Oud of the Day

[Xerohome]

EO Oud Ertugrul I
EO Oud Ertugrul II
After spending more time with these two I can say they can't be more different. The first one is far superior, more complex, refined, no rough edges and gorgeous.
The second one was a beautiful after first encounter, with time more facets appeared, and now I can see it as a low grade borneo to be honest, and similar grade of oils can be sold at 40 or even 60% lower. It has a very obvious nutty opening with a clear raspberry like note in the heart and subtle borneo drydown, nothing like OE I where is the opening is a bit kinamic, transitions are smooth and the drydown pointing towards high end borneos (like White Kinam).
Last point, I'd like to ask more experienced members or vendors, does the nutty (especially peanut) opening in indonesian oud oils indicate a low grade oil with cheap materials or cost cutting distillation techniques? or not?

 

[Olfactory Nomad]

Mai Kritsana - HabzOud.

Without going into the notes too mucb, all I can say about this oil is that it is an organic oud oil masterpiece. It's better than a lot of wild Thai oils. Simply great. Has a very multilayered, complex scent to it.

With sweet resin, oudy, agarwood notes, dark sweet molasses, incense wood notes all the way through, a purple cloud caused by purple herbs and a kind of purple plum and sometimes I get plum Blossom notes, green minty herbal notes, a peculiar gourmand baked clay note that gives off gourmand baked good notes, cinnamon along side, other spice and semi-sweet spices, I detect some leather, jungle vibes with a very subtle oceanic notes and more.

Very interesting oil.

This one is my daily driver atm. You only need a dot of it and it goes for hours and hours.

 

[Olfactory Nomad]

His Ateek oils are insane. I’ve been absolutely floored on his catalog lately. When it comes to Indian oils JK’s taste is unmatched because it made me realize Indian oils have never ending depth and complexity that isn’t just barn and leather.

This made me think of Alamgir 1 - Alhindoud. I know I've been going on about this one a little bit lately but it's for good reason. This is a Hindi without the barn. It launches you straight into all the magic that lies underneath without having to wait for a drydown and then delivering a drydown all of it's own. Now, this oil is very unique in it's composition so I really don't know if there is anything that it can be compared to but your comment above made me think maybe it could be similar to these older Ateek's?

 

[Zubayr]

Vathimi Raja - ASO

I've been spending more time with this oil, and it keeps revealing things. This time I got a more pronounced green forest note initially which may be because the weather has cooled here but idk. When I take a sniff of my hand every so often, I get different notes each time. Sometimes floral, sometimes green forest, and sometimes this oceanic sweet fresh note which I've not smelled in any oud before (I haven't smelled many ouds in the first place). Wearing this oil is like going on a long walk through different parts of nature

 

[Mr.P]

Vathimi Raja - ASO

I've been spending more time with this oil, and it keeps revealing things. This time I got a more pronounced green forest note initially which may be because the weather has cooled here but idk. When I take a sniff of my hand every so often, I get different notes each time. Sometimes floral, sometimes green forest, and sometimes this oceanic sweet fresh note which I've not smelled in any oud before (I haven't smelled many ouds in the first place). Wearing this oil is like going on a long walk through different parts of nature

It's definitely true that some of the more interesting materials don't really smell like one thing; they smell like different things under different circumstances. It can take a long time to experience all of the different aspects.

 

[SULAYM]

Sulaym Sultani Blue

Mesmerizing! If it wasn’t for the ever so subtle animalic qualities in the opening this would be a true to form New Gen oil in my opinion. I get notes of incense and florals with a sweet Malaysian core. To my nose this smells Indonesian as well because I get similar notes as Jinkoh’s Blue Sumatra but without any of the diesel or swamp.

Sultani Blue almost feels like an attar with the way it shifts and evolves throughout the wearing. I’ve never smelled an oil that actually felt Blue until this one. The fact that this is like 3 or 4 decades old makes me realize just how little I know Oud because I didn’t think oils like this were being distilled in this sort of “clean” style back then.

If you ever get the chance to smell HM Purple Malay that changed my whole perception of vintage Ouds. It’s almost crystaline purple.

 

[Olfactory Nomad]

Thai Zen - Alhindoud. The jam is strong in this one. Sooo good.

 

[OudhJourney]

SILA @mesOUD Second time Swiped it today after keeping it to rest and settle for about a week after first swipe. Although it isn’t aged even for a month yet, it is extremely powerful oil. A really tiny swipe in the opening gives a blast of florals very sweet and ethereal. After some time I smell florals but on a backdrop of sweet tamarind and very light leathery tone. The fumes just fills your nostrils all the way into the throat. This oil being so young still has so much of full profile and never stops giving surprises. Not comparing to any other oil in terms of its olfactory profile but the quality/strength is in the league of Nha Trang Qinan, Fragrant Harbour that I have from Kymya. They are more aged oils but SILA already knocks on those doors and by age I am sure it will be a gem. The first time I swiped it it reminded me of the kinamic nature of nha trang oil. Only a tiny swipe of SILA is more than enough.

 

[mobyus]

Cambodian Koh Kong - Muzaffar Atarji

This is one of the kinds I consider special. It’s dark, rich, viscous, and luxurious. Has a strong sweet scent. Along with nutty and a woody smell where I can almost smell the tree rot emanating from the bottle creating that beautiful Oud.

A very high-quality oil in my opinion. As almost all Cambodian’s are. Happy Friday!

 

[mobyus]

EO Oud Ertugrul I
EO Oud Ertugrul II
After spending more time with these two I can say they can't be more different. The first one is far superior, more complex, refined, no rough edges and gorgeous.
The second one was a beautiful after first encounter, with time more facets appeared, and now I can see it as a low grade borneo to be honest, and similar grade of oils can be sold at 40 or even 60% lower. It has a very obvious nutty opening with a clear raspberry like note in the heart and subtle borneo drydown, nothing like OE I where is the opening is a bit kinamic, transitions are smooth and the drydown pointing towards high end borneos (like White Kinam).
Last point, I'd like to ask more experienced members or vendors, does the nutty (especially peanut) opening in indonesian oud oils indicate a low grade oil with cheap materials or cost cutting distillation techniques? or not?

Interesting question. Would like to get some pro opinions on this. (The Nutty Professor Question)

 

[mobyus]

EO Oud Ertugrul I
EO Oud Ertugrul II
After spending more time with these two I can say they can't be more different. The first one is far superior, more complex, refined, no rough edges and gorgeous.
The second one was a beautiful after first encounter, with time more facets appeared, and now I can see it as a low grade borneo to be honest, and similar grade of oils can be sold at 40 or even 60% lower. It has a very obvious nutty opening with a clear raspberry like note in the heart and subtle borneo drydown, nothing like OE I where is the opening is a bit kinamic, transitions are smooth and the drydown pointing towards high end borneos (like White Kinam).
Last point, I'd like to ask more experienced members or vendors, does the nutty (especially peanut) opening in indonesian oud oils indicate a low grade oil with cheap materials or cost cutting distillation techniques? or not?

I asked ChatGPT: if an Oud oil has a nutty smell does it indicate low quality?

“A nutty smell in oud oil does not necessarily indicate low quality. In fact, nutty notes can be a natural part of the scent profile depending on:


1. Region of Origin

• Vietnamese and Papuan ouds sometimes exhibit nutty or roasted hazelnut undertones.
• These notes can result from the type of wood, soil, and fermentation methods.

2. Distillation Process

• A low-temperature, slow distillation can enhance such subtle notes.
• Nutty tones can be a sign of well-aged, resin-rich wood, particularly in wild-harvested material

3. Oil Ageing

• As oud oil matures, it may develop complex undertones, including:
  • Nutty
  • Creamy
  • Chocolatey
  • Woody

These aren’t flaws—they’re indicators of depth and evolution.


4. Synthetic Adulteration (Caution)

• However, if the nutty scent is overly sweet, plasticky, or artificial, it may be a sign of additives or dilution, especially in mass-produced oils.

Summary:
If the nutty note is warm, subtle, and harmonizes with other woody or earthy tones, it’s usually a sign of character, not compromise. Evaluate it in context—quality is about balance, complexity, and natural evolution, not just the absence of specific notes.”

 

[Humpdidumpdi]

Can we please not ask chatgpt for such things because the only answer you will get is at best a wild mix of opinions through the internet.
Thats something really worthless and not helpful.
Sorry for my straight forward writing but KI will be the end of own-thoughts and individuality in the longrun.

 

[Mr.P]

Can we please not ask chatgpt for such things because the only answer you will get is at best a wild mix of opinions through the internet.
Thats something really worthless and not helpful.
Sorry for my straight forward writing but KI will be the end of own-thoughts and individuality in the longrun.

I have to say that I agree that the AI content is often terrible - and it gives low quality information with complete confidence as if it is certainty. 99% of the writing on the Internet about agarwood and fragrance is advertising - and all these models are doing is remixing information from the web.

No disrespect intended to anybody who is just trying to contribute some helpful content - maybe AI generated content can be good to reflect on or food for discussion but definitely not to publish as fact.

 

[-Renton-]

I have to say that I agree that the AI content is terrible - gives low quality information with complete confidence. 99% of the writing on the Internet about agarwood and fragrance is advertising - all this thing is doing is remixing information from ads.

I use AI alot, but not ChatGPT. Everyone is super behind on what AI they think is the best. Google's Gemini is now the most accurate AI right now, not chatgpt, maybe 2 years ago chatgpt was but not since Googles computing power increased insanely and development of Gemini became big. There's an option on Gemini called "Deep Reesearch", and it is basically for university students, scientists and researchers etc. Because this mode isnt chatting, you basically put in a simple to understand prompt about something you want to write basically a dissertation on, so for example, if I wanted to find out what the percentage of SSRIs work for people with OCD and if there is any indirect mechanism of action that could potentially be the way it helps rather than direct action at SERT receptors (serotonin transporter receptors), I would click deep research mode and type something like; Go through as much clinical trials, meta studies and analysis, and research papers that are backed by good evidence on how MUCH SSRIs work in people with OCD and if there could possibly be an indirect mechanism of action based on the direct pharmacological action of each particular SSRI for OCD. And itll take like 5-10mins to complete basically a paper backed by sources in pdf form. And you can do this with political theory, religion, history etc. That's what AI is good for, and only Gemini has it.

 

[Mr.P]

No question these language models are very useful for some things, dependent on the quality of information that it's trained on and the scrutiny given to the answers etc.

 

[-Renton-]

No question these language models are very useful for some things, dependent on the quality of information that it's trained on and the scrutiny given to the answers etc.

AI knows everything thats on the Internet. The problem with certain LLMs is that they cant separate facts on the Internet and fake news basically, lol. Ive been using Gemini for ages and every update it gets better, and to test it i would sometimes ask it questions I already know, just to see how accurate it is, and since the last update its pretty damn good when in normal mode, but deep research mode is very unique and I think this feature alone will make google the frontier of AI, since no other LLM is capable of it. You can also send it photos and ask what something is lol.

 

[studio.albion]

also, as i know there are a lot of ecologically/nature-minded folks here, good to keep in mind that, due to the constant cooling needed on the servers, every chatGPT query (or query of its kind on another platform) consumes between 1.5-5 liters of *fresh* water that is evaporated back into the ocean (as in, removed from our already scare useable supply) on top of the already massive amount of fossil fuels used to power the plants.

as of now LLMs cannot, i repeat cannot synthesize information, create anything novel from it, or "understand" or have any criticality about what its output is.

helpful as it can be, i would be highly vigilant about outsourcing basic cognitive tasks to ai, can't tell you what a speedy and slippery slope it is (watching my co-workers not be able to-- or refuse to-- draft basic emails, family members not willing to make grocery lists from their minds anymore, etc.)

 

[mobyus]

Buried Belongings Oud - Sokkat AlTeeb

After enjoying several hours of applied Mysore it was time for something that slipped my mind.

Enter - buried belongings. A Thai beauty. This is like sticking your head inside of a wooden shed and wiping clean dirt on your face.. Dark, abundant Oud oil that is very easy to wear. The scent is complex. There is no nuttiness at all. I like that for a change. Apparently, it was aged using the “nomination system” or “the old Sokkat AlTeeb way”. It’s dense but light. I love it. And it feels like it was literally buried.

 

[Sky.by.Mark]

Flying tonight, so I decided to put on an easy scent. @Habz786 Ramah Sandal.
I am not the greatest at being poetic...though this oil...that sandalwood speaks poetry to me.

 

[Quintillus]

SILA by MesOUD

Golden with moderate viscosity.
It opens with a golden tone, soft florals and morning dew freshness. I pick up brother Mehmet's distillation DNA here. I am no Hindi expert but this is unlike any I have smelled before. As the scent progresses, I pick up some berry nuances, soft spices, sunshine drenched grass and pristine earth. Finally, it settles into what smells and feels like ancient woods, lightly dusted leather bound books with some smoke and incense.

The oil really shone outside, mixed in with cool air, It made my heart sing and smile as I kept on getting beautiful oud wafts. Inside, it felt introspective and transporting - to another time and place.

I love what brother Mehmet is doing with his distillations. Coaxing and allowing the wood to sing its song, to reveal it's "soul". It is a privilege to be able to experience his work. SILA is another beautiful distillation and I can't help but feel this profile will be even more beautiful with the passage of time.