Kelantan

Kelantan was distilled by my kyara Sifu and the scent embodies everything the Japanese kodo tradition is about. If you’re reading this looking for a quick swipe to to wear going out, this is not for you. This is a sit-down-slow-down olfactory experience.

Finding quality Malaysian agarwood is one thing, especially at a time when you see prices quadruple in the span of two years. To then fly those harvests to your Sifu in Taiwan is a different mission altogether.

(I’ve never mentioned this before, but with Oriscent ouds the cost of the logistics is actually not included in the final price, even though it’s significantly more expensive to distill these oils. I would have produced them anyway because this is the only way to capture this smell. Had this oud been distilled in Malaysia it would cost you the same – only, we’d lose a lot less!)

Kelantan is also the only Oriscent of its kind that was, and likely ever will be distilled. The signature kinamic pitch is present in spades, distinctly mimicking low-temp kinam, yet the Malaysian profile adds a sweet purple floral glaze that no agarwood neat could ever emit.

That’s the beauty of Sifu’s distillations, that you get to wallow in the highest-grade agarwood as if you’re sitting kneeled in a classic kodo session, and then something happens. The master reads a spell that unlocks a chord that’s been dormant in the agar nobody had ever smelled. This smell.

Kelatan’s resin-forward profile drenched in that purple garb – I don’t want to mention specific flowers or notes because it’s a tinge that’s truly unique to my kyara Sifu’s distillations – this profile is what lasts for the first few hours of your wear. I applied a swipe about three hours ago and the scent has been consistently strong and its resinous core hasn’t gone down a single dial, while the purple sweetness has actually gone up a notch – in lower-grade distillations, the sweet notes are typically the first to disappear.

If you own a bottle of Oud Ahmad or have heard about it, Kelantan is its Oriscent twin.  Oud Ahmad’s deep resinous depths showcase what traditional distillation pulls out from sinking-grade West-Malaysian agarwood, while Kelantan lets you smell – over and over – a brand-new profile coaxed through super-low temp distillation + a bunch of my Sifu’s secret tweaks along the way.

It may have taken you years to reach this point. Or you dived in the deep end and sampled your nose numb on oud from everywhere and every grade. Whatever it took you to get here, the journey was well worth it. Just like smelling kinam, you get it – instantly. The sappiest Malaysian agarwood resin squeezed by a kyara master does that.