Ever wonder... what would Thai plantation oud oils smell like, had the trees been left to mature a few decades longer (instead of the standard 6-12 months old oil formations inside plantation trees)?
And what if the oil formed inside the trees naturally in a jungle setting, unlike the artificial methods rampant in Thai plantations?

And more importantly: where did all those saplings that now supply the majority of oud in the market actually originate from?
The answer might surprise you.

Before the French who ruled over Indochina drew some lines on a map diving Cambodia and Thailand, there was a single massive jungle that lay roughly equally in both countries. On the Cambodian side, its called Roneam Daun Sam (home to our old oils Oud Kampuchea, Amai Jinkoh, and Koten Jinkoh). On the Thai side, its called Soidao.

Collectively, this jungle mass was the 'mother' whose children were transported and planted in Trat, Thailand, the oud plantation capital of the world. Today, the mass produced oil from these trees is called "Cambodian oud".

I had been chasing good wood from Soidao for close to two years. It haunted me ever since I smelled a horribly-distilled but very high grade oil distilled from awesome Soidao wood. Behind the stench of human tampering (poor distillation techniques), the rich aroma of the oleoresin bellowed, like the finest Cambodian oud of yesteryear.
How amazing it would smell, I mused, if I could distill an oil from dark old growth Soidao wood!

The wait is over, and it was well worth the patience.

Every country has certain prized regions above all others. Malinau in Indonesia, Koh Kong in Cambodia. In Thailand, the two legendary jungles of Khao Yai and Soidao are the most prized.
Our Tokusen Tai featured the classic aroma of heated Khao Yai oud chips, and now Soidao brings to you the textbook aroma of Soidao oud chips... the most 'Cambodian' smelling Thai.

Perampera is like Oud Kampuchea to the power of ten.
For starters, the quality and grade was around the same as Luang (go ahead, rub your eyes, yep you read that right!), so you know this is going to be a heavy hitter.
The distillation technique was Gen3 (read more about that here), so aside from the richness, you get true-to-life accuracy. No distillation tricks and techniques bending and twisting the true scent of the oleoresin.

BAM, Tobacco.
Not the pipe variety, but rather the zingy air-dried Burley cigar tobacco variety - the least sweet, most bitter and intense.
Before you know it, figs and cranberries join in, almost verging on Koh Kong. The tobacco gets spicy and bitey, but also starts to get sweeter as lily of the valley begins to emerge. It flows beautifully into a fragrant red Oolong tea aroma, with a surprising backdrop of mint-milk-tea sweetened with honey - bizarre it may sound, but its mouthwateringly delicious.
And best of all: unlike all low grade Thai plantation oud oils that finish with a weird dusty or plasticy aroma, Perampera's drydown features the hallmark signature scent of Khao Yai and Soidao agarwood chips: raspberry ice cream sprinkled with marshmallow and honey nut Cheerios.

The way Thai plantation oud oils suddenly flooded the market about half a decade ago, everyone leaped at them for their unbeatable price, but quickly got sick of their cloying sweet fruity aroma.
So sick, it turns out, that most folks just don't want any fruity notes at all in their oud oils now.

Perampera puts you in a time machine and takes you back in time, well before Frankenstein's fruity monster came to life around 6 years ago, when the most coveted oud chips were fruity, and the most sublime oud oils did have subtle fruity accents.
This is wild, high quality and high grade Thai oud, done right.
This is Soidao.
And it is the archetypal scent of an era gone by... the reign of the bewitching 'Kamboodi' that took the Middle East by storm, captivating the minds of oud connoisseurs and sheiks.