Why the distiller got in touch with us and how we ended up spending weeks on an island near Penang to finalize the deal is a story for another day, but in the end, I could never bring myself to use such precious oud in a perfume. We were going all around the oud world for years and nobody was making oud like what the Sultan had made. At that point, in 2012, it would have been easier to rob a bank than to get into Sultan Qaboos’ vault. You may not know this, but Oud Sultani and Oud Ahmad (twin sinking-grade distillations from 2001) were directly obtained from one of the Sultan’s distillers. So, how are you supposed to compose a perfume built on such a class of oud? Nobody makes them (it’s too expensive), and certainly nobody ages one for forty years. There are no sinking-grade distillations around. Naturally, I’ve been mulling over the idea for years and years waiting for the right time, the right… something … for things to fall into place to actually create Oud Sultani, the perfume. I started making attars and perfumes almost two decades ago and “Oud Sultani” has been a defining fragrance throughout. No ‘gassing’ required.Oud Sultani, the long sold-out oud oil, was a resinous floral fusion that when I showed it to an olfactory savant in Thailand ( this one), he said – without me telling him anything about the oil-that “this is one of those rare, old Malaysians… the ones that smell like flowers.” Imagine Oud Royale… but draped in a dark blue purple floral garb that has baffled oud lovers till this day.
This oil does not have an expiration date. Extracted by traditional means, without the use of synthetic chemicals. To ensure you don’t miss out, we recommend you order yours today.Īll natural and chemical-free. Oud Royale 1985 sold out in a whiplash, and we don’t predict this oil will be around very long. And the penetrating red keeps firing right down to the dry-down, which in the most uncanny whiff pinpoints the spot where Oud Royale 1 once stood. You’d never expect the piercing deep red note in what ought to be a darker jungly shade of Marokean blue. You’re also paying no more than what you would have for a bottle 10 years ago.ĭon’t be surprised if you mistake this for a vintage 1970s Pursat. Oud that was cooked not in copper or steel but crafted by antiquity, and aged three decades for good measure.ġ990 has got that mellow medicinal profile only ooold aged ouds throw at you – that tingling of heavy resin that lets you know, before anything else, that you’re smelling the best oud from back in the day. Here is regal, vintage agarwood liqueur that’s dry as vermouth and red as rooibos. You can’t un-carve all the beads and trinkets. You can’t breathe life back into the G-gen trees two meters down in the mud. You can’t replicate 27 years of natural aging. I’ll be the first to admit I can’t make this oud today. If a piece of wood has the scent characteristics of Oud Royale 1, they immediately jack up the price, saying ‘This one has the Sultani tone.’ Even the China Market capos know the notes of my oils, and they refer to it as the ‘Sultani tone’. That inimitable note of resinous agarwoody decadence simply cannot be coaxed out of other strains of Aquilaria. It’s the same reason Arabs are crazy about Maroke wood. There’s a reason Oud Royale 1 was a Maroke. If you came to oud through the Oriscent arch, this vintage Sultani is a one-way ticket back in time, price and all. For all the ‘artisanal’ oud (for cheap!) said to be so widely available, I have yet to lay my nostrils on one of these bargains.Ĭollectors reminisce about the old days, how they wish they’d stocked up when the golden oldies were still going for $550, ten years ago.
You’ve heard of the Thaqeels and Kalakassis, but name a couple of real oldies?įor all the talk about ancestral vaults, secret distillation textbooks and ancient traditions that my grandfather was never privy to, I have yet to see another Oud Sultani 1990 emerge from these vaults. Dusty, sunned to death, all the tasty twang sucked out of ’em. Let’s face it, most of the old ouds out there just smell old. Show me just one actual high grade Maroke muattaq. The 150 year-old Cambodis turn out to be force-oxidized plantation oils, and those old Malaysis make you wonder who let the wet dog in. Do whatever you need to do… and let me know how it goes.įor all the hunting, the back-forum PM-ing, WhatsApping and marketing campaigns to bring back the golden days of oud, the results have been miserable. Go through lists of distillers sponsored by fellow vendors. That’s what people do to find oud like this.
Scour eBay, AliBaba and Facebook until you’re seeing double. Run yourself into a maze through the mighty Emirati malls.
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