It's one of those quite tricky to answer as I always go with the phrase of perfumes are subjective. There can be some sort of guidelines for maybe someone new to Oud to help them out, like the typical of Thai oils being sweet, Hindi being barn...etc. I assume you have tried many oils and you would have noticed there can be for example dark Malaysian oils at one hand and at the same time a more sort of bright Malaysian oil (in aroma sense, not colour), so you can't really place over a blanket rule over them, in my personal opinion. But yes, we can perhaps characterize them in genres with an asterisk for the few outliers in the normal trend.
precisely. i know it will be just that, generalization. i have a pretty good handle on oils. have seen the extremes within hindi, papau filaria/gyrinops, walla patta, etc.
i am trying to get similar handle on the scent of the wood chips of different geographical areas but also different species. your input and that of others in the community will not only help me but many younger and newer members. ty in advance for taking the time.
to get the ball rolling and if i may copy/paste a private share with me via
@Faizal_p (kindly suggest edits or feel free to add on, brother Faizal):
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Regarding species, there's no hard and fast rule, but to answer your question:
India- Agollocha and Malacensis mainly. very rarely khasiana and sometimes you may find sinensis in the very north of assam
Bangladesh - Same as india
China- Yunan is mainly sinensis and malaccensis but there is a rare sub-species called yunanensis, similar in tone to sinensis but with slight variances
Burma- Malacensis and Sinensis
Laos- Mainly Malacensis and Crassna but some sinensis in the north
Vietnam- Crassna and baneonsis- This one exhibits an aroma of sinensis wood and is very difficult to differentiate and so many consider it to be Sinensis
Cambodia - Mainly crassna however there is also baillonii but again difficult to differentiate and most hunters will not know the difference
Thailand- Crassna, Malacensis and Sub Integra
Malaysia- Malacensis, beccariana, crassna, Hirta (Chandan) and very rarely Rostrata
Indonesia - Malacensis, Beccariana, Hirta, Gyrinops (Various)
Papua - Filaria, Gyrinops (various - Ledermanii, Verstegi, mollucana)
Sri Lanka - Gyrinops Walla
This is basically what you find, so you may find hindi oils smelling similar to Malay for instance as both were malaccensis but soil, water, location etc has made enough of an impact to drastically change aroma.
Malacensis - generally sweet, fruity (cherries, berries), deep green notes in dry down, can be intrinsically barny sometimes
Crassna- Very sweet, chocolate, berries, sweet green vibe, slightly bitter dry down.
Sinensis- Citrus lemon/ orange, bitter dry down, occasionally sweet, Depending on soaking can produce a musky civet note, nice animalic.
Beccariana- Green version of crassna, very beautiful almost feminine aroma
Hirta- Spicy, cinnamon, deep woody dry down. Very "Oudy"
Gyrinops- Honey green, fresh, mango skin, can be very light and bright
Filaria- Sweet smoke, similarities to Gyrinops, deep jungle greeness
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my own brief two cents:
malay tigerwood: seems to have most camphor, mint and that certain cooling sensation in heating the chips than any other
brunei: but not sure what species i have from it. gentle citrus, light green, airy, slightly sweet, very dignified and elegant
walla patta: fruity, blue/green, banana and just simply very pretty and very unique
papua guniea gyrinops: dark green, forest floor, earth, devoid of fruit, floral and pretty notes
sumatra: sour, earthy, dark green, nothing sweet, floral, fruity about it.
i dont know yet how to describe kedah, kalimantan, kelantan, burma, laos, and north vs central vs west vs south malay.
