Just when you thought oud couldn’t get any more Kodo… Just when you thought Aroha Kyaku is the most incense-heavy oud oil you’d ever smell… Aroha’s granddaddy steps into the room and says: ‘Excuse me!’
What you’ve got here is the most honed incensey top notes your olfactory receptors are able to decipher. I’d dare to say it’s even incensier than an actual oud chip fuming away right in front of you. It’s like you take the raw agarwood vapor exuding from that chip on your burner and place it under an olfactory magnifying lens. It’s because in oil form that scent is so concentrated, Oud Dhul Q literally zooms in closer to agarwood’s resinous heart than even straight-up oud smoke.
What puts Dhul Q a shelf above Aroha Kyaku is the depth of the incense chords, and the refined heart notes that follow. That’s when you realize you’re dealing with a different animal.
It’s when the smokiness recedes (ever so slightly) that your nose begins to twitch, starts to seek out the emerging notes. ‘Is that Oud Ishaq?’ you wonder. But it’s not. ‘Encens Khmer?’… close. That’s the aromatic caliber we’re talking about here. The scent of aged wild Cambodian aloes, rich in tobacco, matured molasses, a narcotic golden champa floweriness that compliments leafy notes of pu-erh. Zero barn – rather, somber cherry wood…….… And before too long, thick cherry jam. If you ever wondered about oud connoisseurs’ talk about aromatic complexity, this is the kind of aroma they’re dissecting.
Dhul Q is a fusion of organically grown Thai agarwood and a rare batch of wild Papuan wood, distilled in copper, brewed with a hybrid of different water sources (a hint to future distillers). But that doesn’t tell you anything about why it smells the way it does. The top profile is nothing like Thai or Cambodian oud. It’s in a scent category of its own.
What Customers are Saying…
What a dark, smoky, sweet oud!
The cool weather and this gorgeous resinous smokey oud is taking me places I’ve never been! It’s extremely beautiful, ❤️ sweet, bitter, dark chocolate-y, delicious smoke accompanying you all day and night. I would dress up as Dracula and wear this on Halloween. 🎃
Is it backup worthy? Yes, not only one, I’d get the 10 gram option that’s available!! I never want to be out of this dark potion. 🖤.
“Loving mine, too!”
Nathan P. • USA
This oil is a very different thing. I discovered a new dimension. A very dark masculine and heavy smoky oil. If you want your scent to make others feel that you are a macho man, then Oud Dhul Q is for you. A perfect smoke scent for smoke lovers.
A fruity cherry tobacco oud with clouds of refined smoke!
I love the smokiness in winter.
Reviews from Previous Batches:
I have only tried the Dhul Q so far and it is excellent! I was transferring some last night from the V-vial to a sample vial to carry & use. Got some on my finger from the edge, so of course, I spread it out a little on my arms. A few minutes later, my wife walked into the room and asked if I had some wood chips on the electric incense heater!!! I just kinda laughed and told her what you guys say in the description. She has no interest in oud at all, perhaps due to my first exposure to Hindi, and she has not read your website description of Dhul Q. Needless to say, she likes it too! Amazing! Please pass that on to Ensar, along with my gratitude!
I have Dhul Q. And I couldn’t be happier. I am in Arizona, and this is the land of mesquite, sage and creosote. Not the stuff you put on your deck, the plant, which has an entirely different aroma than the stain. These plants, when it rains, produce an aroma, something I can’t adequately describe. And if you are someplace where the mesquite is growing more heavily than the other plants, it takes on something dark and wonderful.
That’s what I am getting just a tiny whiff of on drydown. As it first goes on, mesquite then, too, but it’s actual ‘desert campfire’ smoke, mixed with the strong pipe tobacco of a friend, and the aroma of my leather jacket. I don’t get the fruit so much as a sort of dry styrax/copal kind of thing when it’s good and dry.
Pardon me. I have some on my thumb. I’ll be over here sniffing my thumb, smiling, dreaming and making everyone think I’ve lost my mind.
Note from a Perfumer
Among all the oils you sent me I can definitely say that this one is the best =) (meaning: my personal favourite…)
Among all the oils you sent me I can definitely say that this one is the best =) (meaning: my personal favourite…)
If I could afford it I would literally bath in this type of oud =)
This is in my personal vocabulary, the second type/style of classical oud.
First one of course is a funky, animalic, barny style… Not the rotten, poorly fermented and unpleasant aroma that we find often in lower grade oils soaked to death but that deep and soul-touching wild character that makes you close your eyes and feel how olfactory receptors are vibrating inside your body…
The second type is the smoky, dark type of oud… Not the burned rubber, sharp and unpleasant plasticky smell but the oud oil with a soothing, soft, delicate and whispery touch of a smoke string… and this is what Dhul Q is all about… on the top of that you got:
Thick, sticky, rich layers of dark and juicy caramel… Finest, wet, shiny brown sugar… Polished, shiny, rosewood… Soft, smooth, baby skin like touch of leather… Overall character is very matured, masculine and solid…
These 2 types/styles of classical oud I believe are the ones that are the most difficult to get RIGHT… As some say there is a thin line between love and hate.. So there is a thin line between just stinky (unpleasant) and nicely funky (soul touching)… simply burned and perfectly smoky…
Dhul Q is indeed a perfect smoky oud oil… and is one of those that makes me want to move more towards this direction in my own creations….
—Russian Adam / Russia
Smooth, deep, dark, earthy, grounding. Caramelized sweetness throughout most of the journey. No fruits here. Ample dose of smoke and burning incense. Not firewood-harsh smoke, but the pleasant kind of smoke from high quality incense. Lasts very long too!
The smokey aroma was clearly distinguishable even after 6 or 7 hours. Even after all that I could barely detect the signature Thai dry down. I even doubted myself, ‘Did I read the Thai label wrong?’
I rinsed my hands a number of times throughout the whole duration, which says a lot about its longevity.
Portable incense in a bottle. Incense lovers beware! You might get addicted to this.
I’ll need to spend more time with it to uncover its other delights. One small swipe for a single night is not enough.
The first one I opened was Dhul Q, and I loved the smokey depth that it projected immediately, and during the dry down, the permutations were fantastic revelations of fermented dark fruit and clove. As it relaxed deeper into my skin, I was nostalgic for freshly cut sheesham and I imagined a bookcase containing books of great knowledge. Beautiful stuff.
First, the oil pulls deep black, opaque borders. The liquid is dense, thick, viscous, not without recalling the consistency of black strap molasses. Upon opening the bottle, we say “Waouh, that’s intense! It rocks!”
Head notes; the first notes that explode are smoky notes, incense, black tea, lapsang souchong. Harsh and fermented notes of miso algae.
Middle notes; plunging my nose into the bottle, it is pure creamy chocolate in which one would have dipped amarena cherries and candied plums.
Back to childhood. German and French children will recognize in this the famous cake “Forêt Noire,” in German “Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte,” literally: “Black Forest Cherry Cake.” It is a cake made of cocoa sponge, stuffed with cherries, syrup and whipped cream. In the background, there are light notes of dried tamarind and mango, which reminds me of the tropical scent of Sumatran benzoin.
The whole is a deep, rough, heavy, rich oil. Aggressive; the smell of perfume remained for me more than an hour on the tongue!!! A martial and warlike oud. Without entering into a philosophical debate, I would say this oil borrows from distinct steering, the conjunction of two earths, two kingdoms, two different stories that can oppose, even if I think for an encounter, and fusion (Siam, Kampuchea), and thus deliver two visions in one oil. It is an oud with two heads; one speaks of bicameralism. This oil is perfectly named…
Engaging in this kind of exercise requires audacity, double-edgedness, and high-level expertise at all stages of development. It is no coincidence… So for the technical expertise side it’s worth a 10, the creative and artistic side, a 10 also and rendering the final product, a 10.
The nose behind this composition seems to deliver his vision of things. He seems to say, “You know what I’m saying???”
Well, tell him, “Message received, loud and clear!”
Masterpiece. A small drop is enough.
I tried Dhul Q first. It is fantastic. I have been searching for the perfect tobacco oud/scent for years. I came across many oud/fragrances that matched to a certain level but never the level I wanted. But Dhul Q did! It matched very closely with the aged English pipe tobacco I smoke, especially after the opening. This one may not be the best public scent, not as much as other friendly profiles, but to my personal liking, this is top 3.
No time for the heater today…
So I swiped Oud Dhul Q instead…
I’m in for a long burn, aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!
I got this beautiful oil and the first thing I noticed was that it’s thicker. I opened the cap and holy moly, I thought, where did all these Oud chips come from? I opened the oil and I said ‘Aroha’ but then I smelled again and was like woah on the 2nd sniff. A more powerful smoky flavor. The scent wasn’t so strong that it pushed me away. It kept bringing me back and wow the incense, the oud chips, the agarwood is all there. The second note has that sweet smell which I was hoping for after smelling it in Aroha Kyaku. I am so happy I got this and will cherish it for a long time. I would advise everyone who loves the smoky flavor/smell to jump and grab this. You wont regret it!
I am now certain that Aroha Kyaku fans will love Oud Dhul Q – this is the darker, woodier, more distinguished relative of Aroha, just based on my initial sample and side-to-side comparison. I would say I am enjoying this much more than AK… There is a lovely sort of pine or terpene type smell in there to go with the wood and smoke… Bold yet smooth (like me with the ladies)…
Nothing hasn’t been said for me to say but to repeat other’s and Ensar’s notes himself. This is ultra high quality heavy agarwood dominant Japanese incense note captured in liquid form. Smoky but not burnt. Woody but not raw. Savoury/umami with no funk. Just lovely lovely stuff.
The Dhul Q is fantastic. The smokiness with the sweetness is perfect. It reminds me of a fire with maple trees that are ripe with maple sap in the fall. This was my first purchase with Ensar Oud and will definitely not be my last. I have many “oud” scents but nothing beats the real thing. Just to think all that money I spent on the synthetic branded stuff could have gone to buying some great quality oil.
The scent of Dhul Q is as if I lit a short cigar, let it rest in my hand and a small cup of hot peppermint tea is waiting on a wooden table. It reminds me of sitting in an old, really old, used leather seat in a dim, dusty, carpeted room in a mud-wall house that stands in a sweltry jungle, just before it’s starting to rain. A tiny, but steady breeze brings in floral greetings from far away through the open balcony, I feel vibrant of life as pink peppercorn and a hazy rose notion accompanies me through the day. However, this odor radiates well-settled authority.
Deep as night. Black as my biker jacket. Smoky as tobacco near a mesquite fire. Slight indolic hit and just a tiny touch of something wet and green – closest thing I’ve smelled was back in ‘90, the jungle in the Philippines, before Pinatubo. Layers and layers and layers and I keep just huffing this tiny bit that’s on my thumb. I also had my third eye blast open and am writing in a great flooding mass of words. It might not be what a woman might normally wear, but… well, I am not a normal woman. (Is any author normal?)
That has been my Dhul Q experience. And any/all from Ensar… you may have my book for the asking. Thomas has it already. Agarwood has a place in it – it is the most sacred scent used by my protagonist. I will be back for more of your divine-given-scent. Profoundly, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
When I smell Oud Dhul Q, I see dark boots, snakeskin, or aligator, something animalistic on a hot day.