Quote:
Originally Posted by
hirch_duckfinder 
That is good to hear. Are you familiar with other ouds?
This oud has a much lower intensity of smell, it has a less complex smell and its endurance is very low compared to other pure oils I know. About an hour after swiping it is hard to detect. Other ouds persist into the following day. There is a silky smoothness to the texture which I wouldn't associate with the pure oils I have and the oudish smell is "within" the oil rather than pouring out of the surface.
I've some of this stuff too. The differences you describe (great description btw) are characteristic of an oud oil from
Aquillaria crassna (rather than
gallocha for example) and more importantly from a cultivated source and steam distilled rather than water distilled. It is also a much paler, greener colour than many oud oils and again that reflects the way it is made - the older oils that were widely available a few years ago were mainly distilled using the cohobation method, no steam pressure and done in iron vessels - all resulting in a darker, stickier oil. That isn't to say that darker oils are always made that way: many are faked or adulterated. I have one that, while clearly a real oud, has had something added to it that falls out of solution in ethanol, making it less than useful for perfume blending.
