4 November 2011 ‘Not one single wild tree stands in the jungles of Laos,’ Christopher said to me today. A long term colleague and associate, Mr. Hoeth is a Swiss expat who relocated to Laos to pursue his passion of crafting agarwood oil. Apart from what I witnessed firsthand in the Far East just a […]
‘I’m a struggling college student and my only pleasure in life are your wonderful oud oils. The only thing I spend money on is the bare essentials, to eat and buy oud. If I spend what you’re asking for the Mostafa I won’t have enough money to feed myself for the rest of the month […]
The world is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out, like shining from shook foil; It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod? Generations have trod, have trod, have trod; And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil; […]
Take the most resinated organic agarwood money can buy, grind it up into dust, juice it up into oil, and what do you get? Japanese incense, in a bottle! Part 1: At the grinder: Incense grade organic Thai agarwood, ground up into dust. Part 2: As we come in to pour the incense grade dust […]
This time, we didn’t set out on our journey to the Far East to find wild agarwood. We came here to confirm reports that wild agarwood is on the brink of extinction, and from what we’ve seen we can no longer in good conscience get involved with extracting Oud oil from wild harvested agarwood trees. […]
We’ve tried to report something of the drama that is unfolding in the Oud world as we speak. The Chinese wood-carving market is laying claim to all wild agarwood trees that remain standing in the jungles of the Far East. We can join them in the scramble for what remains, but what we’re seeing out […]
16 October 2011 Everyone in the oud producing world is on the edge of their seat. We’ve all just been hit by a major earthquake. All the chiefs of the big Saudi oud houses are scratching their heads after recent events. They still don’t understand what is happening. Ensar is currently in the Far East […]
Over-exposure to inferior ‘oud-based’ fragrances on offer all over, coupled with a lack of experience with the kind of aroma real aloeswood connoisseurs go after, leaves many misinformed about what makes good oud oil. Your first encounter with aloeswood might very well have been an enlightening moment, or even a completely insignificant one. Regardless of […]