"Al-Syed" = this oil was hand-cooked by me (100% pure copper distillation),
"Mahabali" = distilled from exactly the same Mokokchung, Nagaland wild Indian agarwood as our Mahabali v1 (even the same soak parameters for the wood, prior to distillation).

And so, Al-Syed Mahabali is quite literally the non-identical twin of Mahabali v1. And it also happens to be the very first Indian oud oil I hand-cooked myself.

What you can expect from this oil is everything that you loved in Mahabali further refined, and stripped of about half the auxiliary scent notes, but boasting the very same Nagaland DNA at the core.
Switch the chocolate for a mouthwatering cherry-almond note, the leather for soft suede, and crank up the inky black agarospirol at the base ("wood liquor"). Now wrap it all up in a a softer-than-silk packaging, that is Al-Syed Mahabali.

If you have tried other oils hand-cooked by me, you will have an even better idea of this oil's aroma.
(Note: if you have smelled Abdus-Samad Al-Qurashi's "120 year old" Kalakassi (original batch), or our Purana, those are the closest in scent to this batch)

Even though the wood was deliberately cooked using 'rougher' Gen4 parameters to capture the old school Indian oud flavor, I ensured that as I was distilling, everything was done with utmost care and attention to every single detail.

Its all about the details, the 'minutiae'.
Trivial to some. But the sole reason behind the resplendence of this oud, is none other than the attention to the minutiae. I was never more than 10 yards away from the pot the entire time this oil was cooking (and right next to it for over 90% of my waking hours, I kid you not). Add to that the fact that the distillation setup had no automatic hydrosol-refeed system... and you will begin to realize how much care and passion were required to see this distillation through to the end.

I have deliberately left up the description and review tabs of Mahabali v1 so you can read and then compare those to Al-Syed Mahabali.

One batch, crafted by one of the last few veteran distillers in India.
One batch, crafted by yours truly.
Which one do you like more? Let the voting begin!