What is Nu-Oud?

Single origin oud is sublime. Not only is it the purest form of getting to know how unique each jungle’s profile is, it’s also the quickest road to learn oud; to delve into the contrasts, which lets you appreciate oud overall all the more. 

You learn to marvel at how coffee and chocolate can come out of the same soil as oudthat’s pure sencha. At how one oud drips purple while the neighboring jungle gives you golden honey.

But what if you want something different?

What if it’s not always about ‘studying’ a new oud? What if you’re a seasoned oudhead and this time you’re looking for a scent that challenges familiarity and transcends terroir; oudthat doesn’t beg to be solved or analyzed? Or oud that could be studied and analyzed even more so than single origin oud can. Maybe you just want an oud simply to kick back with, to smell and enjoy.

My nu–oud collection, a.k.a oud extraits was inspired by the Sultan Series we distilled in 2013/14, where we pursued nu-perfumery using a single ingredient. The difference was that the Sultan Series was created inside the pots, while this collection brings different regions together post-distillation to create a new scent palette for your nose to dive into and explore.

If you wished the chocolicious herbaceous jungly vibes of a fine Maroke could only have a touch of fruity zest, or if a red Cambodi could lean more towards Vietnam and form a red-bitter brew of funk unlike you’ve smelled before – then this collection is for you.

If your oud journey so far has been meticulous, structured, perhaps too… analytical, and you’re in the mood for some jazz, then these ouds come with plenty of pizzazz, from fruity coffee to zesty jungly noir to guava-laced apricots, vintage resin busting out of savory new-school brews.

Composing with only oud isn’t about simply throwing things together. Anyone who has tried this knows how quickly a blend turns into a muddy mess; how one oud completely drowns out another, or how some are just not meant for each other…

So, it’s not just about oud + oud + oud. There are also facets of how a single oud changes its scent over time. I’ve seen the first drops of oud come out and they’re a fluorescent blue and smell from another planet, while a day later the blue turned darker green and that initial whiff was a gift to enjoy for only that moment in history that made way for the scent of that day. Then you cure the oil as the color and profile continues to change and grow. Then you age it for a year or ten, and there’s a whole story that was never told.

This is a way to tell the EO story through the scents we’ve spent our lives to create and which oud lovers have directly helped make possible.

… The wood we tried to score from Mr. Sweet Pee or Mr. Mhed’s Koh Kong shavings we brought over to Khao Ram on a fishing boat. That time we lost one of those blue 1-ton containers at 2am in the morning. The bags of Vietnamese sinensis shavings Coburn and Kruger helped me load into the bottom of a bus that took us to Phnom Penh, where we then loaded them onto our colleugue Chakloi’s truck and head off to the Pursat mountains, after which we spend days grinding and sorting and then weeks distilling. The time Teeh’s wife left him and we drove him to the monastery where he donned the orange robes, and we went back to load the pots with New Guinea wood we brought there on 11+ separate flights, and hours on the road. And countless other oudventures.

Join me as we explore, enjoy, and appreciate oud in more detail, smell contrasts that wouldn’t have existed otherwise, blues and orange within yellow and green, spices that grow from Papuan soil, purple bubbles that pop with ripe citrus, and more!
 

OUD EXTRAITS >