Brunei 2009

Some oud oils become quieter with age.

Others become deeper.

Brunei Oud 2009 became blue.

This is an old distillation made from wild Brunei agarwood, distilled in 2009 and left with more than a decade and a half to mature.

When I describe this oil as blue, I don’t mean fresh, aquatic or airy.

I mean a deep blue.
Almost indigo. Almost purple.
Dark, creamy and incredibly smooth.

There is still smoke in this oud, but time has completely changed the way that smoke behaves. Whatever sharpness may once have existed has rounded itself away.

What remains is something I can only describe as creamy smoke.

As the oil develops on the skin, a natural sweetness begins to appear. There are nuances that remind me of tobacco and vanilla, wrapped around the darker woody character of the oud.

Nothing has been added to create those impressions.

They are simply facets that have emerged from the oud itself as it has aged.

And that is one of the reasons I find old oud oils so fascinating.

Time doesn’t simply make an oud older.

It changes its texture.

It rounds certain edges, deepens others and sometimes reveals characteristics that would have been difficult to imagine when the oil was young.

Brunei Oud 2009 is a beautiful example of that transformation.

Wild Brunei oud.

Dark sweetness.

Tobacco-like warmth.

And a smoky character softened by years into something almost creamy.

But above everything else, whenever I smell it, one colour continues to come to mind.

Deep blue.