Sandalwood oil of the day

[AlHind Oud]

I've had a chance to apply a couple of swipes of the new Sandalea from @AlHind Oud - enough to have a little bit of perspective on the topnote and basenotes but still very much getting to know the oil.

This morning I was struck by the fact that there seems to be a kind of signature style to the AlHind sandalwoods. There is this one pleasant sweet fuzzy aspect in the topnotes of his sandalwoods that I think of as AlHind terroir.

It doesn't dominate the experience of the oil, it's just a facet that's part of the topnote bouquet, but I think if you have smelled some of his previous distillations you will immediately recognize that slice of the aroma.

Like the others I have smelled it is a nice full clean heartwood oil - has the classic pale color and slight yellow tinge of ambient pressure heartwood oil. No accessory notes, no oddball facets, just straight clean AlHind style heartwood.

I am still tuning into the middle part of the development of the aroma but yesterday I had a really striking experience after applying a swipe and then forgetting about it. Maybe four hours after swiping I was getting this really tangible nice natural Sandalwood note, and for a moment (until I remembered what it was I was wearing) I was puzzled trying to figure out why the sandalwood was smelling so good. I am looking forward to seeing how today's wearing goes.

Thanks for your review!

Indeed, all of the sandalwood oils I distilled have a signature scent to them. As I mentioned earlier, different setup combinations can significantly influence the scent profile. I’ve found that stainless steel doesn’t impart any metallic note to the oil, whereas copper and iron do, though not in a bad way. My condenser is glass, so there are no chances for any scent alteration, and what you are smelling is straight wood scent of the very well cleaned heartwood.

 

[Oudamberlove]

Yusa Aromatics Seijuku on the left
AlHind Oud Mysore Special on the right.

Seijuku is lemony and bright, thanks to
“no soak-copper-low temp”.

Mysuru smells like the aroma of the Mysore chunks and bracelet I got from Al Shareef,
core Mysore indeed.

Towards drydown the oils start to align, but not totally, Seijuku is still adorned with accessory notes, while Mysuru reveals some brightness along with it’s santalols.

Both excellent oils IMO.

 

[DubOudh]

This has been quite a while in the making. It's Mysore Sandalwood oil from a 2016 distillation. I macerated this with Siberian musk in 2020. In 2022 my nose said it was too heavy with the musk scent so added two small drops of Damashq rose oil. I continued to monitor and finally I decided to strain the Sandalwood of the grains. I must humbly say it is gorgeous 😍. The red rouge is a trademark of Siberian musk. A beautiful deep rouge. I am so delighted with this marriage in a bottle. Writing this with a big smile on my face.

 

[mesOUD]

This has been quite a while in the making. It's Mysore Sandalwood oil from a 2016 distillation. I macerated this with Siberian musk in 2020. In 2022 my nose said it was too heavy with the musk scent so added two small drops of Damashq rose oil. I continued to monitor and finally I decided to strain the Sandalwood of the grains. I must humbly say it is gorgeous 😍. The red rouge is a trademark of Siberian musk. A beautiful deep rouge. I am so delighted with this marriage in a bottle. Writing this with a big smile on my face.

İt is one of my fav combos,musk ,sandalwood and some rose
İ know what you are talking about 👍

 

[Mr.P]

This has been quite a while in the making. It's Mysore Sandalwood oil from a 2016 distillation. I macerated this with Siberian musk in 2020. In 2022 my nose said it was too heavy with the musk scent so added two small drops of Damashq rose oil. I continued to monitor and finally I decided to strain the Sandalwood of the grains. I must humbly say it is gorgeous 😍. The red rouge is a trademark of Siberian musk. A beautiful deep rouge. I am so delighted with this marriage in a bottle. Writing this with a big smile on my face.

That's great - looks beautiful 🙂

 

[DubOudh]

That's great - looks beautiful 🙂

Really happy with the outcome. I get the rose scent then the musk and then the rose again. I was expecting the Sandalwood to be smuddering but that hasn't been the case. More by chance I think but I need to find my notes on this as I made it in an attar bottle that holds about 50mls plus.

 

[Olfactory Nomad]

This has been quite a while in the making. It's Mysore Sandalwood oil from a 2016 distillation. I macerated this with Siberian musk in 2020. In 2022 my nose said it was too heavy with the musk scent so added two small drops of Damashq rose oil. I continued to monitor and finally I decided to strain the Sandalwood of the grains. I must humbly say it is gorgeous 😍. The red rouge is a trademark of Siberian musk. A beautiful deep rouge. I am so delighted with this marriage in a bottle. Writing this with a big smile on my face.

Can I ask how did you strain them out? Did you lose much oil in the process? Having some skin still in my bottle I think was a mistake as I believe it has soaked up some sandalwood.

 

[DubOudh]

Can I ask how did you strain them out? Did you lose much oil in the process? Having some skin still in my bottle I think was a mistake as I believe it has soaked up some sandalwood.

I made a large batch in an attar bottle. Can't remember the exact numbers but there was close to 50mls of Mysore in at the start. The required amount musk was added. The attar bottle would travel with me each day walking.
So today I decided to transfer just 3mls in to the quarter tola. So i hadn't touched it for the last two weeks, so that all grains would be at the bottom of the attar bottle. So not strained actually....more settled at the bottom.

 

[Olfactory Nomad]

I made a large batch in an attar bottle. Can't remember the exact numbers but there was close to 50mls of Mysore in at the start. The required amount musk was added. The attar bottle would travel with me each day walking.
So today I decided to transfer just 3mls in to the quarter tola. So i hadn't touched it for the last two weeks, so that all grains would be at the bottom of the attar bottle. So not strained actually....more settled at the bottom.

Gotcha. Mine is a much smaller amount than this. I use a lab pipette for transferring oils so this might still work. I can use the tip to hold the musk down and squash it a bit while pulling up the oil. Do you know if left over grains are worth reusing for another maceration?

 

[DubOudh]

Gotcha. Mine is a much smaller amount than this. I use a lab pipette for transferring oils so this might still work. I can use the tip to hold the musk down and squash it a bit while pulling up the oil. Do you know if left over grains are worth reusing for another maceration?

A lot depends on the diffusion process over the time of macerating. That said I have never thrown anything away (the cost just prevents me from wasting) When I had a beard I use to rub the grains hard into the palms of my hands and then rub them into my beard. It would last for a day or two. Or sometimes I would just rub the grains into my forearms. It all worked and used every last grain that way.
Re using them in another oil tho, I wouldn't really advise as it would be hard to say without tight monitoring how much of the musk scent molecules have diffused into the previous carrier oil.

 

[Olfactory Nomad]

A lot depends on the diffusion process over the time of macerating. That said I have never thrown anything away (the cost just prevents me from wasting) When I had a beard I use to rub the grains hard into the palms of my hands and then rub them into my beard. It would last for a day or two. Or sometimes I would just rub the grains into my forearms. It all worked and used every last grain that way.
Re using them in another oil tho, I wouldn't really advise as it would be hard to say without tight monitoring how much of the musk scent molecules have diffused into the previous carrier oil.

Sweet, thanks.🙏

 

[Mr.P]

Santalea from @AlHind Oud - this one is especially precious to me. Nice full aroma, leans towards the rich musky type of oil, has the AlHind signature opening as well. Classic clean smooth heart wood oil. At the moment I'm actually getting a note that reminds me strongly of a musk/Sandalwood maceration I made decades ago in some very fine Tamil Nadu oil. There's a certain facet of the sandalwood that gets boosted when you add musk and that facet is clear and strong in this one I think even without the musk. Very very happy to have a Sandalwood distilled from wild Indonesian heartwood, thank you Anas!

 

[Olfactory Nomad]

Santalea from @AlHind Oud - this one is especially precious to me. Nice full aroma, leans towards the rich musky type of oil, has the AlHind signature opening as well. Classic clean smooth heart wood oil. At the moment I'm actually getting a note that reminds me strongly of a musk/Sandalwood maceration I made decades ago in some very fine Tamil Nadu oil. There's a certain facet of the sandalwood that gets boosted when you add musk and that facet is clear and strong in this one I think even without the musk. Very very happy to have a Sandalwood distilled from wild Indonesian heartwood, thank you Anas!

Looking forward to my bottle for sure!

 

[Al Shareef Oudh]

Sandalwood of the day is the Al Shareef Tamil Nadu CO2 extract. An engaging complex variation on the sandalwood theme, combining notes of aged sandalwood oil and sandalwood co2 extracts. Several different layers in the topnotes set it apart from the aroma of a distilled sandalwood oil, with some nice maple and fenugreek adjacent notes. Here's hoping for more solvent extracted Sandalwood in the future. 🙂

Just to make a slight correction, our Tamil Nadu oil is not CO2 extracted. It is solvent extract, and the solvent is not alcohol or hexane or any of the usual solvents used.

 

[Mr.P]

Just to make a slight correction, our Tamil Nadu oil is not CO2 extracted. It is solvent extract, and the solvent is not alcohol or hexane or any of the usual solvents used.

Apologies, I was confused apparently. The funny thing is that if you had asked me today, I would have said it was a traditional two step hexane-ethanol absolute (because somehow between the time I wrote that and the present moment that's what I came to believe) so I would've been wrong in yet another way lol!

 

[Dr B1414]

Tabeer Oud Mysore Royale and Serge Lutens Santal de Mysore.

Wearing such an exquisite sandalwood oil as the one Tabeer has offered only makes me appreciate further the accuracy with which Lutens has captured the essence of this material in a perfume marketed toward Western people and hit the shelves back in 1997. Truly an ode to Sandalwood with no florals and nonsense distracting notes/accords that might deter, but a good amount of spices to complement and introduce it. A genius of the perfume world who knew his Oriental cuisine.

 

[DubOudh]

I finished transferring the beautiful Mysore Antique 1960 Govt Factory which I purchased from @An Najwa last year. This is 65 years old now and has a deep mature scent to it. There is nothing sharp about this oil and when compared against more recent Mysore shows it's class with the added ingredient of so much time.
I am very tempted to macerate some Nepalese musk grain in perhaps 3ml quarter tola. It' something really special and am so grateful this was made available by the wonderful brother @An Najwa

 

[Mr.P]

I finished transferring the beautiful Mysore Antique 1960 Govt Factory which I purchased from @An Najwa last year. This is 65 years old now and has a deep mature scent to it. There is nothing sharp about this oil and when compared against more recent Mysore shows it's class with the added ingredient of so much time.
I am very tempted to macerate some Nepalese musk grain in perhaps 3ml quarter tola. It' something really special and am so grateful this was made available by the wonderful brother @An Najwa

If this is the one I think it is, I have yet to smell its peer amongst ANY vintage Mysore or pretty much any Mysore. This one stood out clearly from the moment I first smelled it. Like a red flower in a field of green grass, but not because it's so different but just because it smelled so "right".

It has the most perfect balance of tangible present woody notes (that do not retreat when you take a nice big whiff), along with the classic rich heartwood profile and engaging presence from top to bottom with nothing over blown and no odd or outlying accessory notes. A lot of sandalwood shies away when you smell it closely (or never has much to say in the first place), some has overblown accessory notes, this was just perfect woody balance all the way. Oils that were "10's" in my mind became "7's" when I smelled this. 😍 thanks @An Najwa 😍 Perfect Sandalwood perfume!

 

[DubOudh]

If this is the one I think it is, I have yet to smell its peer amongst ANY vintage Mysore or pretty much any Mysore. This one stood out clearly from the moment I first smelled it. Like a red flower in a field of green grass, but not because it's so different but just because it smelled so "right".

It has the most perfect balance of tangible present woody notes (that do not retreat when you take a nice big whiff), along with the classic rich heartwood profile and engaging presence from top to bottom with nothing over blown and no odd or outlying accessory notes. A lot of sandalwood shies away when you smell it closely (or never has much to say in the first place), some has overblown accessory notes, this was just perfect woody balance all the way. Oils that were "10's" in my mind became "7's" when I smelled this. 😍 thanks @An Najwa 😍 Perfect Sandalwood perfume!

I couldn't put it better myself @Mr.P

 

[Shiningrobes]

I finished transferring the beautiful Mysore Antique 1960 Govt Factory which I purchased from @An Najwa last year. This is 65 years old now and has a deep mature scent to it. There is nothing sharp about this oil and when compared against more recent Mysore shows it's class with the added ingredient of so much time.
I am very tempted to macerate some Nepalese musk grain in perhaps 3ml quarter tola. It' something really special and am so grateful this was made available by the wonderful brother @An Najwa

I so regret missing out on that oil. It was gone by the time I heard about it. I might ho,d or for kashmiri grains if I had enough to macerate. Even if they took me years to get hold of.