a Sinensis as it displays this utterly Purple resinous quality that I never thought a Sinesnis oil could harbor. Everything else you'd expect from a Chinese oil is there. Lots of honey, golden and dripping, that green bitter quality, tart almost. And then you have this purple resinous quality that feels zesty and juicy. It makes me think of the early plums we have here now in the garden. They are round, unlike the Autumnal ones, and more fleshy and hard in texture. They are sweet but also have this tartness, almost citrus-like quality that balances the sweetness. I just had a bunch today and their taste reminds me of the way I smell that Purple resin core in Dokusan. For the price this oil is stellar. Beautiful and enjoyable profile (especially for Sinesnis and Chinese lovers), unique, and worth owning as a collector (since Yunnan oils are hard to come by). Also, unlike many Chinese and Yunnan oils, this one is devoid of pheromonal musky or leathery aspects. Pristine profile.

 

[Mr.P]

@mesOUD - Bulungan
@mesOUD - Cambodi Qadeem
@mesOUD - Centra

Wore Bulungan yesterday morning, a beautiful mix of fruits, jungle like gasoline, muddy earth. Ozonic citrus notes. Sparkling and fresh one.

Cambodi Qadeem was my oil for the night, it’s possibly the most challenging one in my collection, even more so than the civet paste and Hindi ouds. It’s so loud, pungent, no escaping it when you swipe it. Motor oil like thickness, projecting overripe rotting stone fruits and medicinal betel nut resins. It’s sour to the nth degree. I don’t think I’ve had the courage to wear this one out yet, might have to soon to explore how it is during the day.

Today woke up and put on Centra, an A. Beccariana oil from West Borneo. Very sharp woodsy jungly spiced note leaning towards tobacco in the opening, mixing with coffee beans and a light cacao sweetness. Gives me very similar vibes to the wild Merauke oil, except dry instead of damp. There’s a sumptuous dry floral and spicy tobacco like heart note, like a black pepper like dry. Mixing with the roasted coffee sweetness still very present here. It can smell a little like some damp woods, but only lightly as it dried down. Very unique oil, I’m wondering if other Borneo examples I have are also Beccariana now.

The bulungun I had a chance to sample a few times - that had some really interesting notes behind the oudiness, especially in its bitter aspect that reminded me of poppy sap, galbanum. Also noted some sweetness akin to sweet cassie and another edge/layer that brought fir needles and citrus peel to mind. Wish I had some on hand to revisit.

 

[Fragdoctor]

EO Dokusan for the day. Excellent oil all around. A cousin to Purple Malay and Grand Emperor Hue. Unlike the former, it screams Sinensis and reminds me of purple fruits rather than florals, and unlike the latter, it has that typical Chinese bitterness and is devoid of that "turpentine" smell Hue bares.

This oil is unique for a Sinensis as it displays this utterly Purple resinous quality that I never thought a Sinesnis oil could harbor. Everything else you'd expect from a Chinese oil is there. Lots of honey, golden and dripping, that green bitter quality, tart almost. And then you have this purple resinous quality that feels zesty and juicy. It makes me think of the early plums we have here now in the garden. They are round, unlike the Autumnal ones, and more fleshy and hard in texture. They are sweet but also have this tartness, almost citrus-like quality that balances the sweetness. I just had a bunch today and their taste reminds me of the way I smell that Purple resin core in Dokusan. For the price this oil is stellar. Beautiful and enjoyable profile (especially for Sinesnis and Chinese lovers), unique, and worth owning as a collector (since Yunnan oils are hard to come by). Also, unlike many Chinese and Yunnan oils, this one is devoid of pheromonal musky or leathery aspects. Pristine profile.

I have a little sample of this. Just don’t find a day where I swipe it. Travelling in a few days I guess I’ll wear it on the flight and spend proper time with it in the sky 😂

 

[Imran297]

Pustat Maliki from @Habz786 on this beautiful summer day. I only managed to buy 1g so I rarely wear it. I really like this oil, it’s like a well balanced (exotic) fruit punch

 

[Habz786]

Pustat Maliki from @Habz786 on this beautiful summer day. I only managed to buy 1g so I rarely wear it. I really like this oil, it’s like a well balanced (exotic) fruit punch

Got a special project just completed from Pursat, very low yield but it should be something special. Just waiting to recieve the oil now 🙂 Pursat Maliki is a delicious oil, gutted i never kept any for myself. Pursat is my favorite reigon from Cambodia then Koh Kong.

 

[Olfactory Nomad]

@mesOUD - Bulungan
@mesOUD - Cambodi Qadeem
@mesOUD - Centra

Wore Bulungan yesterday morning, a beautiful mix of fruits, jungle like gasoline, muddy earth. Ozonic citrus notes. Sparkling and fresh one.

Cambodi Qadeem was my oil for the night, it’s possibly the most challenging one in my collection, even more so than the civet paste and Hindi ouds. It’s so loud, pungent, no escaping it when you swipe it. Motor oil like thickness, projecting overripe rotting stone fruits and medicinal betel nut resins. It’s sour to the nth degree. I don’t think I’ve had the courage to wear this one out yet, might have to soon to explore how it is during the day.

Today woke up and put on Centra, an A. Beccariana oil from West Borneo. Very sharp woodsy jungly spiced note leaning towards tobacco in the opening, mixing with coffee beans and a light cacao sweetness. Gives me very similar vibes to the wild Merauke oil, except dry instead of damp. There’s a sumptuous dry floral and spicy tobacco like heart note, like a black pepper like dry. Mixing with the roasted coffee sweetness still very present here. It can smell a little like some damp woods, but only lightly as it dried down. Very unique oil, I’m wondering if other Borneo examples I have are also Beccariana now.

Dug out the Cambodi Qadeem and the Centra after reading this. Dude you're spot on every time! That Cambodi is full-on! It's a bit late in the day for me to swipe that as my partner will be home soon and she will NOT like it at all but man, what a funk! I'm going to put that along with the Hindi's I have here in the try later box. I may even leave them until it starts warming up a bit more. I think it's too cold to be wearing the crazy funk ouds. And yeah..The Centra does actually smell dry not dank. Very interesting. Will definitely come back to this one sooner than later as well.

 

[Mike Jonez]

AA - Lao 4K

This oil takes the cake for most piercing "mind buzz" oil I've ever experienced.

 

[Escentually]

Dug out the Cambodi Qadeem and the Centra after reading this. Dude you're spot on every time! That Cambodi is full-on! It's a bit late in the day for me to swipe that as my partner will be home soon and she will NOT like it at all but man, what a funk! I'm going to put that along with the Hindi's I have here in the try later box. I may even leave them until it starts warming up a bit more. I think it's too cold to be wearing the crazy funk ouds. And yeah..The Centra does actually smell dry not dank. Very interesting. Will definitely come back to this one sooner than later as well.

Really appreciate it brother🙏 The Cambodi is definitely not something I’d be wearing on a date night😅 Glad you’re loving all of Mehmets oils as much as I am!

 

[Mr.P]

That Cambodi Qadeem smells just like ajmal's "Oud Amiri" that i bought in 1998 or so (at the time it was one of their most expensive oils listed online). Dead ringer with that heavy ferment, tang, and animalic / civet like aspect. Heavy duty for a cambodi!

 

[Fragdoctor]

That Cambodi Qadeem smells just like ajmal's "Oud Amiri" that i bought in 1998 or so (at the time it was one of their most expensive oils listed online). Dead ringer with that heavy ferment, tang, and animalic / civet like aspect. Heavy duty for a cambodi!

Which cambodi qadeem?

If it’s mesouds - I don’t find it comparable to my dehn al oud amiri - oud amiri to me takes a leap towards the upper assam territory - very heavy fermented hay notes through and through with a mellow fruity sweet dry down
Qambodi qadeem is a balanced sweet and leathery oil

 

[Mr.P]

Which cambodi qadeem?

If it’s mesouds - I don’t find it comparable to my dehn al oud amiri - oud amiri to me takes a leap towards the upper assam territory - very heavy fermented hay notes through and through with a mellow fruity sweet dry down
Qambodi qadeem is a balanced sweet and leathery oil

I am talking about mesoud's. My amiri is old and just a thickened residue (it was one of the first oils I purchased probably 1998, came in an egg shaped wood-clad bottle) so my memory may be off. The amiri immediately came to mind when i smelled the Cambodi qadeem sample though! Similar fermentation style i would guess?

 

[Escentually]

@AlHindOud - Oud Qaysar

This was initially purchased by me as a mystery oil, with the intent of guessing where the woods used to distill this oil came from. My first swiping, I thought it was Borneo, then a Hindi and Burmese mixed with Phillipines. There were shades of some Malaysian in here on my third wearing too. Truly an oil that was traveling the world in its scent profile. It was ultimately revealed to be a codistillation of Hindi and Sumatran woods.

Off the bottle and initial application it’s a potent sour yogurt funk. This is where I believed it to be a Hindi or maybe a Phillipines wood, but most likely the pungency of the sourness could also be attributed to the age of this oil, being still quite young. This sour note after application quickly picks up drier acrid notes. Spicy Borneo like clove and pepper, my first wearing referring to it as a sulfuric gas.

Further along is a swampy like note that presents itself, my first wearing actually I referred to it as a muddy like quality similar to a Sumatran. On later wearing I described it as the interior of a crab fishing boat, very much reminding me of the smell of crab shells. This muddy and fishy like quality is uplifted but a gentler sweeter floral aspect. Brief flashes of candy like florals that had me thinking it was maybe a Malaysian too.

The Hindi aspect comes out more in the deeper base levels of this distillation. More sour tamarind overripe fruits, the pungent gas changing its shade. Wood shaving and chip on heat and whispers of that initial blast of cheesy funk.

It was fun to try to collectively guess where this oil was from, and a pleasure to have in my collection. I’ll be on the lookout for more of AlHinds oils in my collection in the future, the Thai Zen is looking especially interesting.

 

[Mr.P]

I don't know to what degree blasts from the past are relevant (since I know these aren't leads to anything available) but I find myself spending as much time with older stuff as with newer. Been meaning to dig out my oriscent oils - i have a few I need revisit, all pre-2007 though so also blasts from the past as opposed to reviews of contemporary oils.

Also have some old feel ouds. I just cracked two bottles that have been sealed since the day I bought them (i bought two sets and this is the one left to age), trying to remember when i got them…. These are the Feel Oud Chan Ko set - one batch of "bio" plantation wood treated three ways. Oils number one and two were soaked into different types of water. I think for slightly different duration. Oil number three was a direct no-soak distillation.

The soaked oils had pronounced cherry candy sweet and sour pungent Thai aroma over a balsamic / poplar sweet-fresh aroma I smell in most young thai oils. The unsoaked oil was quite minty. It was the only one that I enjoyed wearing when they were fresh, but now after about 10 years or so if I'm remembering correctly the soaked oils are smelling less spazzy and pungent and a little more towards heavy/oudy aroma. As with most young (?) crassna oils, sense of balance is more present in the dry down than in the top/mid notes. And the dry down on these can be absolutely sublime… bright sparkling white wood split oak tangy cambodi type sweet pseudokinamish tail

I would say their scents have converged over the last 10 years. Still not crazy about the top notes... something about plantation Thai rubs me the wrong way at times.

These are likely destined to be incorporated into a perfume at least oils number one and two

I'm surprised I bought two sets of these... I think I was hoping for a little more rapid maturation and if I recall I felt the quality of the minty oil was worth the price of all three of them and I was just trying to get a second bottle of that. They were a steal and i am glad i can watch these age.

 

[Fragdoctor]

I am talking about mesoud's. My amiri is old and just a thickened residue (it was one of the first oils I purchased probably 1998, came in an egg shaped wood-clad bottle) so my memory may be off. The amiri immediately came to mind when i smelled the Cambodi qadeem sample though! Similar fermentation style i would guess?

Yeah probably
Must have been some presentation!

 

[Mr.P]

Yeah probably
Must have been some presentation!

Trying to find the bottle… i'm actually surprised that it's not with my other old oils. Prior to that I had only smelled an oil called Cambodi Kadeem (Ajmal) which i still have maybe a gram of. It was about 1/2 the price of the amiri. Very very nice resiny phenolic cambodi and something I prefer to the candy sweet and lactic ferment types. They sent a sample of the Amiri with it and i could not believe my nose. I was certain it was a civet mix. Took me a month or so to realize how interesting it was.

The full bottle came in a sand yellow pyramidal box that opened by splitting at a vertical seam. Very heavy solid metal cap/dipstick. Cheap plastic green "gemstone" of course. It was the first time I had seen a ME fragrance product in full decked out presentation (and I was young) so it blew my mind to a degree.

 

[Fragdoctor]

Trying to find the bottle… i'm actually surprised that it's not with my other old oils. Prior to that I had only smelled an oil called Cambodi Kadeem (Ajmal) which i still have maybe a gram of. It was about 1/2 the price of the amiri. Very very nice resiny phenolic cambodi and something I prefer to the candy sweet and lactic ferment types. They sent a sample of the Amiri with it and i could not believe my nose. I was certain it was a civet mix. Took me a month or so to realize how interesting it was.

The full bottle came in a sand yellow pyramidal box that opened by splitting at a vertical seam. Very heavy solid metal cap/dipstick. Cheap plastic green "gemstone" of course. It was the first time I had seen a ME fragrance product in full decked out presentation (and I was young) so it blew my mind to a degree.

Cambodi kadeem by ajmal was really nice - remember it

 

[Dr B1414]

Borneo Orgy😋

EO Oud Ertugrul I
to compare with
EO Oud Ertugrul II

EO Borneo 5000
EO Sultani Sekadau

OE I and OE II are not really that similar. I'd say Mehmet is much closer to OE I than OE II. Anyway, the main difference is that in II there is this lemongrass note that is quite prominent for the first 1.5 hours or so and dims down afterward but never goes away for good. It is less purple/red/raspberry loaded, and there is no dustiness, although it feels almost as rich, and slightly more dirty. I noticed it has a touch of dirtiness if I move quickly between the two. It's a great oil on its own but comparing it to the first iteration, I much prefer OR I to II.

Borneo 5000 is super dense and creamy, with a nice balance between the vanilla cream facet and the woodiness. No honey. I noticed with these clean/crystal clear Borneo oils, the base always has these 3 characteristics: honey, vanilla, and wood. In some oils, the wood dominates (Diesel, Malinau Qi, GE Tarakan), in others is the vanilla (Ertugrul, Mehmet), and in some it's the honey(3000, 50K). With 5000 there seems to be a perfect balance of wood and vanilla while the honey is muted. Dense and rich oil. The unique bit about it and the one characteristic that sets it apart from all other Borneo oils I tried is this "Blue Lotus" note that imbues a freezy-blue and slightly zesty-green floral quality to the oil, especially in the opening part and the heart. This note immediately brings to mind Taha's Royal Sumatra which displays that same note but goes in a different direction for the remainder. Here, once that lotus note fades away, only the rich Borneo profile remains for many hours.

So the Sekadau caught my attention once it was announced since it has a Bornean origin, supposedly it's a Purple Hued oil, as well as a rare specimen. I had to try it asap. The blurb sounds quite convincing also as they throw around some of my favorite oud oils and big names like Oud Ahmad, Oud Salahuddin, Oud Sultani, Purple Kinam, etc.
Trying it, I can say that it smells unique and unlike any Borneo or Indonesian oil I tried. As great as the aforementioned ones? I don't see it. Unique? Yes, for sure. Purple? Not really. For example, I think there is more of a Purple hue in Borneo oils like Ertugrul or Borneo Kinam. For sure not as purple as Sultani. There is more of an Orange-Purple hue than just Purple. The opening to me in one word would be "Orange Dreamsicle". That's it. Aka, orange-flavored ice cream. It's orange and green, vividly orange and perhaps a bit green. Quite an embracing and invigorating opening, not what I expected at all. After that calms down a bit, I get the purple but that zesty green quality stays. This part reminds me of oils like Purple Malay and Oud Mahmoud, minus the muskiness of the latter. And so, I guess it could pass as a Purple oil at this point. It is very unique no doubt. Not exactly my jam since I don't care much for these zesty/green/fresh/juicy/citrus-like notes/accords with oils, and perfumes (freshies make me recoil) and thus, it doesn't appeal to my palate. It definitely has this juicy orange thing going on mingling with the soft purple facet. Definitely worth sampling just for expanding your palate.

 

[Mr.P]

@AlHindOud - Oud Qaysar

This was initially purchased by me as a mystery oil, with the intent of guessing where the woods used to distill this oil came from. My first swiping, I thought it was Borneo, then a Hindi and Burmese mixed with Phillipines. There were shades of some Malaysian in here on my third wearing too. Truly an oil that was traveling the world in its scent profile. It was ultimately revealed to be a codistillation of Hindi and Sumatran woods.

Off the bottle and initial application it’s a potent sour yogurt funk. This is where I believed it to be a Hindi or maybe a Phillipines wood, but most likely the pungency of the sourness could also be attributed to the age of this oil, being still quite young. This sour note after application quickly picks up drier acrid notes. Spicy Borneo like clove and pepper, my first wearing referring to it as a sulfuric gas.

Further along is a swampy like note that presents itself, my first wearing actually I referred to it as a muddy like quality similar to a Sumatran. On later wearing I described it as the interior of a crab fishing boat, very much reminding me of the smell of crab shells. This muddy and fishy like quality is uplifted but a gentler sweeter floral aspect. Brief flashes of candy like florals that had me thinking it was maybe a Malaysian too.

The Hindi aspect comes out more in the deeper base levels of this distillation. More sour tamarind overripe fruits, the pungent gas changing its shade. Wood shaving and chip on heat and whispers of that initial blast of cheesy funk.

It was fun to try to collectively guess where this oil was from, and a pleasure to have in my collection. I’ll be on the lookout for more of AlHinds oils in my collection in the future, the Thai Zen is looking especially interesting.

I love some of the Sumatra oils I have smelled, and also have smelled notes that I associate with those oils in Malay oils (like Zamrad II for example). I'm wondering as I smell more Malay and sumatran oils whether what I am thinking of as a Sumatran profile is not actually just a species profile and not regional at all. Takes time to sort this stuff out especially with a large number of my oils not having species ID.

 

[AlHind Oud]

I love some of the Sumatra oils I have smelled, and also have smelled notes that I associate with those oils in Malay oils (like Zamrad II for example). I'm wondering as I smell more Malay and sumatran oils whether what I am thinking of as a Sumatran profile is not actually just a species profile and not regional at all. Takes time to sort this stuff out especially with a large number of my oils not having species ID.

The difference I felt between the Malay malacenssis and Sumatran one is that the later one has that strong peppery spice note but other than that they have lot of similarities. Another difference I felt was the smell from the bottle, sumatran one smelled like a borneo oil to my nose whenever I pop open the bottle to smell it. I’m only talking about the sumatran batch I distilled last year and is aged for more than 8 months now.

 

[-Renton-]

HM Royal Malay by SULAYM. Farewell brethren, the oil is now finished 🙁 . I bought it around November or December I think, and got 1.25g of it, lasted quite a while.

Notes are a tad different now to what I remember, but my nose has changed, and it has been a while since I have worn it.

Starts off with a very strong, rich sweet resin note, followed by sweet and sour purple berries, and greenery forest notes, after 15-20 mins it became more well rounded, and more balanced between the sweet and sour, but also I detected a sour CHERRY note and was like, what the...??? Never seen this before in this oil, and it was semi-sweet, mostly sour along side purple sour berries and sweet ones too, there is also this relaxing "wet" note, not like petrichor but actually like rainfall of literal resin lol, it gave me some buzz, with some mild gasoline like notes. Woody notes come in and you get some incense notes that are quite smokey but very clean, but with some animalic, fermented, muskiness... strange, never smelled that from this oil before, but it lasted a good hour in the smokey incense note, with the fruits and stuff in the background, and some bitterness coming along. 2 hours into it now and there is a more creamy, antique woodiness, which is the normal Malaysian wood note that I experience with wild malaysian wood too, about 30 mins before, the strong clean smokey wood note was more of a rich, regal dark purple wood note (if that makes sense)? The pleasing bitterness is gone, and it is mostly going onto the end of the heart notes, with a creamy, antique woody (but less resinous) incense note, with some undernotes of the fruits, very sweet again. Slight purple berries with a fancy, regal, ROYAL if you will cola note combined together. A very purple oil for sure... one I will miss!!!

Subtle minty notes start to develop as well, with purple confectionary and purple fizzy cola, and an ALMOST kinamic-like creaminess, but points more towards the creamy wood note you get from Malaysian woods and most oils.

Starting to remember that this is a very exotic oil after the 2 hour mark, goes from forest to jungle, to rainforest to forest to jungle repeat. It's such an awesome oil, I hope there is some left somewhere haha.

This was my first artisanal oud oil ever... sad to see it go.

Oh forgot to mention, the forest note is kinda always there to an extent in most parts of this oil if not all.

Thank you @SULAYM for breaking by artisanal Oud virginity with such an amazing oil 😍😂

EDIT: There is more nuanced notes going further than what I wrote, but I couldn't wear it for the full 4-6 hour heart note then 6 - 8 hour dry down and still remember all the notes. So, every write up I do I usually smell oils for 2-3 hours and then do a write up, then i keep adding on different notes I smell while doing the write up.