This oud oil is a throwback to the early days of Agar Aura, and more specifically our very first Malaysian oud oil ever, Agar Supreme. The overall scent profile may be almost the same. Almost. After all it's from our first stomping grounds, the southern State of Pahang, and more specifically a jungle in the Raub region.
But the sheer depth and richness – not to mention the borderline narcotic effect – of this second rendition are leagues ahead of it's namesake from 2013.
It should come as no surprise.
Back then we only distilled "kayu minyak" (oil grade) wood, albeit the highest quality of it. Fast-forward two years and we transitioned to "incense grade" wood (a new term back then, but oft-used now).
Not only was the grade of agarwood used for distilling this oil amazing, but so was the quality. Aside from specialty categories (Kinam/Kyara and laterite soil agarwood), the finest quality of agarwood is ant nest (like Blue Malay) and anthole wood. This oil was Gen3-distilled from wild-harvested 100% anthole agarwood.
Considering the cost of raw agarwood today, this oil was supposed to be much more expensive. But as an homage to our very first Malaysian I wanted to match the price from 9 years ago, and so decided to apply a full 20% wholesale discount.
Laying aside all marketing fluff, here are the key notes:
- dark, dark, dark darkness,
- depths of a tropical jungle,
- a bag full of resinated (unburned) agarwood chips,
- agarwood chips heated on high-temp sans smoke,
- chili pepper flakes,
- molasses and tamarind jam sprinkled with nutmeg,
- thick cherry preserves cooked with cinnamon and black pepper.
But the most salient feature of this oil is its sheer oudiness. It is more oudy than any oud most folks have likely ever smelled before. Imagine the core 'oud note' that is at the base of ALL wild-crafted oud oils. The common denominator, that one note that makes oud oud. Agar Supreme is 90% sheer oudiness with only 10% being the other supplementary notes.
Explore. Enjoy!
I now have a "Oudy" reference! When the
Agar Supreme dries down I smell beautiful incense
notes. I've not personally used this type of
incense before, but have smelled it somewhere....
C.G. (USA)
I could not resist telling you that your Agar Supreme is
out of this world! I'm only 5mins writing my notes and
its already making me 'high'...
This oil is highly narcotic and bound to be addictive.
B.V. (Australia)
The sweetness is like the raw sweetness of milk, the
brawney sweetness of leather and the moist sweetness of
the forest after it rains- a Gaiac sweetness. Like
Kalakassi, a gentle smokiness blankets the earth- just
enough to add a feeling of smoldering activity- a sense
that fire licked the earth, then fled. The oil also has
a feeling of solidity and substance , a dignity borne of
confidence and maturity. When I imagine the tree from
which this oil was distilled I imagine a very large tree
with a thick trunk and roots fingering very deeply into
the earth- a tree of age and experience.
M.W. (USA)
I knew I shouldn't have got a sample of Supreme. It's
glorious... I'll probably have to sell half my
collection to afford it lol
A.B. (Canada)
This reminds me of my favorite place to collect opihi
when the tide was out on Oahu. Lots of memories in
this bottle. I love it!
C.G. (USA)
I was walking in a forest... the kind we have here in
Oregon, where everything is wet and green and full of
fir and ferns. I came upon the remains of a great tree,
fallen, partly turned back to earth. Curious, driven,
suddenly behaving the way I imagine a bear would behave,
I stripped away the old bark. It came away easy, and I
plunged my hands into the stuff beneath: thick, dark
loam and sproutlings and grubs and pieces of crumbling
wood and myriad scurrying insects. Decay returning to
life before my eyes, my nose! We spend most of our lives
in the physical realm. We come in contact with the
spiritual at times... when we step outside of the
confines of our bodies and are aware that there is
something much larger than ourselves, and we commune
with God (or we try). It is difficult through, I think,
to bridge the gap between spiritual and physical, to be
inside of our human forms but acutely conscious of the
part of us that is spirit. But I felt that, smelling
this oil. For me, this particular oud is a bridge...
connecting what can be seen with what can not.
C. M. (USA)
Regarding the 'Agar Supreme', boy is it aptly named! I
haven't officially tried this one yet. I merely took the
vial and smeared the slightly sticky top alongst my
inner forearm. Just from that one tiniest of swipes, I
could easily tell that this oud oil was superior to the
other oils, and was in a class by itself. It is
extremely robust with powerful sillage! I can tell by
that one swipe that I like it more than the other oils
too!
A.C. (USA)
The Agar supreme is dynamite, and might be my favorite
scent (at least from just sniffing it from the sample)
Wow!!
M.S. (USA)
I uncapped my Malaysian oud (right next to my bed)
yesterday evening, left it a tiny bit open, and
seriously, I dreamed of oud much of the night. I'd wake,
thinking that I was smelling it, wake again, and there
was that scent!
C.M. (USA)