Oud Extraordinaire 0.3g
In a blind test, I’m sure even the most seasoned oudheads would have trouble telling which is which: Oud Extraordinaire or the mighty Oud Ishaq. There’s an echo of Kyara Ko-Twe that just shouldn’t be here (but is). A slow, measured consistency in the way the scent unfolds that boggles veteran distillers. How the—? How did you—? A fat layer of sweet molasses, gentle wafts of tobacco, and a signature fruity tone that twirls in between that you’d expect to smell only in the wildest grandma crassnas.
It’s been eleven years since Oud Dhul Kifl, almost ten since Encens d’Angkor, and the future of Oud Yusuf is no more. But this… this is crème de la crème.
The oil itself is honey-thick, which boosts longevity because it lets the scent linger on the skin longer than less viscous ouds. It also intensifies the woody base, and sharpens the strong incense heart notes already imbued with a darker shade of peach-plum that gushes into a contrast of cherry tobacco and a playful citrus-infused sencha. A soft chord of rose petals underneath… it all lets you in on the caliber oud you’re smelling.
Oud Extraordinaire is a one-in-a-thousand bottle of oud. It’s what all oud wants to be—organic and wild—but doesn’t put in the time to become. The maturity of the fruitiness, the depth of the woody-incense backdrop, all of it hinges on the kind of resin you work with.
The trees distilled to make Oud Extraordinaire have been maturing far longer than most cultivation practices would allow them to. With every passing year, they didn’t get harvested, growing to be around 40 years old (the norm is that cultivated agarwood trees are harvested at 5-15 years old).
As each new inoculant hit the market, they stayed chemical-free. Year after year we see an increase in pre-mature harvesting and an increase in chemical inoculation, and overall a dramatic decline in agarwood cultivation in Thailand. The Bangkok market is flooded with cheap ouds (with quality to match) and former agarwood farmers are harvesting their new durian, or pressing palm oil instead of growing new aquilarias.
The privilege to produce oud of this rank, at this time, is a blessing.
The opportunity to use oud of this rank, at this time, in perfumery—unprecedented.
Oud Extraordinaire hails from Rayong, which explains why the aroma departs from the more popular and playful Trat profiles and shows a closer family resemblance to the stern demeanor of Oud Ishaq and Oud Dhul Kifl (both from Chanthaburi). Even the oldest Rayong trees reach only about 20 years of age and were likely inoculated barely two years prior to harvest.
Our unique distillation style that produces thicker ouds without ‘sunning-them for six months straight, combined with Rayong’s unique terroir, and the fact that the trees grew three to four times (decades!) longer than the norm, and that we distilled kyen exclusively, means that you not only get the highest class organic oud oil around, but a smell that packs a unique umami-rich punch.
I’m releasing Oud Extraordinaire to back up the claims I make about the quality ingredients I use and for you to smell first-hand the class of components that go into EO parfums. The crisp woody undertones, the thick viscosity, the binding power, the maturity of the resin and the trees themselves, everything about this oud makes it an ingredient to die for. As for wearing it neat, it’s difficult to imagine how Oud can get any better. It stands right next to Satori Kensho and even the legendary Oud Yaqoub.
