Shavings from King Super grade agarwood on your favorite incense burner, glistening with bubbling resin and radiating waves of narcotic oudy goodness.
That's a sufficiently accurate description of Kemegahan.
But let's delve deeper.
Kemegahan and Sempurna were twin distillations from identical raw materials harvested from the same tree.
An ancient tree near Taman Negara in Malaysia, almost a century old, is the source of the wood (see here) but how the wood was distilled gives the twins very different characters.
Sempurna was distilled in copper pots, giving it a creamy delicious oudiness reminiscent of the sweet aroma you smell in a room several hours after you have scented it with the smoke of gently heated sinking-grade agarwood.
Kemegahan, on the other hand, was distilled using stainless-steel pots. And its aroma takes your nose 5 inches above a live bubbling agarwood chip.
Was it a matter of simply deciding to use copper pots for one oil and stainless-steel for the other? Far from it.
Kemegahan in particular was far trickier to craft. Hydro-distilled in stainless-steel pots, every variable had to be carefully planned and controlled because the resulting oil could smell like sweet bubbling agarwood... or rotting banana peels, or burning rubber, or diesel, or something in between.
Using a carefully designed fusion of techniques implemented for distilling AgarAura's Indian, Indonesian and Thai oud oils, the result is ironically quite simple: transferring the scent of bubbling agarwood into an oil.
Like Sempurna, Kemegahan is sheer oudiness. But its more incensey, more serious, and darker. It is awe-inspiring and humbling, and seems to capture all the experiences this wise ancient tree underwent.
Kemegahan has one of the most soul-stirring, mind-whirring character of any oud we have ever offered. If you are one of those people who is always hunting for ouds extracted from the most ancient of trees, chances are it's this quality you are after that you just don't find in ouds distilled from younger trees.
If that sounds like you, Kemegahan may be your holy grail.
Wow! This
oil is a beast-
one sholdn´t place one´s nose to the wrist, unless one
wants to be
overwhelmed by is power!
Right from the beginning sweet Yemeni myrrh, sugary
sweetness, roasted
hazelnuts. I love this oil!
May I ask you to reserve another bottle for me?
I need to have a replacement (and I consider buying even
more bottles
of it!)
T.S. (Germany)
I've
spent the last
couple days wearing Kemegahan. It is quite potent
and
powerful -
its scent a fair approximation of its appearance.
It is a
dense,
stormy fragrance, that billows and spreads thickly in
the lower
register, without ever really reaching any whistling
heights.
What I find especially fascinating about this oil are
its introductory
notes: cypress nestled in rich leather! Green,
spicy, and
balsamic, spilling over a freshly tanned hide. The
true heart
of
Borneo woods echoes steadily, but always steered by its
gateway
duo. Beautiful masculine scent. If only more
men
smelled
like this..;)
C.G. (USA)
Eh bien comme tu le vois
, j'ai finalement craqué pour Kemegahan.
Une odeur de bois pur, sublime ! Dans le style de
Sempurna, mais
meilleurs encore avec une odeur plus marquée et je
pense,
plus
complexe. Très portable, également, quelque soit
les
situations.
J.M.S. (France)
The Kemegehan and Sempurna have become my go-to oils for
the classic
oud smell (at least as far as my nose is concerned).
Z.H. (UK)
I get huge amounts of
chocolate at the opening that make you want to apply
more and more. 2
hours after applying my roommate, who doesn't wear
perfumes, asked me
what smelled like burning wood. I had to smile on the
inside." so
thankful you allowed me in on this gem of an oil!
J.C. (USA)
Chocolate, darked, woody
and smoky, but also clean, smooth, sweet,and strong.
Very pleased to have Kemegahan and Sempurna, 2
incredible oils.
T.H. (France)
Using the analogy
of a superhero I see Sempurna as Bruce Wayne (clean cut
rich dude) and
Kemegahan as Batman, Sempurna is sophisticated, light,
pleasant,
astonishingly floral and I see it as more of a summer
oil. Kemegahan on
the other hand is darker and more edgier (the smokiness)
its just grabs
you from the first second you sniff it. With Sempurna
its like taking a
stroll in a field of flowers while Kemegahan its like
walking in a
forest (you dont know whats around the corner but you
know its
exciting).
M.D. (UK)
The steel distillation is entirely different. It has a
mightiness that
isn't in its - if I may- sister :) It's bolder and
firmer, smokier and
more punchy. I get a chili pepper smell that I love in
ouds but rarely
find. I feel as though it is a more "true" reflection of
the towering
tree in the photo you so kindly sent to me. I feel as
though it is
shaking its fist at heaven.
M.W. (USA)
This oil is dark, but glossy and shining... like
polished mahogany or a
star- pricked sky. It has opening notes of black coffee
and dark
chocolate and stout beer. In fact, the first time I put
some on, I had
an urge to take a bite of my wrist! After a while, I
could detect a
tiny hint of something fruity... perhaps an Asian pear,
crunchy, half
tart, half sweet; this scent contrasted so nicely with
the bolder ones,
weaving itself in an out, not lasting long. The
lingering notes, that
last for hours, are those I've come to love in good
oud... smokey,
creamy, woody.
This oil is very cultured and "grown up". When I wear
it, I picture a
gentleman in his private study, smoking a pipe, sipping
whiskey while
he reads from a leather-bound book.
As with all of Taha's oils that I have experienced thus
far, Kemegahan
is rich and heady, but not heavy. Each one is a precious
jewel,
transparent and many faceted!
C.M. (USA)