One oil and five wood kinda day.
in the morning:
al hashimi Brunei sultan
Despite the name a simpler wood. But also priced intro level too. Anyways. sour plums, touch of natural funk, bitter sweet, vannilic and touch of cinammon. good on high heat and for casual burn
al hashimi sinking filipino
as good as they come. juicy sweet honey with herbal undertones. good on low medium or high heat
KZ yellow oil kyara
perhaps the least wow type of kyara but still worthy of its name. while it lacks that initial punch of green or black oil, given enough study time and low temp heating there are lots of nuances and layers to be peeled back.
then an oil I have grown finder and fonder with each wear: Aroke roshi. A fantastic maroke. Approachable. Touch sweet. Even touch minty. Mildly muddy. Mildly diesel/crude oil note. I like it
In the evening I tried a number of pricy wood sold to me via various vendors called as old nha trang. Each with a different look. Some so simple and have barely enough quality to them to be generic Vietnam. Anyways. Some decent ones were had. Then there was an even very good one i procured long ago via tony Bolton who by the way must win the record for the single biggest mixed bag vendor (Tony had some health stuff and had to go back home and during this time the people working with him were the ones not as honourable.) knowing this I continued supporting for a while before I gave up.
meh is also a mixed bag vendor with Some truly solid quality price ratio buys and some real treats like his hydro distilled frangipani to all the way a gross appalling oils. As for wood, within same Bach, you are getting randoms. From glued and stuffed to steamed to show more oil on surface and get that darker colour to real deal treats. Anyways. I digress. Sorrry.
then came the real deal big daddy o, no doubt the one comfortably sitting on the top: a draw of nha trang heart wood “sugar formation” from KZ and guallam antique via ensar. Draw. Both Holly shiiiiiiit stuff. It is true even a kyara head would love to have these in his arsenal. In fact in a parallel universe some top agarwood can even beat kyara or go toe to toe.
Both clearly old proper stock of famed origin. Most of their profile is the one and the same. I sense for sweetness and riper quality in ensar and more medicinal copper or bronze or some alloy metal scent. Neither have any trace of anything green. Both decidedly red. But different enough to warrant having both.
A rare treat for me. I rarely go two big guns like that back to back cause one by the very nature of subjectivity will lose to other. Rather spend a long time with one. Get to really know it. I spend days with same wood. Try different heating vessels. Heating techniques. Low to high. Low high low. Etc etc. not any wood. But the likes of royal Laos. Royal maluku. Ceram tasbih but even some of the sinking and non sinking pieces. I wish taha would go back to wood game and figure it out. I really wished I had some juicy cola heavy malay sinkers.
@Ensar Oud what is your experience and view on the chances of finding a harvest of the kinda wood purple kinam was juiced from? Sinker version of them and up. King grade.
Is there an existing market for yesteryear malay wood with that purple tinge and that incredibly diffusive yet deep quality?
Hint hint. Can you let some go? During this lockdown and 80% earnings slashed, outlook of ne t 3-6 months not good etc etc. yet I think even during these times we all deserve few magical moments. An irrational buy yet one that feeds your soul. I am down to throw one down. I have to play small. But I will support and also deservedly (if I may say so myself) going to treat myself to a small buy of some killer wood. Proper hindi of decades gone by? Some unique species like how maluku/ceram was unique. How royal Laos is unique. Even some pieces of port moresbey privee.