New in the shop: Limited supply of traditional 108-bead wild agarwood malas.

Pierre is back in Vietnam, always on the hunt for new products that meet our high-quality standards. We individually hand-select our 100% wild agarwood malas from carefully vetted local Viet crafters. Each mala is slightly different and each small batch of malas is unique since it comes from a single wild tree. We carefully hand-select the very best ones for our customers.

New Bottle Design For the New Year…

And here a quick look at out new bottles for 2024. A new look with the same luxury features; solid crystal bottle, glass dipstick, and silicone seal. Our new cap design allows the dipstick to rest at an angle when placed on a flat surface, without the dipstick touching the surface itself. Also it can be placed upside down on its head. Its this kind of attention to detail we think will enhance your experience of our world class specialty aromatics.

Oud, the essential oil of agarwood, offers us perhaps the most complexity and variety of any single-source natural aromatic in the world, the reason for its revered status and obsessive study by its devotees.

Barn. barn? barn!

Newcomers to the world of Oud might find this “barn” business to be an enigmatic and quirky bit of nomenclature, little used and rarely needed in more mainstream olfactory explorations. Indeed, we at Aroma Sublime think that the term barn is widely overused. At best, it’s a slightly lazy generalization; at worst, a means of excusing or obfuscating less desirable notes in the marketing of inferior Oud.

What do people really mean by barn when describing the aromatic notes particular to Oud?

The descriptive barn might encompass a variety of pleasant or pleasantly harmonized animalic notes, variations of human body odor, pheromones, straw, horse, sheep, dog, civet, musk, horse`s stable, the full range of leather notes, light fermented notes, astringency, a whole palette of woody notes, cheese in all its variety, grassy green notes, sheep’s wool, lanolin, and many many more.

The controversy arises, however, around some other aromatic notes that many novices or casual aficionados might not dare to declare openly; fecal, urinous, ammonia, “cat box”, fermented, rotten, necrotic, rancid, or intense human body odor in all its variations. We deign to propose that the majority of customers should be informed when especially intense notes of controversy feature strongly in an Oud. We believe you should know what you are investing in.

We do not name these aspects in any spirit of judgment or dismissal, but rather in the spirit of clarity and transparency. We are not here to “yuck anyone’s yum” or to pass judgment on a matter that is highly subjective on an individual and cultural level. But we think precision is important. A lack of precision and transparency in the Oud culture at large, we are convinced, has permanently dissuaded many potential Oud lovers in their earliest explorations.

Its essential to note that many places in the world where Oud bears its longest and greatest histories, strongly favor all the aromas that the term barn encompasses. Without question, there are excellent Ouds that are all about barn. However, we feel that even in an Oud culture where everything-barn is beloved and extolled, there exists a spectrum of quality and degrees of refinement that the customer deserves to be informed about. Horse & stable, or horse manure? Yes, we think you deserve to know!

The important question for us is, are these more challenging aromatic features more likely to persuade or dissuade? Will they be most generally experienced as pleasant or unpleasant, alluring or off-putting? Its there a harmony and a dance, or is there a slap in the face?! How and for how long do they mingle and interact with the other aromatic notes in a particular Oud?

On the other side of the spectrum, there are those who might be inclined to reject the possibility of these more controversial aromatic notes being in any way pleasant or desirable. We will let you in on the not-so-secret secret in the perfume industry both contemporarily and historically: These “taboo” aromatic notes will almost universally delight and seduce the human nose when they are carefully woven into a scent formula; artfully, subtly, as punctuation or sub-text rather than an overt theme. In many cases, they are mere glimmers in a well-designed blend, precisely sub-perceptual and therefore subconscious in their effect.

This subtle application of these more challenging aromatic notes translating directly to wider acceptance and appreciation generalizes well in Oud as well, the difference being that the variations in Oud are more a result of inherent natural chemistry, and less the result of precision human formulation (as in the case of perfume, especially modern synthetic perfumery). This natural occurrence, which we help to isolate and express through distillation, is part of the unique allure that Oud offers.

In conclusion, we feel that Barn has become an all too common euphemism and catch-all for all of the more challenging aromatic features that Oud might bring. Barn is often is a word carefully chosen by marketers to obfuscate an excess of controversial aromatic notes, especially when they feature excessively or disharmoniously in a lower-quality Oud’s aromatic spectrum. Experienced Oud aficionados will know exactly what we mean. Barn is too often used as an excuse to sell you a disappointing Oud.

Aroma Sublime, A Different Approach to Oud

We offer a very clear description of our Oud oils including how the aroma transforms through the drydown. We are not afraid to list less popular or more challenging aromatic notes and discuss how they present in our Oud oils. If they are present at all.

We do our best to offer a careful and precise approach to everything “barn” might encompass. We specialize in Oud featuring very moderate and well-harmonized “barn” aspects on the more accessible side of the spectrum. We are not afraid to discuss these in detail.

We are known for cleaner, sweeter, rounder Oud oils from 100% wild agarwood that is not fermented or burned. We are known for cleaner-spectrum Oud oils, with smooth and round aromatic features. We are known for our careful selection of premium wild agarwood, our passion for gentle traditional distillation techniques, and our patient aging protocols.

All this results in a more reliable Oud experience.

No euphemisms and vagueries.

No excuses.

Just reliable Oud.

Browse our carefully curated Oud collection.

We have recently made the cautious decision to provide CULTIVATED and naturally SCENT-ENHANCED Agarwood beads in order to provide an affordable option to our customers looking for beautiful Agarwood beads with a pleasant and prominent aroma.

Natural Enhancement

Natural Agarwood resin is a byproduct of the essential oil distillation process in the cultivated Oud (Agarwood essential oil) industry. Natural Agarwood resin imparts an aroma that is more prominent and persistent when compared to what natural untreated Agarwood would normally offer. Natural Agarwood resin isolates and intensifies primarily the leather, wood, and tobacco aromatic notes that feature prominently in the aromatic spectrum of most Oud and Agarwood. It also protects the wood from the rigors of wear; moisture and friction, and also deepens the color of the wood. We think these naturally enhanced resin-infused agarwood beadworks offer an affordable and high-quality option to our customers. Let us know what you think.

We also plan to offer a selection of untreated Agarwood jewelry, from both cultivated and wild origins. Offering exclusively 100% Wild Agarwood would be our true preference, but the availability of such high-quality items is sporadic and the price is ever-increasing. We would love to hear more from you about what you would be interested in seeing in our inventory, as this is a new addition to our offerings.

The Truth about Jewelry Grade Agarwood

The truth is that most natural untreated Agarwood including 100% wild Agarwood does not project aroma consistently or persistently. The aroma tends to be light and intermittent. It tends to produce slightly more aroma when rubbed or warmed. But will not fill a room with its aroma or perfume one’s skin to the same degree that an Oud oil or burned Agarwood incense would.

If you think about it logically this makes sense. There is a finite amount of aromatic volatiles in a given unit of wood, even the very best wood. If the aroma is intense and constant, these must be a greater amount of aromatic volatiles leaving the wood. The more volatiles dispersed, the more likely the smell will fade, and even disappear, with time.

When we burn Agarwood as incense, we are intentionally releasing all the volatiles at once by heating the wood. The leftover solids will be almost entirely devoid of the coveted aromatic volatiles it previously contained.

Even the very best and most expensive raw untreated Agarwood such as Kinam (Kynam, Kyara) does not produce a constant room-filling aroma at room temperature.

We find that public expectations have been ruined by fakery in the Agarwood business.

We notice that in general people’s expectations for the aroma of natural Agarwood have been overblown and ruined by the abundance of artificially enhanced Agarwood products on the open market. Deceptions that range from the entirely synthetic and artificial, to the non-disclosure of natural enhancements of Agarwood aroma such as treatment with resin or oil.

People have become used to scent-enhanced products which will simply always smell stronger than natural raw untreated Agarwood.

Outright Fraud?

Many, if not most, of the “natural agarwood” products on the open market today are chemically enhanced works of outright fraud.

Others are naturally enhanced products with natural resin or Oud oil. For example: Its a very common traditional practice to rub some Oud oil into a fine piece of Agarwood jewelry to protect and care for the wood as well as to enhance the scent. There is nothing wrong with this as long as vendors disclose the practice to their customers.

Natural Enhancements Only

We believe that certain natural enhancements are acceptable, but that it is essential that vendors and crafters in the industry are honest about such enhancements. We accept only certain natural enhancements such as treating wood with natural Agarwood resin or natural Oud oil, and we will always disclose the specific practice to our customers. As well we will always be crystal clear on Wild, Semi-Wild, or Cultivated designations for all our Agarwood products.