Happening Right Now
- Thread starter Ensar Oud
- Start date
Barak Allahu feekum Sidi Habibi. Ameen!
Anytime, doc! So... Vietnamese you say, eh?
Pokok sakit lah. Lots of decay visible on the trunk, fallen bark, fallen leaves, black hollow cavern inside (as seen from small holes exposed from hacking). It was totally moribund. Tak boleh menunggu....
Anytime, doc! So... Vietnamese you say, eh?
Pokok sakit lah. Lots of decay visible on the trunk, fallen bark, fallen leaves, black hollow cavern inside (as seen from small holes exposed from hacking). It was totally moribund. Tak boleh menunggu....
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Thanks for sharing these on-the-ground pics, Ensar!
I was just thinking about the propriety of tree-selection. You mention this tree is totally moribund. Do you select only moribund trees? Is selecting a moribund trees a question of ethics (better to harvest basically dead trees than living one?), or are moribund trees also richer in resinated wood? Thank you for sharing!
I was just thinking about the propriety of tree-selection. You mention this tree is totally moribund. Do you select only moribund trees? Is selecting a moribund trees a question of ethics (better to harvest basically dead trees than living one?), or are moribund trees also richer in resinated wood? Thank you for sharing!
Hiyya @jensz and you're most welcome!
Yep, I got an urgent call saying I needed to fly in presto otherwise would have to miss the harvest due to the tree being on the brink of eternity any day now.... The estimated age is ~150 years, and I've never harvested (or seen!) a crassna as mighty of stature as this. It was a gut-wrenching experience, seeing it cut down.
I wish I could say we harvest only moribund trees! For the most part, we try to incorporate as much 'soil agarwood' into our oils as possible these days, given the disappearing act live aquilarias are pulling (yes, Sultan Murad fans will say I am contradicting myself; in 2013-14 it felt like New Guinea had plenty of towering canopies yet to offer, now we're seeing the capos invest in shopping malls and pull the plug on all agarwood operations due to the lack of trees to harvest). So in a sense, some of the trees we work with were moribund at some point, and now we offer you the relics of their days of glory. As for harvesting live trees, this is the first harvest I've personally conducted in a long time (since Oud Yaqoub in 2012, and that was a farmed tree), so the correct answer is, we simply do not harvest any trees, whether moribund or otherwise. Speaking of 'ethical harvesting', one accomplishment that I take great pride in is talking a fellow producer out of harvesting wild trees in the jungle and pointing him in another direction instead.
Moribund trees are actually not richer in resinous heartwood than hardy trees that could fight off their maladies and continue to thrive. The fact that they're challenged by their infections or wounds means they are unable to 'heal' by plugging them with resin. So instead of resinous heartwood, what you get is semi-resinous kyen if you're lucky; otherwise a small handful of oil grade wood. That does not mean, though, that the tree did not successfully fight off previous infections and that it may contain some black nuggets in the branches. The current harvest is being 'scanned' for such booty (in order to comply with @PEARL-Master-Funk's wishes, of course!).
Lastly, Jen, if me harvesting moribund trees and posting pictures is what it's going to take to see you post something, then so be it! Off we go onto the next harvest!
Yep, this is the one! You're welcome at anytime habibi (Ammanite accent). Here's a couple more for ya:
Yep, I got an urgent call saying I needed to fly in presto otherwise would have to miss the harvest due to the tree being on the brink of eternity any day now.... The estimated age is ~150 years, and I've never harvested (or seen!) a crassna as mighty of stature as this. It was a gut-wrenching experience, seeing it cut down.
I wish I could say we harvest only moribund trees! For the most part, we try to incorporate as much 'soil agarwood' into our oils as possible these days, given the disappearing act live aquilarias are pulling (yes, Sultan Murad fans will say I am contradicting myself; in 2013-14 it felt like New Guinea had plenty of towering canopies yet to offer, now we're seeing the capos invest in shopping malls and pull the plug on all agarwood operations due to the lack of trees to harvest). So in a sense, some of the trees we work with were moribund at some point, and now we offer you the relics of their days of glory. As for harvesting live trees, this is the first harvest I've personally conducted in a long time (since Oud Yaqoub in 2012, and that was a farmed tree), so the correct answer is, we simply do not harvest any trees, whether moribund or otherwise. Speaking of 'ethical harvesting', one accomplishment that I take great pride in is talking a fellow producer out of harvesting wild trees in the jungle and pointing him in another direction instead.
Moribund trees are actually not richer in resinous heartwood than hardy trees that could fight off their maladies and continue to thrive. The fact that they're challenged by their infections or wounds means they are unable to 'heal' by plugging them with resin. So instead of resinous heartwood, what you get is semi-resinous kyen if you're lucky; otherwise a small handful of oil grade wood. That does not mean, though, that the tree did not successfully fight off previous infections and that it may contain some black nuggets in the branches. The current harvest is being 'scanned' for such booty (in order to comply with @PEARL-Master-Funk's wishes, of course!).
Lastly, Jen, if me harvesting moribund trees and posting pictures is what it's going to take to see you post something, then so be it! Off we go onto the next harvest!
Just wow, thank you for posting these pictures. I have always wondered what a centennial tree may look like (assuming it's the hush-hush tree you mentioned previously ) الله يحفظك و يهنيك
) الله يحفظك و يهنيك
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Red Soil?
Hmmmmmmmmm
Very interesting
Hmmmmmmmmm
Very interesting
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I am fully committed to distilling a Vietnamese style oil out of it though, for @kesiro's sake.
One can only guess at the herculean Oud going to be produced from this old one from branch to root.
There is still magic in the earth.
I can't help but reflect in sorrow about how many immature trees are felled long before they reach their prime as this one has and have so much potential squandered.
This will be Oud done right, from harvesting responsibly to distillation, watch out world.
There is still magic in the earth.
I can't help but reflect in sorrow about how many immature trees are felled long before they reach their prime as this one has and have so much potential squandered.
This will be Oud done right, from harvesting responsibly to distillation, watch out world.
@Ensar, thanks for the ouducation regarding tree selection and for the window into your feelings when bringing a tree down. I appreciate the complexities involved that give a gut-wrenching feeling. And the uncertainty: maybe you can't know what quality/quantity resination a tree has until you fell it.
Well I see you posted additional pics, and yup, they brought me out of lurking-mode. Not to dwell too much in ambivalence but the stark pic showing the stump post-felling surely evokes some heart-pain but also reverence for the tree itself and all the natural processes by which it grew and the art & science of coaxing the oil from it. I'll eagerly await what comes of this one.
Well I see you posted additional pics, and yup, they brought me out of lurking-mode. Not to dwell too much in ambivalence but the stark pic showing the stump post-felling surely evokes some heart-pain but also reverence for the tree itself and all the natural processes by which it grew and the art & science of coaxing the oil from it. I'll eagerly await what comes of this one.
