Where to begin?
And more importantly, where to end?
This is an oud so beautiful and perfect in every way, that
you may be tempted to sell off your entire oud collection,
just to get a bottle of Manaka Jinkoh.
From one of the oldest jungles in the world (the Royal Belum
of Perak State, Malaysia), it boasts the rare quality of
having everything in perfect proportion - something you only
find in Vietnamese Kyara, and agarwood from a few west-coast
regions of Malaysia.
The Japanese Rikkoku-Gomi classification of Manaka (真那伽)
agarwood is predominantly described as avoiding biases for
any of the five tastes over the others.
Manaka Jinkoh is 100% oudiness.
Forget about auxiliary notes. If you're craving fruit, have
a banana. You want to smell flowers, go to a florist.
Because what you have here is pure oudiness in every single
facet of its aroma.
Its an idea hard to conceptualize for many people, because
high quality oud distillations generally have auxiliary
signature notes with fruity or floral suggestions (e.g.
plums in Cambodian, flowers in West Borneo). To imagine an
oud of extreme beauty without any floral/fruity tendencies
can be hard to imagine.
But that's precisely what Manaka Jinkoh is.
One of our highest quality distillations ever conducted, you don't come across oud of
this calibre every day. By distilling in copper+glass
apparatus (like Royal Chen Xiang), every facet of the scent
spectrum was further beautified.
Some scientific fact bites for oud nerds:
Manaka Jinkoh is our first-ever distillation of west-coast
Malaysian agarwood. Many of the sesquiterpene concentrations
of west-coast wood are significantly different compared to
the raw materials used for our previous Malaysian oils. For
all intensive purposes, you may very well consider this a
non-Malaysian oud, if you're going to use other Malaysian
ouds as a benchmark.
For example, Agarospirol is close to the concentration found
in wild Vietnamese Crassna agarwood -- double and even up to
triple compared to our Johor, Pahang and Kelantan raw
materials for our previous Malaysian ouds. Likewise,
α-agarofuran is up to three times more abundant -- very
close to Cambodian Crassna. And on the flipside
interestingly enough, benzylacetone is a tiny fraction of
the scent palette (whereas in Berkilau, it was one of the
key components).
In short, the assortment of scent compounds is staggeringly
different compared to every Malaysian oud you've tried
before. If you blind-tested this oud, Malaysia might be your
last guess as the source - as a matter of fact, you'd have a
hard time guessing its origin at all: its all oudiness from
beginning to end.
Prepare to experience a wonderfully accurate replication of
Manaka, the most balanced agarwood of the Rikkoku-Gomi, and
the crown jewel of Malaysia.
I don't have enough words to
describe it and words wouldn't do it justice at all. That
is the apex of oud oil never have I smelled an oil such
Manaka (only Betonamu perhaps would make me change my
mind), for the first time an oil literally made my mouth
drool while I opened up the cap and smelled that
irresistible perfume. Immediately I saw a golden almond
covered by the finest and most delicate resin. That is
perhaps the prettiest oud oil I ever smelled and yet keeps
that oudiness and resinous dna that is so gorgeous. Matter
of fact I believe that is the first time my wife said she
liked an oud when I asked her to smell my skin so that is
for me a great pleasure to hear such opinion from her and
that tells a lot about how magnificent that oil is.
A.K. (France)
I am not sure there are words in the English language to
describe this olfactory wonder. But when you said it was
other worldly beautiful. It does feel like something from
another planet. This is an oud with soul. I have felt the
phychoactive effects from burning and chewing kyara. I got
the same feeling from putting a tab of this on my wrist
simply A-MAZ-ING!
B.J. (USA)
Unfurling on first contact is a blowing wind of sweetness
I only stumbled upon in the most exquisite oud oils. A
rarity in the agarwood oil distillation firmament. Manaka
is Japanese for center from a literal sense, and it comes
at no surprise for this oil to bring the best of the oud
spectrum into a perfect equilibrium following its proper
name. Among the Rikkuko Gomi it stands as the moderate
representative of the agarwood community and a staid
dignitary in the perfume cosmos. The sweetness is followed
by a stream of zest reminecent of lemon leaves and grass,
and the ambience surrounding it is nothing short of
Kinamic along with a touch of bitterness to tame and curb
the sky rocketing sweetness. It pays homage, as well as
some of the other Rikkoku Gomi- based oils of Taha, to his
Ketenangan, another phenomenal magnum opus of his. This is
oud in its decent, full fledged grace. In its stability,
it stands without a rival. Does it smell Malaysian? Not in
the slightest! Does it turn you off because of a failure
note? Not at all. As a matter of fact, you'll have a hard
time trying to guess the origin of this olfactory
kaleidoscope. This oud is also suitable for both genders,
giving you no second thoughts about wearing it in public.
A.J. (Saudi Arabia)
okay, forget the name "Manaka" THIS IS "Bouraq"...! the
Horse-like mythical anmimal tasked with carrying prophets
and messengers. The high achieved by this Oud is
stratospheric, hard to discribe in words. Order on the way
H.S. (USA)
Manaka starts beautifully ethereal with sweet almond and
grapefruit rind, cool sweetness follows these notes. If i
close my eyes it feels like i am standing in a bamboo
forest with a clean breeze coming from the mountains. As
it settles the oudiness oozes from wrist like it just dont
care hehe. I didnt have any idea how well this oil
projects but when I said to my brother to smell my wrist,
he said i already smelled it as i walked into the room, so
great projection.
F.A. (UK)
Thank you and may I say Congratulations! Some outstanding
oils in this collection as always. I haven't yet been able
to fully appreciate all that has been sent but I'm
initially struck by 'MANAKA JINKOH'! WOW! What a beautiful
oil and so full of impact. Increadably beautiful and
memorable. your description....
Where to begin? And more importantly, where to end?
This is an oud so beautiful and perfect in every way, that
you may be tempted to sell off your entire oud collection,
just to get a bottle of Manaka Jinkoh.
...is indeed SO apt. I feel blessed to have been able to
sample such an outstanding product of your work. Thank you
again and well done.
A.B. (UK)
Je viens d'essayer MANAKA JINKOH
Superbe huile , en effet. Un départ que j'ai trouvé
"encens fumé" ,
puis semble ressembler à Jumanten à certains égards :
est-ce que je me
trompe...?
Très agréable à porter , devenant de plus en plus
addictive...
J.S. (France)
I’ve just smelled the Manaka Jinkoh. What a darling!
M.W. (USA)
The problem is that your Manaka Jinkoh is going to put
these other two Jinkohs in the shade. There are aspects of
the Manaka Jinkoh that remind me of [...] once it has
settled on the skin. There’s a transformation from “oud”
to something otherworldly within the first minute or so of
wearing it.
M.I. (USA)
The Oud Manaka is out of this world.
H.S. (USA)
Manaka Jinkoh, I just have to get a bottle immediately!
Perhaps because it is devoid of other auxiliary notes, it
gives a zen olfactory experience that reminds one of
running streams surrounded by lush green pines in spring.
If Manaka Jinkoh contains facets of Kyara, I cannot
imagine what Betonamu would be when it is maximized for a
full Kyara experience!
M.A. (Singapore)
Manaka is amazing. It's
true, serious oud. It takes unexpected twists and turns
upon opening, not the least surprising of which is a
kind of blueberry-scented sandalwood! And then, once it
reaches drydown, it transforms into this pure,
concentrated OUDINESS that's lush, and deeply engaging
to the senses. This is only oud that's ever seemed
"edible" to me, yet without possessing any apparent
taste markers, like vanilla of Borneos, or plums of
Thais. I imagine Manaka to be more like a decadent tawny
Port and bay leaf reduction - thick, syrupy, subtly
sweet yet gently biting, and oh so rich! Mmm... like a
grown-up accompaniment drizzled over a scoop of vanilla
ice cream.
C.G. (USA)