Oud Thai Empress E.O (4 YEAR AGED)

Adam Michael has this to say “This Oud Thai Empress essential oil is a hydro distilled plantation oud produced in September 2018, so now over 4 years aged. Grown within the jungle, caramel brown to black in colour subject to weight, the soil free from any pesticides and fertilizers and only natural inoculants are used; thus, this can be considered as organic oud minus the certification. And on this note, ultimately the same applies with all our ouds.

Aromatically this oud opens with incense, resinous and dark woody tonalities, has an astringent undertone reminiscent of an aged Yemen Myrrh e.o, and is finished with some gourmand spiced touches.
As the hours pass, this oud showcases scent profiles comparable to liquorice candies, play-doh, full spectrum Tahitian vanilla, shoe polish, amber sweetie, exotic concentrated fruits and oak barrels. There are also notes here reminiscent of how Coca-Cola and Lurisia Chinotto drinks taste along with honey through to honeyed-medicinal nuances comparable perhaps to smelling davana absolutes.

Plus, here within its clean incense resinous structure there are also some of the finest leather aroma profiles I have ever encountered in my life, topping what I can find within saffron, all natural leather recreations, styrax, and even the osmanthus absolutes of a leathery character (of which we don’t carry). I think the only other natural aromatic that probably has this beaten for the leather profile nuance is mango leaf, which is as full-spectrum leathery as it gets albeit nowhere as yummy smelling as what is displayed here due to all the other notes playing out with each other.

And let’s not forget the dark woody character that is present within this oud essential oil, so polished, smooth, indulgent, satisfying, mighty and perfect for a plantation oud, in fact its punching above its weight class honestly. If barn exists then it must be below my threshold of conscious detection, as for me this is a barn, horse and skank free zone and a truly clean and incense-resinous affair that provides blissful brain stimulation.

To add some balance here though, at some stage this does fall away on the strip, for me by the 8 hour mark on the strip you have seen everything and the aroma starts to fade out slowly across the next six days. Written because its opening and mid have a lot in common with our wild Thai signature Gold that costs significantly more but of which has much more staying power in optimal form. Swiped on my forearm I am getting five hours of solid performance and applied to my shirt (now stained for life!) the aroma seems to last for days. Overall, everything considered, Oud Thai Empress delivers a performance that is captivating, spellbinding and complete, worthy of every superlative in the dictionary. 10/10 and highly recommended.”

Botanical Name: Aquilaria crassna

Origin: Thailand 

Plantation Material (Produced September 2018)

Wholesale weights (all prices excluding vat): 50G = 2500 Euros. 

(To expand on the natural inoculants used here, when the holes are drilled, natural inoculants such as honey, oud hydrosol, fermented fruits and so on are placed in the holes to attract fungus and bacteria’s which can trigger the defence mechanism of the tree and with time results in the production of the oud. And if not, the natural inoculant used is simply a food source. To expand a little further here, unnatural inoculants to give you an idea would include petrol which whilst triggering the defence mechanisms also eventually kills the entire tree in the process. Other ways to trigger the production of oud by the plant include the use of nails stuck into the trunk. In this case the resulting oud will possess an inferior aroma profile, with a harsh metallic quality, comparable to blood or even burnt limescale.)