Tokusen Tai

#1
I had not tried any Thai prior to Tokusen Tai and so did not have much of an expectation other than hearsay about Thai being linear, sweet and jammy.

But Tokusen Tai was far from linear. A swipe and a sniff later, there was this unusual peppery spice note jolting my olfactory senses, sending a slight tingling sensation at the back of the nostril. In my Oud journey so far, I have yet to encounter such top notes in any oil; except during Kodo session with resinous wood at higher temperature. It was not all dry and spice though, as there was a nice touch of sweetness with a tinge of mint to complement the peppery edges. Don't think the spice note ever disappear but rather retreated to the back as other more prominent notes took to the stage. I still could catch whiffs of it from time to time.

The scent slowly transited to a medicinal woody smell, again with a dash of sweetness to it. Interestingly, so far I have not yet encountered any jammy sweetness that was expected to overwhelm your senses; but rather the sweet note here lent a subtle yet supportive cast to the main notes at different stages. Just like how the sweetness toned down the spice in the opening, I thought the heart note sweetness bridged the medicinal and woody notes very well, as each note in its full essence can be quite olfactory stimulating, at least for me. Sometimes it is not just about packing all the most complex notes in an oil, but rather how each note interplays harmoniously with one another to bring the olfactory experience to the next level.

The woody note continued to intensify till you could almost imagine smelling the actual wood in front of you. Slowly, you could start to catch a hint of bittersweetness creeping in from the edge. Bittersweetness is my all time favourite note and I definitely love the aroma at this stage, though it could be better if the note has been more intense and forefront rather than playing second fiddle.

The dry down is a rich incensey note that personally to me, has been a hallmark of high quality oil. It is very different from the aggressive and smoldering resinous dry down of Jinko Manaka as it is gentler with a greater degree of clarity.

Tokusen Tai is definitely a masterpiece from Taha! Distilling a oil with complexity is tough enough but it is definitely a bar higher to distill a complex oil with such harmonious notes playing in tandem with one another.
 
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kesiro

Well-Known Member
#2
I have to agree on all counts. Having experienced some Thai oils, I had some expectations as to what this would be like. And I could not have been more wrong. This oil is so unique and complex. It is woody, inscensy, medicinal, slightly sweet. Just a great oil and I feel so fortunate to have it.
 

Taha

Well-Known Member
#3
Thanks for the lovely review/insight @Oud_Learner!
Quite different from all my previous oils, wouldn't you say? Well, aside from New Guinea No.1 which of course was hand-made too. I hope all my hand-made oils will get your literary juices as well as this, hehe.

By the time I finally reached the base notes fraction stage during the distillation process, I had to agree with Ensar. When he smelled it, he said it was a Crassna or at least a hybrid sub-specie Crassna. I, up until that stage, thought it was some mystery specie (especially given the unusualness of the leaf), but the base notes were a dead giveaway that it was indeed Crassna. Or more likely, a Crassna whose ancestor had an illegitimate affair with another specie. :p