Category Archives: The Oud Journey

I’m amazed at the stuff people rub on their skin. A quick glance at the list of ingredients makes you reel back in horror, as you wonder: ‘Why? How can you stand those things on your body?’ And, my God, the smell of those creams. We consume these perfumed and flavored creams and lotions daily. Big Pharma makes grand claims about […]

You might have heard the gossip. All that End of Oud talk of ours is bogus. Just a marketing ploy, they say. Oud is abundant and here to stay, they say. You see their campaign slogans everywhere: Democratize, and Make Oud Cheap Again! But you know what? Oud has never been cheap. When we first helped pioneer authentic […]

We went into this, heart and soul. Pots boiled up blood, tears and sweat for the last five years. Grey hairs have grown plenty and we’ve gotten to know many beautiful people and distilled some exquisite oils. And so, it’s with a heavy heart that I look through the peephole to see a dark, dismal […]

Take a new distill. Collect the final drops, uncap the container, and leave the oud exposed for three months, ten months, two years, and you’ll get – in a distorted echo – a whiff of Tigerwood 1995… for two minutes. For a massive number of oud users, those two minutes of imitation-age matter more than any notes […]

Why does one bottle of oud cost $300 more than the next, or even $700 more? You’ll hear it’s all about the raw materials, but what exactly does that mean? And is that all there is to it? In the coming weeks, I’d like to share a series of insights that give you a peek at what […]

1 | Kruger, our distiller monk and a member of the local mafia take their seats at a small restaurant just before sunset. They order Tom Yum and steamed fish. When the waiter brings their drinks, Kruger turns to the mafia member. The monk had once told him about his father’s escapades when he was […]

1 | There are several leads I want to follow up with in Sri Lanka. Not the least of which is to visit the new distillery an old friend of mine is setting up there. There’s a lot of agarwood talk going on in, around, and about the island, so it’s not difficult to see why […]

The Great Cambodian Experiment: XI As you’re about to enter his home, on your left, you’ll see Mr. Nhek’s well. Round, poured of cement, and very deep, with a cracked up plastic bucket tied to a rope resting on the rim on top. I’ve been down the streets of Koh Kong City many times, through […]

The Great Cambodian Experiment X Men dressed in khaki shirts with technicolor stripes stitched all over their pockets, tucked into khaki pants held up by big black belts, starred epaulets decorating their shoulders, stand watch over the throng of people passing by within a few meters of them. A barricade funnels people toward their security post […]