On the bright side, congratulations on getting something at least from your jungle adventures. It's been disheartening to read over and over how you were pipped to the post so I hope you are going to take a little holiday to celebrate.
I suppose something is better than nothing..
Sheesh! I thought you'd be looking at 2 kg super grade wood per tree
minimum, when I gave the green light.... Being invested the way you were, with 7 months of nothing to show for it, you'd have to make some sacrifices to break even. I would have never agreed to it, had I known it would result in
half a kilogram of wood total harvest from five trees! That's unheard of.... If I were in your place, I'd seriously line up the hunters and interrogate them one by one to make sure they didn't accidentally sell off most of the wood to anonymous Chinese buyers they ran into while you weren't around.
Efendi, I promise you, this is
very normal for an average non China market level haul, especially when its Candan or Candan-type species. I'll try to dig up a photo of one of our last 2015 Semananjung hauls. The entire batch would easily fit inside one of those little glass boxes in a ma7allat oud in Dubai.
Haul sizes are probably even smaller now in Semananjung, as hunters have to travel up to higher altitudes where the trees are even skinnier (shin diameter).
Also, here the entry into and exit from the jungle is always monitored. There are no alternative entry/exit points (check the river network east of Brunei, north of Tutoh, and west of Melinau Paku), and I arrange for the boat transport (RM1,500 per trip) for the hunters every time they have to enter/exit the jungle. In other words, there's no room for funny business, no way they can sneak out wood.
Hassan (the old saluting guy in the back) was in fact
so upset with the harvest he just wanted to quit and go back home because he had come out of retirement to hunt for me
only because he was told we'll be penetrating super duper duper deep... the sort of jungle terrain these guys could never penetrate on their own.
'course... turns out, the mighty Chinese ¥ already sent a bunch of Vietnamese hunters there, and THAT'S what we hadn't expected considering how deep and isolated this area is. All the wandering Penans nomads that my hunters come across all complain about the Vietnamese hunters with AK47's that come and pluck out all the old trees. Even the Penan are no match for them.. and that says a lot.
That doesn't look like it'll cover the cost at all. tough times
@Taha
I just visited an agarwood trader in Pahang, near the kampung areas. he deals mainly with the orang asli (aborigines).
He told me, don't worry about selling wood. the demand is exceeding supply. It's like putting a handful of sugar around an ant's nest, it will never be enough. The real problem is,
where to get the wood?!
Standard and low grade wood, yes the supply comes every now and then. but high grade, stuff that would go into the hands of collector's, sometimes many months pass and nothing of that caliber comes in stock.
Once the stock in stores from years past have been depleted, then people in the market will truly understand what the extinction issue is all about.
The extinction issue discussed by Taha and the other guys dealing directly with the wood industry is never about low grade stuff, which is available. But the high end variety, that's the type that is getting extinct.
I've offered Taha's sinking wood to some people here, and they said the price I got was too expensive. But since then, none of them have been able to offer me the same quality wood at all, at any price. They even complain that they dont have any wood in stock, even the mid-above average grades, what more genuine sinking wood and up (authenticity is definitely an issue. sad to hear about the bad experience with
@Waqas . syafaakAllaah ya akhi).
Trust and authenticity deserves an added value in pricing IMO. though the vendors dont usually include that in the price of their wares.
Your post deserves to be carved in stone and painted in gold. Folks will complain about the price of Baby King grade agarwood, but can never get it anywhere. So.. what is the complain
relative to?
You'll see plenty of photos of Super King wood being posted on Facebook daily. "Ready stock available!" Track those guys down, and it turns out the photos are just changing hands... no one actually has any, since its already in China.
True story #1: I actually saw one of MY OWN photos being circulated (an old batch, I think 2014) on Facebook.
True story #2: I put down six large ones for some Indonesian wood. When I got there, the guy didn't
actually have the wood 'with him' (I still haven't gotten it, nor expect to).
I think once Adam's done emptying the coffers of the oud markets
(i.e. already-harvested old stocks), folks will have a more accurate picture of the situation as those coffers are replaced with more current stock.
Meanwhile, I too have now switched to grabbing as many old stocks of wood that I can for distilling. Cooking right now, wild Ha Tinh (Vietnamese) oud:
What happens after the old stocks are all gone, I don't know. Maybe "cheap high grade oud" will finally prevail. Or maybe everyone will whither away, and only Ensar will remain standing (being the only guy I know with massive reserves of oils distilled from high grade wood). Ensar, we're all hoping you keep feeling charitable.
