Agar Aura - pure oud products

Oud Darussalam

This product has gone the way of all those before it...
Gone, never to come back.

Grab our other oud oils, before they are gone too!

Description
Reviews

Hailing from Brunei Darussalam, we present to you what is easily the woodiest oud you'll ever smell, Oud Darussalam.

This oil was extracted using exactly the same setup as Ahmwei-Do, which gives it a rounded smoothness you don't usually find in oils from this part of the world. But for this oil, we decided to use steam for the extraction instead of hydro-distillation, an absolutely crucial factor in our opinion for capturing the soul of Brunei oud.

Without a doubt, Brunei is the flag-bearer and representative of the Aquilaria Microcarpa variety of agarwood (the 'king' of Borneo agarwood), and even though this species can be found in other parts of Borneo island, it is here that this species has the highest concentration.

Oud Darussalam smells like raw Brunei Microcarpa agarwood.
If you've smelled highly resinous Brunei wood (unburned), you'll know that it has a strong aroma even at room temperature. That is the aroma this oil has captured.

In that sense, it is much like our old Hutan Kalimantan. Like the former, Oud Darussalam was steam-distilled which gives it a rich palette of scent notes. But it was extracted using a hybrid copper + stainless steel system, and the presence of copper really did wonders in making it very smooth, and it exhaulted the most salient features of Brunei oud.
Furthermore, Hutan Kalimantan was extracted from East Borneo Malaccensis, which made it quite an intense oil. On the other hand, Oud Darussalam was extracted from Microcarpa, and the 'king' has a reputation for his pleasantness. Pleasant it may be, but this is possibly the strongest oud you'll ever smell - super silage and mind-boggling longevity.

Oud Darussalam is neither dominantly fruity nor floral, not earthy or musky, and it certainly doesn't have any barnyard elements. Its very well-balanced in every aspect making it one of the few ouds that can be worn every season of the year. From beginning to end, it is literally the smell of extremely resinous agarwood. If you can imagine sticking your nose into a sack full of Super King grade Brunei agarwood, freshly chopped and oozing copious amounts of resin... you'll have an idea of what this oud smells like.

I recently had the honor of being asked to work on the perfume to be presented to the youngest son of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah at the occasion of his upcoming wedding. With my increasingly strengthening connection to the Brunei royal family, this really works out for Agar Aura. Brunei is one of the few countries where the felling of wild agarwood trees is absolutely illegal - but when you have the Sultan himself making an exception to the rule, what you get is 100% legally-harvested raw material, and (more importantly) access to jungles possessing old-growth agarwood trees. When agarwood poachers get caught in these particular jungles (near the borders of Miri and Bintulu), the punishment is swift and severe: a bullet in the skull.

Oud Darussalam is the first release of our Brunei saga. Given the distinct advantage we have been granted, we plan to roll out various Brunei oud oils, each one unique. Each oil featuring a unique facet of the king of Borneo island: Brunei oud.

First Installment: Oud Darussalam, the aroma of the wood itself.

What can I say, I am really into this Oud Darrusalam. This has more going on than I was expecting. And what power!
J.P. (USA)

Oud darussalam is as you described a woody bomb! So unusual, I don't think I have ever smelled an oud like that. Its just crazy how the more you discover new ouds the more it seems like they are not coming from the same tree family.
Y.B. (UK)

Je viens , ce matin , de porter Oud Darussalam et , oooh , l'odeur est devenue chaude , lisse , ronde , présente sans être envahissante , ni agressive. Vraiment , superbe !
J.S. (France)

It's funny, to my nose, it smells intensely resinous. No flowers, no herbs, no woods, just pure clean smoldering resins. Very potent, very long lasting.
J.M. (USA)

This one is really beautiful - to me it is the smell of fresh vibrant aquatic plants or the interior of fresh growing wood (rather than dried wood). Reminds me of honeydew or certain types of green vegetables. Lasts long time also, longer than most of my other ouds.
Customer (USA)

Oud Darussalam is an open radiant Borneo oil with light oriental amber touch, resins, sandalwood, cedar, styrax, myrrh and suede leather that has nothing to do with the Hindi profile counterpart, more like a luxurious Italian article. Wood gets powdery and dustier later, and seems to vibrate between these and other nuances of fresh sweet dry nutty and spicy. In the background animalic fixatives suggest themselves. Very elegant oil.
A.A. (Croatia)

This one is especially interesting. As soon as it touches the skin, you are greeted by a powerful aura of resins. Think frankincense, copal, myrrh, amber... Their dry coolness and clarity is, indeed, reminiscent of aquatic plant life, as someone had pointed out to me. After few hours, without any sudden deviations, the scent slowly starts to morph and display diffuse coziness of Borneo warmth. It is incredibly smooth, and comes across like a perfume of resins set in a Borneo base. This oil is potent, and has excellent longevity and sillage. Very soothing and lovely.
C.G. (USA)