by: Ida Meister
Perfumer Joseph K DeLapp recently sent me Thai ouds for my delectation which he had distilled himself.
[I know what you're thinking; I thought it, too.
Oh, goody. Yet more ouds. As if we aren't bombarded enough with the current rampant manias – noir this, oud that. Aroma of the year, take your pick.]
Joseph asked me if I preferred a tincture, or a drop of oil – and, being the concentrated type, I requested the denser form, which he obligingly sent. In fact, he sent me drops of five different Thai ouds, and two perfumes he'd composed: Musk Rose Attar and City Oud.
[I know what you're thinking; I thought it, too.
Oh, goody. Yet more ouds. As if we aren't bombarded enough with the current rampant manias – noir this, oud that. Aroma of the year, take your pick.]
Joseph asked me if I preferred a tincture, or a drop of oil – and, being the concentrated type, I requested the denser form, which he obligingly sent. In fact, he sent me drops of five different Thai ouds, and two perfumes he'd composed: Musk Rose Attar and City Oud.
My jaw is still dropping.
Musk Rose Attar
Notes:
Champa Ruh
Russian Centifolia Rose
Hina Musk Attar
Custom-Distilled Mysore Sandalwood
Cambodian Oud
Notes:
Champa Ruh
Russian Centifolia Rose
Hina Musk Attar
Custom-Distilled Mysore Sandalwood
Cambodian Oud
“I chose the best Rose distillation I have experienced, from a place normally not on the Top 3 (or even Top 5) list for their Roses. I found this beautiful Russian Centifolia Rose that I chose to be the core of the fragrance.
I wanted some more Top Notes to flesh it out - and this is where I turned to rare, genuine Indian distillations. I chose a genuine Indian-distilled Champa that just smells OMG. Apple Blossoms on the Top, with a Champa Heart that you can almost take a bite out of, with tenacious animalic Base Notes. Together with the Rose - it creates an almost 3-D feeling of being surrounded by velvety roses.
To this, I further compounded it with a genuine Hina Musk Attar. An Attar is a traditional Indian tradition of distilling one or multiple materials into Sandalwood - and finding genuine Attars is difficult, especially considering that India self-consumes 80-90% of all Attars produced, and the genuine, all natural list of Attars is even more prized and luxurious and rare... This particular Hina Musk took more than 100 different materials and a total of 3 months to distill.
The ingredients - ranging from a variety of mosses, dozens of woods, spices, and resins, floral extracts of Gulab (Rose), Chemeli (Jasmine), Davana, Kewra and other florals - all distilled into Indian Sandalwood. Hina Musk is THE most sensuous, all natural botanical musk there is, and I am very fortunate to have the connections to acquire the traditionally distilled, NATURAL Hina Musk Attar.”
I'm extremely grateful that Joseph has these connections – because Musk Rose Attar / Perfume is so exquisite, so plush and luxurious, that it is defies description.
I'm going to give it a whirl, anyway.
The Rose is a Queen possessed of a complex scent profile to begin with, and a grand centifolia is much loved by me. When her consorts elicit a multiplicity of unforced fruity facets and a voluptuous rondeur, she glows with solar radiance.
Joseph's champa ruh isn't your everyday, banal Harvard Square 1970's incense cone – it's a precious perfume unto itself, full of nuance and variety. Bolstered by a deft caress of Cambodian oud and the Golden Standard [Mysore sandalwood!], our rose is unutterably beautiful.
There is no astringency present here, only curves and bounty. The Rose is enveloping and generous, not a wan, anemic, rasping wraith saddled with nostril-singeing ascetic woods.
If you manage even to order a drop of this, it is worth it, if simply for the fulsomeness of olfactory experience.
City Oud
“Scent Profile:
Top Notes:
As is true with most Arabian compositions - the only Top Notes are those present in the materials. Unlike Western Perfumery - there is no addition of citrus or Bergamot.
Heart Notes:
A touch of Rose - just enough to meld the various materials together
Base Notes:
Sandalwood-macerated Tonka Beans
Custom-Distilled Mysore Sandalwood
A beautifully woody Oud
Floral Cambodi Oud
A touch of wandering Desert Bedouins”
[Materials: Rose, Oud, Agarwood, Cambodi Oud, Mysore Sandalwood, Tonka Beans, Bedouin, Bakhoor, Aloeswood, Jinko]”
[Bakhoor = Bukhoor = scented bricks or wood chips steeped in fragrant oils burned as a form of incense.
Ruh = 'spirit' in Arabic; the distillation of fragrant material [i.e., ruh khus – vetiver, ruh chameli - jasmine, ruh gulab – rose]
Jinko = Japanese word for "sinking" - referring to highly resinated, sinking grade agarwood.]
City Oud
“Scent Profile:
Top Notes:
As is true with most Arabian compositions - the only Top Notes are those present in the materials. Unlike Western Perfumery - there is no addition of citrus or Bergamot.
Heart Notes:
A touch of Rose - just enough to meld the various materials together
Base Notes:
Sandalwood-macerated Tonka Beans
Custom-Distilled Mysore Sandalwood
A beautifully woody Oud
Floral Cambodi Oud
A touch of wandering Desert Bedouins”
[Materials: Rose, Oud, Agarwood, Cambodi Oud, Mysore Sandalwood, Tonka Beans, Bedouin, Bakhoor, Aloeswood, Jinko]”
[Bakhoor = Bukhoor = scented bricks or wood chips steeped in fragrant oils burned as a form of incense.
Ruh = 'spirit' in Arabic; the distillation of fragrant material [i.e., ruh khus – vetiver, ruh chameli - jasmine, ruh gulab – rose]
Jinko = Japanese word for "sinking" - referring to highly resinated, sinking grade agarwood.]
Ah, City Oud.
Where to begin...
I am an uneducated dolt when it comes to sandalwood-macerated tonka beans, but even I know an amazing thing when I smell it ;-)
This perfume is so beautifully integrated that I feel it merits being taken as a whole entity – not parsed into separate components.
Despite the addition of a very fine rose, dosed minutely [because rose is such a good helpmeet, creating harmony wherever she lays her dainty foot] – we are treated to a magnificent woody floral perfume.
An abundance of Mysore sandalwood! Ouds which clearly possess the power to ensnare with so many visages, prism-like. A ripe fruitiness, winey even - which arises organically, not from chemicals or sleight-of-hand, but from the woods themselves.
City Oud lies close to the flesh for hours, intricate and hauntingly mesmerizing. It is both oddly comforting, fascinating, and erotic by turns: leathery, floral, spicy, gourmand, sylvan, carnal.
[I am typing with one finger, because my hand is glued to my nose]
These perfumes bear nothing in common with what is on the market today, and that is their unique gift.
One can spend as much for a derivative, niche scent with little quality oud in it, or one can spend that much again for 1/4 tola of Joseph's perfumes and watch them unfold with delight.
The choice is one's own. The price is the same.
When I began to realize how labor-, money-, and time-intensive the processes were, the distillation, the acquiring of quality materials – a measure of understanding and appreciation took hold of me.
Small wonder that folk from India and Arabic cultures accustomed to this sort of quality are frustrated in upscale stores [where I overhear their disparaging commentary delivered under their breath].
If this is what beautiful ouds smell like, why would you settle for less?
Almost certainly better to do without...
Thai Ouds: A Study
Part of my olfactory education [which, thank heavens – is ongoing until I shuffle off of this mortal coil!], courtesy of Joseph K. DeLapp – were five little Thai ouds, each with a vastly different scent profile.
I'll take them one by one, and introduce you. < 3
[They are labeled as Joseph sent them.]
Thai Dark Fruit and Honey
Upon first sniff: camphorous-smoky, resinous and charred, piney and potent. It needs time and aeration in order to reveal itself, and it's in no hurry, either. It's going to take its sweet time. I'll wait.
Wait: dried plums, raisins. Honey, but more like eucalyptus honey from Greece. Decadent. Retsina.
Point me to the nearest taverna.
Thai Animal and Barn
Heavenly sweet and animalic, right off the bat. Deeply smoldering with narcissus absolute-like, haylike tones. Now, it's fecal – the way civet is. More horse than cow dung. Riveting and slightly perverse, in a lovely way.
Thai Floral and Honey, Slightly Sour
When Joseph means sour, he intends sour as in tamarind. So the sense here is a more tonic edge to the oud and an herbal/floral feel to the fire. I can only imagine the metamorphosis these oils undergo in dilution – where they open up with greater ease and expansivity.
Perhaps it would have been wiser/more representative to ask for the dilution – but I'm reveling in the intensity and power of these oils; it's as if I am drugged. I feel drugged. There is a shamanic quality undertow to these.
Thai Slightly Animalic
The fire burns less fiercely – but it is still fire, although a shade or two more gentle. I can see how this particular oud might be a gracious companion to many other materials: green, floral, herbal.
I wonder if they bear any resemblance to cannabis or hashish. I don't feel at all like myself. It's almost unnerving.
Thai More Floral and Honey
My last oud to try – and perhaps, I've tried too many in one go. It's not that my nose is tired, but my sensorium feels skewed. I'm off kilter. Out on the edge.
Oh, this is lovely lovely lovely!
What a joy! There is a definite kick to this oud, but it is graced with such sweetness that I would swear it had other essences in it. Such warmth, such luminosity. It's a complete perfume, a microcosm.
Perhaps there's a serendipity at work, in that this was my last to experience. Perhaps all the other ouds were to prepare me for this rhapsodic moment. This is so very, very good.
I still feel drugged.
The moral of the story might be that, if one is a hypervigilant sensory being like myself -
It might be wiser to sniff them one at a time – one day at a time.
I believe there is a very real consciousness-altering psychoactive potential in these materials, especially in high concentration; I'm not surprised, though.
Anything that has been around and in spiritual and ceremonial use for thousands of years has that plausibility.
Dear Joseph: thank you for your generosity.
Feel free to educate me further, at any time <3
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