The Ensar & Taha Letters

Taha

Well-Known Member
#1
Background:
A few months ago, Ensar and I got talking about some of the issues we have been facing on the supply side of Oud lately. We talked about woods, oils, the pitfalls of the trade, some of the recent unexpected changes in the wind, and a whole lot of other topics.
It wasn't until yesterday that Ensar had the idea to continue writing to each other, but to take it to a public platform. I thought that was a brilliant idea, and so here we are. I hope others will benefit from our correspondences (think of them as emails, but disclosed publicly), or at the very least, find them entertaining. :) Whereas we may (and actually do) disagree on some issues, hopefully things won't get too nasty! To me, the crafting of Oud is an art, and art is a very personal expression of opinions, skills, and practices.

Ensar, I know we have, we do, and we will continue to disagree on some of the minutae of Oud Distillation. Perhaps things might get awkward. But I hope that both you and I don't lose sight of the fact that even though the continuation of our discourse is now becoming public, we will continue to be genuine, as if there are no eyes seeing our correspondences besides yours and mine.
Like you mentioned elsewhere earlier, there is a lack of peer review and constructive critique in this trade. Well, that's no surprise, as the oil of this precious wood is typically just sold as a 'sellable commodity', no different from rice, socks, or batteries. To you though, I know that Oud is more than that, just as it is to me. There may be no peer reviews for socks, but I sure do believe Good Oud is art and thus deserving of it.

I would like to start off this thread by quoting the two email I sent to you yesterday, after smelling some of your Sultan Series oils (Sultan Ahmet and Sultan Mustafa, for the public record). Thanks again for sending the oils to me!
Taha Syed said:
Mon 26/9/2016 11:42 PM

Today, after a *VERY* long time, your oils did for my nose something it hasn't experienced in a long time. When I am designing a distillation, and during the process (as well as after, of course), the aroma is always 'adulterated' by my nafs. Like Sheikh Nuh once said, music is a pure expression of the nafs. And such is the case with any form of art. When I smell my own creations, I smell 'me' in them.

When I smelled the Sultan Ahmet and Sultan Mustafa, the 'Taha' was of course not there. That filter was removed.
So what did I encounter?
I encountered Ensar. I encountered Oud. I encountered Ensar Oud; two oils that are masterpieces which cannot be replicated by another soul, for all the reason you know all too well..

I go to sleep tonight, with one question on my mind. I wonder how many noses are able to appreciate your creations to the deserved level of appreciation. It may be the fact that I've dabbled with distillation myself so I can appreciate certain intricacies, or perhaps it might be the artsy fartsy guy in me (you should see my assessing paintings, sometimes I'll be lost for ages in the beauty of one brush stroke).
Either way, I have a feeling that the places these two oils touched were perhaps deeper for me than for the average nose. For their sake, I'm hope I'm wrong.
Taha Syed said:
Mon, 26/9/2016 10:11 PM

I am right now sniffing the two 'Sultan' oils you included (Sultan Mustafa and Sultan Ahmet), as I couldn't resist starting with those. My gut feeling was that the Sultan Series is the epitome of your 'personal diary' interpretation/experience of agar, expressed on your canvas (the distillation). Sort of the equivalent of what I call my 'Gen3'. And I think I was right.

Ensar, you must pardon me..
I simply cannot revert back to you today with my detailed thoughts on these two oils.

These two oils have yanked my ruh and intertwined them with yours, a sort of rapture I seldom experience. Right now, please allow me to enjoy this fana. It is as though I am one with the oils, and I am also one with you (I can almost feel the neurons charging up and zapping in your brain, as you designed the distillations).
I am so immensely enjoying the stories these two oils are telling me, and I am so engrossed in them, that I must ask you to grant me respite for me to recount the anecdotes from these two journeys to you another time.

As a side,
If indeed your Sultan Series is how I am imagining it (the brainchild of your most personal and intimate relationship with oud), I am beside myself with joy. There are times I fear my own nose has become far too esoteric in unravelling the scent of oud, but when I smell these two oils, it is as though I see the constitution of the wood completely taken apart and then reassembled perfectly in these oils (Sic: the experience suggested to me that just maybe my esotericism does not pass into the domain of insanity; either that or your experience with agar is as 'insane' as mine, reflected in your creations).
You know I've always enjoyed all your oils, but these Sultan Series oils are the finest testaments to the quality of the wood you use and your accomplishment as a distiller in capturing their truest essence in oils.

Now,
Let me be.
The oils are calling.. : )
 

Ensar Oud

Well-Known Member
#2
Taha,

Since we also talked about calligraphy and your background in it, I thought I should perhaps add a prefatory note here for the public discussion which I'm sure is going to resonate with you.... One of the most recent additions to my calligraphy collection is a jali naskh piece by one of the great Turkish hocas, of the ayah: إِلَيْهِ يَصْعَدُ الْكَلِمُ الطَّيِّبُ وَالْعَمَلُ الصَّالِحُ يَرْفَعُهُ ('To Him ascends the good word, and the upright deed He raises up').

I was so besotted with this verse, I took to paying close attention to how its meaning manifests in daily life.... I started to see almost a duality in one's repertoire of acts of worship, between actual doings and the words one just says, more often than not without even thinking about them....

I couldn't help but make the connection between the above and the ayat in Surat Ibrahim:

أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ ضَرَبَ اللّهُ مَثَلاً كَلِمَةً طَيِّبَةً كَشَجَرةٍ طَيِّبَةٍ أَصْلُهَا ثَابِتٌ وَفَرْعُهَا فِي السَّمَاء تُؤْتِي أُكُلَهَا كُلَّ حِينٍ بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهَا وَيَضْرِبُ اللّهُ الأَمْثَالَ لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَذَكَّرُونَ وَمَثلُ كَلِمَةٍ خَبِيثَةٍ كَشَجَرَةٍ خَبِيثَةٍ اجْتُثَّتْ مِن فَوْقِ الأَرْضِ مَا لَهَا مِن قَرَارٍ

('Don't you see how Allah has struck a similitude about the good word? Like a good tree, its foundation is solid, and its branches are in the heavens. By leave of its Lord, it yields fruit every season. That is how Allah coins parables for people, so that they may reflect. And the similitude of the evil word: Like an evil tree, torn up from the earth by its roots, it has no foundation...')

Not sure if you practiced writing kitas with your teacher in Saudi... but the first thing I did when I saw the connection between these two verses is call up one of the great Iraqi calligraphers and commission a kita in thuluth and naskh: The Fatir ayah would be on top in standard thuluth, followed by the ayat from Surat Ibrahim in naskh underneath. In the Iraqi school of oud distillation—I mean—calligraphy... they also call this arrangement a 'nusuf hilya' (half hilya).

I actually mentioned these same ayahs to my wife after you contacted me for the first time, saying: “Look at that!... Can you believe it? All these years of no communication & competition, out the window.... All he had to do is send an email with a 'good word' and it mended years of silence. La ilaha il Allah.”

I say all of this here because I'm pretty sure many people are scratching their heads right now, wondering: What on earth happened to these two? وَكَلِمَةُ اللّهِ هِيَ الْعُلْيَا

One thing I've noticed, in going between the two great schools of Islamic calligraphy (the Turkish and Iraqi ones) is that the teachers of one school will seldom give credit to teachers of the other. Each school has its own rules and criteria for beautifully written letters, and if you present it with the very greatest work of the very greatest masters from the other school, it will instantly dismiss it as 'mediocrities'.

It has taken me years, as a sort of 'ambassador' between the masters of the two schools, to establish some sort of indirect 'collaboration' between them, so as to at least improve the one where the other is stronger (such as getting an Abbas Baghdadi piece illuminated by the top illuminators of Mehmet Özçay).

While present day artisanal oud distillation is not as hierarchical or established a system as that of khat arabi, differences between artisans are only natural and to be expected. After all, from a purely artistic standpoint, what would be the point if every composer's works sounded like Beethoven's? Take all the Rembrandts and El Grecos, and turn them into impressionistic French versions of the old masterpieces.... DaVinci, Michelangelo, all turned into dappled colorful pixelations of the originals, just to conform to the aesthetic of a particular school.... Fast forward to Picasso even, and turn his blue and cubist periods into impressionistic strokes....

That is why, Taha's oils cannot – and should not – smell like Ensar's, and Ensar's oils can never smell like Taha's. In the realm of true art, there is no room for dictates.

PS: I will get back to you later with some feedback on the two Sultan Series oils. That kind of a review is too overwhelming for even the artist to take in all at once, I've got to say! All I can say for now is: WOW! and Thank you! Must definitely be the most heartfelt and moving reviews I've ever received on any of my oils, and what shocks me the most is that they're not from a customer, but a fellow artisan. Incredible! :eek:
 
#3
SubhaAllah, having the privilege to experience the steel distill versions of the upper end Sultan oils I have..The manifestation of copper vs. steel has never been so purely and clearly represented.

Taha, I look forward to your expert reflections on the Ahmet and Mustafa and thoughts on how the different distillation methods have left their imprint on the oils.

I maintain my position that the sultan oils have been one of the most electrifying projects that the world of Oud has ever experienced. Unmatched on so many different dimensions and so much unique character emanating from the different batches. I almost find it difficult to unify them under a single regional Oud category, each of the oils I have experienced are almost like categories in and of themselves.

MashAllah TabarakAllah.
 

Taha

Well-Known Member
#4
That's a beautiful rabitah between the two Ayát.
You know, its funny, all those months ago after I finally dropped you a message, it almost seemed as if all along you had been standing by the door with your hand on the knob, just waiting for the knock.

I am a little ashamed to admit that I never pursued calligraphy after leaving Ustaz Fathi's wing so I don't know much about the ikhtilaf of the two schools. I do however have a vague idea about the Turkish and Iraqi schools and, like you, I appreciate both. It actually makes me think of the Hijazi and Egyptian schools of qira'at. Both with solid isnads, and yet, I remember this one time I was shocked when I heard one of the elders of the Hijazi school criticized Sheikh Hosary's ghunnah. Ajeeb!
As a side: isn't it amazing how 'scientific' the 'art' is? e.g. writing a simple ن in Muhaqqaq has so much math in it, I threw up my hands long ago. Here's a video of the ن coming to life. Admittedly, this is Thuluth but close enough to Muhaqqaq.

By the way, I tried Green Papua too, finally. Now fyi, Taher just sent me a sample of this last week, but I didn't really get to spend time with it because of quite a few other oils I was charged with assessing. My nose was in the ICU for a good period of time after that. :p
Ensar, do you remember the first time we met? I think it was about 12 or so years ago. You had a green sibha, and you had been chatting with a guy who asked how much it was for. Upon hearing the price, his response was something along the lines of "Oh!!! But I saw the same one for $5 at my local masjid!". The look on your face was priceless (sorry!), but you know, to me, that incident pretty much sums up the state of the larger chunk of the current Oud market as well.
So Green Papua...
this was the first oud from you that I smelled. Its aroma (and the sibha conversation that preceded my encounter with GP), the emotional baggage it thus holds, and in my mind what this oud means... is in a way more powerful than even your Sultan oils. For all intensive purposes, Green Papua was our first musafaha. And I'm amazed at how perfectly this newer brew replicates the aroma of the original! And even more importantly, what the oil captures beyond scent, at a very personal level for me.

Smelling this oil, a recurring question resurfaces in my mind, a question I often ask myself. I wonder about what the 'smartest' brewing method would be, for crafting any oil. Should it be a crowd-pleaser? Should it reflect the aroma of the wood accurately, or perhaps display some serious flexing skills in the realm of distillation prowess? With the current state of the supply side, I personally decided last year that I would stick to accuracy and potency across the board (Gen3), but with just one other closely-related category (Gen4, a little easier to 'grasp') which was just about as far as I was willing to stray from it. I knew that most noses would not able to grasp Gen3 (only another distiller could grasp it fully), but hey... once the wild is gone, and noses have finally caught up, I'm sure the owners of those noses will be thankful. For some, there was no training period involved, and alhamdulillah, others have finally started grasping Gen3 too. :)
But this leads me to the question I've had on my mind for some time. What guides your hand? You have been doing Oud since WELL before the recent crisis, and so you probably had a lot more options back then, before the good stuff became so scarce and hence limited creative permutations.
Do you find that your philosophies or aims have evolved over the years? I am not talking about techniques, copper vs steel, sockets and joints, or the angle of the condenser... basically the 'tools'. No, I am referring to something greater than all that: what goes on in your head, which guides your hands in using the tools.
Like I said, for me its simple, its neither about pleasing the crowd nor about clever tricks, but rather making the most accurate and potent juices possible, even if it means some noses will take years to finally grasp them. You know fully well the pressures you would be facing if you had put yourself in the (foolish) position I did, a little too close to the source (seriously.. what was I thinking?). But I'm sure you, more than anyone, can see how that affected my distillation style and also some of the seemingly bizarre stances I've adopted lately (my fear of even thinking about making mukhallats, or making barnyard ouds, etc).
So now I'm curious to know how your philosophy changed over the years, as you saw, experienced (and even predicted) the dramatic changes in the supply market.

In other news, I received another update from Yusof after the last one I told you about on WhatsApp. Looks like there have been further delays. :( Seeing how pretty much the entire week has gone by, I might as well wait until next week for the approval of Amab's paperwork instead of going with the Dayaks. By the time I've finished making arrangements for them, I bet Amab would be set to go already. Bah.. the annoyances of hiring foreign workers who forget about visa expiry dates. They end up putting me in a tough spot.
On the bright side, I should now be able to spend some time with your other oils.

SubhaAllah, having the privilege to experience the steel distill versions of the upper end Sultan oils I have..The manifestation of copper vs. steel has never been so purely and clearly represented.

Taha, I look forward to your expert reflections on the Ahmet and Mustafa and thoughts on how the different distillation methods have left their imprint on the oils.

I maintain my position that the sultan oils have been one of the most electrifying projects that the world of Oud has ever experienced. Unmatched on so many different dimensions and so much unique character emanating from the different batches. I almost find it difficult to unify them under a single regional Oud category, each of the oils I have experienced are almost like categories in and of themselves.

MashAllah TabarakAllah.
Hey, did someone hack into my or your (Ensar) email?
Naw, just kidding @Taher. :p
Truth be told, I had decided I wouldn't delve into copper and steel in my correspondences with Ensar. Believe it or not, copper vs steel is actually a very tiny factor when you compare it to even (something as seemingly trivial as) the grind size+method, the pressure differential between the condenser and the pot, and the diameter of the neck at the cupola.
But what I can say for sure is that I wholeheartedly agree with you. These Sultan ouds are oils which cannot be replicated. They even render the "price" factor defunct, because something as artistic as a Sultan oil does not have a yardstick in the market to measure against. Each one is singularly singular. After smelling some of these oil, I can see why Ensar called them "gifts". They're not ouds, they're Ensar's creations. To a pleb, a Monet masterpiece might be no more than paint smeared on canvas. To those who appreciate art, its a little more than that. To another painter, even more so.
 

Ensar Oud

Well-Known Member
#5
Ensar, do you remember the first time we met? I think it was about 12 or so years ago. You had a green sibha, and you had been chatting with a guy who asked how much it was for. Upon hearing the price, his response was something along the lines of "Oh!!! But I saw the same one for $5 at my local masjid!". The look on your face was priceless (sorry!), but you know, to me, that incident pretty much sums up the state of the larger chunk of the current Oud market as well. So Green Papua... this was the first oud from you that I smelled. Its aroma (and the sibha conversation that preceded my encounter with GP), the emotional baggage it thus holds, and in my mind what this oud means... is in a way more powerful than even your Sultan oils. For all intensive purposes, Green Papua was our first musafaha. And I'm amazed at how perfectly this newer brew replicates the aroma of the original! And even more importantly, what the oil captures beyond scent, at a very personal level for me.
Yeah, I recall our first encounter at the Toronto Suhba of 2007, if memory serves me right. There was no formal introduction.... All I remember is a young Desi-looking kid with really big eyes who showed up at my booth and started asking for swipes.... And I clearly recall the eyes becoming even bigger upon sampling the Green Papua, Archipelago and Sheikh's Borneo....

The next day you showed up again, this time with your 'collection'. After dismissing every single oil as either fake or adulterated, I remember you were totally bummed. You wouldn't buy any of my stuff though, due to financial constraints. Yet you kept coming back to smell them again and again, each time exclaiming “But with what moneeeeey?” when I suggested that you should perhaps just snag a bottle of the one you liked most (the Archipelago).

Next thing I know, there was a website set up in Toronto, and someone was on a mission! Hehehe.... :)

A lot of water has flown under the bridge. I don't recall any subsequent encounters, and what exactly told me the guy in Toronto was you I am not so sure. I just remember really big eyes and a shrill: “With what moneeeey!” – This has become like a company 'dictum' now.... Whenever there's a batch of wood that's too expensive to distill, I'd look at Kruger and without any prompting on my part, he'd squeal: “With what moneeeey!” :D

I think the Archipelago sold for something like $185, and the Green Papua for $149 back then. Sheikh's Borneo must've been around $350. Those, those were the days!.... Yet the day will just as certainly come when the $550 and $790 oils of today will double and triple in value, and these days will be a distant memory.... That day is in fact here – it's only because of inventory that was stashed away back then that we're able to maintain the 'illusion' that there's any sort of stability in the wild oud market.

In other news, I received another update from Yusof after the last one I told you about on WhatsApp. Looks like there have been further delays. Seeing how pretty much the entire week has gone by, I might as well wait until next week for the approval of Amab's paperwork instead of going with the Dayaks. By the time I've finished making arrangements for them, I bet Amab would be set to go already. Bah.. the annoyances of hiring foreign workers who forget about visa expiry dates. They end up putting me in a tough spot. On the bright side, I should now be able to spend some time with your other oils.
Pshhhhh. I feel for you, man. That's just awful. I would never have the patience to deal with hunters on a personal level like that. Dayaks... Amab... Yusof... I get a headache just hearing about what you have to go through! I wouldn't be able to put up with any of it for a single minute.... Give it a year or two more, and you'll probably feel exactly the same way I do about staying close to the source like that. Selectivity from a distance gives you far more flexibility (not to mention time) to focus on what you really want to do at the pots.

Enjoy the oils though, and do let me know your impressions! :)
 

Ensar Oud

Well-Known Member
#6
My gut feeling was that the Sultan Series is the epitome of your 'personal diary' interpretation/experience of agar, expressed on your canvas (the distillation). Sort of the equivalent of what I call my 'Gen3'. And I think I was right.
Yes you were! :) The Sultan Series would represent what I regard as my finest accomplishments in the realm of 'experimental distillation' – in addition to being the oils with the most back-breaking involvement on my part, from the sourcing of the wood, to carrying it cross-continent to get distilled, to sleeping at the distillery in order to closely monitor every phase of the distillation.

This wood meant so much to me, I wouldn't even have it shipped via reliable courier companies with all the required paperwork. ('What if there's a hick-up somewhere down the line? What if they impound it? What if...?') So every batch had to be personally flown into Thailand, sometimes engaging in-laws to fly along with us just so we could get the extra check-in luggage allowance.

If you can imagine two guys and a lady in hijab walking through the customs lines at Suvarnabhumi Airport with three large cardboard boxes each.... At one point they waived for us to stop. I said, 'What's up?' The officer signaled to go have the boxes checked to the right. I quickly maneuvered to get us all walking in the direction he pointed, but we turned at the second exit point, where the customs officers didn't say anything and just let us through....

So in a sense, what you're smelling there is all the agonies and trials we endured to bring those oils to life. Our struggles are all encapsulated in the scent. The fact that that you can pick that up is amazing!

Smelling this oil, a recurring question resurfaces in my mind, a question I often ask myself. I wonder about what the 'smartest' brewing method would be, for crafting any oil. Should it be a crowd-pleaser? Should it reflect the aroma of the wood accurately, or perhaps display some serious flexing skills in the realm of distillation prowess? With the current state of the supply side, I personally decided last year that I would stick to accuracy and potency across the board (Gen3), but with just one other closely-related category (Gen4, a little easier to 'grasp') which was just about as far as I was willing to stray from it.
With countless variables possible at the pots, I'd say there's no 'smartest' method for brewing any batch of oil.... You can try and be as accurate as possible to the scent of the wood, but even then you're only 'perceiving' something no one else can perceive in exactly the same way... something totally different might be 'more accurate' to someone else....

The way I'd look at it is, how possible is it to go beyond the raw materials and capture something even better than the scent of the wood? How to take the wood and 'exalt' it to... wood that smells even better? Or, how to take the wood and make it smell like that wood on a low-heat electric heater?

Theoretically, taking what's there and creating something totally new (a scent that did not exist before) would be closer to art than taking nature and trying to coax it intact; this is more suggestive of a mechanical rather than an artistic process. Sort of like the Monet that doesn't 'really' look like the bouquet of flowers that's in front of you, but (from the artistic viewpoint) looks even 'better'.

Yet with that in mind, it can become very tempting to get carried away when chasing 'art' and do something that completely removes any trace of the original profile of the wood. What we smell is the 'prowess' of the distiller, his imagination, his personality – but there's no 'Borneo' left for us to talk about.... This, I would say, is a lot less desirable than sticking as closely as possible to the scent of the unheated wood.

So much for theory....

In my own practice, I've come to the realization that the best 'style' is that of no style.... The hand of the artisan cannot be detected due to the force with which it zooms in on the raw materials; loyal to the wood's local tradition, it enhances what is there, making it shine with new light and vibrant color, without distracting or being overly 'present'.

These considerations are all relative in the end. If dealing with an ultra rare batch of wood, I wouldn't want to diverge too far from the scent of the unheated wood itself. Given your firsthand experience of the current state of affairs, I don't blame you for your stance of sticking as close as possible to the scent of the wood....

What guides your hand? You have been doing Oud since WELL before the recent crisis, and so you probably had a lot more options back then, before the good stuff became so scarce and hence limited creative permutations. Do you find that your philosophies or aims have evolved over the years? I am not talking about techniques, copper vs steel, sockets and joints, or the angle of the condenser... basically the 'tools'. No, I am referring to something greater than all that: what goes on in your head, which guides your hands in using the tools?
Well there are two 'philosophies' that always end up going head-to-head whenever I'm left staring at a pile of agarwood. There's the 'Oriscent' philosophy, which takes us back to the Chinese school of Kinam classifications, and the unquenchable desire to evoke a 'kinam note' in any and all oils that come out of one's hands. This, believe it or not, is not rocket science. The parameters have been established since the early days of Oriscent, and all we need to do is source the correct raw materials.

The second philosophy is the 'Sultan Series' / Gen3 stuff you experienced in the Sultan Ahmet & Sultan Mustafa. Always experimental, not interested in 'kinam' notes as much as in bringing something totally new to life, something no one has ever smelled before, but with equal force, balance and appeal as the very finest of the Oriscent classics.

I thought I had completely evolved from Oriscent to the Sultan Series style of 'new age' distillations, making it 'new' at the pots each and every time. Until recently....

I couldn't help but be influenced by rumors I was hearing that 'Ensar Oud is not the same as Oriscent' – and 'Ensar can no longer distill Oriscent style oils' – and even 'Oriscent is superior to Ensar Oud'.

As you can imagine, I felt a bit challenged. Rather than aim to please any given crowd, I set out to bring each and every single Oriscent legend back to life. I'm still on the same mission as we speak. The Green Papua and Sheikh's Borneo that you have there are the score cards for what we've managed so far. And you can let us all know if you think they pass the 'Oriscent' challenge or not :)

I'm curious to know how your philosophy changed over the years, as you saw, experienced (and even predicted) the dramatic changes in the supply market.
Well one thing I tried to do in order to ensure there was a 'future' for agarwood when this sort of thing hit home, was to get involved in a few clean and ethical organic farming efforts.

You can see how that panned out: The End of Organic Oud.

In retrospect, I feel that I wasted my time with organic oud, and should have focused instead on sourcing the very last few good batches of wild wood that were still becoming available.

Now you see me in a frenzy, securing every last batch of wild agarwood I can lay my hands on, because I know exactly where we're going to end up in just a short year or two....

I can see the China Market shutting down. The 'bosses' are tired of the rat race at the sources, with nothing to show for their efforts. There simply is no more wood coming out, except from Papua and New Guinea, and even these have slowed down considerably.

Prices are only going up.... What we're involved in is, essentially, a race against time. Very tiring and exhausting line of work to be in, in case you haven't figured that one out by now ;)

If by 'philosophies' you're referring to the distillation styles, then I'm trying to strike a balance between Oriscent and Sultan Series, with a bit more emphasis on Oriscent for the moment.

Speaking of Sultan Series, we just got done distilling the most expensive oil of the entire series, two South Thai trees by the Malaysian border. Curing the oils as we speak :)
 

Taha

Well-Known Member
#7
Ha! Oh mannnnnnn, haha yeah I remember that all too well (now that big-eyed kid's eyes are all scrunched up, tearing with laughter)! It was before 2007 though, I remember I was still in Uni and trying to pay off all my debts to move up to the next Muraqabah lesson. The temptations you had lined up sure didn't make it easy! But if I knew then what I know now, I would have wiped out all those bottles of Oud Royale - forget about debts!
Ah yes, those oils I brought along to show you were the 'finest' I had collected thus far, the sources of which I'd rather not say publicly here considering some toes would think I'm stepping on them. *ahem*
Needless to say, I was bummed out, and it was actually the very same year I befriended a guy who taught me the ropes. Ajeeb. :)

Well, hey, don't feel too sorry for me, my skin's grown pretty thick now. You know how things are here. This little hunting trip delay is nothing compared to some of the colorful events from last year (don't even get me started on the Beccariana harvest). No doubt, I want to just go already. Funny thing is, my wife is practically pushing me out the door too. She made a mighty fine Adobo dish for me the other day - I mean, could there be a hint any stronger?

Ah, I'm saddened to hear about your 'going back' to Oriscent. Earlier today, Adam broke my heart about something as well, more or less in the same vein. What I told him, and what I'd tell you as well, is that some folks might not "get" some ouds right now, but they will in time. At least the noses that count. Don't get me wrong, I loved Oriscent oils. But its saddening to see an artist's hand being forced.
Okay, I admit I too have had to, to some extent (Gen4 as I call it, which is just about as far as I'm willing to stray from Gen3). Come to think of it, its sort of a manzilah bayn al manzilatayn for me as well, much like your struggle with walking the rope between Oriscent and EO. Me personally though, I'm still focusing on Gen3 more. Comparing Royal Pursat to King Koh Kong, I know you're in the same boat as me (but 3x KK compared to RP clearly demonstrates where the market is predominantly at). Khair, some things take time. Earlier today, a guy was seeking my advice about the best way to oxidize and thicken an oil. Ya Haseeb..... need I even give a ta'leeq for that?!
I for one simply cannot go 'back'. Being in the position I am in now, I know the good stuff is too scarce. Gotta do the best we can with it. Those noses which are too slow now will either 'get it' later, or miss out altogether - their loss.
And I say: the same applies to EO oils (fyi, I have more EO oils than you know). ;) Any how, we gotta make money to keep those pots bubbling, so of course we have to please the crowd too. Lets hope the crowd catches up soon though, or there's gonna be a whole new frenzied wave like there was with OR, B3K etc, but this time with EO's and Gen3's.

In my own practice, I've come to the realization that the best 'style' is that of no style.... The hand of the artisan cannot be detected due to the force with which it zooms in on the raw materials; loyal to the wood's local tradition, it enhances what is there, making it shine with new light and vibrant color, without distracting or being overly 'present'.
Oh my goodness... you practically stole the words from my mouth! For some time now (and I know there are at least 3 or 4 of those folks reading our correspondences here who can corroborate this), I've been using Bruce Lee's famous phrase "the art of fighting without fighting", to explain Gen3 to folks.
What's amazing though is that just as Bruce's punches were very real (I'm sure any his sparring partner would have confessed to that), that 'invisible hand' is very much present in your oils.
Take Sultan Ahmet for instance. Smelling it, I know what the wood smelled like, I can practically feel the wood when I smell this oil. And yet, you composed the orchestra and your silhouette is clear behind the curtain, even if you're not on stage.
And here, I must strongly disagree with your use of the word 'experiment'. I don't buy it for a second. To me, these oils are not haphazard experiments. Its quite clear that these oils are orchestrated compositions, carefully thought out.
I can tell you that you've done a brilliant job, because your 'presence' isn't in your oils, yet you're present in them. But having said that, I know every now and then you've had some fun and cooked up some oils which one would think are anything but oud (hmm.. maybe oud from a parallel dimension?), but I also know this new supply-side crisis has probably forced you to do the same thing as me: pay the mightiest homage you can to wild oud, before its gone.

So.. South Thai you say? Now that's a mighty agar, if there ever was one! I only managed to cook one brew, and lost the rest of the wood (Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat) to the South Thai krissana mafia (Amab's dad, Sarit, was held at gun point and he had no choice but to hand it all over).
I hope you didn't tame this beast. I can totally 'taste' a Sultan Series South Thai, oufff, just thinking about it is making my nerve endings go haywire. I bet that stuff is even more intense than Mustafa and Mostafa combined! Lets see how many noses are able to register it, and how many just end up with olfactory fatigue.

As for your query about the version 2's of Sheikh's Borneo and Green Papua, I can certainly say that you hit the mark. I'm sure folks who miss the "good ol' days" will enjoy these two oils. I in fact wondered if it was you or your Taiwanese distiller who made GP, the moment I smelled it! The resemblance is that remarkable. But with all due respect to him (and he deserves more than it), I have found your creations, your own style, more electrifying. Others may disagree, but hey.. it goes back to the issue I mentioned earlier. Its just a matter of time.
هَلْ يَسْتَوِي الَّذِينَ يَعْلَمُونَ وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
'nuff said!

Earlier, I had suggested we do a family get-together, your family and mine.
Now I'm thinking maybe that's not such a hot idea.
When I have Arab wholesale clients over, I have to do Gen2 style agarwood burning for them with about 7 to 8 wood specimens, and their eyes get big and round as their noses connect oud oil to oud wood for the first time.
When I have AA customers over, I usually do Gen4 style heating with a 2-3 woods, due to time constraints (and a typical visit lasts about 7-10 hours!).
If you visit, I have a feeling you might be the first person I'd present a Gen3 style heating to, which takes hours per splinter. And then you'd come back with 'my turn now...', probably another few hours per splinter. Then we'd have a back and forth about optimality for hours, another few on capturing that in an oil.
Meanwhile, our wives might be drawing up divorce papers in the next room. :p
 

Taha

Well-Known Member
#8
Oh, and I forgot to mention-
I just read your blog post earlier today. What a tragedy. From your perspective, I can see why you would think it was a tragedy, a waste of time, to focus on plantation oud (I didn't, for the very reason you mentioned: I decided I had to milk the wild cow before the udders went dry). But of course the bigger tragedy, in the grand scheme of things, is the loss of the future of oud. That's what you were trying to create, which of course was the nobler road.

I hadn't taken your previous blog post, years ago, about the end of wild oud seriously enough. And now here I am, exactly 5 years later (just as your friend had predicted), finding it really hard to get a half-decent batch of wild wood to cook.
(Good thing I decided to go crazy and stock up 2015 - early 2016!)

This time, your blog post didn't raise an eyebrow. Yes, I know some folks will point to the flacons of black and brown liquids ornamenting the shelves of oud shops, years from now. But that stuff..... really, you have to draw the line between oud and 'oud'.
Right now, "chewing gum" oud (the cheap $80/tola low-grade farm stuff) is all the craze in the Khaleej, y'know, that weird stuff which is sucked out of farmed trees with barely any agarwood (so you get the auxiliary notes, but none of the OUD). Yes, its literally referred to as "chewing gum" oud; one guy asked me for it by name a few weeks ago. I have a hard time selling even $250/tola oils, when that $80 chewing gum stuff makes the wholesalers happy enough. With the new miracle serums that are injected into baby trees nowadays, let's see what the new craze will be. Maybe not chewing gum... burnt rubber perhaps? Beef broth?
(I've smelled some horrible oils that do indeed smell like these; who knows, they might have been the start of this new breed)

Back to the point though. Yes, I can totally believe what you said in the blog post. And I think anyone who can differentiate between oud and 'oud' will too, soon enough.
(I think India might be the only exception though, although even there now they've been doing some naughty business in the past year and a half or so)
 

m.arif

Active Member
#9
When I have AA customers over, I usually do Gen4 style heating with a 2-3 woods, due to time constraints (and a typical visit lasts about 7-10 hours!).
Now I know why you don't find it strange calling our visits "short" @Taha. :eek:

Well one thing I tried to do in order to ensure there was a 'future' for agarwood when this sort of thing hit home, was to get involved in a few clean and ethical organic farming efforts.

You can see how that panned out: The End of Organic Oud.
@Ensar, speaking about this..I'm planning to launch a blog about oud, but in Malay language, to educate those who converse in Malay (mostly my friends and countrymates in general). Would it be possible for me to select your articles from time to time and translate it to post on the coming blog? Reference to the original source will be put of course. :)

Ok guys sorry to intrude! Entertaining is an understatement reading this thread. Please continue dear artisans.
 

Ensar Oud

Well-Known Member
#10
Ah, I'm saddened to hear about your 'going back' to Oriscent. Don't get me wrong, I loved Oriscent oils. But its saddening to see an artist's hand being forced. I for one simply cannot go 'back'. Being in the position I am in now, I know the good stuff is too scarce. Gotta do the best we can with it.
Ah, it seems you even got the impression I was compelled to revisit 'Oriscent' due to market pressures! Many people have been telling me how they wish they were back in the Oriscent days.... That’s one side of the coin. Truth is, part of me agrees with them – not that I believe my current oils are inferior, but rather those oils captured a type of magic that puts me in a different space.... For me it's like a 'Remembrance of Things Past'. Sort of like you always go back and revisit the places and people that have meant so much to you in your early life, because it helps you make sense of everything that has happened since. So for me the journey is first and foremost a deeply personal one.

So 'Oriscent' isn't just me bowing to market demand. Not at all. In fact, that the market demanded these flashbacks actually stirred something in me to rekindle a flame that I deep down knew I wanted to re-ignite. I'd venture to say that Oriscent is a uniquely 'Ensarian' aesthetic, more so even than the Sultan Series oils... a personal 'school of scent' that has shaped every aspect of what came after, including my SS oils, and is simply part of me. It's present in every aspect of my work, as much today as ever.... Armani comes up with new patterns every season, but that doesn't mean the classics that made him who he is today are by any means inferior or mean less to him now than they did years ago. In reality, I see myself as more 'Taiwanese' than New Guinea or anything else, and for me everything ultimately gets filtered through the 'aesthetic' that is Oriscent. Almost like you made your breakthrough with Berkilau...

I wish for people to realize that to say the one or the other – the 'early' Ensar or the 'later' Ensar – is 'better' is irrelevant. They're both expressions of the artist at different times during the evolution of his vision. And it's not a linear development. Many artists produced their best work when they started out, others during the end of their career, and yet others have re-invented themselves time after time and everything they came up with was unique in its own way.

The biggest question in my head is: Which one would I take a swipe of – Kynam No 1 or Kinam Rouge? It doesn't get more 'Oriscent' than Kynam No 1, and it doesn't get more EO than Kinam Rouge! The thought is one that I toy with over and over again in my head. Ultimately, I'd have to have both! :D

Lets hope the crowd catches up soon though, or there's gonna be a whole new frenzied wave like there was with OR, B3K etc, but this time with EO's and Gen3's.
I definitely hear you on that one! Art appreciation is something that almost always only happens in retrospect.... Just think about the fact that no one even knows where Mozart is buried.... Look at Dostoevsky.... Couldn't feed his family... lived in absolute misery.... How many people would volunteer to fund him today, just to keep writing?... Think about the wretched last days of Van Gogh.... Would he have believed it if you told him the stuff would be in the greatest museums and command millions per piece?... Not to mention artists who are discovered posthumously altogether, like Franz Kafka who entrusted his friend with burning all of his manuscripts.... (In case you ever decide to burn all your Gen3 stuff, you can just entrust me with them! ;))

I must strongly disagree with your use of the word 'experiment'. I don't buy it for a second. To me, these oils are not haphazard experiments. Its quite clear that these oils are orchestrated compositions, carefully thought out.
Oh no, not experiment! Definitely not the "let's just do this and see what happens" kind of approach. Very carefully thought out, measured and calculated to the T. What I meant by experiment is the desire to create a scent that did not exist before.

So... South Thai you say? Now that's a mighty agar, if there ever was one! I hope you didn't tame this beast. I can totally 'taste' a Sultan Series South Thai, oufff, just thinking about it is making my nerve endings go haywire. I bet that stuff is even more intense than Mustafa and Mostafa combined! Lets see how many noses are able to register it, and how many just end up with olfactory fatigue.
Definitely no taming here! It combines Oriscent, the Sultan Series and everything else I've done all into one.

Earlier, I had suggested we do a family get-together, your family and mine. Now I'm thinking maybe that's not such a hot idea. If you visit, I have a feeling you might be the first person I'd present a Gen3 style heating to, which takes hours per splinter. And then you'd come back with 'my turn now...', probably another few hours per splinter. Then we'd have a back and forth about optimality for hours, another few on capturing that in an oil. Meanwhile, our wives might be drawing up divorce papers in the next room.
Sure sounds like a plan to me!

I was invited over for 'mansaf' by a Jordanian once. When I showed up with my wife and kids, he said: 'Sidi! I told you to come you and your family! So where is Abdul Rahman? (i.e. Kruger)'

If you're talking hours deciphering a splinter, I might take his interpretation and use the Kruger rukhsa in that case! :D

Would it be possible for me to select your articles from time to time and translate it to post on the coming blog? Reference to the original source will be put of course.
By all means, be my guest!
 

Taha

Well-Known Member
#12
Ensar, you must forgive me for the late reply. (Almost) all systems are go, and I have been busy making the final preparations before we set off for the trek. Crazy Toto is MIA (argghh!!!), so we may have to hunt him down first, before we go hunting for agarwood. But besides that annoyance, we're all set. We're gonna take a one-day break, stuff ourselves, rest, and then set out for what I hope will be more than just a rough picnic! :p

Ah, come to think of it, you're so right. In fact, when I think of Ensar Oud, the first oils that come to mind are Borneo 3000, Green Papua, Oud Royale, and Suliman. All Oriscent oils! You're right — its a matter of 'earlier' and 'later', not a case of 'better' and 'worse'.
And in both cases, I certainly don't detect any 'mistakes' (i.e. signs of blind experimentation) in the scent profiles of the oils. Some have been unusual, no doubt (Purple Papua and Oud Nuh come to mind), but I'm sure when a discerning nose smells an oil, its able to tell if the details were deliberate or slip-ups. When it comes to quirks ('unusual' characteristics might be a better word), for some reason I always think of Jazz. An untrained ear might think the tempo is warped. But someone with an innate musical aptitude will notice that the stretches and speedups are all carefully thought out.
I don't know music, never learned it formally or informally either for that matter, so I don't know the proper terms for what I'm trying to express. I think you probably know what I'm referring to though.

Well, let's hope the art appreciation in this case isn't mostly in retrospect! As if its not obvious already, for me most of your EO oils have given far more olfactory engagement. From many of the comments I've seen on this board, I can tell I'm not the only one. :)
 

Ensar Oud

Well-Known Member
#13
Well, that's the secret of art right there.... Art is a perception of the world in a unique way. An artist perceives reality differently. He can take that perception and lay it out there so others can get a glimpse of what he sees.

With that said, I have to congratulate you on developing an unmistakable 'oud aesthetic' that is unique to you and no one else. I don't need a label on the bottle to know the oil is yours. That's a great artistic feat in and of itself. It's like listening to a few notes of a piano concerto and immediately you know you're listening to Rachmaninoff; a note or two, and you know it's Tchaikovsky.

Now the 'auxilliary note' bubble gum oils you're so upset about, the only way to deal with their proliferation is by educating consumers. And I know you're probably tired, the way things are panning out.... We all feel it, daily.... How much more education does the world need in order to be able to tell cheap oud from high quality – rather than saying one is a 'good deal' and the other 'overpriced'?

From my side of the room, the 'good deal' oils are way overpriced. And the 'overpriced' legends are dirt cheap. Take Kyara de Kalbar and what it sold for.... Let any 'auxiliary note' vendor commission the same oil and then offer it for less than $5,000 a bottle – if they can even distill it in the first place....

On the other hand, I can have a 'clean smelling oil' website up in 48 hours, and instead of $250 a bottle the oils – the exact same oils – will be going for something like $150. It's actually crossed my mind to do exactly that. I think it would clear the air of all misconceptions we're currently faced with, and lay bare what these oils should be selling for.

Now I have to tell you, I blame you in part for starting the whole 'clean smelling' oil movement. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think some folks got 'condenser happy' reading your stuff – they started skipping the soak as a fashionable 'technique' – and presto, what we ended up with is a market of ouds that don't smell like agarwood anymore. What they forgot to add to the equation was high quality wood!

I can understand your concern and upset, but personally I couldn't be bothered less.... And I'd urge you to adopt the same approach. Be outspoken about what you really think of an oil made up entirely of 'auxiliary notes' and tell folks unabashedly: This ain't Oud, folks.
 

Taha

Well-Known Member
#14
Its so thrilling to hear from an artisan, especially you (and of course from others as well), how you can without fail detect the 'Taha element' in Agar Aura oils. Which is ironic, because its like we discussed before: we like the wood to do the talking, and yet, there is no way to separate the fa'il from the maf'ul. Reminds me of the verse "hadha khalquLlah..."

I actually did precisely what you suggested above; in the past 6 months I released 3 oils below $200, and one below $150. The frightening thing was realizing that more people than I would have expected weren't able to clearly discern 'quality' (which I defined as good distillation methods) vs 'grade' (specifically reflecting the quality of the raw material). It was only when they compared, say, Sutera Ungu to Ukupan Kayu side by side, that they realized the blatant difference.

And that of course leads me to your smack on my wrist.
I deserve it, and much more than it. You're absolutely right, and I too hold myself responsible for starting this new fad (unknowingly). If I could go back in time, I wouldn't have "helped" a whole lot of these folks who are now producing these new age 'clean smelling' oils.
The ironic thing is that, as you know, I soak every batch of wood — for barnyard and clean oils alike. A week minimum and sometimes even up to 3 weeks (e.g. Royal Pursat, or maybe it was 17 days).
As a side note, I don't think its necessary to always soak wood. If the wood is high enough quality, a smart distillation will itself render the oil rich.
But that's besides the point. The irony in these new age bubble gum oils is that not only is the wood unsoaked, but the quality of the wood itself is 4-5 grades below what would qualify as a high grade distillation. So they got the methodology wrong and they're implementing it on the wrong type of wood.
I'll try to post some more on this later, and hopefully you can share your thoughts too. Oh, btw Sutera Ungu, yep no fractionating whatsoever (actually all my oils are full-spectrum), all 60 days worth of oil squeezed out of the wood was mixed together. :)

But I gotta get to bed now, have to be up at 4 AM for the jungle trek early in the morning. Its a rather nasty 3.5 hour ride to Sitio, we just got back a little while ago after the first scan. We managed to come to an agreement with the village captain as well as the local jungle tribal Datu/chieftain. In fact, he together with his son and step-son are now going to be part of the hunting team. Amab was impressed by two jungles (he compared one of them to Cambodian jungles, in terms of the flora, soil composition, and the general 'feel' of the jungle), and we'll be going into one of those two tomorrow.

I'm out now, but I thought I'd share some photos from the past few days, before I sign off -

Malaysia Represen'!
IMG_8709.jpg

Explaining the different species to Amab
IMG_8725.jpg

*sigh* Missing my home-roasted, burr-ground, home made ristrettos and cappuccinos
IMG_8727.jpg

Shopping for solar-powered flashlights + USB chargers
IMG_8744.jpg
 

Attachments

Taha

Well-Known Member
#15
Ah, couldn't attach all the photos (limit of max 5), here are some more:

Random pitstop, on the way to Sitio village
IMG_8760.jpg

Finalizing the plans for tomorrow's trip
IMG_8765.jpg

By the end of the discussions, anxieties about tomorrow are running high
IMG_8770.jpg

Buying cans of tuna and sardines, rice, dehydrated fish (ack!!!) etc. Can't find the photos I took of the tent canvas etc.
IMG_8771.jpg

Almost 11 here, have to be up in about 5 hours, the jungle trek is scheduled to start around 8, so I'm out. Hope I come out of this alive. :p
 

m.arif

Active Member
#17
May this hunt be fruitful Taha ! Lol dehydrated fish. I'm picturing a fish gasping for a glass of water. I'm more accustomed to dried fish :rolleyes:

The 'clean oud' trend is definitely widespread. Perhaps all this while people have been getting oud produced with bad distillation practices (unhygienic, uncontrolled soaking, etc).

Now us consumers are learning the difference between good/bad distillation practices.

The good practices should eventually be a minimum requirement/benchmark for distillers. Then comes the new challenge, to discern , among oud distilled with proper techniques, the different qualities of wood.
 

Ensar Oud

Well-Known Member
#18
Yeah, best of luck Taha.... How many hunts has it been now since then? And zero wood?.... I have to tell you, you're either in some serious denial, or you know something I don't.... I'd love to read more about your other, undocumented failed hunts, and the seven months you've been sleeping in the jungle, trek after trek, with not a splinter to show for your efforts.... I have a hard time understanding all the excitement whenever a hunter gets a visa, to be honest....

Where all the wood is going to come from for the great 'democratization' that is upon us, I guess everyone can figure that one out for themselves. And all the 'reasonably priced' oils that are supposed to start flowing like champagne..... I want to laugh, but I also want to cry.....

Habibi.... there is NO MORE WOOD.... Boleh paham, tak? Nada, zilch. Kayu da habis.... Gaharu da hilang....

The China bosses are even starting to pack their bags. Some are opening shopping malls in underdeveloped areas. Others are going into suitcases. Others are getting more and more addicted to gambling, as the Great Draught finally dawns on them. A tree a year is what it's come to now for the very biggest of them. Next year, it might be nothing.

Adam is looking to postpone his departure from KL to the 26th, and I'll do my best to be there. My wife just had surgery today, so nothing is confirmed as of right now....

Amazing job on the Syed Ceylon No 1, btw. And thanks again for hooking up the arrangement with the distiller. I'm supposed to meet him very soon. If I do make it to KL, I'll be bringing a vial of Diesel de Ceylan with me for you to check out – the very first Sri Lankan distillation that I'm aware of.....
 

Taha

Well-Known Member
#19
If I remember correctly, its now been 18 unsuccessful hunts. Admittedly, I did get some wood in one of these but its market-value hardly even covered the expenses. That batch, by the way, is still sitting at my warehouse in Pahang, yet to be cleaned and carved.

Yep, its true, from the supply side I can confirm there are hardly any Chinese client visits to Malaysia any more. I think the last time we sold to Chinese clientele was maybe back in March or April. Our last successful haul was in October 2015 (King grade stuff, I'll try to find a photo and upload it). Despite the 6-figure value of the sale, again, we hardly broke even.
I had hired 20 hunters (10 for Endau Rompin, 10 for Gua Musang), and the cost of paperwork, salaries (and supporting 20 families for 3 months) rendered the whole thing pointless. :(

Neato! Let me know if you'll be able to make it. Maybe we should do a video, the three of us. I must warn you though, I'm sick right now, so the two of you would have to do most of the talking.
Sorry to hear about your wife, I hope she recovers, tahooran insha Allah.

Happy to hear you liked Ceylon No.1, and my pleasure hooking you up.

Diesel de Ceylan, wow, can't wait to try it! Why am I not surprised you beat us all to it?
Back in 2014, I thought I was the first guy to be conducting Walla Patta distillations. Turns out Ajmal had beat me to it. And now it turns out, unsurprisingly, that - yet again - I had walked into a cloud of dust you'd left behind. :p
 

Taha

Well-Known Member
#20
Here's the photo of our last 'successful' batch:
IMG_9191.jpg

ListensClosely got to hold that large piece, when he visited me earlier this year. :)
And I think he got one of the smaller pieces from this batch.

And here's a monkoh grade chunk sliced off the tail of the large piece:
IMG_7399.jpg