Kinamantan

2005 was magic. Kyara LTD, Borneo 4000, Port Moresby, Borneo 50K – these ouds were all distilled in ’05. It was a defining year for me… and for oud. 

This was also the year when Port Moresby changed DNA and metamorphosed into a Borneo oil, all while retaining all of its kinamiferous zest. The year when you could suddenly smell Vietnamese sinensis… in a Borneo! The year that brought you an oud so far outside the box, its profile remains a mystery almost twenty years later. 

That oud was called Kinamantan. We’ve never been able to get close to capturing that smell again. Nobody has. 

I want to go back there. To 2005. I want to smell the same magical green incense aroma that made you think that oud was distilled from slivers of yellow-black agarwood on its way to Baieido. 

To put on a swipe and prepare to be Mon-koh-ed out of your mind. 

This perfume is that want. A spritz of mind buzz. A dart of kinamic green that shoots through your head. Kinamantan.

THE TOOTHPASTE CONNECTION

I have a piece of Myitkyina agarwood in the EO archive which I went after with passionate zeal.

The piece was in someone’s private collection in China, and all we were shown was a small sliver. But a small sliver was all it took…

The scent was the most crystalline note of—toothpaste.

When Coburn, Kruger, and I smelled it, each of us instantly knew what it was and that there was no way this could not end up with us. It’s a scent even the most diehard oudheads would be lucky to encounter once in their lives. After quite some doing, it finally swapped places with the Chinese collector who owned it and was now in our grateful hands. The nickname amongst ourselves for the piece became “The Toothpaste.”

I was so enamored with it because if you’re a veteran kyara lover or have any experience with agarwood, you certainly know the value of—toothpaste…

Its crystalline mintiness is so precious and rare that I have not been able to replicate that smell in oil format, including top-notch Myitkyina oils. 

Now, if you know the value of toothpaste, you’ll know the value of Pak Zu. You’ll smell that minty kyara green and realize that this is as close as one can get, in oil form, to The Toothpaste. 

To me, more than being a scent or a perfume, Kinamanantan is a genre. A scent so expansive yet so rare it seems almost accidental: the coming together of the exact right harvest distilled with the perfect parameters to capture that pristine incense green. 

It’s not isolated to locate – we know that because we had two Kinamantanic oils that were from different jungles in different countries. And here again, you have toothpaste from Myitkyina transmuted into oil form from Maroke which, to date, I consider the crown jewel of the Kinamantan style ouds. 

Its irreplaceable rarity is why I haven’t sold it neat before. (The value it brings to a perfume composition cannot be paid for, in cash or gold.) That its toothpasty zapp is perfect for this perfume is why it’s in here instead – to let you spritz on the green dragon’s breath and wallow in it…

KINAMANTANIC MINDBUZZ

To get an oud like Kinamantan you’d think Papuan filarias have to be grown in Borneo. But that wouldn’t be enough. Or that you’d have to steep centennial Malinau nuggets in Vietnamese kinam powder, or infuse them with the smoke itself, to get some semblance – but that, too, wouldn’t be enough…

That’s what made creating a spray rendition of this legendary oud such a challenge in perfumery. 

Your olfactory ruminations go into overdrive: will a drop of nutmeg into a gram of raw Borneo resin be enough? Will Patchouli’s green with a hint of clove added to vintage Malaysian oud let you smell an echo of Papua’s jungle green? Oakmoss in Kashmiri musk in bourbon vanilla with the gentlest touch of coriander? I’ve tried green mate with old tigerwood; that’s one note to develop more – yes, in this case, you’d need styrax as well…

NOTES
Clove
Ginger
Mate
Styrax
Cacao
Black tea
Bourbon Vanilla
Vintage Malaysian Oud
Borneo Agarwood
Ambergris SQ
Tibetan Musk
Hyraceum
Oakmoss
Civet

Kinamantan isn’t just a classy spritz of kinamic bliss, but a perfume that pays homage to an “Oud with ____. Masculine to the max. Samurai warrior. DNA of Port Moresby + Sultani 1990 + Borneo 50K. Some serious silage and staying power. No vertical development but hey, who cares when the opening is pure magic and all that one can ask for.”

Discover “the mysterious Borneoish Moresby” in this ode to an oud that gives you “a different level of satisfaction & relaxation which I cannot compare with anything else. Kinamantan is the OUD for my soul” – and let your nose go blissfully numb.

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