Agarwood

Always wanted to try Oudh in your perfume compositions and formulations? 

During my visits to Vietnam, i was able to sample and buy small quantities of Vietnamese Oudh, at an affordable price.

You must know, Vietnam is one of the few countries that is recognized for their excellent Agarwood quality, pure, unadulterated and available on low-scale projects and farmers. 

I'd like to share these Oudh varieties with my dear blog followers. Since i am able to sample and buy them myself on my travels, i am able to share some of this goodness with my blog followers at prices that are 50% to 70% lower than you would pay for at regular stores for the same qualities. The downside: i have only small amounts available. I can't provide production volume quantities, sorry. I also might limit the volume i am willing to sell to one person: my intention is to have as many as possible perfumer enthousiasts being able to sample these Oudhs. 

As you know Oudh comes in many, many qualities and varieties. Most are between $30 and $100 per milliliter, and the really good ones can be as expensive as $200 and up per milliliter.

Oudh that pricy is, at least for me, too expensive to experiment with in formula blending. Although i love to see what wonders a drop of Oudh can do in some of my formula's.

The Oudh i've found ranges from good to excellent quality. It's very affordable to start your Oudh experiments in perfumery and perfume formulations without breaking the bank, and might you want to scale up in quality, you can try my sample kits.

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Dark brown, lower viscosity good grades:

I use these two varieties as wood blenders in my perfume compositions. They behave both as excellent blenders, like ambergris does: it softens and smooths out a perfume. Even a 1/500th amount added to a fragrance composition will do wonders. Advised for oriental and woody types of perfume. Best dilute these oils to 10% in perfumers alcohol, DPG, IPM or DEP before adding them in trace amounts to your perfume compositions (so 1 milliliter will make you a 10 milliliter dilution and if you are just a hobbyist and not a mass producer of perfume, it will last you a lifetime ;-)). Don't over-use, it will flatten and dampen most perfume compositions. Variety PI1 'natural sharp, more 'animal' and sweet', priced at €15 per milliliter (1/1000 liter) / €8 for half a milliliter

• More top notes, it has the unique opening of sharper and pungent characteristic Oudh notes, more animalistic but also the sweetness found in variety 2 below. 

• It starts bitter sweet, somewhat green but the heart opens up beautifully to a more warm, amber sweet wood. 

• It is dark orange to brown in colour. 

• It lasts well over 24 hours on a blotter strip at room temperature.

• excellent blender and fixation for your perfumes, it acts like ambergris in a woody form: smoothing and rounding out your compositions

Variety PI2 'round and sweet', priced at €20 per milliliter (1/1000 liter) / €12 for half a milliliter

• Lacks pungent top notes and starts already as if it was heart and base only. 

• It's totally round and smooth. Dark resinous amber warm overly sweet wooden Oudh. 

• It is dark brown in colour. 

• It lasts well over 24 hours on a blotter strip at room temperature.

• excellent blender and fixation for your perfumes, it acts like ambergris in a woody form: smoothing and rounding out your compositions

These 2 agarwood varieties perform excellent in enhancing your perfumes, especially when other delicate woods like sandalwood and patchouli are involved in the composition.Curious what others have to say, feel free to read the reviews on basenotes.net.

When you are looking for the thicker, higher viscosity resins, see below. I expect to collect them in small quantities in November 2017, and will also share with my community of perfumers.  

Higher viscosity excellent grades:

These varieties are of such pure and great quality, they are advised to use as a main character of a perfume. They all 3 will last for over a month on a smelling strip.

Not only to use as a blender or fixative, but also to stand out above all other ingredients. 

If you are able to smell these once in your life: do so! You won't regret it. 

These are very hard to find, and certainly not for these low prices.

I have the great opportunity to visit Vietnam on a regular basis myself, have great contacts, and

love to share such great materials with fellow perfumers that read my blog.

Variety AG1 'sweetest smoothest ever', priced at €148 per milliliter (1/1000 liter) / €74 for half a milliliter

• Silkiest, purest, sweetest form of agarwood i have ever smelled; it's basically a shame to use it in a blend or perfume. Has resinous lingering notes and sandalwood aspects. It's the king of Oudh that i could find. This Oudh has no animal tones at all, and reminds me more at sandalwood infused with indulging sweetness. Lots of spices play around. The for most of us so typical animal/fungus note is rather absent. If you like that, look for AG4, AG6 or PI1. This is a must-smell-once-in-a-lifetime :)

Variety AG4 'sweet and round', priced at €60 per milliliter (1/1000 liter) / €30 for half a milliliter

• Very much like AG1, a bit sweeter due to a trace of animal notes. The difference is in the details compared to AG1. But on the playing field of AG1, this one can certainly be compared. A bit rougher on the edges. I would use AG1 pure, and AG4 in perfume experiments and blends. It will also bring more complexity to blends and is less linear than AG1. 

Variety AG6 'animal kicks in', priced at €60 per milliliter (1/1000 liter) / €30 for half a milliliter

• Where AG1 (and AG4 to some extent) lack the typical animal/infested notes, for most people so typical for agarwood, AG6 brings this animalistic note. Compared to AG1 and AG4, a bit less smooth, a bit more rough. And that ain't to bad perse in your perfume compositions where it will bridge woods and add lots of depth, smoothing complexity. Brings even aspects of smoldering ash.

Sampler set diluted at 25% in DPG, special priced at €128 

• AG1, 1 milliliter 25% dilution in DPG (contains .25ml agarwood)

• AG4, 2 milliliter 25% dilution in DPG (contains .50ml agarwood)

• AG6, 1 milliliter 25% dilution in DPG (contains .25ml agarwood)

• PI1, 4 milliliter 50% dilution in DPG (contains 2ml agarwood)

• PI2, 4 milliliter 50% dilution in DPG (contains 2ml agarwood)

• This is the best value for money and excellent if you will use mainly PI1 and PI2 for your perfume blending and being able to sample some of the greatest agarwoods that i could find.  

Be aware: there is a difference in the PI1 and PI2 varieties and AG1, AG4, AG6. The Pi varieties are good, and especially for blending in your own perfume creations. The AG varieties are excellent grades and can also be used on their own. Although 5% dilutions in your perfume formulations do wonders. It's just lovely stuff.

Availability

I was only able to buy small amounts, but for my dear blog followers i'd like to offer a few samples for sale. Since it's all about the Oudh, i keep packaging simple, so don't expect beautiful bottles. 

This way i can keep the price low and ship economically. 

The prices exclude shipping and handling fees (add €10) and packed in small plastic tubes (excellent for pipetting in your perfume compositions). Send me an email at perfume@sparla.com with your shipping address and i will inform you if there is still a some available. I only accept PayPal transactions.