A Journey into The World of Oud Part Twenty Three
Old and New Sources of Great Agarwood Oils
Part Three
This is part three of my exploration of new Oud companies. Grandawood
A Revolution in Agarwood
By Hank Friedman
When I first purchased a sampler of Oud oils from Grandawood seven years ago, I could tell both that they were pure and well made, and that they were very young.
I had gotten spoiled by the perfectly aged Ouds that I was getting elsewhere, and these "fresh off the boat" oils didn't speak to me.
Just recently, my intuition told me to give the company another chance, which turned out to be a brilliant idea.
My First Experiences
Upon revisiting the Grandawood website, I found and ordered "The Madness", a steam distilled Bruneian oil from three species of agarwood: Aquilaria Microcarpa, Aquilaria Malaccensis, and Aquilaria Beccariana.
When I received The Madness and sniffed it, I was very, very impressed. Not only did it pack a powerful uplifting punch, but its scent was more alive than any other oud I've ever smelled. The complexity and appeal of the symphony of wood scents was truly amazing, and I can only dream how incredibly it will age.
In my next order, I received The Sacred Island, lovingly distilled from Aquilaria Sinensis. It is an incredibly pure Chinese oud that is already delightful, and will blossom phenomenally with a little aging.
In my latest order, I was blessed with The Green Verdant.
Like most of the very well described oils on the website, the story of The Green Verdant is fascinating. Apparently, they have developed a way to age the agarwood trees and make them full of resin.
In the past, I have shuddered at the results of other types of aging (especially the crude forced aging of oils via oxidation or sunlight, as the results are dismal); but this is not that, but instead a way of growing trees in a new way.
In any case, "the proof is in the pudding", and The Green Verdant is wonderful. It has a maturity that it shouldn't, as well as a uniqueness all its own. The aroma's "green-ness" is not the green of a jungle or swamp, but instead the vital greenness of a thriving forest full of vigor. Lovely.
(I also got a very nice Ebony Premium Aromatic Agarwood Concrete -- hard chunks of aromatic resin created by alcohol extract that have a really delightful vanilla/oud scent.)
My History with CO2 extracted Agarwood oils
The vast majority of agarwood oils, as I'm mentioned previously, are created by either steam distillation or hydro distillation.
But a tiny fraction of the oils are extracted from the wood using a cold process called supercritical CO2 extraction. Basically, CO2 is a gas at room temperature under normal pressure, but if you compress it enough, it becomes a semi-liquid that is excellent at dissolving oils from plant material. And once the process is complete, the CO2 simply is evaporated off, leaving a very pure extract.
The first Agarwood CO2 extract I got, from Eden Botanicals, was a pungent and crude very dark and thick oil that was nonetheless quite psychoactive. But its olfactory intensity really kept me from liking it.
The next couple of CO2 agarwood extracts (also from essential oil companies) were pungently similar, and so I relegated the CO2 extraction process for Oud to the "lost cause" bin.
Fast forward to now:
The revelation of Grandawood CO2 extracts
Upon my return to Grandawood, I discovered that they were offering many CO2 extracted Ouds that looked much more refined than those I had previously gotten, and so I ordered a few.
And amazingly, they were, and are, outstanding.
The Heaven Smoke extracts come in two varieties: Double Happiness from farmed oud, and Triple Happiness from wild oud. Both are lovely, with a smoothness and deeply comforting scent with no barn or sharpness at all.
Now I usually prefer ouds from wild sources much more than farmed ones, but in this case, I actually liked the farmed variety a little more. Go figure.
Admittedly, both are superlative CO2 ouds, and the Triple Happiness definitely has more scent notes including a very subtle smokiness, and pine notes; but Double Happiness is sweetness and caramel and wraps you up in a warm Oud blanket.
But beyond both of them was Zen Path, a CO2 oud with such phenomenal finesse and complexity and uplift that it blew me away! I had no idea that a CO2 extract could compete in quality and refinement with some of the top distilled ouds. It has the warming and comforting effect of the Double Happiness and a level of psychoactivity that takes you on a magic carpet ride. Bravo!
I thought that was as good as it gets for CO2 extracts until I explored one that defied all of my beliefs and expectations:
The Impossible Oud
Just when I thought that I'd seen everything oud-related, I discovered a Kinam CO2 cultivated oud on the Grandawood website.
What?
How can something be a cultivated oud and also Kinam, and also CO2 extracted? Impossible!
The Grandawood website tells an amazing story about grafting Kinam branches onto agarwood trees and waiting until the oud matures .
Of course, I had to try it and see if it was real.
It turns out that Grandawood had achieved the inconceivable, and in the process has left me in awe.
Called The CKN - Unfair Copy of the Wild, this oil is from cultivated trees that have been grafted with Kinam branches, and is exceptionally subtle, creamy, soothing, enchanting, and very gently kinamic, and it draws you in, way in -- to the core of your beingness.
It's the kind of oud you never want to stop exploring. A masterpiece. And an invitation to a profound level of openness.
Postscript: After spending a bit more time with CKN, I've come to realize that it is truly miraculous. It perfectly replicates the scent of gently heating the highest quality Vietnamese Kyara agarwood.
Anyone who truly loves the highest quality Ouds should rush to have this in their collection.
Suffice it to say that my return to Grandawood has been a great success, and my admiration for them has soared.
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End of Part Twenty Three
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