Today I am spending another blessed few hours with Ceylon No. 1. This oil is simply the most beautiful oil I've ever smelled, and its beauty keeps growing. And it is that special kind of heartbreaking beauty also...
As you have pointed out it is beyond words. Anyway, I thought to purchase another bottle in order to live with this oil, to take it with me through life so to speak. It is giving me insights into a world of beauty that I simply would not have access to otherwise.
R.S. (UK)

We just got Ceylon no.1. Wow! It is even better than in the sample!!! No words...
L.K. (France)

I was surprised when I read your (non-) description of the Al-Syed Ceylon No 1. How could this be possible? How come he can’t find words to describe the scent ? -I asked myself. Well, now that I have it before my nose I understand what you mean. On the opening notes you are dead on. Honey, guava, wild flowers, perhaps a hint of honeysuckle. Splendid! Reminds me of the first spring sunny days laying down in the fields. So different from any other ouds I have smelled so far. (O.k. there are not many, but still : ). But then, it changes radically. Extremely versatile, the scent becomes wild, savage, a transformation from Bastet to Sekhmet, from a sweet pussycat to a Siberian tiger. And then, effectively, one finds no words to describe what happens afterwords. At some point I catch a hint of incence like the one we use at the orthodox mess, but that’s all. Now I fully understand what you mean.
K.K. (Switzerland)

I take it that your familiar with Beethoven's 5th...at least the beginning: "da da da Dum; da da da Dum." You could be listening to a symphony in a major key...Maybe E flat major instead of the C minor (as labeled on the cover page). However, my point is that the single most forceful, electrifying opening to that symphony--is actually much more complex and multilayered than one realizes. Your Al Syed Ceylon No. 1... has that multi-layered DEPTH. (IMHO). No wonder there's TOO many ways to express its characteristics.
And per your customer AA (Croatia):  I can smell VIOLETS!
And a lot more. Beyond amazing.
L.K. (USA)

There is something mystical about a really beautiful scent, smell can be otherworldly, premonition of paradise. So, how is Ceylon no.1?
Utterly refined, clean, powdery, floral and resinous and most importantly heart-breaking. Smells like agarwood flowers in bloom. Arabic name for Lanka is Serendib, serendipity derives it's meaning from it (that's what wikipedia says at least). And what a lucky surprise this oil is. The opening is gorgeous, even nicer than what smell from the bottle promises. Violets, cantaloupes, mimosa, narcissus, russian rose, tiare, coffee blossom, purest heart of frankincense, green tea, muskiness, iris and frangipani. banana and pear blossoms, chamomile kinam with a lightest touch of osmanthus, saltiness and bitterness. Youthfulness and purity, a cloud of magic. This is a green oil, but of an unique floral kind.
It feels like an island oil, Borneo, Maluku, Sumatra but there's Papua, Malaysia, Thai and Hindi elements as well. And at this point I really don't care if what I smell is kinam or isn't. We should call this wallam...
A.A. (Croatia)

The Sri Lanka, definitely a powerhouse and amazing development. Very medicinal opening..I wasn't too drawn to the initial opening notes but the dry down was a show stopper. Clearly amazing raw materials. The potency and magnification of pure pristine notes is remarkable.
T.G. (Dubai)


Amazing job on the Syed Ceylon No 1
E.O. (Singapore)

The opening is honey, light and bright, infused with the typical notes of walla patta, a hint of citrus, fresh apple, steaming chamomile tea, a slight dark violet leaf note seeping through. This is for just the first five minutes or so...then, just as in Adhirajya, a sudden transposition takes place as the oil moves up towards the ether, the previous notes are absorbed into a crystalline note, laced with the tiniest amount of bitter chlorophyll and still with the soul of walla patta. Every part of the fragrance is revolving in a beautiful synergy here, whence its etherealness and the lack of an adequate description I believe. It never fully disseminates back into its constituent notes, rather it slowly reduces in pitch until it is a mellowed crystal honey fusion. Truly sublime.
R.S. (UK)

So wow!!! Ceylon No1 is just a thing of beauty. Its amazing. Glowing, radiant, delectable honey. Drizzled over the most amazing Borneo-ish base. And no common Borneo either. We're talking only the best of all time. Great oil.
B.H. (USA)

The unique part comes in after it's applied to the skin, within minutes it starts morphing into something else... it still retains the oudiness but the rest of the scent seems to almost completely change. After 15 minutes or so I get the most complex aroma I've ever smelled from oud oil, and one I have experienced only in part with other oils... it's unique enough I think scent memory might be stretched a bit to come up with descriptors, so as the saying goes YMMV! So, for me I get a musky, earthy, rosy, woody and extremely oudy scent. I recognize the soaring etherial oud notes, more balsamic oud notes, a musky/earthy note similar to Indah Sumbawa, but cleaner... notes similar to Sultan's Solace but not as metallic, maybe a touch remaining of the Borneo-like beginning phase, and also a hint of rosy florals.
And yes, this oil is more psychoactive than most... usually you get a bit of an effect from oils, more from smoke, but this oil is like inhaling concentrated smoke in it's effects. Uplifting and grounding at the same time, more in-the-moment, it's an interesting, very contemplative and meditative state of mind.
D.C. (USA)

Wow! It smells like the wood: top and heart notes smells like walla patta, which for me is a mix of honey and something fresh like camphor or eucalyptus, maybe pine. The dry down is very strange, I can't find oudiness in it, more something that I can relate to in sandalwood or other woods but not agarwood. Then again I just tried a tiny bit and once so far. And btw, thats not a negative criticism, I really wish to get a full bottle of this if I can, and I might ... Really well done on this one, it just makes me sad I missed on N.2 ...
Y.B. (France)

The oils are, of course, amazing! The translucency of the scent each one emits is unparalleled. When wearing them both, you develop a clear image of how they relate to each other on the olfactory spectrum. It's obvious they're nearly identical in note composition, but it's as if #1 reverberates on higher frequency when compared to it's sibling, #2.
C.G. (USA)

You know I've smelled the opening note of your Ceylon No. 1 before. It isn't just honey (to me) as it is to the others on Gaharu.com who have been describing it, although I understand why they describe the note as honey as well.
I've been trying to remember what this scent is, but it morphs, so it is hard to lock onto a comparison except fleetingly. It smells sort of like ripe starfruit to me at first then changes to  a perfect honey and lemon tea before evolving on; it is really more perfume-like than any oud oil that I've smelled before. 
Is it permissible to order a second bottle of this amazing oil?
The honey note is also there in Ceylon No. 2. Strong and sweet. Like a type of natural sugar.  Neither of your Al-Syed Ceylon oils were anything like I imagined they might be. I must say that they are both astounding. Truly astounding.
M.I. (USA)

Ceylon No.1 puzzled me that night I smelled it. I feel it has that psychoactive twang that you get with some oils.
M.A. (Malaysia)

This also seems like a more concentrated oil, I'm using a very small amount. So price is more reasonable than it seems, and the quality of the experience is amazing. I think I'd rather have a smaller quantity of oils like this than a larger collection of oils that are nowhere close in quality. This is making me re-think things in terms of value... and that despite the very high per mL price the value exceeds other oils.
D.C. (USA)

I am going to have to spend some time with this one. This is serious juice that I am going to have to wear a bunch of times to get my mind around. Also, this oil is very narcotic in its experience.
I would call this oil multifaceted. I personally would not call it a linear or vertical evolution. It is like Kafka's Metamorphosis. Wow!!!
P.O. (USA)

Wow,  the oils came the other day,  and I will give you a better report after I get over the no 1 ! I knew I shouldn't,  but tried it first. No 2 is certainly gorgeous,  though,  compared to the 1, well,  I'll have to give a couple days space between them.
B.D. (USA)

I'm literally freaking out over these! Actually, over No 1, if I'm being honest:) I love No 2 for the more rugged note overtures (if rugged could even be applied here), but No 1 is so ethereal, it made me cry.. Truly. I teared up the first time I had my nose to it. It was like peeking through a crack of our world into some other place, something so pristine, so pure and unspoiled by human presence, that I almost felt guilty experiencing it. Often when I come across divinely beautiful things, I experience something similar to synesthesia: a current of textures, shapes, colors, or musical notes, which come bubbling up like a rising tide. I can't really explain the connection I have with Ceylon no.1, but, if you have a pair of headphones, or decent speakers, I could tell you what it "sounds" like to me...
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C.G. (USA)