Port Moresby

There are two kinds of Oud. You have the Legends of the Golden Age of agarwood, when jungles were packed with colossal gaharu trunks… and you have the ‘experiments’ of today, when we distill ourselves mad trying to capture the elan of old oud oils.

No matter how smart the distiller or how nice the wood, the vogue of ‘old oil’ can never be replicated. The oils of the early 2000s are better than oils we distill today by the simple fact of their age. Nevermind that trees were older then, with pots more oleoresin than trees we find now.

One such oil was Kyara LTD—the most coveted oud ever sold. Its twin distillation of the same year, Port Moresby is another such oil.

Focused on the same theme of narcotic kinam smoke, Port Moresby takes the gargantuan scent of heated green kyara chips notches higher than its famed twin. The dense-resined New Guinea Gyrinops that went into it made Port Moresby a historic masterpiece.

How do the two oils compare on the perfumer’s scale?

If Kyara LTD was base note first to last, Port Moresby is pure heart note. A gush of effulgent green ether that quickly bathes air and mindspace. Uncap your bottle at the office and you’ll see people move their nostrils attentively. Take a swipe, and they’ll be in a world of Zen. Why?

Port Moresby has the loudest sillage of any Oud you will wear. While 99% of ouds are quiet on the skin, and you need to bring your hand to your nose just to remind yourself you’re wearing oud, Moresby reminds you and those around you that a certain strange and bewitching incense has been lit by a thoughtful someone. It imbues with its crystalline magic whatever space you untwist the cap in, and you find people taking deep breaths wanting to inhale more and more of it.

While most ouds come off as ‘unusual’ to the uninitiated, you can rest easy and bring Moresby along with you. People don’t just not mind the scent, they crave it. Once they get a whiff they become intrigued. You’ll be questioned by people sitting in the next room about the scent you’ve got on you!

From first sniff to the last flicker of it on your skin the next day, Port Moresby unfolds its green kyara heart. There is no development. Just pure radiance. Dancing stillness. No great first note that then becomes another thing and then something else. Just pure kyara-green, like the smoke. The scent is one single note, but like the sun it drowns everything in its sparkle.

The soul thirsts for Moresby like it does for no other oud. There is a narcotic quality to this oil; it smells intoxicating, but not only in a figurative way. You keep craving the scent more and more, and you find yourself sniffing the place you swiped it on your skin, then the fingers you untwisted the cap with, to inhale its traces on your skin. The entire psyche finds a comfort and a satisfaction in Moresby which I’m at a loss to compare to another oil.

While it can never compete with an oil like the 50K as an aphrodisiac, Port Moresby is sure to delight your spouse. There is a peacefulness that emanates from the core of its scent, inspiring harmony and accord between people. If in the past you’ve been chased out of bed due to the Indian oud you had on you, with Port Moresby on your skin you’re likely to receive a hug, and someone might just want to nestle closer to you.

If you meditate, in Moresby you have pure liquid Zen for your special moments of enlightenment. If you’ve been drunk on sobriety before, then you have a pretty good idea what state of mind Moresby induces. Soaring on cloud nine while crystal clear of thought.

Six years after sellout, Kyara LTD commands anywhere from $4,000 to $10,000 a bottle, depending on whom you talk to. Collectors won’t part with it for any sum. Port Moresby is soon to follow suit. You can count on the value spiraling the minute we announce sellout. And for reasons that remain to be smelled, they’re likely to be less willing to let go of it than Kyara LTD.