Oud of the Day

[Arabiad07]

This is so true. I find it amazing how our noses seem to perceive oils so similarly. I messaged Faizal shortly after getting the P Malay asking if it was not a Papuan co-distill as it smelt so similar to OR. You are absolutely right. To this day, I still believe there might be some Merauke wood in there also.

Yes agreed.

Wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some Merauke in there or a nearby region. SQ was clearly on a mission to distill the best woods in a specific way. The results speak for themselves. The oils are worth studying. Fortunate were about to try them

 

[Mike Jonez]

AA - Lao 4K

 

[Mr.P]

Mesoud Tarakan Ateeq. Very interesting oil - amazing the range of scents we can find in different ouds. 🙂

This oil is not a high funk / ferment oil. More roasted, phenolic, mulchy.
I was thinking about some of the adjectives used to describe more robust and wild ouds, and it occurred to me that other than booze and cheese (and kimchi, etc) this is a rare example of humans wholeheartedly embracing the aromas of decomposers and decomposition. For the most part decomposers compete with us for food, and the bacteria are our main ecological adversaries (because they can easily devour our food supply right under our noses).

The fact that we find the smell of bacteria repulsive is both an adaptation warning us of danger and chemical warfare by the germs to repel us once they start to consume our resources.

Being able to appreciate the funk in fermented products and ignore instinctual/trained responses has its rewards!

 

[The Scent Guru]

Sumatra Seufi from @mesOUD

This oil has unique refreshing characteristics, perfect for this warm day.

 

[-Renton-]

HabzOud Al Hareer.

Very nice hindi oil, bit of fermentation but not too much, lovely therapeutic oil like most traditional and new gen hindis. Lifting a sense of unhappiness, dread, and anxiety and taking it away... spiritually.

 

[Escentually]

@mesOUD - Sumbawa Black

Polished leather, modern and refined. Brings me back directly to fond memories of sitting in shoes stores with my mother. The scent of leather and shoe polish filling up the rooms as I wait for her to try on the 20th pair of the visit. A reference oil for how clean leather should smell, perfect for blending or wearing neat.

 

[Ahmaoud]

Al Hashimi - Sumbawa - sweet floral, emerald green profile, the feeling of being wrapped in dark green brocade silk, think high grade north Sumatrans, Kedah, or Western Malays. No smokiness or pepperiness, just the sweet emerald characteristics, not fizzy, citrus-y, or mentholic like some, and no bitterness at all!

Al Hind Oud - Thai Zen - grab a chair and start observing, one thing's for sure I've not smelled a Thai oil that's come remotely close to this!

 

[Ari357]

Sumatra Seufi from @mesOUD

This oil has unique refreshing characteristics, perfect for this warm day.

View attachment 39305

How much does something like this go for?

 

[Obada]

Al Hashimi - Sumbawa - sweet floral, emerald green profile, the feeling of being wrapped in dark green brocade silk, think high grade north Sumatrans, Kedah, or Western Malays. No smokiness or pepperiness, just the sweet emerald characteristics, not fizzy, citrus-y, or mentholic like some, and no bitterness at all!

Al Hind Oud - Thai Zen - grab a chair and start observing, one thing's for sure I've not smelled a Thai oil that's come remotely close to this!

I am jumping on my chair for the Thai Zen review 🪑😆

 

[Quintillus]

Gaharu Uno by Habzoud.

Lovely transitions and interplay of oceanic, jungle green and earth. Lifted my spirits and made smile after a long day at work.

 

[AlHind Oud]

I am jumping on my chair for the Thai Zen review 🪑😆

Haha me too!

 

[The Scent Guru]

How much does something like this go for?

Please reach out to our resident artisan directly by sending him a message here @mesOUD

 

[Mike Jonez]

AA - Royal Maluku

Breathtakingly beautiful.....wow 🤯

 

[players02]

Fushigi - Brunei Kyere/Kyara

Very nice but short living oud (lasts around 2.5 hours till base notes then 30 mins till dry down where it becomes rather weak).

It smells like high quality Brunei "Kinam" heating on a kinam heater or subitism all the they way through, as if you are heating it and it brings notes of the actual wood for 2 - 3 hours.

Starts with a sweet, somewhat resinous, purple fruit note, some sour fruits too, purple florals, with pink and purple florals near the end, mainly pink. Very woody in a very peculiar way, cant describe it, just like a wood that is being heated. Milky, creamy, kinamic notes, slight mintiness, coolness, and bitter, sourness. These are the main notes I can remember and I think thats all I could pick up really.

Then dry down is like a woody, slightly kinamic, petrichor vibe.

I am gonna get another 0.25g bottle, it's not ran out yet, still a good amount left, but gonna buy their Nha Trang oil in September first then another Brunei 0.25g so I can wear it in the colder weather to see if it shines more notes into my nose as these are, what I like to call, super new gen oils, since it's like the wood actually being heated, unlike other new gens, which are beautiful but just have a different style of new gen, like Hirta Deadwood (oh how i Love that one, I am also saving most of that for the winter, even though I have quite a lot left)

Photo when I first got them, because I think this is my first write up on Brunei Kyere/Kyara that I actually tried to do and pick notes out:
View attachment 39263

Waiting on your review of his Mysore Sandalwood.

 

[Escentually]

@mesOUD - Cambodi Classic

Welp, looks like this will be joining Haikou in the first of the sample set oils I’ve finished. Bitter molten chocolatey gorilla shit, love the way this oil hits the nose when you move around. A challenging oil, not something I thought I’d be swiping as often as I did. Primal, tapping into something deep inside all humans. A wild animal spirit that has been dwindling in modern society. This oil feels like roaming the jungles again with your ape brethren.

 

[Mr.P]

Today is a good day. Got some samples from Habz in front of me. First thing I did was pop the dipstick off the Gaharu Uno.

This is one of the rare oils that right off the dipstick is hitting me with everything I want to smell. I haven't put on a swipe yet but it is immediately clear this oil brings some of the favorite things I like about oud right to my nose. Wow this is beautiful stuff concentrating this one note that is especially dear to me - a kind of aquatic "US riparian zone in spring" aroma but in an unusually clean and refined form. Can't wait to wear this oil but I'm saving it for the right moment when my palate is clear

I feel like a fool attempting to write a review without having even swiped the oil, can't think of the last time I did that in fact but this one doesn't leave any doubts as to what it delivers. I'll follow up with a detailed review later

 

[-Renton-]

I am gonna make this my last post for a good month and just enjoy some ouds and wood without doing a write up, since it's kind of stressing me out feeling like I need to do a write up all the time, for every oil, wood etc.

So I think it is time for me to just lurk for a month or 2.

Vietnam 2019 by RisingPhoenix.

A great oil for the price, starts off very resinous, sour red cherries and semi sweet and sour red fruits, couple mins later it balanced out with a nice strong, sweet red and weirdly enough, (to my nose anyway) some purple sweet and sour fruits. There is aslo a greenery forest ote that is soft and beautiful. The resinous notes stay there the whole way through, I am around 5 hours into it and put some more dots onto it, there is also some earthiness to this oil too. The more it progresses the more you see the sour and red berry sweet note kinda moving into one, nice balanced soft, subtle kinamic mintiness starts coming along, you get really potent clean, creamy, smokey, resinous and woody incense notes that are just beautiful, and more kinamic notes at this area (2.5 hrs in) with a more piercing, but also still soft, kinamic minty and creamy notes. Fruity, floral, Vietnam incense, some kinamic notes, creamy, minty, earthy and over all just a very nice oil. And for the price a real bargain. The dry down is also not boring at all either, very nice from start to finish.

 

[Mr.P]

I am gonna make this my last post for a good month and just enjoy some ouds and wood without doing a write up, since it's kind of stressing me out feeling like I need to do a write up all the time, for every oil, wood etc.

So I think it is time for me to just lurk for a month or 2.

Vietnam 2019 by RisingPhoenix.

A great oil for the price, starts off very resinous, sour red cherries and semi sweet and sour red fruits, couple mins later it balanced out with a nice strong, sweet red and weirdly enough, (to my nose anyway) some purple sweet and sour fruits. There is aslo a greenery forest ote that is soft and beautiful. The resinous notes stay there the whole way through, I am around 5 hours into it and put some more dots onto it, there is also some earthiness to this oil too. The more it progresses the more you see the sour and red berry sweet note kinda moving into one, nice balanced soft, subtle kinamic mintiness starts coming along, you get really potent clean, creamy, smokey, resinous and woody incense notes that are just beautiful, and more kinamic notes at this area (2.5 hrs in) with a more piercing, but also still soft, kinamic minty and creamy notes. Fruity, floral, Vietnam incense, some kinamic notes, creamy, minty, earthy and over all just a very nice oil. And for the price a real bargain. The dry down is also not boring at all either, very nice from start to finish.

Never a bad idea to take time for reflection / silence / observation / introspection.

 

[Mike Jonez]

Some amazing Maluku oils to compare for the day.

Oriscent Maluku LTD
Oriscent Oud Royale Maluku
AA Royal Maluku

These are all amazing and accurately capture that Bluish Seram flavor I love so much. However, they are different. The AA has the most colorful and addictive opening, bright and extrovert. My problem with it is that after 1.5 hours or so it shifts to a Borneo profile. Had that Seram opening lasted throughout this would have been one of my favorite oud oils ever. In comparison, the EO Malukus are true to the wood origin throughout, start to finish. The two oils, ORM and MLTD have a lot in common. The difference is that the MLTD takes all the Seram goodness the ORM has and adds a LOT to it. When I tried MLTD on its own I immediately concluded it is an amazing oil. Now, after wearing it next to these two, that are exceptional, it only makes me appreciate it even more. It is more than an oil. It's one of the few oils that smells like a proper perfume. And I feel all oud oils are proper perfumes in their sense. Yet a few, feel like they were truly put together like a proper perfume composition with thought after top, mid, and base notes and seamless transitions. That's how MLTD feels. The ORM gives a focused, zoomed in experience on that buterry Orris, juicy-blue fruits, and somehow blue-metallic aquamarine experience. It doesn't change much. The Oriscent touch is faint and doesn't last long. This is a beeter oil for those interested in only that pure Orris/Ceram facet these oils can offer. The MLTD builts on what the other oil already offers. It adds in that Oriscent medicinal, bitter wood facet that hits strong in the opening and lasts a good while, and it also has a strong Almahera resin quality. The latter adds this spicy, fiery, creamy floral, and vanilla profile to the already present Orris/Ceram one. The Ceram part is just as present as in the ORM but is not the focus here. The focus here is none. The oil feels like a perfume more so than trying to capture a certain terroir or facet of the wood. Like you go to the distiller with the wood and say "I want you to make a perfume out of this wood". Amazing.

I'd say the AA is the most invigorating and colorful, brightest, especially for the first 2 hours or so till the drydown. The ORM is the most focused on the Ceram/Orris facet, while the MLTD is the most complex and offers overall, the most complete experience.

I knew I wasn't buggin ! I had just received Borneo Diesel for the first time a couple weeks prior to Royal Maluku , upon first sniff of RM immediately BD came to mind.

 

[Olfactory Nomad]

Green Kyara oil - KyaraShine. I wasn't going to try any of this so late in the day when it arrived but I took a smell of it from the bottle and wow! Super dark and medicinal. Bitter, so so bitter. Not what I was expecting but to be honest I didn't know what to expect really? Anyway I put the cap back on but from then on inwaa getting tiny wiffs of kynam as if I had lit a stick of CK but I hadn't. Realising I had some of the oil on my fingers I brought them up to my nose and there it was! CK on my fingers! This stuff is VERY strong! I think it could potentially become nauseating if applied a little to liberally. Piecing scent of kynam sweet and enveloping. 2.5g bottle of this will last forever. I wonder if it will age?