Sultan Osman

I revisited the distillery where we ran the original Thai Encens Experiment four years ago. But this time we weren’t distilling Thai agarwood and we were operating in a brand new facility. We were getting ready to distill a precious batch of agarwood flown in from several borders down south.

I wanted to treat one of our batches of wild New Guinea gyrinops to a Thai brewing to enhance the clarity of this batch's bluegreen aquatic scent profile. Thai Encens and Thai Ambre were both so crazy crystal clear, sencha-ish, raspberry-peachy – to take the same blueprint for crafting those and run one of the rarest kinds of gyrinops through it just had to be done.

And that’s what we did. 

A batch of 100% New Guinean agarwood went through a condensed pre-distillation brewing that was then cooked in solid thickened stainless steel using our oscillating temperature technique that mimics a wild flame. Just like the top chefs insist to cook certain dishes over firewood driven flames, as do top aromatic artists when it comes to delicate flower essential oil extracts, this technique captures scent patterns that would otherwise get lost. 

We cooked our precious gyrinops for 61 days non-stop (compared to the 8-10 day norm!) We chose stainless steel because it accentuates the incense note and adds a consistent see-through spiciness that would turn fruity if cooked in copper.

The sencha-mellow, clean kinam incense scent whispers, never shouts. Its therapeutic value is on par with burning raw New Guinea incense straight, if not more. Because the scent lingers for hours, the effect is continuous and thus often enhanced. There's no anticipating the dry down, either. The kyara-green incense chord is imbued in the fabric of the scent and shows itself within 10 minutes after application, and remains till the end. 

If you missed out on Sultan Murad or Sultan Fatih, this is the oud to get. And if you have either of those two, you'll love the direction the series has taken in Sultan Osman. From its sweetened green kyara, sencha-cinnamon scent to its therapeutic pull, this oud makes you put away any other fragrance.